Responsibility and Justice | JA4change

Is this what you call development?

A few weeks ago, in a meeting held in Maputo about the controversial Anadarko and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos natural gas project in Palma, Cabo Delgado, we heard the ENH representative say in a pleading tone that we all have a part to play in Palma, since we all have in common the desire to see the country develop and grow.

Well, right… and wrong.

Right, because we truly do want to see the country develop and we are perfectly aware that for the sake of that development sacrifices must be made, but if the idea is to sacrifice the local communities’ right to a good standard of living, then definitely wrong.

What if, as a result of that sacrifice, Mozambique and Mozambicans in general get huge benefits?

Photo: Communities that will be affected by the proposed destructive Mphanda Nkuwa dam on the Zambezi river.

Well, if the investment is really going to bring benefits to Mozambique and all Mozambicans, we believe that those directly affected by the project should be the first to be properly rewarded by it, rather than just compensated. They have to be the project’s main beneficiaries. If that is not possible and, like some of the megaprojects which have been implemented in our country in recent years, it turns out that that questionable development only helps the poor get even poorer, then the answer to the question above must be “thanks, but no thanks”. We are not going to throw someone into a volcano so that the rest can have prosperity.

Public consultation? What for?

The blatant proof of how dangerous is the development path we are being dragged into (and we say path and not plan because we do not believe there is any plan at all) is the way the purpose of public consultations has been wickedly subverted by the system. Public consultation processes, as they exist today, are nothing but sheer formalities; bureaucratic exercises for the sake of appearances that despite having been created to safeguard the rights and interests of the people, are nothing but propagandist meetings where the government officials place themselves on the side of the project proponents. These meetings are of an informative nature and only exist to validate the idea that the communities have been consulted and agreed on the project, when most of the times they do not understand its possible consequences and repercussions, nor the potential gains they could or should demand in return. Oblivious of their rights and made vulnerable due to the lack of reliable support and advice from a government that, truth be said, seems to be more worried about making money than defending the future and the interests of the Mozambican people, some communities end up becoming easy prey.

“What are we supposed to do then? Sit on top of our wealth and keep starving?”

Well, we would be lying if we said that it would not please us to see the country change its investment policies: stop investing in extractive industries and mining, abandon the idea of building dams and thermoelectric centrals to feed those industries, support agricultural projects for peasants – no agribusiness, no monocultures and no agrichemicals, stop allowing the wood industry to destroy our forests, etc.

Basically, as we have stated in previous occasions, our notion of progress and development is completely different to our government’s, but we are not as naïve or as radical as we are often conveniently portrayed, and, as we have mentioned earlier, we understand perfectly that sometimes sacrifices must be made for the common good. Nevertheless, in our humble opinion, justifying those sacrifices with a vague “fight against absolute poverty” speech, without explaining how, is, in the best of chances, an insult to our intelligence. That, we believe, is one of the biggest flaws of our actual government.

Photo: Coal-mining affected communities learn about their Constitution and rights in Tete province

What is the plan?

If our government promised us an honest answer to a single question only, that question would be: What is the long-term plan you have for the country? We honestly cannot figure it out.

In 35-40 years time, when the coal, the natural gas, the oil and the wood are finished, when the agribusiness and its tools have severely debilitated the fertility of our soils and our biodiversity has been depleted by all these actors, what use will we have for an infrastructure build to attend the needs of today’s companies and their labour? What are we doing to guarantee that in the future, cities like Tete and Nacala will not become white elephants? Ghost towns deserted and abandoned like many that exist today in the world. Orphans of yesterday’s development… Are we thinking about it? What are we doing for the future of national tourism? For the thousands of tourist operators in the country who today, due to the political and military tension we are going through, have barely any costumers and are faced with the possibility or having to close their businesses? Are we giving them tax exemptions and incentives so that they can survive? Other than the gigantic parcels of land we are giving to foreign corporations (always at the expense of coercively moving thousands of Mozambicans) so that they can grow corn, soya beans and rice for export, what are we doing to significantly increase Mozambique’s food production?

Dec 12 2013

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Climatic Change and Resilience, Energy and Society, Pollution and Environment, Responsibility and Justice

NEW REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY EXPOSES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN MOZAMBIQUE; BUT THE UN RAPPORTEUR REFUSES TO ANSWER US

On the 10^th of December, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, a new report was released titled Dirty Profits 2: Report on Companies and Financial Institutions Benefiting from Violations of Human Rights.

