Montrealers mobilize for the Kaz Mountains
Montrealers will be mobilized for solidarity with people in Turkey who denounce the looting of resources and kill nature by multi-national corporations including Alamos Gold, a mining company based in Canada and its collaborators in Turkey.
The Canada Solidaire with the Kaz mountains group in Montreal, which invites the population to a solidarity action in Montreal in support of the struggle in the mountains of Kaz, Turkey says:
“A company based in Canada, Alamos Gold, is conducting a huge open pit gold mining operation together with its local subsidiary in Turkey’s Kaz Mountains. The company has apparently destroyed around 200,000 trees, 20 times more than what Alamos initially claimed had been cut down. Also, some twenty thousand (20,000) tonnes of cyanide would be used to extract gold. This toxic substance could devastate the natural life in this historic region in case of a leak. Large quantities of arsenic and heavy metals will also litter the area once the company completes the project.
Thousands of people raise their voices in Turkey
“On August 5, 2019, thousands of people in Turkey’s Çanakkale province marched to the construction site to protest against the looting conducted by the company in cahoots with Turkey’s ruling party. Protestors clashed with the security personnel who were ordered to stop them at the mine entrance. But the pressure of thousands of protesters gave results and the doors had to be opened. Once inside, protesters launched a citizen’s watch, seeking to protect “Water and Human Conscience” and have de facto suspended the mine construction activities on the site.
Not only in Turkey, the problem is worsening elsewhere in the world too
“The situation in Turkey’s Kaz Mountains is not an isolated one. Similar destructive projects are underway in Turkey’s other regions, as well as in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and beyond. Mining companies headquartered in Canada represent 75% of the world’s mining companies. Canadian-based mining companies are working arm-in-arm with many governments of countries in which they operate to plunder natural resources, taking advantage of relatively lower labor costs and legal gaps. These mining corporations are also responsible for crimes perpetrated against local people, often Indigenous populations who oppose such activities on their traditional lands.
‘Environment friendly’ governments are hypocrites
“It is hypocritical that governments, including Canada, on one hand depict themselves as being “pro-environment”, while, on the other hand, their companies cause deforestation, enhance climate change along with soil erosion damaging agriculture and contaminate water sources and numerous species’ habitats in order to increase profits. It is also hypocritical that the Canadian governments introduces “carbon taxes” to be paid by its citizens, while Canadian-based mining companies pay next to nothing in royalties and taxes for their destructive activities in Turkey and elsewhere.
The members of the Canada Solidarity with Kaz Mountains (Montreal) called on the people of Quebec and people elsewhere in Canada to support the struggle against the looting in the Kaz Mountains. The group demonstrates solidarity with those who resist and take steps to protect the future, not only in the Kaz Mountains, but around the world, where such exploitative capitalist enterprises destroy life and natural resources.”
The event will take place on Friday, August 16th, from 18h, at Cabot Square (Atwater metro station).
Bizim Anadolu / August 15th, 2019
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