photo: Friends of the Earth International – Miners in Latin America and Africa have tried before to sue Canadian mining companies for gross exploitative policies and brutal misuse of miners committed overseas, “but their cases were thrown out. But now a case from Guatemala is moving forward” (cf. Foreign Policy in Focus: “Seeking Justice in Canada: Hitting Mining Companies Where They Live”. August 2014)

by L. M. K.

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Mining has become a very important activity in all Latin America in the last thirty years.[1] Its actors – governments, private companies, NGOs and local communities, as well as the international community are becoming increasingly aware of its impacts. The latter can be seen as positive in terms of revenue, activity and employment, but are definitely negative socially and environmentally. Big mining operations in the region started in the 1990s when the local governments opened their economies to foreign private investment. Today, mining takes a large percentage of the GDP in countries such as Chile (12%), Peru (11%), Ecuador (10%), Mexico (8%), and many more.[2] Canadian mining companies extracting mostly gold, silver, copper, and uranium are the most important actors in the region’s mining sector, with almost 500 companies on the ground operating in large scales; 30% of Honduras’ land is reserved to mining, 26% of Mexico’s, 25% of Ecuador’s, 16% of Peru’s, and the list goes on.[3] Consequently, the amounts of water, material, and energy used are huge as well; this means there is an enormous potential of serious environmental impact from the heavy metals and the emission of greenhouse gases. Regarding the social factor, mining projects are not isolated, but rather close to villages which depend on the land base and its water.[4] There have also been unanswered demands and protests from locals, which used to be considered isolated occurrences. Recently, the tensions between companies and communities have grown, which has led to conflicts rooted in violations of labor rights, and environmental and health contamination, making it more difficult for the different actors involved to ignore these wide-spread issues.

To begin, colonialism is about the exploitation of land and resources, forced displacement, violent division of communities, as well as claimed superiority in terms of society and development. According to Césaire, colonization doesn’t mean human contact, but “des rapports de domination et de soumission,” its main aspect being the objectification of the colonial subject, or “la chosification”.[5] Postcolonialism or neocolonialism is about the unchanged colonial systems, power and relations in a modern setting, often disguised as something else. Canadian mining in Latin America represents exactly this kind of situation, where the systems in place defend the North power rather than local communities of the South, and the former performs actions of conquest and extraction, while disguising it as a global exchange, investment and even foreign aid.[6] The two following quotes are reflective of these relations. “The developed countries use their superior technology to extract the wealth of many underdeveloped countries without far return, and it would now be humanitarian to plough back, even if only one percent, of the wealth drained away to the mother country.”[7] Canadian mining companies arrive in Latin American lands with technology, experts, and financial resources to exploit the land’s wealth, justifying it as investment and aid. “Imperialism has distorted the view of African realities… Africa actually enriches Europe: but Africa is made to believe that needs Europe to rescue it from poverty. Africa’s natural and human resources continue to develop Europe and America: but Africa is made to feel grateful for aid… Africa even produces intellectuals who now rationalize this upside-down way of looking at Africa.”[8] This inconsistent discourse and actions in global relations is translated into postcolonialism in a way in which the Global North takes advantage of the South, such as by exploiting local natural resources and labor, and disregarding local Indigenous communities.

In writing this paper, I wish to begin exploring a way in which postcolonialism is dominant in Latin America, inside a larger system of international dependency. The development theory of dependency explains the asymmetry of the world, where the so-called developed nations have been able to industrialize and grow because of their exploitation of the South’s wealth and resources, notably during the colonial times. Following this logic, the Global South has difficulty developing because of this exploitation, perpetuated by neocolonial relations, and their consequential dependency to the North’s financial resources, technology, knowledge and means of production.[9] In other words, these Canadian mines in Latin America are contributing to the development of Canadian private industries and the underdevelopment of the affected countries in the South, perpetuating their respective places in the world order as developed and underdeveloped, and further contributing to the unequal dependency relations in the neocolonial international system. However, this theory is criticized for being too general, theoretic, and based on pessimistic assumptions on capitalism and multinational markets, while ignoring successful periods of developing countries’ histories, and failing to provide solutions to its areas of criticism.[10] That is why some of its ideas are useful in understanding the relations between the different actors in the Canadian mining industry in Latin America, but its framework analysis cannot explain the whole situation. Nonetheless, “la división internacional del trabajo consiste en que unos países se especializan en ganar y otros en perder.”[11] Foreign domination and imperialism in Latin America are still present, wrote Galeano in the 1970s, regarding the United Fruit Company having ravaged local soil and made profits by using the region’s wealth.[12] Is the situation different nowadays?

