Comments on: A bad month for oil palm

By: Oystein Tandberg

Oystein Tandberg — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 06:23:55 +0000

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Another bunch of rich westerners ‘championing’ the rights of poor and hungry folks from developing countries?”

The only person with openly patronizing comments here so far is you Ed Faisaly! For some of us it is about autonomy, and helping others assert it when they don’t have a fair possibility to have their voice heard!

Those of us who have advanced beyond your simple reasoning know that these capitalist projects start with lies and end up with devastation.

All people have the right to development and decent livelihoods, that means they have the rights not to have their livelihoods destroyed by pesticides and fertilizers, and the right not to be killed by those defending the rights of the capitalists.

Industrialization and privatization is not a model that should be forced upon people, and the devastation it is bringing to the planet is there for you to investigate.

Global Warming is another thing all together. Global Warming, as it is promoted by the UN, is a hoax to justify the privatization of more land and resources. For sure NGO’s are playing a destructive role – WWF, Greenpeace, Conservation International are prime examples – as conservation and plantations in a capitalist system are threatening peoples existence – that needs to be addressed!

I support Survival so far – you have to present me with a deeper critique of Survivals work – as plantations and mining projects in the capitalist system will never bring prosperity to these communities.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:02:22 +0000

@ Ed Faisaly

This is not about patronizing tribal peoples to serve “rich westerners’” interests. Quite the opposite, Survival is doing what it can to empower them and their decisions whilst their ancestral land is taken without proper consultation. Defending such land seizure in the name of poverty-mitigation is patronizing and ignores the damage that has been done to tribal peoples in the name of ‘development’ for centuries.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/progresscankill

@winmac80

There can be no doubt that the problems faced by the Penan, logging, plantations, the taking of their land without consent, are very serious and that they oppose them vigorously.

Besides ongoing eviction from and destruction of their lands, their struggle has seen them suffer greatly, including incidents of rape and suspected murder.

The Penan’s rights in international law must be respected, and any ‘improvements for a better livelihood’ must be done on their terms, not forced upon them by others which is a recipe for disaster. Once again, please see:

http://www.survivalinternational.org/progresscankill

By: winmac80

winmac80 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:20:42 +0000

Yes, Toby. Your intention may be pure, but you’re just being used by other NGOs which makes survival a mindless tool. The truth is, there are actually very small cases of the Penans protesting the invasion of their land and not surprisingly, this was instigated by the NGOs to just make a scene.

In truth, oil palm plantation has provide a better livelihood for the Penans by giving them proper education for their children, offering them jobs and even settle down.

I would like to bring your attention to a video that is being produced that actually shows the real truth about the Penans in Sarawak – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJAHQUR6xMk

Thank you.

By: Ed Faisaly

Ed Faisaly — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:27:16 +0000

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Another bunch of rich westerners ‘championing’ the rights of poor and hungry folks from developing countries? Oh, wait a minute. No, they only ‘champion’ the rights of indigenous, natives and tribal folks. Hmm, what does the ‘survival international’ advocate again? the right of poor, hungry tribal folks to continue living without proper clothing, potable water, sturdy roof over their head, higher education and no medical care? All of these, while the rich westerners all continue wearing their Pradas and their Versaces while drinking their red wines, dangling their diamonds from Tiffany’s on their skinny-by-choice fingers, living in a mansion in a sprawling estate and driving their gas-guzzling humvees? Come on folks! You must be kidding right? Because at the moment, 80% of the world resources are being consumed by the rich westerners while the remaining miniscule slice of the pie, i.e. 20% are being left for scraps by the poor and hungry folks from the developing countries. And what are the ‘survival international’ are doing about this? Yeah, that’s right! Preach to everyone that the uneducated, nomadic folks from the developing countries should continue living in the dark jungle with the mosquitoes and leeches, eat tree barks and drink from the puddle.
It doesn’t matter if palm oil are being planted on legal agricultural land, it doesn’t matter if palm oil is being used by countries like Malaysia to eradicate abject poverty, it doesn’t matter that Malaysia already preserves more than 50% of their land as forest reserves (which they pledged to do so in 1989 at the Rio Summit, long before all those environmental goons go ape and starts yelling ‘global warming!’) and it doesn’t matter that the poor tribal folks have every right to learn to read a book and improve their socio-economic standing. What matters to the rich westerners are that they can continue to consume like they do. Waste like they do. And the jungle folks should all rot in their muddy rainforests.

Bloody westerners should look at themselves again and again and again before they even think that they have the right to patronize the indigenous and native folks!!!

By: Toby, Survival

Toby, Survival — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:17:28 +0000

Survival itself has no position on oil palm, other than when it is involved in the abuse of the rights of tribal peoples – when it is planted on their land without their free, prior and informed consent. When oil palm plantations destroy the forests that the Penan rely on, without their permission, then it is Survival’s duty to protest and to make the Penan’s voices heard across the world.

The truth is that however ‘nutritious’ palm oil may be, if it is planted on the lands of tribal people, without their agreement, then it is in contravention of international laws on the rights of indigenous people. The Penan have suffered for years while their forests have been logged, and now remaining forest is being cleared for oil palm. The Penan cannot live without their forests, without them this proud and self- sufficient people will not survive.

By: winmac80

winmac80 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:35:42 +0000

Touche to the NGOs for successfully mislead the public into believing that palm oil is bad for the environment. After failure to label it as tropical oil which is associated with saturated fats and links with cardiovascular diseases, the cute orangutan and forests are the new subjects by anti-palm NGOs and their mindless machine. Not to mention scavengers (like survivalinternational.org).

The truth is, palm is a very nutritious oil, as good as olive. On the environmental side, it is absorbs 8 times more carbon dioxide than soybean, uses 6 times less land than soybean to produce the same amount of oil, and is planted on logged over lands. Malaysia and Indonesia still has more than 50 percent of their land under forest which was committed during the Rio Summit.

So please get the facts right. Go to http://www.ceopalmoil.com or http://www.mpoc.org.my