The report was released by the Facing Finance campaign, which “calls on investors not to invest in companies profiting from violations of human rights, environmental pollution, corruption or the production of controversial weapons.” Justiça Ambiental (JA, Friends of the Earth Mozambique) is also a part of the campaign, along with Urgewald, Earthlink, SODI, etc.

The report puts a spotlight of shame on almost 40 companies and financial institutions that are building profits on the backs of human rights violations and environmental destruction all over the globe, from Mozambique to Indonesia, Nigeria to Colombia, Chile, India and West Virginia (USA).

JA provided information to expose the human rights violations being caused by dirty energy companies, Vale SA and Jindal Steel & Power, both of which are mining coal in Mozambique’s Tete province.

This report confirms human rights violations in coal mining in Mozambique, just as 7 months have passed since JA wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Professor Raquel Rolnik, who is Brazilian and is based in São Paulo. In April 2013, JA submitted to her office a Letter of Allegation regarding Human Rights Abuses in Cateme, Mozambique. Cateme is where the Brazilian company, Vale has resettled some of its mining-displaced families. We requested confirmation that her office had received the complaint, and they confirmed so. However, despite 7 months having passed, and despite many reminders, we are still yet to hear back about Ms. Rolnik’s process of verification, responses from Vale or the Mozambican government. We have received no information till date, no indication that she intends to do anything at all with the complaint. Her silence is shocking.

Oct 16 2013

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Activism, Responsibility and Justice

What Lies Beyond?

Last week, JA co-hosted an International Seminar called ‘Beyond Development, Extractivism, Globalization and Capitalism: Alternatives for Economic Justice’.

The seminar was organised jointly by JA along with Friends of the Earth International, Transnational Institute and Center for Civil Society (CCS). The 3-day workshop pulled together diverse people, from grassroots struggles against coal in Tete province Mozambique to academics from South Korea. For three days, we discussed the main drivers of the extractive, neoliberal ‘development model’, the struggles for rights and for the commons and especially the concept of ‘development’ and what lies beyond it.

Gloria Chicaiza from Acción Ecologica, an eco-feminist organisation from Ecuador shared the important concepts of Sumak Kawsay. Sumak kawsay is a Quechua term, from an indigenous language of the Andean region. Sumak Kawsay translates to Good Living in English, Buen Vivir in Spanish and Bem Viver in Portuguese. But this is not Good Living in the way the world understands it currently. The entire paradigm of Sumak Kawsay is different from today’s dominant capitalist culture, so totally consumed by, well, consumption. Instead of unlimited economic growth, sumak kawsay embodies a balance with nature and taking only what is needed. In Southern Africa, we call it ‘ubuntu’.

So what does this mean? What is the definition of Good Living? What does it include and what doesn’t it include? Does it include CAT scans? And computers? And ARVs for AIDS? And Universities? If Buen Vivir includes these things, then we need to get the material inputs to make these things. Again, the paradigm is important; are we using aluminium for military hardware, or for making cooking pots. This is an important conversation that needs to continue.

The dominant paradigm is to move everyone to a first world type of existence; but the simple question is whether it is feasible given our energy and planetary limitations.

We heard this staggering example from Tristen Taylor of Earthlife Africa:

Swedish energy use is not extravagant by First World standards and 45% of it comes from renewable energy. So, if we were to have everyone who is currently denied energy (1.4 billion people) living like the Swedes, we would need 5 times more oil than what Saudi Arabia currently produces, and in only 25 years we would exhaust the carbon budget that corresponds to a 2ºC temperature rise. We can’t all live like Swedes, so the fundamental issue is redistribution of wealth and power.

So, what lies beyond?

Well, Beyond Development: Alternative Visions from Latin America, the title of a book (written by The Permanent Working Group on Alternatives to Development and published by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation) released during the seminar, might be good reading material if you are curious.

During the seminar, there was an interesting discussion on the need to deconstruct ‘development’. Some said the idea of development had to be scrapped. It couldn’t be modified with adjectives like sustainable, popular etc., because those are just reformist. We need to abandon the very idea of development, including exports, extractivism, everything about the way it exists now.

