Aysen Rising, Your Problem is My problem Social Movement

February 28th, 2012
Melbourne, Australia

Dear Friends:

Some days ago we received several messages from our friends telling us about the Aysen (up) Rising. It was not rare nor unpredictable. Certainly for several years they have been in constant battle for many causes, most of them social with a deep environmental component also.

Aysen is the most isolated region in Chile, part of the wonderful Patagonia this region proudly has one of the most bounded social-people structures in the country. The populations is small, winter is hard, the tele-communication companies have a limited coverage in the zone, the people communicate via radio UHF and via small messages sent by the local radio Santa Maria where is possible.

Some nights ago (for them) We were listening to Radio Santa Maria, ‘Claudita’, the local presenter, was receiving calls not only from journalist but also from local people telling what is happening, their thoughts and expectations about the movement they call: “Tu problema es mi problema” (Your problem is my problem). I remember one of the locals telling Claudita:
“No se trata de ser antisistema, este es un sistema que es antinosotros”.
“This is not about being anti-systemic, this is a system that is anti-ourselves”

The people from Aysen are just asking to have the right to live in good conditions, without the current limitations that money and influences put in their lands by foreign hands.

Patagonia Aysen Film Festival, dams opinions and repression.

voyagers:

These are the first days after the winter time change, the sunset is dark and the sunrise is bright. From home I can see the Mackay, the city of Coyhaique and the surrounding hills. The snow is moving forward, the inauguration day was snowing near the city for a long time.
 
An anxious feeling was enveloping the city, the next days are fundamental, a commission was voting the Mega Dams Project of HidroAysen. I have been talking with local and foreign people, almost all of them are against the dams.

The slogan of the Third Film Festival of Patagonia Aysen 2011, “nature and social movements” is precise. Conversation, debate, the exploration of new realities, the foment of a healthy and conscious environment, a respectful attitude with the Earth and society, were the target of this festival.

I felt that the people were afraid, but, why? of what?

Read More

Patagonia without Dams march, Temuco, Chile

voyagers:

During our last week before leaving for Patagonia, we took part on the Patagonia Without Dams march that took place in Temuco

Todays demonstration was at a national level, all of Chile’s biggest cities are participating in a national movement to protect one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth

Here are some pictures, you can see more in our Flickr

Dams in Amazonia, an interactive map

Containing 60% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforests, the Amazon is an area of immense biodiversity. Known as the “lungs of the planet” the Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in regulating the climate not only of South America, but parts of North America as well. The region is inhabited by nearly 30 million people, including thousands of indigenous tribes and river bank communities whose lives depend directly on the waters of the Amazon River and its tributaries.

Chile: taking care of the environment and our heritage to our children?

According to the Chilean President, and using his own words, “taking care of nature and the environment are priority and ethical matter” and “air, oceans, rivers, lakes, forests and mountains are not an heritage from our ancestors but a loan from our children and the children of our children”.

So what do you make of recent news?

To name 3 in example:

• Tatio geysers, located in the north part of the Chilean territory in the high valleys on the Andes, are the largest geyser field in the Southern Hemisphere (after the destruction of many of the New Zealand geysers) and the third largest geyser field in the world; are now to be compromised again by the exploratory drilling

HidroAysen demonstration & Government corruption?

This picture is from another demonstration protecting the Geyser at El Tatio, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. 

Enersis CEO, Pablo Yrarrazaval made a donation of US $10 million to the Chilean Government to help with the reconstruction of the country affected by the earthquake. After this Yrarrazabal asked the government to look for an “equilibrium” (according to him, there where to many exigencies for the approval of the HidroAysen Project).

Introducing the HidroAysen conflict

A tiny portion of General Carrera Lake, Aysen Region, Chilean Patagonia (click on the image to enlarge)

(Version en Espanol abajo/Spanish version below)

We were thinking about Aysen Region in the Chilean Patagonia. About the incredible impact HidroAysen could generate, and the damage that it is generating now. How people were confronted with their neighbors, and how big untrustworthy companies , and 99% of the population of a country can sacrifice an unbelievable place like Aysen with an amazing biodiversity, unforgettable landscapes and citizens .