Damocracy the movie has been released, chronicling the struggles of communities a world apart to defend their rivers from monster dams masquerading as “clean” energy: the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River in Brazil and the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in Turkey. Watch it here.
The 34-minute documentary is an excellent primer on the problems posed by mega-dam projects anywhere in the world, from their environmental and social impacts (including a greater global warming impacts than coal plants) to the way they are forced through over widespread opposition by affected communities, often by means of shady legal tactics.
Kayapo Dancers vow to defend their territory from Brazil’s plans for the Belo Monte Dam in 2008
Kayapo Dancers vow to defend their territory from Brazil’s plans for the Belo Monte Dam in 2008
The Belo Monte and Ilisu dams are classic examples of the type of globalized infrastructure that is meant to prop up the global economy and send resources flowing to the wealthy at the expense of all people and life on earth, with indigenous and other land-based cultures often the most affected.
Please watch the film and forward it around, or host screenings to help publicize these struggles. Both dams have already been canceled once before, and continue to face fierce opposition. May they both go the way of La Parota!
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