The people of Argentina’s Jujuy province are under assault – by Governor Gerardo Morales, by the security forces he has unleashed upon them, and by the reforms he has forced that endanger their rights, their sovereignty and their dignity. In response, The Progressive International’s Observatory published a statement of solidarity with the workers, communities and Indigenous peoples that have mobilised to the streets.
Jujuy lies in the extreme northwest of Argentina, bordering Chile and Bolivia. It is at the heart of the Lithium triangle. Land in Jujuy is of intense interest to global mining companies.
The rightwing governor of the province, Gerardo Morales, has sought to ease the entry of multinational companies into Jujuy to exploit the Lithium. But standing in their way are the Qulla indigenous people. Dozens of Qulla villages have banded together to oppose lithium extraction on their land, which they say contaminates it, the water and the air.
In response, Morales has forced through a constitutional reform to strip some of the protections that indigenous people enjoy over their land. The reform violates both Argentina’s national constitution and the international treaties that protect local communities - and the resources under their feet, such as lithium - from corporate dispossession. This constitutional reform also places restrictions on legitimate protest.
Morales’ constitutional reform has created a multi-pronged, mass protest against it over several weeks. The protests have united indigenous groups, trade unions, civic groups and public sector workers.
The protests have been met with violent repression. 100s have been seriously injured, leading to the UN High Commission for Human Rights to express grave concern over “the handling of the recent demonstrations by the security forces, as well as about some of the provisions of the approved provincial constitutional reform text.”
In the face of this repression, the protests and the broad alliance it has created continues.
We express our solidarity with the workers, communities and Indigenous peoples that have mobilised to the streets of Jujuy to demand fair pay, decent conditions and the democratic right to reject Governor Morales’ illegitimate reform.
In solidarity,
The Progressive International
Secretariat
reposted from
Progressive International