But is it a semantic dilemma? i.e., a problem with the word ‘development’? Because development also implies meeting people’s needs and basic necessities like water, sanitation, basic electricity, a simple house, a health clinic a school. So it’s hard to abandon the word, when it represents basic needs aspirations, as distinguished from hedonistic overconsumption.

But it was argued that it’s not just semantic – it is a problem of who gives meaning to the word, but it goes beyond. There is power associated with the word development; it is used to control territories and people on the basis of a certain dominant idea of development. That’s why the concept of Sumak Kawsay and Buen Vivir is being discussed by movements; the idea of a ‘dignified life’ not one based on the dominant notion of ‘development’.

On the other hand, others felt that saying, ‘we don’t want development’, might be extreme, perhaps what is needed is to investigate the question of ‘development for whom?’

These are the newer, ever newer strategies of capital, as it tries to reinvent and re-legitimise itself, while also generating more and more profits. After many decades of this ‘development’, we see that it doesn’t work and hasn’t worked; extraction and pollution continue; and now we are tottering on a cliff of ecological collapse and runaway climate change. And the re-legitimising tactics just continue. Carbon markets are just the latest tactics.

So what does this all mean? This blog doesn’t aim to provide answers, just to raise more important questions.

Aug 27 2013

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Climatic Change and Resilience, Energy and Society, Land Use and Conservation, Pollution and Environment, Responsibility and Justice

A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT SHAME, A PEOPLE WITHOUT HOPE

THE PROTEST NO ONE TALKED ABOUT

Late last month, on the 22^nd and 23^rd of July, a protest took place in Chirodzi area, Tete province, in central inland Mozambique. The local communities had gathered there to protest in the concession area grated to Jindal, an Indian mining company. Jindal is extracting coal from an open pit mine in Tete province, without an environmental impact study and without ensuring the safety of the local communities. Till date the communities have not been resettled, but continue to live in the concession area.

The communities have been raising their voices, asking for their rights. On this day, the frustration and desperation of the communities mounted, and the protest turned violent. The communities attacked four Indian Jindal employees. Of the four Jindal people attacked, one was attacked in his office and the other three in their homes, all within the concession mining area. There was a security company, who usually secures the gates and the whole perimeter of the concession area, were also attacked, and with no place to hide from the public anger, they ran away. The police were also present, but were outnumbered by the irate people.

The protest involved four communities: Chirodzi / Cahora Bassa, Chirodzi / Changara, Cassoca and Nyantsanga. These last two communities are located within the concession area of the mine, while the first two are on the periphery. But it is very important to note all these communities have communal lands which have now been taken by the company.

According to community testimonies, the protest erupted because of Jindal’s failure to fulfil the promises they made to the communities when their settled here in 2008.

They promised they would not extract coal before resettlement of the communities, yet they have been doing exactly that for over eight months;
They promised not to occupy lands, specifically the fields of local communities, without first negotiating with their legitimate owners;
They assured the communities that there would provide a water supply;
They also promised jobs for community members.

The communities and Cassoca and Nyantsanga stated that in December Jindal usurped part of their farms with standing crops, without any warning, thereby seriously undermining their food sovereignty. As for resettlement, it is not happening but the coal is being mined. On 9^th of May 2013, Macauhub news reported that a ship left from Beira port, heading for India, carrying 36,000 tons of coal mined by Jindal Mozambique Minerals.

The communities constantly face respiratory and other serious problems, from being so close to the open pit mining. Air pollution resulting from mining activity is visibly hanging in the air; the black dust settles on everything. How will the lungs of people cope with this? How much longer will children continue to have their classes in this atmosphere?

Their frustration is what led to this protest. The communities also promised that if their rights continue to be ignored and trampled, and if the company does not fulfil the promises made to them, there will be more protests. This protest revealed how bad the relationship is between Jindal and these four surrounding communities.

The relationship between employees and employers in Jindal is also bad. According to company officials who agreed to talk to us, there are many quarrels about alleged discrepancies in pay and subsidies to employees. Even the workers who operate the mine say they do not have the protective equipment that is required.

But Jindal reportedly seems to have a excellent relationship with the government. This is substantiated by the fact that some people even said that the government collects “taxes” from the company.

