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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
Protesters burned stock shares and University of Denver diplomas outside the Denver Marriott City Center Aug. 30 in response to an award ceremony for former gold-mining company CEO Wayne Murdy.
The DU Graduate School for International Studies gave Murdy the Bridge Builder's Award for his role in establishing ties between Denver and international communities.
"They're afraid of these banners. They're afraid of your voice," said Glenn Morris, associate professor of political science at UCD, to the group of activists. Protesters in the crowd outside the Marriott ignited Newmont stock certificates and two diplomas: one master's degree and one PhD, each earned by activists at the demonstration. One protester, dressed in orange and black novelty pimp attire, led another, disguised as a tall green monster with a nametag that read "Wayne Murdy," with a cutout of a carrot.
Activists have targeted Denver-based Newmont Mining Corporation, the second-largest producer of gold in the world, for alleged environmental and human-rights violations. Newmont counters that it brings employment and utilities such as clean drinking water to indigent communities. Under the leadership of Murdy, Newmont grew to be, for a time, the largest gold producer on the planet.
"It's great that this many people come out to tell Murdy he isn't welcome in his own community," said Glenn Spagnuolo, a member of the activist group Stop Newmont Mining.
Omar Jabara, a tuxedo-clad spokesman for Newmont, ventured out into the sea of protesters to refute the negative claims. While Newmont operates mines on land disputed between the Western Shoshone tribe and the U.S. government, Jabara said that Newmont's operations on the Nevada land are legal.
"Their grievance is with the federal government," Jabara said prior to the protest of the Shoshone people who object to the presence of the mines.
The American Indian Movement, or (AIM), of Colorado gave its own "Bridge Builder's Award" to Carrie Dann, a Shoshone grandmother who has been vocal in her objection to Newmont's operations on tribal lands. She deserved the award, Morris said, because of the ties she helped forge between the Western Shoshone and indigenous people affected by mining in other parts of the world.
"Carrie Dann may be the most courageous person you've met in your life," Morris said. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Western Shoshone. ... Every ounce of gold that comes out of that land is a violation of" the U.S. treaty with the Western Shoshone.
While Newmont has also been accused of polluting with mercury the area around one of its Indonesian mines, in Buyat Bay, the company was acquitted of those charges in court and has come up clean on independent audits, Jabara said.
"At the height of the controversy over Buyat Bay in Indonesia, Mr. Murdy asked me to evaluate the situation and report to him and the board of directors," wrote Gary Krieger, a University of Colorado associate professor of toxicology, in a letter published Aug. 10 in The Denver Post. "All objective medical and scientific facts indicated that the local villagers' health was not impacted by Newmont operations."
Awon Atuire, a former resident of Ghana who said he has seen unsavory results of a Newmont mine built in his home country, also spoke at the protest. He visits Ghana every year, he said.
"It's hopeful to see people from cross sections of Denver come out," Atuire said. "Our people have dignity. Dignity is taken away from them." He said that when Newmont came to Ghana, the company promised job opportunities to residents. "They never have as many (jobs) as the people who have been displaced."
AIM had a room reserved at the Denver Marriott that was meant to be the locale where Dann would accept her award, but the hotel cancelled the reservation. The Marriott broke the contract before the Korbel Dinner, a GSIS scholarship fundraiser at which the Bridge Builder's Award was given, on Aug. 30, Spagnuolo said.
"I think ... people should take their business elsewhere and never get a room with the Marriott again," he said.
"When we saw there was potential for disruption, we acted accordingly and did cancel one of the contracts," said Richard Romaine, director of sales and marketing for the Denver Marriott City Center about refusing AIM's reservation.
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