Podcast 10b - Africa, Melanesia & "Aus": Extractivism 101

Beyond Mining Series

This session talks to Extractivism from different perspectives including Africa, Melanesia and so-called Australia

MODERATOR Nat Lowrey is an activist who has organised, campaigned and advocated on human rights and global justice issues for over 20 years with a focus on exposing extractivist industries and their impacts.

PANELISTS

Richard Spoor is a South African activist and human rights attorney based in White River Mpumalanga who has more than 25 years of experience in complex litigation. A pioneer throughout the past 20 years in the fight for workers’ rights and safety, Spoor has become what The American Lawyer called the “bête noir” of the South Africa Mining Industry because of his unwavering commitment to holding mining companies accountable for their alleged ill-treatment of workers, who are some of the country’s most underprivileged citizens.

Ron Guy is the Convenor for Vic Australian Western Sahara Association he will discuss the activism and campaigns that have tried to protect the sovereignty of Indigenous Western Saharans and their ongoing struggle for self-determination.

Duncan Gabi and Vernon Gawi are university students in Papua New Guinea who volunteer with Project Sepik. Project Sepik leads the Save the Sepik campaign which is fighting to protect the Sepik River from the Frieda River Mine, a Cines-owned and Australian registered company who is proposing to build one of the biggest copper-gold mines in the world, Duncan and Vernon will speak to their resistance and to the broader movement in promoting Melanesian resource governance for the sustainability of their Lands, Rivers and Oceans as an alternative to extractivism and development aggression.

Porobibi is a West Papuan human rights activist with a deeply rooted connection and understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing, being & doing, which greatly informs his work. His involvement in advocacy work mobilises community, intersecting between community development and community organising.

Porobibi’s role as the Creative Director at the United Struggle Project has allowed for Indigenous voices to be amplified within creative spaces through The Change theatre and many different creative projects. Additionally, his work has involved organising and campaigning on the frontline with anti-war organisation Wage Peace. He has also been involved and assisting the direct action which occurred during Blockade IMARC in 2019.

He strongly values the notion of decolonisation and integrating Indigenous knowledge into his organising and honours his motherland of West Papua through his work.

Tim Buchanan is a Wiradjuri activist & artist with the Australian Student Environment Network