At the end of the day, according to the laws in force in the Republic of Mozambique and international conventions, Jindal is in the wrong, but the government is partly responsible for this, because of their passivity and permissiveness (or should we say say collusion).

Jindal declined to provide any information to us, but they summoned a meeting with community leaders and “informed” them not to provide any information to civil society organisations, and they threatened not to renew contracts with those who did communicate.

The silence of the media is also shocking. It is extremely sad that, even though we know that there were several teams of national media in the middle of all this circus in Chirodzi, but other than the Diário de Moçambique, nobody published this story.

Less than a month after this transpired in Chirodzi, the communities still continue to wait for their rights to be recognised. But meanwhile, the complicity of the government was proved. While the communities were protesting the way this company is operating and protesting against unfulfilled promises, the Mozambican President, Armando Guebuza, visited Chirodzi to officially inaugurate the project, and doing so, legitimized what Jindal is doing. Basically, he gave his approval to what was happening, to mining being carried out without an Environmental Impact Study, to mining being carried out while communities are still living there, with about 563 families still waiting to be resettled. Adults and children. All living in an environment extremely dangerous and harmful to their health, not to mention that their livelihoods and futures are being silently trampled on. They have been forgotten and made invisible by those who should protect them. A shameless government leading a hopeless people. This is our Mozambique.

Meanwhile, protests against Jindal are not new. In their home country of India too, Jindal has been exploiting local communities with impunity. In the Indian states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, which are states with large populations of tribal people, Jindal has been devastating farms, villages and lives for many years now. But, same as in Mozambique, the communities have not been silent. In Asanbani village in Jharkhand, the houses are marked with signs in Hindi such as “Naveen Jindal go back! We will give our lives but we will not give our lands” (see photo below). This is the Visthapan Virodhi Samiti (Committee against Displacement).

Photo credit: Panos South Asia, Alchemy of Iniquity: Resistance and Repression in India’s Mines. A Photographic enquiry.

We are moving towards building bridges between these communities fighting again a common enemy, Jindal, across India and Mozambique.

A recent book called ‘A New Scramble For Africa?: Imperialism, Investment And Development’, carried a great quote of Gandhi to help us contextualise why the presence of Indian company Jindal in Africa is so problematic.

Gandhi said, “The commerce between India and Africa will be the commerce of ideas, not manufactured goods against raw materials after the fashion of western exploiters.”

Aug 01 2013

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Activism, Climatic Change and Resilience, Energy and Society, Land Use and Conservation, Responsibility and Justice

Africa is Sovereign and WILL NOT ACCEPT being Re-colonized

In response to Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach recent controversial interview, Friends of the Earth Africa elaborated an Open Letter to be handed over to every Embassy of Denmark in African countries where FoEA is present. Based on that Open Letter and with the purpose of empowering it by allowing all of us, concerned citizens of the world to sign it, we are now starting a petition with the same motto. You can read the Open Letter bellow and if you share our concern, please sign our petition and add your voice to the struggle against the development models of capitalist neocolonialism.

Open Letter from the African Civil Society To The Representatives of Denmark in Africa

Subject: Africa is Sovereign and WILL NOT ACCEPT being Re-colonized

In light of the interview given by your Minister for Development Cooperation, Christian Friis Bach, on the 9th of this month to the Danish newspaper Politiken, and taking into account that the presence of Danish cooperations on the African continent dates long before the independence of most countries where they still operate today through various organizations that develop various projects and activities in various spheres of the political system, civil society and the business sector, we cannot refrain from expressing our deepest distaste for the disrespectful and peculiar ideological content of the above-mentioned interview.

Truth be told, Minister Christian Friis Bach said exactly what many politicians and leaders of developed countries think but cleverly would never dare say. Frankly, we prefer Christian Friis Bach to those other dodgy individuals. Petulant or reckless, your Minister of Development Cooperation said just what he thinks, giving us a chance to rebut, to contest and tell him that his notion of development is obsolete, that what he says he is willing to do is ethically despicable and offensive, that those who he claims would be the main beneficiaries of the policies he intends to impose will for sure become its main victims, and that even though unfortunately he may have the power to influence the decisions taken by the state apparatuses of some African countries, he definitely does not have the right to do so. We believe that he ought to know it. We Africans assure Christian Friis Bach and all who think like him, that even though we are already being pillaged, we will never allow Africa to be economically recolonized. Never.

