What Price Salvation? Lithium Frontlines
We have a mountain to climb when it comes to shifting away from dependency on fossil fuels.
Lithium is going to be a major part of that. But who suffers in the latest scramble for more sustainable resources?
These photos are part of a series of stories in
The Guardian. They focus on the
violence inflicted on those protesting against this land grab, and the
splits starting to show among indigenous communities following interest from lithium mining companies.
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- The Price of Lithium
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- Human rights lawyer Silvana Yañez, left, believes the race to mine lithium has blinded the international community to human rights abuses taking place in the region.
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- Joel Paredes, 28, was drumming at a protest in Humahuaca when he says that police opened fire with rubber bullets, leaving him blind in one eye.
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- Veronika* salvages the remains of what was once her home. She says her house was partly demolished to make way for a shopping centre against her will, and against the backdrop of threats from the police.
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- Art protesting against the development of lithium mines in the salt flats of Argentina. Indigenous communities in particular are concerned that the recent constitutional change makes it harder to resist future development. The flats, called The Salinas Grandes, can be seen in the background.
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- Cocoa leaves and assorted goods next to a fire in the camp in Purmamarca. In Argentina it is legal to possess cocoa leaves, which have various uses and a strong cultural and traditional significance among Andean people.
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- The words ‘abajo la reforma’ – down with the reform – at the camp in Purmamarca reference the constitutional changes that many believe threaten the forced dispossession of Indigenous territories and quell the right to protest.
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- ‘La abuela’ (which translates as ‘the grandmother’), 80, says she was threatened by police and fled the violence of June 17 in Purmamarca by hiding under this nearby bridge.
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- Police surveying one of the regular protests taking place in Purmamarca. Many of those who suffered police violence over the summer continue to fear for their safety.
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- Women prepare food at the protest camp in Purmamarca. There has been a near-constant presence at this camp since the summer.
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- Fernando, 1, was with his mother Mariela Gutierrez during the protests that took place following the constitutional change. Mariela says that she was assaulted by police, and continues to fear for her safety.
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- Ernesto Jorge Aguirre, 52, was blinded in one eye after police fired on protestors with rubber bullets during a protest in San Salvador de Jujuy, the region’s capital.
