"These church people say horrible things about us... They say we're homewreckers and whores. The fact of the matter is, we're working to keep our own homes together, to give our kids what they need." - One of the Foxhole dancers, a married mother of six

Protesting doesn't help.  There was a time when I thought that protests were the de facto way to get your point heard and understood.  Protests do get you heard, but the way the message is being broadcasted in nearly all protests sets up an 'us vs. them' attitude and you are more likely to alienate those you wish to reach with your message than help.  It almost seems that protests spark a 'mob mentality' in each person involved and anger and hatred become the norm.

As the church left the building, they became Jesus in Flesh and the Love of the Father poured out all over these girls as they began to Love them, hug them, and seek forgiveness from them!!! Our Sweet Lola was broken and afraid to trust the church. Pastor Bill Hugged her and held her and promised with all his heart he was not gonna fail her. He prayed for her and it was AMAZING!! I saw my beautiful Lola Smile from ear to ear for the very first time!!!

This whole community was touched and reached today because they received the message Jesus had for them, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Pastor Bill and Strip Club Owner Tommy allowed the Love and Grace of Jesus to heal their relationship and they made peace with one another! They are going to have lunch on Wednesday! Praise be to God and we give Him all Honor and Praise for what HE DID here in Warsaw Ohio this weekend!!! The VICTORY HAS BEEN WON!!! THE WAR IS OVER!! PRAISE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

Q’orianka Kilcher is half Peruvian Indian on her father’s side, of Quechua/Huachipaeri descent.  Kilcher talks about the Peruvian Indian protests and how she’s helping them.

from the LA Times:

Late last week, Q’orianka and her mother flew to Peru, which in recent days has been the scene of violent clashes between police and Amazon indigenous groups, who are protesting the turning over of tribal lands to oil drilling, logging and mining. The clashes have left more than 30 people dead and brought severe criticism of President Alan García, who is pushing to open the Amazon for commercial development, over his government’s handling of the affair. Under domestic and international pressure, last week Peru’s Congress suspended the pro-development decrees that sparked the protests, but the situation is far from resolved.

morningyerba:

“The Jungle Is Not For Sale”

Iranians aren’t the only ones protesting these days.

Ever since last year, Peru’s Amazonian indigenous peoples have been resisting President Alan Garcia’s plan to grant corporate access to their traditional lands for greater development of oil, gas, logging and biofuel crops. click onto the link to see their photos.

Read more about this issue here in the Guardian

“…These native lands are the entitled properties of the Amazon people, and to sell them off without even consulting us is a violation of our ancestral rights. This is why we rioted on August 9. Well, how would you feel if all of a sudden some authority came to tell you that you had to get out of your house because a rich company wanted to settle there, and you had to find yourself another place to live?…”

-Saul Puerta Peña, of the Peruvian indigenous association AIDESEP

via www.villageearth.org

Protests have ended today after more than a week of armed blockades on roads and energy installations. More than 60 ethnic groups have come together in solidarity leaving behind their political divisions and organizational alliances to form a unified front against the state and the allied oil companies. The President of ODDPIAP (Organization for the Defense and Development of the Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon) has said this is a fight for everything.

“We are tired of being silent against the abuses of the government such as recent legislation passed which makes it easier for foreign companies to buy up indigenous lands in the Amazon. And over 70% of Amazon lands are now in the hands of oil companies. Over 1500 police have been deployed to Camisea, Bagua, and Marañon. Government helicopters have been circling locations taken over by indigenous protesters. The government had declared a state of emergency and had given permission for police to shoot protesters on the spot, but we indigenous peoples think this cause is worth dying for and are not scared anymore.”

Roads and rivers have been blockaded, oil pipelines were closed, oil operations have been occupied, and major industry was blocked from river travel between, in and around Iquitos and Pucallpa, the two major urban centers of the Peruvian Amazon.

What the indigenous front is asking for is direct dialogue with Alan Garcia, President of Peru, and his administration and the repeal of a number of destructive laws. The President claims that bringing industry and foreign investment into the furthermost reaches of the Amazon will bring people out of poverty. This is a clash between two different development paradigms. Many indigenous peoples have already determined their own development path and it does not include the wide-scale exploitation of resources and the industrial take over of their lands.

Several hundred tribespeople today staged a protest against FTSE-100 company Vedanta, as it bids massively to expand its controversial aluminium refinery in Lanjigarh, Orissa.

The refinery occupies land belonging to the Majhi Kondh tribe, and lies at the foot of the Niyamgiri hills, home of the isolated Dongria Kondhs. Both tribes took part in the protests.

The refinery has already been condemned by government officials for regularly breaching safety standards, and emitting ‘alarming’ pollution. Over a hundred families lost their homes to their refinery. Many more lost their farm land and with it their food-security and self sufficiency.

via (Survival International | Tribes stage mass protests against British mining company Vedanta)