Germany: Police attack anti-Nazi protesters

On February 19, more than 21,000 anti-fascist protesters took to the streets to stop up to 3,000 neo-Nazis from commemorating the Allied firebombing of Dresden during World War II. 

The police again protected the fascists from protesters, but - unlike in 2009 - didn't give them an armed guard in their march.

For the second year running, the anti-fascists successfully stopped the march form taking place, and the neo-Nazis were forced to leave the town centre via the railway to the nearby town of Leipzig, where they were also denied the right to march.

The victory was again marred by police violence against the anti-fascists.

Ecuador: Chevron found guilty of eco-vandalism

An Ecuadorian court handed down a landmark verdict in an 18-year case against international oil-giant Chevron on February 14.
 

The company was fined US$8.6 billion for polluting the Amazonian basin, and $900 million in costs.

The case — perhaps the biggest environmental case in history — was filed on behalf of around 30,000 peasants, farmers, and indigenous Ecuadorians who have suffered the ill-effects of Chevron’s toxic legacy.

At the heart of the case is the nearly 20 billion gallons of polluted water, oil and toxic waste released between 1972 and 1990 by oil company Texaco (now a part of Chevron) into the ecosystem in eastern Ecuador.

The pollution has caused thousands of deaths, cancers, birth defects and incalculable environmental damage — poisoning animals, plants and the water table — as well as huge economic loss.

So deadly has the impact been that it has been described as an “Amazonian Chernobyl”. In some affected areas, oil still oozes out of the polluted ground.

Ecuador: Correa says re-election 'a vote for socialism'

Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa was re-elected on April 27 in the small Andean nation.
Correa, a 46-year old radical economist and self-described socialist, won 52% of the vote, 24 points ahead of his nearest rival. He became the first candidate to win in the first round of a presidential poll since Ecuador emerged from dictatorship in 1979.
Former president Lucio Gutierrez — overthrown by mass protests in 2005 against his right-wing policies and corruption — won only 28% of the vote. Ecuador's richest man — banana magnate Alvaro Noboa —got 11%.
In National Assembly elections, held simultaneously, Correa's party Allianza Pais ("Country Alliance") appears to have won a majority 64 of 124 seats. Other left-wing parties —including the Movement for Popular Democracy and the indigenous party Pachakutik — won a further 15 seats.
"This revolution is on the march and nobody and nothing can stop us", Correa said. "At last power is in the hands of its legitimate owners, the Ecuadorian people and above all the poorest of our people."

Ecuador: Mining, debt and indigenous struggles

On November 17, thousands of indigenous and environmental activists rallied across Ecuador in protest against the introduction of a new mining law by the government of President Rafael Correa.

The protests, organised largely by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE — Ecuador's largest indigenous federation), marked the beginning of a week of protests by social, environmental and indigenous movements against the potentially environmentally destructive consequences of a number of proposed new laws — including laws relating to mining, water and the introduction of large-scale shrimp farming.

Ecuador's weak economy is heavily dependent upon mineral extraction — especially oil — and this has had a catastrophic effect on the environment and communities in affected areas.

A large part of the Ecuadorian Amazon is now being described as an "Amazonian chernobyl" after 18 billion gallons of polluted water were released into the water system by oil-giant Chevron Texaco. This has resulted in thousands of deaths, cancer, birth defects and massive environmental collapse.

Affected communities are currently pursuing Chevron in court.

Ecuador: Chevron battles government, indigenous people

International oil giant Chevron is lobbying the US government to cancel trade deals with Ecuador over a court case where it faces a US$16 billion fine for polluting the Amazonian rainforest.

Chevron is accused of dumping over 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the Ecuadorian jungle, in what many are calling a "rainforest Chernobyl" and maybe the biggest environmental court case in history.

The pollution has caused thousands of birth defects and deaths, and incalculable environmental damage — poisoning animals, plants and the water table.

The court case, on behalf of over 30,000 affected residents — many of them indigenous — was initiated in 1993 in the US. Chevron spent 10 years arguing it should be heard in Ecuador, renowned for it institutionalised corruption.

Having succeeded, however, they are now stuck in an Ecuador where left-wing President Rafael Correa has pledged to root out all corruption. Correa argued earlier this year that "Ecuador is no longer on sale".

Ecuadorians vote for radical change

On April 15, Ecuador voted overwhelmingly to ratify President Rafael Correa's proposal to convoke a Constituent Assembly with the power to re-write the constitution with the intention of weakening the stranglehold on the country of the traditional wealthy elite.
The proposal, which originated in the demands of the country's powerful indigenous federation CONAIE (40% of Ecuador's population is indigenous) and social movements, received 82% of the vote — a major victory for Correa and a devastating defeat for the corrupt elite that has dominated Ecuadorian politics for decades.

The process leading up to the vote revealed the degree to which the Congress and the nepotism of the organisations it harbours have been sidelined by the Ecuadorian people, who are demanding a truly participatory democracy.

Correa, a leftist economist and university lecturer who received his PhD from the University of Illinois, first came to national fame in 2005, in the aftermath of the overthrow of President Lucio Gutierrez. Gutierrez had followed the path of his predecessors by promising radical reforms and then backing down in the face of US and International Monetary Fund (IMF) pressure within days of being elected.

After Gutierrez became the third president in a decade to be ousted by popular unrest, Vice-President Alfredo Palacio took over, appointing Correa finance minister. Correa's stint was cut short, however. Within a few months he was forced to resign after his plans to redirect Ecuador's foreign debt spending towards social needs, like schools and hospitals, came up against powerful financial interests.