(Q) For Ashok:

You talk about the government keeping all of the land they inherited from the British Empire, that was prior taken from the indigenous peoples, and at the moment, I think they are trading that land with companies and big conservation NGOs. Could you confirm that this is the case, and let us know of some examples, and which organizations are involved in this?

(A) The question deserves detail that we don’t have time for, but you raised an important point. Since 1993 the acquisition has been going on among British companies and through agriculture. There are 130 government forestry (?) in Italy (???) They declared a policy that the forests are universal properties and cannot become a state particular nation. Simply we do not know the companies because it is not openly they are coming at us. There is a federation in India, we expect that the international companies will come and Indian companies, because India also has very big companies. India is also very strong. They are competing globally. There are many federations. The government made an agreement two years before, that they will give 20 million hectares of degraded forestland to the companies for reproducing forests in the name of public private partnership. This public private partnership is (???) and mostly this land will go to paper mills. As you know the paper mills are in serious crisis of pulp. We are pretty sure this is the same land the forest people are claiming. The program promoted by World Bank in joint forest management is a hoax to take over the forest area by outsiders. Most of the community leaders are from outside the communities, and they are saying they represent the communities. They are creating a conflict within the communities. Killing of indigenous people has taken place. World Bank has promoted programs that are also very dangerous, and we are fighting. We are saying, dismantle the joint forest management structure, and come up with new legislation. For the first time in India, forest people have political rights. Through their political rights we can fight these forces out, but we also need your help. In campaigning and mobilization, social forum processes have been very helpful to us. Through the social forum, our people have gained a new consciousness.

(Q) For Jose:

How do you maintain and sustain your community radio. Do you get into any conflict with your government, because you must have to air some information to the communities which the government may not want or agree to? How do you handle this?

(A) Most of our radios aren’t legal, but the government doesn’t shut them down. Ironically, the work of Real World Radio is better known outside of Uruguay than in Uruguay. Nonetheless, there are some community radios in Uruguay and even private corporate media that take up our news and broadcast it in Uruguay.

(Q) To Maria:

We have a problem in Kenya where we find that women are involved in what we call fish for sex. It has been going on especially in the Lake Victoria region. Maybe you have such a problem in the Philippines. Can you let us know how we can address such an issue, so that we can also have freedom when it comes to fishery issues?

(A) Kenyan women and Philippine women fisher folk share the same experience. In the Philippines, the government programs are not concerned about the fisher folk women in helping them augment their livelihood, so they can augment their incomes and help their husbands. We do have problems regarding the eco-tourism. In eco-tourism, our fishing grounds are being a tourist area, so the women cannot fish anymore because it is intended for tourists only. There are some experiences, where the women who do not have income anymore fall to prostitution. The tourists come here, and they sell their bodies in exchange for money, or sometimes for one kilo of fish to feed their families. We are finding new ways to capacitate ourselves so we can recess all those government policies, and also we can fight the culture that women must not only stay at home, but also struggle for the change of the system.

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The speeches from Regaining Control of the Commons: WSF 2007 are provided for information and educational purposes. The transcription has been undertaken on a volunteer basis. Due to resource limitations we are unable to provide a complete transcription. We apologise for the breaks in the text.

Disclaimer: The view in this and the other articles do not (neccessarily) represent the position or views of Friends of the Earth Australia nor Friends of the Earth International.