Amnesty International

Hi there, me again.
As I mentioned in my last blog, it is time to shine a spotlight on Canadian mining interests in other areas of the world.
It turns out that Amnesty International is another agency already involved.
Why Amnesty, you might ask?
If you follow it, or have a brief look, you may notice that there was an article in June from Latin America. A female activist was SHOT, while protesting the absence of human rights inculcated by Canadian mining in her area. In Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina, mining interests are given carte blanche to mis-appropriate people's homes and land without compensation, due process, etc.
Executives and government leaders who participate in such decisions and actions may think they do not have to take responsibility because they are at arms-length, but this is not the case. If not in the here and now, we know they will be held accountable to a Higher Court in the future; however, we have seen that more and more, these decision-makers are being held accountable for bad decisions. I wonder where these mining executives would be prosecuted? Perhaps in the World Court in The Hague, where, by the way, another Vancouver organization now has its base - Greenpeace. How ironic!
In my opinion, it's hypocritcal for Canada to critize other countries' human rights violations when we do not hold our companies to account in the countries in which they operate.
In a book I mentioned previously called Presence, by authors Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers, examples are given where it is possible for corporations, governments and civil societies to work together, through an agency called Global Leadership Initiative. Where there is a will on the part of the "players", it is possible to sit down and work towards sustainable development. The corporation, Shell International, is a primary example in this book. This is one of the few lights of hope for the future in addressing critical global challenges.
Some people argue that politics (and economics) and religion should not mix, and may wonder why I am doing a blog on such a subject. The fact is that the former has the power to break one's spirit. In some countries, religion is forced to follow the "party line". In some countries, perhaps, the state church is powerless to protect human rights and human dignity. They can only offer hope to their parishioners for a better life in the realm of the heavens.
However, my friends, as we learned during our week at the Living Gold Conference, this is in fact, not the only scenario.
More later.
Sparky