Women affected by dams gives Vale’s mud back

On International Women’s Day, several protests were held in Brazil to denounce Vale’s responsibility within the largest environmental disaster in Brazilian history.

“It wasnt’ an accident: Vale kills river, forest, animals and kills people,” intoned in a funk sound of drumming led by Levante Popular da Juventude (Popular Youth Uprise).

“We are conducting a national day of struggle to denounce that Samarco, Vale and BHP Billiton are responsible for the murder of 19 people in Bento Rodrigues and all the resulting mud destruction that spread in the basin of the Rio Doce,”, said Thiago Alves, coordinator of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB).

The women affected by dams threw liters of mud from the river Doce at the Vale’s headquarter in Rio de Janeiro. “If Vale tried to hide itself in this upper class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, in a building without identification, the company failed. We came here in front of this criminal enterprise to charge for our 19 loved-ones, murdered by Vale,”said the militant of Levante Popular da Juventude, Luma Vitório.

Even after 120 days since the Fundão dam’s burst thousands of people affected have still not received adequate assistance of Samarco (Vale/BHP Billiton); as Vilma, who lives in Ponte Nova in the state of Minas Gerais: “We are here to report what Samarco did with us: Samarco destroyed our river and our river was our livelihood”.

Emir Sader, an important Brazilian political scientist also attended the protest in Rio de Janeiro in solidarity to those affected by the disruption of the Fundão dam: “We are shocked by the silence of the press, what happened in Mariana is the biggest environmental scandal in the history of Brazil, sponsored by the company that exacerbated that the privatization model would be the solution for this country”.

With the Movement of People Affected by Dams and Levante Popular da Juventude, were also taking part of the protest the Small Farmers Movement (MPA), the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) and the Federation of Petrol Workers (FUP).

Besides this act, the women affected by dams are taking part of several events and protests in other states. In this International Day of Struggle of Women, women affected claim the reduction of electricity house-fees and the establishment of a National Policy of Rights for Populations Affected by Dams.

In Belo Horizonte, capital city of Minas Gerais, two thousand women marched in the city and protested in front of Vale’s office, which also received back its mud.

The women were encamped in front of the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais and marched to Vale’s office.

On Wednesday the women also took action in Belo Horzonte where they occupied the electricity company CEMIG to denounce the high price of household energy fee and the scheme of subsidized energy received by Samarco.

Women, water and energy are not commodities!