“Damocracy” is an international movement striving to debunk the myth of dams as clean energy. While large dam projects worldwide are promoted as sources ofrenewable energy, in reality they cause irreversible damage to nature, people and cultures around the world.
Ilisu Dam in Turkey and the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil are perfect examples of the destruction caused in the Amazon basin (lungs of the earth) and Mesopotamia (cradle of civilisation) through monster dam projects.
The negative impacts of dams are not limited to wildlife as these large dams destroy cultural sites and homes of tens of thousands of communities. The indigenous communities that will be affected by the Belo Monte dam are certainly subject to one of the biggest human rights conflicts on earth. Similarly, Ilisu Dam poses a major threat to the people living on the Tigris River from South East Turkey to the marshes of Basra in Iraq. It will also inundate the at least 10.000 year-old town of Hasankeyf which is the only place on earth that meets nine out of 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites’ criteria.
Doga Dernegi (BirdLife in Turkey), Amazon Watch, International Rivers, RiverWatch, Gota D’água (Drop of Water) Movement, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre (MXVPS) have formed the “Damocracy” movement on destructive dams, which is open for other groups working for the same purpose of debunking the myth of dams as clean energy.
Right to Water Campaign Turkey (Su Hakkı Kampanyası), Root Force, Contemporary Visual Arts Society (CVAS), Slow Food Fikir Sahibi Damaklar Convivium, Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy, Coordinadora de Afectados por Grandes Embalses y Trasvases (COAGRET), Environmental Concerns (India) later joined the Damocracy movement.
