Program – Akademija Zeleni evropski horizonti
Green European Horizons Academy: Good for All
Prostor Miljenko Dereta, Dobračina 55, Belgrade
February 16th 2024
10:00 – 10:30 Opening of the public event
10:30 – 12:00 Lecture and discussion: What do we mean when we say extractivism – Iskra Krstić, Polekol
Iskra Krstić, Polekol
Iskra Krstić is an independent researcher in the field of critical urban studies and an author at the Masina online media with a focus on environmental protection and uneven spatial development. Krstić is a member of the Organisation for political ecology — Polecol’s broader team, a member of the Right to Water initiative and the Solidarity Political platform.
12:00 – 12:30 Pause
12:30 – 13:30 Lecture and discussion: EU Critical Raw Material Act and Green New Deal – Diego Marin, European Environmental Bureau
Diego Marin, European Environmental Bureau
Diego Marin works with the Global Policy team. He hold a Master in International Development with a specialization in Political Strategy and Communication from the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. During his academic career, Diego mainly focused on environmental issues, indigenous rights, and poverty alleviation. He previously interned for the Red Cross EU Office working on development projects. Diego spent some time in Cajamarca, Peru where he completed his thesis on the impact of extractivism and its link to poverty exacerbation in the region. Diego speaks Spanish, English, and French.
13:30 – 15:00 Pause
15:00 – 16:30 Lecture and discussion: Right to Say No – Jan Moril, Earthworks (SAD); Shanai Matteson, Tamarack Water Alliance (SAD); Johnny Barber, Honor the Earth (SAD); Allen Richardson, Honor the Earth (SAD)
Jan Moril, Earthworks
Jan Morrill is the Tailings Campaign Manager at Earthworks, a US-based organization working with communities impacted by extraction projects to stop the harms caused by irresponsible mining, drilling and fracking. As the Tailings Campaign Manager, her work focuses on mine waste, called tailings, and the social, environmental and cultural disasters that result when mining companies put profits over safety. Jan works with communities around the world directly affected by dangerous tailings storage facilities, including in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, and she seeks to elevate best practices locally and globally.
Shanai Matteson, Tamarack Water Alliance
Shanai Matteson is an artist & cultural organizer who resides in Anishinaabe territory or northern Minnesota, United States. She is one of the founding members of the community group Tamarack Water Alliance and organizes with other rural residents and nonprofit groups in the region to oppose the Talon Metals/Rio Tinto mining district, which threatens the Mississippi River, globally-rare peatlands, fisheries and wild rice.
Johnny Barber, Honor the Earth
Johnny Barber is a human rights activist, writer and videographer. He currently lives in Anishinaabe territory or northern Minnesota. He is developing a “Story Map” to document extraction and frontline communities fighting for justice in the face of oppression. He believes clean water is a necessity that outweighs all of the nickel in the Talon Metals/Rio Tinto mining district.
Allen Richardson, Honor the Earth
Allen Richardson fought predatory banks in New Mexico as an ACORN organizer before campaigning in Minnesota to prevent UMN and the biotech industry from genetically engineering wild rice. He campaigned against the policies of the Tea Party with TakeActon Minnesota. He organized against the proposed PolyMet mine with WaterLegacy and was active with Honor the Earth’s early resistance against the Sandpiper pipeline. In 2017 Allen was tasked by Honor the Earth to address the issue of pipeline abandonment in the Line 3 fight. He is currently a staff organizer at Honor the Earth working on the Talon Mine campaign.
16:30 – 17:00 Pause
17:00 – 19:00 Panel discussion: Moving from Extraction to Regeneration
– Anishinaabe elder Ricky DeFoe, Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota Chippewa (USA)
– Lynda Sullivan, Yes to Life, No to Mining – Ireland
– Marijana Petkovic, Alliance of Environmental Organizations of Serbia – Gornje Nedeljice Village
– Francisco Venes, Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso (UCDB) – Portugal
– Majda Ibraković, Eko forum Zenica – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Anishinaabe elder Ricky DeFoe, Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota Chippewa
Ricky DeFoe is an elder and member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He works as a Cultural Counselor for Behavior Health with Fond du Lac Min No Aya Win. Ricky also serves as a Pipe Carrier and a Sweat Lodge Keeper to lead spiritual ceremonies and teach the need to protect and care for the water and for plant, animal, and human beings of this earth. Ricky is a graduate of a Federal Indian Boarding School, attended Flandreau Indian School in Flandreau, S.D., and served in the United States Army National Guard. He worked as a union ironworker for more than 20 years. Ricky served as co-chair of the Duluth Indigenous Commission (formerly Duluth American Indian Commission) and as co-chair of Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Oversight Committee to reduce racial disparities in juvenile detention in Minnesota.
Linda Salivan, Yes to Life, No to Mining
Lynda Sullivan is Co-coordinator of the global solidarity network Yes to Life No to Mining, as well as an activist and co-founder of Communities Against the Injustice of Mining (Ireland). She’s also a writer, researcher and educator on environmental and social justice issues in Ireland.
Marijana Petković, Savez ekoloških organizacija Srbije
Marijana Petković, a Serbian language and literature professor at the Vuk Karadžić Gymnasium in Loznica, does not consider herself an activist but rather a fighter against the destruction of Serbia, targeted by mining companies from around the world. When she realized what Rio Tinto planned to do in the Jadar Valley, she joined those who decided to oppose it. Emotional, sincere, uncompromising. A woman who is trusted.
Francisco Venes, member of UDCB
Francisco Venes, member of UDCB and engaged political ecologist. Currently finishing a PhD project about rural women’s opposition to mining in Portugal and Ecuador. UDCB is a local non-profit association that promotes and defends the environment, culture and livelihoods in the parish of Covas do Barroso. It has been resisting Savannah’s Lithium Mining Project since 2018.
Majda Ibraković, Eko forum Zenica
Originally from Zenica, she lives in Sarajevo. Engaged with the Eco Forum association, which has been actively addressing environmental pollution issues in Zenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina for 15 years. Throughout a decade of activist work, she has primarily focused on the issues related to mines and thermal power plants. Her interests are centered around ongoing mining projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, monitoring companies, and providing support to local movements and activists on the ground. Currently, she leads the Eco Bosnia network and coordinates around 30 environmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Simultaneously, she is pursuing a master’s degree in Degrowth: Ecology, Economy, and Policy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, focusing her research on extractivist practices globally and in the Balkans region.
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