M•CAM NEWSLETTER
WINTER 2011
PAGE 1
THE NAVIGARE
WINTER 2011
www.M‐CAM.com
Volume 1, Number 3
FEATURE STORY: INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Regaining Humanity in Papua New Guinea
1‐3
Integral Accounting of a Christmas Tree
2‐5
Special Thanks to “Mamma T”
3
Integral Accounting Hits 4 Nepal Occupy M•CAM
5‐7
Spotlight on Patently Obvi‐ ous
6‐8
Meet our Media Intern: Tara DeLuccia
6
Special Message to our Readers
8
Did You know?
9
Featured Community Mem‐ ber of the Quarter
9
REGAINING HUMANITY IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA By Ken Dabkowski and David Martin Named “New Guinea” by Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545 and later administered by the Germans and Australians until it gained independence from Australia in 1975 the Independent State of Papua New Guinea is home to some of humanity’s oldest cultures. Given its geologic history and inestimable bio‐ diversity, outsiders have seen Papua New Guinea as “a mountain of gold floating on a sea of oil.” Ger‐ man occupiers, Catholic missionaries, and Australian miners and drillers have a long history of seeing the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea as cheap labor on the best of days and a complete nuisance in their quest for resource extraction and pillage the rest of the time. Aided by “development bank” manipulation, misinformation, and explicit inequitable business nego‐ tiations, Esso Highlands Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation received the license to be the latest in a string of marauding interests in the country. Buoyed by their November 2009 off‐take agreement with Sinopec Corp with which Exxon has agreed to sell 2 million tones of liquefied natural gas (LNG); the PNG LNG Project has enriched several investors while adding to the systematic abuse of the local communities. From “accidental deaths” including a recent fatality of a child who happened to be playing with blast‐ ing caps left unattended by contractors to forced relocation through coercion and force, thousands of Highland communities – many of whom have been living in their villages for tens of thousands of years – have become Exxon refugees. These displaced persons have scattered across the country but many – estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000 have descended onto squatter towns around Port Moresby. These displaced person encampments have no gardens, no potable water, no sanita‐ tion and no prospect of having these issues addressed. All the while, Exxon trucks, pristine white Toy‐ ota trucks and Land Cruisers, and contractor vehicles race through these dusty villages as they race towards completion of an estimated $15 billion project that will be a windfall for U.S., European, Chi‐ nese, and Japanese investors. For about six years, David Martin had been working on various community engagement projects in Papua New Guinea. Some of the work has included restructuring mining contracts, repatriating land from the Catholic Church to an East New Britain community, and expanding the global reach of the regions first organic certified spice company. Through this previous work in Papua New Guinea, we were introduced to Clement Kanau, a gentleman who sees a future for PNG that empowers the citi‐ zens in partnership with, rather than exploited by, the world. Clement has decided to run for Continued on page 3