It is instructive to remember that contrary to what Minister Friis Bach said in his interview, we Africans do have capacity to feed and sustain our people. African agriculture and food needs have been met over time through sustainable and multi-dimensional approaches, keeping to a minimum such externalities as artificial fertilizers, imported pesticides and herbicides, as well as practices that are alien to the socio-cultural settings of our people.

The support Africa needs right now is a decisive stand to maintain seed as well as cultural diversities and defend staple crops which are targeted by biotech even when there is no need for their engineered varieties or GM crops.

To you, as the highest representative of the Danish people in our territory, we would like to ask if you share the opinions of your Minister for Development Cooperation. If you do, please be kind enough to answer the following questions:

Do you think it is fair that the African continent should be held accountable “today” for the bad decisions rich countries such as yours made “yesterday”, and which led to over-exploitation of nature, animals and human beings by introducing unhealthy and destructive diets as well as excess energy consumption?

Do you consider it acceptable that countries like yours should impose their failed development models on Africa as if they were models of success and the only guaranteed path towards development?

Would you imagine a world in which Africa adopts your ideas of production, consumption, development and progress?

Do you think it right that we Africans must accept without question the responsibility of using our resources to support those who were obviously unable to manage theirs?

It honours us greatly that the world is turning to Africa and its leaders say they are counting on us. We Africans are hospitable and supportive and for long we have been wanting to contribute more and better to a development path that supports sustainable livelihoods. However, we do not have to sacrifice ourselves to accommodate the whims of those who think it is a mark of progress to destroy the planet. We want to rely on the support of all who are well intended, but such support must not trample on our sovereignty and dignity.

In this context, we, African organizations, movements and associations who hereby signed this letter, reiterate that we continue to consider much welcome the support of those who wish to walk with us towards a development path:

That adequately serves our needs and those of our future generations;
That is fair and just and not predicated on exploitation, resource grabs and denigration;
That is logical and thoughtful and does not necessarily have to be traversed in pursuit of anything or anyone;
In which we may not be sole beneficiaries, but we must not be denied our due;
That not only respects the sovereignty of each African country, but also our diversity as a people, as well as the diversity of our cultures and traditions;
That is guided by principles of honesty, transparency and inclusion, fundamental to the democratic exercise of any territory.
That respects our Food sovereignty, which is built upon the inalienable rights of peoples to maintain their cultural as well as seed diversities. Cultural diversity permits peoples to maintain and enlarge their stock of local knowledge; produce, save and use their seeds and have control over farming practices developed over centuries of experimentation and experience. Food sovereignty ensures that farmers stay in business and that peoples are not forced to alter their diets.Naturally, we consider that any development project that ignores or disregards any of these principles is not in the best interest of Africa or Africans, and we reject and denounce the position taken by your government through your Minister of Development Cooperation.

For the sake of the good relations we wish to maintain with you, we would appreciate you would be so kind as to respond to this letter.

Signed by

African Organizations,

Friends of the Earth Africa

Justiça Ambiental/FOE Mozambique

ATPNE / Friends of the Earth Tunisia

Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement / Friends of the Earth Cameroon

Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria

Friends of the Earth Ghana

Friends of the Earth Sierra Leone

GroundWork / Friends of the Earth South Africa

Guamina / Friends of the Earth Mali

Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team / Friends of the Earth Tanzania

Les Amis de la Terre / Friends of the Earth Togo

Maudesco / Friends of the Earth Mauritius

National Association of Professional Environmentalists / Friends of the Earth Uganda

Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) / Friends of the Earth Liberia

Yonge Nawe Environmental Action Group / Friends of the Earth Swaziland

Alliance For Food Sovereignty In Africa (AFSA)

African Biodiversity Network (ABN)

Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage (COPAGEN)

Comparing and Supporting Endogenous Development (COMPAS) Africa

Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC)

Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Association

Eastern and Southern African Small Scale Farmers Forum (ESSAFF)

La Via Campesina Africa

FAHAMU, World Neighbours

Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations of West Africa (ROPPA)

Community Knowledge Systems (CKS)

