[aesop_image img=”https://kairoscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/MAB-protest.jpg” credit=”Brasil de Facto” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionposition=”left”]
We were excited to get to know leaders from Brazil’s Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB). MAB emerged in 1991 as hundreds of families were displaced by the large-scale construction of hydroelectric dams. It’s a movement organized by the communities directly impacted by large infrastructure projects like dams, and fights the forced removal of families and the privatization of rivers and other natural resources from which these families derive their livelihoods. MAB not only analyzes and exposes the effects of the current energy policy, but also seeks to develop an alternative structure for the energy industry. They want an energy industry based not on privatization and profits for corporations, but on respect for water and energy resources as important elements for the promotion of human rights that must be stewarded through means of popular participation.