[asia-apec 478] Re: Mail failure
Gatt Watchdog
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Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 15:17:55 -0700
To: ccpa at policyalternatives.ca
From: Sid Shniad <shniad at sfu.ca>
Subject: Mail failure
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>>Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 10:19:35 -0400
>>To: fol-l at tao.ca
>>From: fol at tao.ca
>>Subject: Daishowa Boycott did its job
>>
>>June 18, 1998
>>The Toronto Star
>>
>>By Naomi Klein
>>
>> Daishowa boycott did its job
>>
>>
>> It is clear that Kevin Thomas can't quite
>> believe his eyes.
>>
>> He is holding a map, which arrived by fax
>> from forestry giant Daishowa just moments
>> ago. The map is of a 10,000 square
>> kilometre area in northern Alberta
>> representing territory claimed by the
>> Lubicon Cree. The area is at the centre of
>> a fierce land-claim dispute for which the
>> federal government has failed to negotiate
>> a settlement in 65 years.
>>
>> Attached to the map is a letter from the
>> president of Daishowa pledging ``not to
>> harvest or purchase timber'' in the
>> contested area until the land claim is
>> resolved. This is what Thomas and his
>> colleagues in Friends of the Lubicon have
>> been demanding for seven years. They got
>> it last week.
>>
>> Up until then, Daishowa had insisted on
>> its right to log the area based on an
>> agreement it had with the government of
>> Alberta, though it did put its operations
>> on hold. The Lubicon argued that the
>> province had no right to auction off
>> natural resources which were not its to
>> sell.
>>
>> In 1991, the Friends called for a boycott
>> of Daishowa products. Since Daishowa
>> doesn't sell directly to the public but
>> rather supplies paper goods to large
>> companies, the Friends couldn't take its
>> case directly to the people. Instead, it
>> traced Daishowa's paper bags to several
>> high-profile buyers, including Pizza Pizza
>> and Woolworth's. Unlike Daishowa, brand
>> image and customer relations are of
>> central importance to these companies.
>>
>> Daishowa took the Friends to court,
>> claiming the boycott was unlawful and had
>> cost it $14 million in lost revenue. But
>> on April 14, an Ontario Court judge ruled
>> in favour of the activists. After the
>> ruling, the Friends vowed to bring back
>> the boycott with renewed force, unless
>> Daishowa pledged to stay off the disputed
>> land, which brings us back to the fax.
>>
>> The Lubicon's victory should serve as a
>> warning to all other faceless
>> resource-based corporations which have
>> been able to conduct their operations in
>> relative secrecy. Mines and clear-cutting
>> programs may attract the ire of
>> environmentalists and Native bands, but we
>> all know how unresponsive logging and
>> mining giants can be to those concerns -
>> even when people are literally lying down
>> in front of their bulldozers.
>>
>> And why should the companies care? They
>> deal exclusively with governments and
>> corporate clients which transform raw
>> resources into consumer goods. Since they
>> don't sell to the public, they don't have
>> to worry about their public image - which
>> is precisely why violent clashes in remote
>> areas of the wilderness are so common.
>>
>> Up until now, it's been the big brand
>> names which have had to worry about
>> consumer campaigns. Nike has been scarred
>> by sweatshop scandals and Shell oil -
>> which stamps its name on the commodity it
>> extracts - continues to face international
>> outrage over the environmental and human
>> rights abuses its drilling has caused on
>> Ogoni land in Nigeria.
>>
>> The timing of the Lubicon's breakthrough
>> couldn't be better. Every week there are
>> more horrifying reports about Canadian
>> mining companies utterly failing to
>> respect the heath, safety and sovereignty
>> of peoples around the world - from the
>> Philippines, to Spain, to Indonesia to
>> Kyrgyzstan to our own Voisey's Bay.
>>
>> The Friends of the Lubicon's boycott
>> demonstrates that even natural resource
>> companies will not be exempt from the
>> mounting calls for corporate
>> accountability. Investigative activists
>> can track their resources' progression
>> through the economy until the point where
>> they turn into consumer goods and public
>> pressure can be applied. This point may be
>> when nickel turns into batteries, old
>> growth wood into furniture, gold into
>> jewelry - the possibilities are limitless.
>>
>> All along, Daishowa has claimed it was
>> being unfairly targeted because the
>> dispute was between the band and
>> government. In many ways, that is
>> absolutely true. Since the Lubicon applied
>> for a land settlement in 1933, the federal
>> government - though conceding to the
>> band's right to a reserve - has refused to
>> negotiate in good faith. In the meantime,
>> resource extraction has caused massive
>> damage to the ecosystem and the Lubicon
>> way of life.
>>
>> The targeting of a corporation was an act
>> of desperation. ``The government was never
>> going to settle so long as the Lubicon
>> people were the only ones suffering - the
>> only ones unable to carry on with business
>> as usual,'' says Thomas.
>>
>> Now that Daishowa's multi-million-dollar
>> operations in the area are directly linked
>> to a resolution of the land claim, the
>> Lubicon have some very influential company
>> in their long wait.
>>
>> -------------------
>>
>> Naomi Klein's column appears on Thursdays.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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