1^st step:  the formation of a group interested in the problem among the NGO’s who enjoy special consultative status with the UN.

2^nd step: to reorganize the blog www.jpic-jp.org so as to make way for a database in the form of a bibliography of land grabbing -Land Grabbing Wiki-;  there are already over 1300 titles that have been catalogued to date.  Within the blog there is now a special section with all necessary information relating to land grabbing, but at present only available in English. With the enthusiastic collaboration of 2 young people—Matteo Manfredi and especially Elizabeth Lanzi Mazzochini—we have drawn up a basket of 23 modules, organized in a 10 day seminar which after test trials that allows us to define better the content and dynamics, will be offered in English, French and Spanish:  this was the 3^rd step, one which led me to Peru. The programme was to conduct 3 seminars each of 3 days and in 3 different places. The way they were enthusiastically welcomed turned them into 4 seminars and if it hadn’t been for the plane ticket which was already reserved, there could have been 6 and even 7.

In Chincha, not far from the capital, Lima, there was a gathering of young seminarians, theologians, 2 priests and 2 nuns, young people from parish groups, activity leaders, a university teacher and villagers. When it came to the final session they admitted, with that of a novice’s innocence, that the seminars had opened their eyes to this unknown reality which threatens today’s society everywhere.

“What struck us the most”, they said, “was to realise that the land grabbing phenomenon is already here amongst us whilst at the same time the villagers do not know their rights, laws are ambiguous and the authorities are indifferent”.

The visit to a former colonial estate, now transformed into a museum, restaurant and farm was the perfect historic vision that was foreseen in the seminars: through the secret hideaway for the masters, the cell for solitary confinement of those slaves guilty of trying to escape, we were shown real pictures of this human insensitivity and this thirst for profit which has always led to oppression of the weakest. Is this cruelty really any different from today’s modern businesses that throw whole families, indigenous communities and villagers out onto the street with no home, no land to work and no food?  Why doesn’t the church take it on itself to launch an appeal for joint action from all the worthy organisations to counteract this phenomenon? 

In San Ramon, gateway to the Amazon, the workshop experienced some difficulties because it clashed with the beginning of the school year. The participants were on the whole largely teachers in both secondary schools and universities. There were also taking part 2 priests and 2 nuns, lay missionaries and villagers. In the region the land grabbing phenomenon is bound up with respect for Mother earth and other cultural differences, since indigenous communities form an important part of the population. “We know all about this phenomenon well enough” -was one of the commentaries.  Refusal of land grabbing comes directly from the heart. For us it’s like hearing the urgent deep cry of the Earth saying: “Come to my aid for the sake of life to come, and for the generations to come!  The Earth is a gift from God and it is by his goodwill that she continues to house us”.

The visit to the indigenous community of the Ashaninka made us regret not to have invited them to the workshop. Even if 40% of this community dedicate themselves to attract tourists with their folklore and crafts, 60% work in agriculture and suffer abuse and expropriation of their land by the logging companies. The possible petition to the institutional church for her to sound an alarm about this phenomenon has since become more of an idea to send a letter to this effect to the ecclesiastical authorities.

From the Amazon forest we left for the “deserts” of Tambogrande in the department of Piura, in the north of the country.  Here, foreign companies take advantage of their large financial availability to become the main exploiters of the pre-existing resources in the region. Those taking part in the workshop, high school teachers, village leaders, parish activity leaders, made their main concern known:  a few rich people have become owners of large concentrations of forest and deserts and have turned huge areas of agricultural land into widespread monocultures destined for export. The ecological balance is already in danger and the soil is losing its principal function, that of feeding and sustaining the community of Piura and Tambogrande. Both the local TV and radio stations have come to ask for interviews, one after the other: a gesture which speaks with clarity how much the problem of the soil is at the heart of social life. The villagers for now continue to live on their land but the fear is that they could be driven off anytime. For them, without food, without land, without a healthy ecology and without water is a road straight to death! Why shouldn’t we send a message to Pope Francis with their cries of pain and anguish which render for them an uncertain future?

From Tambogrande a 16 hour trip by car, bus and minibus saw us reach the destination of the final workshop: Bambamarca (Cajamarca), province of  Hualgayoc in the forested mountain region of Peru. In this region there is the Conga megaproject, which is already causing bloody conflicts between peasants and mining companies, causing tensions even within the church. Among those taking part in the workshop were pastoral activity leaders, nuns, mayors of the region, young activists and those opposing the Conga megaproject. Although the project is in its exploratory phase, it has already had an effect on the life of the ecosystem of 3 provinces, has put at risk 20 lagoons, 700 springs, 203 ha of pasture, 5 micro-pools, 120 drinking water sources and 60 irrigation canals; it threatens the biodiversity of the region, and furthermore is about to deprive over 1½ million inhabitants of water.  

No surprise therefore if each workshop session was interspersed with interviews from TV and different local radio stations, and if at the end of the meeting we had been invited to visit the lagoons under threat, the resistance camps and the work that the Yanacocha group had started, a joint venture of the Peruvian Buenaventura and the north American Newmont group.

Valleys and splendid high plateaux opened before our eyes lit up by a sky that was both blue and clear, like that which one sees only at more than 4000m high. Suddenly a roadblock:  the national police and security guards from the company were blocking the road. There is no war, no danger, the road is public—we were told—but the area is under a toll belonging to the Yanacocha company and it isn’t possible to travel through there without a special pass. “Prisoners on our own land” was the comment from the Peruvians accompanying us and among whom were 3 mayors from the region and Manuel, one of the activists with 50 suspended sentences.

At Cajamarca airport on the return road to Lima there awaits us the final emotion of this intense month of work and meetings:  Edy, president of the Front for the defence of the interests, rights and environment of the province of Hualgayoc, Bambamarca, and the principal spokesman of the Commando unit for the struggle, pays us a visit. Nobody better than he could summarise the spirit and the dialogue of this meeting in the form of a message he sent us several hours later and which he put on Facebook: “The gathering at the airport makes me hope that each difficult day that we live brings us friends and allies to give us strength in making their support felt and their help in pursuing this just cause for the defence of water and life. You know that for our part, our loyalty and conviction in this struggle is unquenchable, come what may and say what they like, we will continue the struggle until the final victory. For us, Conga won’t happen, not today, not ever, nor any Conga on the planet. We shall not rest until we know for sure that our marshlands, our mountains and our pastures will be safe and secure.”

I had to reply to him:  “What we have seen and what you and Manuel have shared with us, leaves us very concerned and ready to support you in your struggle which is both just and sacred. Your struggle is our struggle. This very day a letter will leave for Rome, one that we have composed together: Pope Francis, our father and our brother, listen to our witness and our cry of distress for the protection of our Earth and of its children.

To learn more about the Conga megaproject among many other article go to:

http://michelduchaine.com/2013/06/07/conga-and-cajamarca-peru-or-the-choice-between-life-and-death/