20131203

Cecelia Chapman


from Conflict @Heritage Sites


BUDDHA DIE
Around 632 in Bamiyan valley, several thousand monks chanted with the monks chanting behind the mask of the bejeweled buddha carved in the cliff. Later Genghis Khan, among others, vandalized the buddhas. Taliban shot rocket launchers at the 1500 year old silk road buddha, erasing it in 2001.

SPIRIT BEAR FOREST
Pipelines planned for British Columbia would transport 525,000 oil barrels each day from Alberta’s tar sands through the Great Bear Rainforest. Supertankers on huge roads will cross coastal waterways to reach a pristine forest and invade the home of many species including spirit bears. Any oil spills from tankers would endanger the sacred place of first nations, their livelihood, all of the creatures, all of us.

YASUNI
This is not a tourist zone, this is an area in a state of red alert.' The Waorani leader told the press, 'We’re asking the authorities to act immediately on our request to provide logistical support to protect our (uncontacted) Taromenane brothers.’

Yasuni Park designated by UNESCO in 1989 as a Biosphere Reserve has billions of dollars of oil underneath the ground. In the Yasuní several indigenous populations live in voluntary isolation. Many roads have been built into Waorani territory by oil and gas companies and illegal loggers. Texaco began drilling oil in the 1960s leaving tons of toxic waste in the Ecuadorian Amazon causing cancer, miscarriages and skin rashes.

Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa’s deal to leave a small part of the Yasuni untouched in return for 3.6 billion dollars from the rest of the world fell apart. Government oil companies are preparing to drill in one of the last untouched areas of the Amazon.

JEJU
Construction / destruction on paradise island as the empire expands its arms race. At Jeju naval base, the U.S.-South Korean alliance, with Samsung, Daelim and Hyundai, is blasting and dropping fifty-seven 8,800 ton concrete caissons, even the sea gods destroy, on the fragile reef... where women free dive for abalone, and dolphins and the ancient spirits roam…



Cecelia Chapman is an artist working in film, writing and mixed media. She lives in Northern California. ceceliachapman.com
 
 
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