AUDIO: The story of three mines - Panguna, Freeport and Wixarika

A Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) guerrilla on guard at the Panguna mine during the 10-year civil war on Bougainville island. Photo: Pacific Scoop

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Item: 7723

WELLINGTON (Radio New Zealand / Pacific Media Watch): The massive Freeport mine in Indonesia’s Papua province has been brought to a standstill by a strike by 8000 of its workers; a US federal appeals court in San Francisco recently ruled Bouganvillians can proceed with a case alleging the mining company Rio Tinto is complicit in genocide and war crimes at the site of the Panguna copper mine; and the Wixarika tribe of Mexico is in the midst of a battle to stop the mining of a mountain they have considered sacred for thousands of years.  

Chris Laidlaw and Jeremy Rose speak to three experts about the conflicts: cultural anthropologist Eben Kirksey;  constitutional lawyer and advisor to Bougainville’s autonomous government, Anthony Regan; and Juan Negrin of the Wixarika Research Centre.

Links:
Eben Kirksey
Anthony Regan
Wixarika Research Centre

LISTEN: The story of three mines (duration: 53′40″, Sunday, November 2011)
Download:  MP3 | Embed