By Michael Woodley, CEO Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation
www.yindjibarndi.org.au
13 APRIL 2011 - - A video exposing the interference of Fortescue Metals Group and its CEO Andrew Forrest at an illegitimate, FMG-sponsored native title meeting in Roebourne on 16 March, has been deleted from the video hosting site Vimeo after Vimeo got a lawyer’s letter from FMG threatening legal action.
The meeting shown in the video was staged to try and strong-arm the Yindjibarndi community into removing all its objections to FMG’s Solomon Hub development in the Hamersley Ranges, and into expelling the majority (four out of seven) Claim Applicants who rejected FMG’s deal as a rip-off.
The video, “FMG’s Great Native Title Swindle”, received 12,000 plays in just nine days on the Vimeo site before being shut down, and has spurred intense online response across global social media sites, Face Book, GetUp, twitter and so on.
“They say a picture tells a thousand words,” said Michael Woodley, CEO of the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, “but this video, it puts you right in the room with us, lets you get an idea of how it feels to be bullied and abused by Twiggy Forrest and FMG.”
Michael Cheah, Legal Counsel representing Vimeo, informed the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC), “Vimeo removed this video after receiving correspondence from lawyers for Fortescue Metals Group and its CEO alleging that the video contained defamatory and misleading statements about them.
[…] Please note that we take no position on whether any of the statements in the video are true or not.
Rather, we have merely determined that the video could be subject of a defamation claim and, under Australian law, could subject Vimeo to liability.”
It appears that FMG did not want to be identified for its role in gagging the video because this correspondence from Vimeo directly contradicts a statement made to Crikey by Fortescue spokesman, Cameron Morse, who said FMG has had no contact with Vimeo about the video.
FMG public relations people have also been busy trying to delete critical public comments on FMG’s Wikipedia site and the Generation One FaceBook page, which was flooded with dozens of complaints about FMG’s and Andrew Forrest’s conduct in the meeting.
“If he wants to fight us online, he is going to get a shock. Money can’t buy the sort of help we are getting from people around the world,” said Woodley, “and all these people want to take the stick to Twiggy and
Fortescue Metals.”
The video has been re-hosted on Youtube until such a time as YAC can find a secure streaming platform immune from outside interference. The video is now hosted in two parts on:
http://yindjibarndi.org.au/yindjibarndi/
CONTACT:
Michael Woodley, CEO Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation
0419 097 130
mwoodley@juluwarlu.com.au
media@juluwarlu.com.au
For background & research materials please visit: www.yindjibarndi.org.au
NB: Stills and video available on request.
Comments
GenerationOne censored
Twiggy Forrest is a founder of Generation One.
The Generation One's Facebook Page says that “we welcome your comments, opinions, feedback, criticism and complaints. We never remove any comment because we don’t agree with it or don’t like it." Generation One is now removing comments from people who are making complaints about his double standards. A large number of comments they didn't like were removed from their site overnight.
http://www.facebook.com/GenerationOneAU?sk=info
What drives you, Twiggy?
Robber barons forever, hitting Indigenous people everywhere – be it here, Asia, South America, Africa.
I yearn to know how the thoughts and emotions run in a man worth billions, who professes to "love" Aborigines, yet will rip them off without batting an eye to destroy their sacred places, all in the quest for more, more, more....
What does he get from even more billions? A power kick? A proving something to someone?
What he can consume personally is one grain of sand compared to all the beaches on the globe.
So what drives Forrest? Greed is too small a word.
Tell us, Twiggy.
I have asked the Law Society of Western Australia (http://www.lawsocietywa.asn.au/) per email to bar Forrest's lawyer who hijacked this illegitimate meeting from practising law. Not that it'll do any good, but maybe you might like to vent a bit of your rage by doing likewise.
Diet Simon
Law firm Slater & Gordon joins fight against Fortescue
8 April 2011 | By The New Lawyer
LAW firm Slater & Gordon will represent the Yindjibarndi Corporation in its native title negotiations with iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group.
Slater & Gordon today asked Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) to deliver fair and just compensation to the Yindjibarndi community in Western Australia, as negotiations over native title access rights break down.
"FMG has been accused of supporting a splinter group to divide the local
Yindjibarndi community during negotiations for access to traditional Yinjibarndi land for the planned $8.5 billion Solomon Hub project, in the Pilbara region," a Slater & Gordon statement said.
The law firm said negotiations have so far been unsuccessful.
The law firm also said it was assisting with legal proceedings in the Federal Court that challenge the validity of the mining leases granted to FMG by the WA Government in December.
Slater & Gordon lawyer, Simon Millman, said the group was seeking a fair and just amount of compensation for access to their land.
"While FMG has put money on the table for compensation, this pales into
comparison to the profits that will be made from this mine on our client's traditional land, and it pales into comparison to royalty amounts that have been paid to non-Aboriginal people."
"Our clients are not being unreasonable in their claim with FMG," he said.
"Together with our clients, Slater & Gordon are in this for the long fight. It's about time that Australia hears about what's happening in the Pilbara. Attempts to try and wedge the local community will not deliver a good result for anyone involved."
Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, CEO Michael Woodley said he believed FMG's interference began when the Federal Court legal action was launched.
"Before the Federal Court case started we were negotiating with FMG. Those
negotiations were tough, and robust but that is what you would expect," Mr Woodley said.
"Since the Federal Court case we've now seen a new tactic. We believe that FMG is using hostile tactics in an attempt to divide and conquer our community.
"Questions have to be asked about FMG's role in supporting a break-away group.
"If we don't fight, we are not honouring our past or our future. Yinjibarndi have been in this land for a lot longer than Andrew Forrest, and we'll still be here long after he's gone."