This incredible comic was created by Didier Kassai with research by Judith Verweijen and Dieudonne Botoko Kendewa of the University of Sussex and the University of Sheffield. The comic was originally posted by Cartoon Movement.
The comic is based on field research conducted around the Feronia palm oil plantation in Tshopo province in north-east DR Congo.
This powerful comic is by Didier Kassai @kassai2009 @judithverweijen and Dieudonne Botoko Kendewa is about a community in the #Congo living next to the #Feronia #palmoil plantation. They faced #violence, #repression and #landgrabbing #Boycottpalmoil
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The story focuses on people living next to the Feronia concession and how they experience and fight against the company. While the names in the comic are fictional, the described events are based on testimonies we gathered during our field research. This includes accounts of repression and heavy-handed responses by the security services, which highlight the dangers faced by those defending their land, their livelihoods and the environment.
Feronia used to be an RSPO palm oil plantation but is now nolonger a part of the RSPO.
Research was carried out by researchers from the Université Catholique du Graben, the University of Sheffield and the Organisation Congolaise des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature (OCEAN).
You can download the PDF here.
A century of agrocolonialism by World Rainforest Movement
Many oil palm plantations’ concessions in West and Central Africa were built on lands stolen from communities during colonial occupations. This is the case in the DRC, where food company Unilever began its palm oil empire. Today, these plantations are still sites of on-going poverty and violence. It is time to end the colonial model of concessions and return the land to its original owners.
Red more World Rainforest Movement
Didier Kassaï was born in 1974 in Sibut, Central African Republic. He is known for his involvement in the Central African press. His albums are The Odyssey of Mongou and Storm on Bangui. He won Best Project Award at Algiers fest.
Judith Verweijen is a Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the interplay of violence, conflicts around natural resources and social mobilisation. She focuses on eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she has regularly conducted fieldwork since 2010.
Dieudonné Botoko Kendewa holds an engineering degree from the Faculty Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Yangambi. He is currently in charge of the Forestry Management Unit within the NGO OCEAN. He has almost a decade of experience with baseline studies and forest inventories for the management of village forest lands, participatory mapping processes and facilitating negotiations over the social clauses in forest contract specifications. Currently, he is involved in REDD+ and the sustainable production of wood-energy by rural producers in the Kisangani supply basin.
Search the Environmental Justice Atlas for specific companies and their human rights abuses and land-grabbing record
News about Feronia
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Pictured: Dr Richard Ssuna takes care of chimpanzees in Uganda
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Such a tragedy growing palm oil..destroying our environment.
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Yes it really is! Thank you for sticking around and following me right from the beginning 🙂 If you want to spread the word you can reshare any of my posts to your blog to raise awareness, also it’s super easy to share these articles to social with one click. Hope you have a great weekend 🙂 see ya
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