On the one hand, Canadian private companies benefit from cheap resources and labor, which generates “extraordinary revenue” for them, while creating the image that they are helping a developing country grow.[13] But the companies have an economic interest; “los acuerdos de extracción de minerales firmados por las mineras les permiten, en muchos casos, obtener fabulosos beneficios. Los bajos salarios y el pago de derechos irrisorios convierten a varios países latinoamericanos en paraísos para esas compañías.”[14] And this includes not only the companies, but the larger Canadian system; “L’action coloniale, l’entreprise coloniale, la conquête coloniale, fondée sur le mépris de l’homme indigène et justifiée par ce mépris, tend inévitablement à modifier celui qui l’entreprend; que le colonisateur qui, pour se donner bonne conscience, s’habitue à voir dans l’autre la bête, s’entraîne à le traiter de bête, tend objectivement à se transformer lui-même en bête.”[15] In other words, this neocolonial order concerns not only Canadian private mining industries, but also the Canadian peoples, institutions, and government. The role of the Canadian government is indeed important, both in “enabling mining companies… as well as tolerating and contributing to the systemic rights violations taking place.”[16] The money that goes into those companies also connects Canadian citizens and institutions to private mining activities, such as through public and university funding.[17] Even if some of those actors participate without awareness, the system is in place to protect the private industry and the profit that it generates for the country. “Con el mandato minero, se debía haber quitado, anulado [muchos proyectos]… pero no se hizo… esto no tenía nada que ver con respetar los derechos de los pueblos afectados a la consulta previa, a la protección de su fuente de agua, a la protección de sus áreas protegidas, sino promover y proteger los intereses puramente económicos de las empresas mineras canadienses.”[18] Although Corporate Social Responsibility is presented by the Canadian government as the “cornerstone of the Canadian policy with respect to mining companies,”[19] critics argue that “it’s a voluntary mechanism”[20] where “the government encourages and expects all Canadian companies working internationally to respect all applicable laws… and in consultation with host governments and local communities, to conduct their activities in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.”[21] In reality, “encouragement” and “expectation” aren’t legally binding, thus it seems that CSR is used as a cover-up or “whitewash” to ignore and continue “harms taking place in connection with the mining industry.”[22] Furthermore, the Canadian government also claim that the mining companies operating in local Latin American communities contribute to local employment and economic development. The reality is different, since the long-term negative effects far outweigh the short-term seemingly positive ones, which have also received criticism such as the disregard for labor rights. Moreover, the paternalistic and hypocritical role taken by this Global North country’s government and private industries towards Global South’s governments, local and Indigenous communities, is characteristic of neocolonial power relations, where it seems as if the North has an inherent claim to the land and resources of the South, while denying the latter the right to have a say in this. Spivak’s question on the subaltern and how they are perceived by the West relates to the Canadian government (with claimed good intentions through CSR among other things), and citizens who assume that Canadian mining is done in an ethical way where the companies have agreements with the local governments and communities. The paradox of the definition of subaltern can relate to Latin American communities who speak out (through protests, legal and diplomatic means) and are either shut down (such as through the killing and imprisonment of Indigenous leaders opposing the corporations), or simply aren’t heard either because of interior class struggles or the international hierarchy.[23] Indeed, there are two levels of struggle liberation, one at the international level and another at the national level; in this case, the former weakens the latter, since these corporations mostly make deals with the local elite.[24]

