The Survival demonstration outside Coutts Bank previously advertised on this website planned for the 10th June has been cancelled. In reaction to the planned picket Coutts has just informed Survival that they no longer hold shares in Vedanta, the British-based company whose planned bauxite mine will devastate the lands of India's Dongria Kondh tribe.
The Survival demonstration outside Coutts Bank previously advertised on this website planned for the 10th June has been cancelled. In reaction to the planned picket Coutts has just informed Survival that they no longer hold shares in Vedanta, the British-based company whose planned bauxite mine will devastate the lands of India's Dongria Kondh tribe.
Survival is continuing to lobby other Vedanta shareholders, as well as the company itself.
For more information, please go to
http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/dongria
Report follows of picket last week.
Survival protest - ‘Finsbury profits from tribe’s destruction’
28 May 2008
Survival International this morning held a demonstration outside the London PR company FINSBURY, a subsidiary of global advertising company WPP. The protest highlighted Finsbury’s involvement with British mining giant Vedanta, which is set to destroy one of India’s most isolated tribes – the Dongria Kondh.
Carrying placards that said ‘Finsbury profits from tribe’s destruction’, demonstrators handed leaflets to Finsbury employees as they arrived for work, urging them to persuade Finsbury to resign their account with Vedanta.
Vedanta’s subsidiary, Sterlite, plans to mine aluminium ore from the Niyamgiri mountains in Orissa, India, where all of the 8,000 Dongria Kondh live.
The Dongria Kondh vehemently oppose the mine. Jitu Jakesika, a Dongria spokesperson, said, ‘We will become beggars if the company destroys our mountain and our forest so that they can make money. We will give our lives for our mountain.’
The Dongria Kondh have lived on the slopes of Niyamgiri since time immemorial, and are totally dependent on its forests. They view the mountain as sacred, grow crops on the slopes, and gather wild fruit in the dense forests.
Survival is continuing to lobby other Vedanta shareholders, as well as the company itself.
For more information, please go to
http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/dongria Report follows of picket last week.
Survival protest - ‘Finsbury profits from tribe’s destruction’
28 May 2008
Survival International this morning held a demonstration outside the London PR company FINSBURY, a subsidiary of global advertising company WPP. The protest highlighted Finsbury’s involvement with British mining giant Vedanta, which is set to destroy one of India’s most isolated tribes – the Dongria Kondh.
Carrying placards that said ‘Finsbury profits from tribe’s destruction’, demonstrators handed leaflets to Finsbury employees as they arrived for work, urging them to persuade Finsbury to resign their account with Vedanta.
Vedanta’s subsidiary, Sterlite, plans to mine aluminium ore from the Niyamgiri mountains in Orissa, India, where all of the 8,000 Dongria Kondh live.
The Dongria Kondh vehemently oppose the mine. Jitu Jakesika, a Dongria spokesperson, said, ‘We will become beggars if the company destroys our mountain and our forest so that they can make money. We will give our lives for our mountain.’
The Dongria Kondh have lived on the slopes of Niyamgiri since time immemorial, and are totally dependent on its forests. They view the mountain as sacred, grow crops on the slopes, and gather wild fruit in the dense forests.
Comments
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Coutts never had shares in Vedanta
06.06.2008 04:51
I took the trouble of telephoning Coutts last week to discover how many shares it held and was informed that the bank in fact never held shares in Vedanta and that Survival International had made a mistake. This was the reason, I believe, that the protest has been cancelled. Had Coutts sold any such shares I am sure that SI would have (justifiably) claimed this as a significant victory, which it obviously has not.
It is important that campaigners publicise their victories; at the same time, I think that we should not believe that we have achieved things that we haven't.
Paul