Amid revelations of Canadian government spying on Brazil’s Ministry of Mining & Energy, a former director of the Department of Intelligence & Corporate Security of Brazil’s mining giant Vale also turned whistle blower.
He made startling allegations of Vale espionage against social movements, journalists, and even its own employees. Some shrug off corporate and government spying as necessary for protecting corporate and/or national interests. But when governments collaborate with mining companies to spy on and criminalize dissent, democracy is turned on its head.
Judith Marshall, a CERLAC associate Fellow and a labour educator, writer, and global activist, will deliver the talk, “Tales of Two Whistleblowers: Mining, Spying, and Resistance in Brazil”, Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 3:30pm at 626 Kaneff Tower, Keele campus. The talk is presented by the Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC).
Marshal recently retired after many years in the global affairs department of the United Steel Workers (USW). Her recent work has focused on linking workers and communities affected by transnational mining companies, including promoting an active role for USW in the International Network of People Affected by Vale.