On the other hand, this “investment” does just the opposite of helping Latin American development; it contributes to the region’s poorer countries getting stuck in a poverty trap, and in a vicious circle of underdevelopment and dependency relations, where local peoples aren’t even consulted about these projects and their consequences. In addition, water contamination and pollution is recurrent in areas of mining industries, such as San Luis de Potosí in Mexico. “In many of these communities there aren’t sufficient amounts of water, or their supplies of drinking water… are being destroyed by these mining companies.”[25] The slogan in local communities “agua si, oro no” is recurring. Water as “something that is essential to human life” which is being “pitted against a resource, which primarily serves to generate wealth for a very small percentage of the population.”[26] The class struggle and education as well as information problems are once again implicit in this; “a ellos les aprovechan porque yo no sé leer”, said a Peruvian woman in the region of Cajamarca who is having her land taken away by a mining company. A young law student is helping her assess the situation, and she adds in a hopeless tone “no le pueden quitar fácilmente, porque le están haciendo un daño… si usted no ha vendido, es propietaria.”[27] This example shows that even in cases where the person suffering these property issues knows the law their rights, it is hard or almost impossible to go against the giant and powerful companies which have agreements with the government. Following this, in the protest in Lima “Marcha nacional del agua” in 2012, the participants sang “el agua es del pueblo, y no de las mineras.”[28] They also protested the fact that the decisions that affect them are taken in an office far from their realities, without even consulting them. Indeed, Indigenous communities are especially affected by this land exploitation by foreign corporations, since they depend on natural resources, and their core cultural identities are deeply tied to the land. Moreover, the injustice goes even beyond the water issue; Indigenous communities aren’t able to maintain their traditional way of life when mining companies become present in the land, which lasts for about ten to fifteen years, and when they leave, communities are left with short and long-term environmental and health problems.[29] The problem is also the fact that these communities are ignored; there have been votes on the issue and a large majority of locals are against this type of large-scale mining, yet not much has been done. In Honduras, Indigenous leaders have been killed for standing up to their communities’ rights and claims, as if it was a crime.[30] In fact, companies are protected by trade agreements which allow them to sue local governments when the latter take action to protect local communities.[31] For instance, “Canada has played an active role in changing regulations governing Colombia’s energy sector in ways that favour Canadian companies,” with neoliberal trade deals which protect investors at the expense of the populations.[32] The local governments are accused of lacking surveillance of the situations where Canadian mining companies operate, without care for the local water sources and populations’ displacements.[33] “It’s a hindrance to local democracy because many times local governments don’t have the authority to stand up to big corporations”.[34] Maybe it’s a matter of power, as well. To quote Freire, “quase sempre, num primeiro momento deste descobrimento, os oprimidos, em lugar de buscar a libertação, na luta e por ela, tendem a ser opressores também, ou subopressores.”[35] The oppressed know that they are such, but in a contradictory context where they identify to their contrary. He speaks of this dilemma of the oppressed, where “a libertação é um parto”.[36] To stress Freire’s argument, there are two levels of liberation, and considering Spivak’s ideas, we can ask if the South’s elite can really be considered as a subaltern class.

Indeed, this topic generates a lot of reflection on the subject of neocolonial and postcolonial relations. After the Protectors and Developers Association of Canada Mining Convention in 2017, many organizations signed a public declaration about the negative impacts of Canadian mining in Latin America, such as the “increasing trend of criminalization of social protests in connection with mineral extraction activities leading to serious human rights violations”.[37] Moreover, Fanon’s idea that the colonized is “dominated but not domesticated, he is made to feel inferior, but by no means convinced of his inferiority”[38] can be seen in the case of this topic, where local communities organize to stand up against the corporations even in countries where it is the most dangerous to advocate for human rights. Furthermore, El Salvador banned metal mining in March of 2017 after decades of conflicts over health, environmental and social damages of contaminated soil and water due to large-scale mining and a huge failed lawsuit, strongly making the statement of “water over gold”, and “no a la minería, si a la vida”.[39] In fact, when speaking about violence in the international context, Fanon stated that “another danger looms on the horizon… the underdeveloped peoples decide to establish a collective autarchy.”[40] We must not forget Guha’s argument that the colonial project fails when the local communities prevail; thus, the critique of historiography and the questioning of local systems are then central to decolonizing.[41] Certainly, it is becoming harder for the Canadian government, institutions and citizens to ignore what has been going on, as conflicts are arising and are getting more international visibility, and demands are growing in the local as well as Canadian legal systems and NGOs reports. Although, it’s still a “David vs. Goliath battle.”[42]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Canadian International Development Platform, “Canadian Mining in Latin America,” accessed June 20, 2017, http://cidpnsi.ca/canadian-mining-investments-in-latin-america/.

Césaire, Aimé. Discours sur le Colonialisme (Paris, 1955).

