Jul-Aug 2008

Freeport mine: the Cairns dispute

International Purveyors, the company allied with the Howard Government in its war on the Maritime Union, is a front for Freeport McMoRan, infamous for its alleged desecration of Papuan sacred sites, environmental and human rights abuses...

Govt. enlists rogue corp against MUA

International Purveyors is a front for Freeport McMoran, the mining giant allegedly involved in environmental plunder & human rights abuses in West Irian.

September 11, 1997

Purveyors is attempting to bypass the MUA workforce and award conditions, when it ships out supplies from Cairns to the controversial Freeport mine in West Irian, Indonesia.

'The company secretary of Freeport sits on the board of Purveyors... A former employee of Northern Shipping and Stevedores is now an adviser to Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith. (The Australian, September 11, 1997). But the Government denies any conspiracy.

"Purveyors never existed until a year or so back when Freeport became a dirty word," said MUA branch secretary Bernie Farrelly. "All their operations here had the Freeport logo."

The Freeport mine, the biggest in the world, boasts about $1 million per day in profits (in gold copper and ore).

The Indonesian government holds a 9% share in the mine, but locals say nothing can compensate them for the damage to their environment and the loss of their sacred land. Violent uprisings against the company have made world headlines in recent years. Only last month the military clashed with 1000 tribesmen blocking the road to the mine after a Freeport vehicle was allegedly connected with the suspected murder of locals.

Containers that are being shipped out of Cairns could well be stained with the blood from interrogations, imprisonment and rape of locals living near the mine. Media reports used eyewitness accounts that Freeport had provided the Indonesian military company facilities, including containers to do their dirty work.

At a recent Native People's Tribunal parallel to the G7 Summit in Denver Colorado, Freeport was prosecuted for crimes against humanity. And in the US Federal Court, they are facing the risk of human rights charges. Multinational Monitor named Freeport one of the 10 worst corporations in 1996.

The Australian Council for Overseas Aid reported massacres of civilians in May 1995, summary execution, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture disappearances, including the shooting of 11 unarmed civilians by soldiers. They were shot while at prayer and included the village pastor and two children aged 5 and 6. The military repression helps protect Freeport's multi-billion dollar mining and its destruction of tribal land in West Irian.

The US Overseas Private Investment Corp cancelled a $100 million political risk insurance policy in 1996, claiming the mine was causing environmental damage (Inter Press Service)

It said: "...Freeport's implementation of the Project, and especially its tailings management and disposal practices, have severely degraded the rain forests..."

Irian's rain forests cover the bulk of the provinces 163,000 square miles, the largest remaining area of trees in a nation that is second only to Brazil in rain forest acreage (The National, February 7, 1994). At risk is the bird of paradise, the world's most opulent and showy bird and tree dwelling kangaroos.

In April last year an environmental audit helped reinstate the insurance. But the Indonesian Daily Jakarta Post reported in March this year: "Residents along the Ajkwa River... have been warned against drinking the polluted water...'

Walhi, the Indonesian Environmental Forum has claimed tailings from the Grasberg mine contain mercury, cyanide and arsenic. Freeport has pressured USAID to stop funding Walhi.

The Mineral Policy Institute and the Australian Conservation Foundation have called for an investigation into statements by Rio Tinto that the Grasberg mine operates through internationally acceptable environment standards and that Freeport is not involved in human rights abuses.

Rio Tinto owns 12% of Freeport McMoran.

It is Rio Tinto which has led the charge against unionised labour in Australia at Weipa and Hunter Valley Mines. A Rio Tinto mine is linked to the civil war in neighbouring Bouganville. Amungme leader Tom Beanal says: "These companies have taken over and occupied our land... We have not been silent. We protest and are angry. But we have been arrested, beaten and put into containers...

''Our environment has been ruined and our forests and rivers polluted by waste. The sago forests which serve as our primary food source have become dry, making it hard for us to find food. The animals we have hunted in the past have disappeared so we no longer know where to hunt...

'Gold and copper have been taken by Freeport for the past 30 years, but what have we gotten in return? Only insults, torture, arrests, killings, forced evictions from our land, impoverishment and alienation from our own culture.' Tom Beanal is attempting to sue Freeport in the US courts for $6 billion in damages.

HOT LINK
More details on environmental and human rights concerns and links to several sights, including Freeport McMoRan, can be found on the web:
www.cs.utexas.edu/users/boyer/fp/

Freeport mine: the Cairns dispute

Govt. enlists rogue corp against MUA

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