Cryderman, Dana. Representative of Canada to the Organization of American States, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY.

Discussion in Al Jazeera (2012), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVarMR1v2M.

Fabunmi, Lawrence Apalara. Foreign Aid and Self-Help in West Africa (1959).

Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press, 1963).

Freire, Paulo. A Pedagogia do Oprimido (São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra, 1987), Capítulo 1.

Galeano, Eduardo. Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina, (Buenos Aires: Siglo Ventiuno Editores, 1971).

Guha, Ranajit. Colonialism in South Asia: A Dominance Without Hegemony, Chapter 1: History and Power in Colonial India, (Harvard University Press, 1997).

Hija de la Laguna, Documental, Netflix (Núria Frigola Torrent, Peru, 2015).

Interactive Map on Canadian Mining in the World, Mining Watch Canada, http://miningwatch.ca/.

Introduction to International Development, INTD 200, Bachelor’s course, McGill University, 2015.

Ismi, Asad. Global Research Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor, 14 June 2017, “Canadian Neocolonialism in Colombia”, http://www.hispantv.com/noticias/sudamerica/30845/mineras-canadienses-responsables-de-200-conflictos-sociales-en-a–latina.

Journalists for Human Rights at McGill, “Canadian Mining in Latin America Forum and Debate at McGill,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aYH9_Xfo2E.

Karunananthan, Meera. Member of the Blue Planet Project and the Council of Canadians, discussion in Al Jazeera (2012), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVarMR1v2M.

Lakhani, Nina. “El Salvador Makes History as First Nation to Impose Blanket Ban on Metal Mining,” The Guardian, March 30, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/mar/30/el-salvador-makes-history-first-nation-to-impose-blanket-ban-on-metal-mining.

Member of Justice and Corporate Accountability Project and law professor, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY.

Mining Watch Canada, “Another Indigenous Leader Killed in Honduras, Canadian Organizations Say Enough is Enough,” http://miningwatch.ca/blog/2016/3/18/another-indigenous-leader-killed-honduras-canadian-organizations-say-enough-enough#sthash.4goeYjay.dpbs.

Mining Watch Canada, “Latin American Organizations Denounce the Deadly Impacts of Mining During PDAC 2017,” http://miningwatch.ca/blog/2017/3/6/latin-american-organizations-denounce-deadly-impacts-mining-during-pdac-2017#sthash.X5DGnWPe.dpbs.

Moore, Jennifer. “La otra cara de la minería canadiense”, in Ecuador IEETM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WViIoCStSc.

Moore, Jennifer. Latin America Program Coordinator for Mining Watch Canada, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. Can the Subaltern Speak? (2008).

TeleSur, “Canada Mining Companies in Latin America Have Blood on Hands,” October 24, 2016, http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Canada-Mining-Companies-in-Latin-America-Have-Blood-on-Hands–20161024-0007.html.

The Economist, “Mining in Latin America: From Conflict to Co-operation,” February 6, 2016, http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21690100-big-miners-have-better-record-their-critics-claim-it-up-governments-balance.

Thiong’o, Ngugi Wa. Decolonising the Mind (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1981).

Working Group on Mining and Human Rights in Latin America, “The Impact of Canadian Mining in Latin America and Canada’s Responsibility,” Executive Summary of the Report Submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

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[1] Interactive Map on Canadian Mining in the World, Mining Watch Canada, accessed June 20, 2017, http://miningwatch.ca/

[2] “Mining in Latin America: From Conflict to Co-operation,” The Economist, February 6, 2016, http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21690100-big-miners-have-better-record-their-critics-claim-it-up-governments-balance

[3] “Canadian Mining in Latin America Forum and Debate at McGill,” Journalists for Human Rights at McGill, accessed June 20, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aYH9_Xfo2E

[4] Working Group on Mining and Human Rights in Latin America, “The Impact of Canadian Mining in Latin America and Canada’s Responsibility,” Executive Summary of the Report Submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

[5] Aimé Césaire, Discours sur le Colonialisme (Paris, 1955).

[6] Ranajit Guha, Colonialism in South Asia: A Dominance Without Hegemony, Chapter 1: History and Power in Colonial India, (Harvard University Press, 1997).

[7] Lawrence Apalara Fabunmi, Foreign Aid and Self-Help in West Africa (1959).

[8] Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind (Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1981).

[9] Introduction to International Development, INTD 200, Bachelor’s course, McGill University, 2015.

[10] Ibidem.

[11] Eduardo Galeano, Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina, (Buenos Aires: Siglo Ventiuno Editores, 1971), 15.

[12] Eduardo Galeano, Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina, (Buenos Aires: Siglo Ventiuno Editores, 1971).

[13] “Canadian Mining in Latin America,” Canadian International Development Platform, accessed June 20, 2017, http://cidpnsi.ca/canadian-mining-investments-in-latin-america/

[14] Ibid.

[15] Aimé Césaire, Discours sur le Colonialisme (Paris, 1955).

[16] Jennifer Moore, Latin America Program Coordinator for Mining Watch Canada, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY

[17] “Canadian Mining in Latin America Forum and Debate at McGill,” Journalists for Human Rights at McGill, accessed June 20, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aYH9_Xfo2E

[18] Jennifer Moore, “La otra cara de la minería canadiense”, in Ecuador IEETM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WViIoCStSc

[19] Dana Cryderman, Representative of Canada to the Organization of American States, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY

[20] Member of Justice and Corporate Accountability Project and law professor, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY

[21] Dana Cryderman, Representative of Canada to the Organization of American States, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY

[22] Jennifer Moore, Latin America Program Coordinator for Mining Watch Canada, discussion in Comisión Interamericana da Derechos Humanos (Washington, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWYue8FP9ZY

[23] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak? (2008).

[24] Paulo Freire, A Pedagogia do Oprimido (São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra, 1987), Capítulo 1.

[25] Meera Karunananthan, Member of the Blue Planet Project and the Council of Canadians, discussion in Al Jazeera (2012), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVarMR1v2M

[26] Ibid.

[27] Hija de la Laguna, Documental, Netflix (Núria Frigola Torrent, Peru, 2015).

[28] Ibid.

[29] Working Group on Mining and Human Rights in Latin America, “The Impact of Canadian Mining in Latin America and Canada’s Responsibility,” Executive Summary of the Report Submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

[30] “Another Indigenous Leader Killed in Honduras, Canadian Organizations Say Enough is Enough,” Mining Watch Canada, accessed June 20, 2017, http://miningwatch.ca/blog/2016/3/18/another-indigenous-leader-killed-honduras-canadian-organizations-say-enough-enough#sthash.4goeYjay.dpbs

[31] Discussion in Al Jazeera (2012), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVarMR1v2M

[32] Asad Ismi, Global Research Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor, 14 June 2017, “Canadian Neocolonialism in Colombia”, http://www.hispantv.com/noticias/sudamerica/30845/mineras-canadienses-responsables-de-200-conflictos-sociales-en-a–latina

[33] Ibid.

[34] Meera Karunananthan, Member of the Blue Planet Project and the Council of Canadians, discussion in Al Jazeera (2012), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVarMR1v2M

[35] Paulo Freire, A Pedagogia do Oprimido (São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra, 1987), Capítulo 1.

[36] Ibid.

[37] “Latin American Organizations Denounce the Deadly Impacts of Mining During PDAC 2017,” Mining Watch Canada, accessed June 20, 2017, http://miningwatch.ca/blog/2017/3/6/latin-american-organizations-denounce-deadly-impacts-mining-during-pdac-2017#sthash.X5DGnWPe.dpbs

[38] Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press, 1963), Chapter 1.

[39] Nina Lakhani, “El Salvador Makes History as First Nation to Impose Blanket Ban on Metal Mining,” The Guardian, March 30, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/mar/30/el-salvador-makes-history-first-nation-to-impose-blanket-ban-on-metal-mining

[40] Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press, 1963), Chapter 1.

[41] Ranajit Guha, Colonialism in South Asia: A Dominance Without Hegemony, Chapter 1: History and Power in Colonial India, (Harvard University Press, 1997).

[42] “Canada Mining Companies in Latin America Have Blood on Hands,” TeleSur, October 24, 2016, http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Canada-Mining-Companies-in-Latin-America-Have-Blood-on-Hands–20161024-0007.html

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Bleeding Latin America the “Nice” Way: Canadian Mining in Latin America

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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