Plateforme Sous Régionale des Organisations Paysannes d’Afrique Centrale (PROPAC)

Laurent Alex Badji COPAGEN Senegal

The Green Belt Movement Kenya

Health of Mother Earth Foundation, ((HOMEF) Nigeria

Committee on Vital Environmental Resources (COVER) Nigeria

The Young Environment Network (TYEN) Nigeria

Institute for Research and Promotion of Alternatives in Development (IRPAD/Afrque)

Mali Coalition pour la Protection du Patrimoine Génétique Africain Mali (COPAGEN-Mali)

Actions Pour le Développement Durable, Republic of Benin

Kenya Debt Relief Network(KENDREN) Kenya

African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) South Africa

The Rescope Programme Malawi

Host Communities Network Of Nigeria (HoCoN, Nation Wide) Nigeria

Students Environment Assembly Nigeria (SEAN Nation Wide) Nigeria

Community Forest Watch Group Nigeria

Green Alliance Nigeria (Nation wide) Nigeria

Abibiman Foundation Ghana

Oilwatch Ghana

Oilwatch Nigeria

Improving Livelihoods Through Agriculture (ILTA) Ghana

Acção Académica para o Desenvolvimento das Comunidades Rurais (ADECRU), Mozambique

Associação de Apoio e Assistência Jurídica às Comunidades (AAAJC), Mozambique

Fórum Mulher, Mozambique

Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos (LDH), Mozambique

Kulima, Mozambique

Non African Organizations:

Amigos da Terra América Latina e Caribas TALC

Amigu di Tera (FoE Curaçao), Curação

NOAH Denmark, Dinamarca

COECOCEIBA / FoE Costa Rica

Community Alliance for Global Justice Denmark, Dinamarca

Amigos de la Tierra México, México

Red Mexicana de Afectados por la Minería (REMA) México

Movimiento Mesoamericano contra el Modelo Extractivo Minero (M4) México

The Rescope Programme

Community Alliance for Global Justice

PLANT (Partners for the Land & Agricultural Needs of Traditional Peoples)

Various African Organizations and Movements are still signing in and several Non African movements and organizations are also subscribing to this letter.

Jul 18 2013

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Activism, Land Use and Conservation, Responsibility and Justice

Neocolonialism: Who Do You Think You Are?

Unbelievable…

Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation has done it. He has put it out there. In an interview given last week in Denmark, the Danish politician spoke his mind and told his constituents what he has in mind for Africa. Under the cloak of a very noble poverty eradication and gender equality speech, a shameless and shocking eyeopener of how some European leaders completely and utterly disregard our sovereignty, and of how comfortable they feel about taking decisions for us.

Read the translated full article below.

Politiken | 09.07.2013

Food from Africa, Interview by JENS Bostrup with Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Christian Friis Bach

Friis Bach is Up for a Match Against the African Chiefs

Africa must be developed in a rush in order to avoid global food crisis. It requires huge changes, including a confrontation with chiefs, the role of women and the view upon collective property, says Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Christian Friis Bach.

Denmark will use its political influence in large parts of Africa to get rid of local cultures and traditions that hinder the development of African agriculture, says Minister for Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach.

“It is certain that Africans will have to develop their agriculture, for their own sake and for the entire world”, says Christian Friis Bach. “The good news is that it can be done. Africa has a huge growth potential, and within a generation, we can transform Africa from being dependent on others for food to being the world’s breadbasket. It will require massive investments, especially from abroad, and it will bring them very quick and very harsh structural changes, which large parts of the continent are not prepared for”, he says.

This confrontation must address fundamental issues in the African societies: gender relations, land ownership and the power structure.

“Some have a rather romantic belief that traditional cultures have a value in themselves, and they want to sit down with the chief and fix things. I do not share this belief”, says Christian Friis Bach. “For the poor farmers, who are the majority in the village, collective ownership, which is in practice administered by the chief, is usually of no value. They would be much better off if they owned their land. For women, the traditional norms has no value either. It prevents them from the equality they deserve. It is an ongoing local power struggle, and we must engage in this struggle”.

This is not just words. The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation actually plays a role in African politics. Most countries on the continent are dependent on Western aid, and donor countries often conspire to make demands that local governments have to acknowledge.

Denmark has prioritized 12 countries in Africa, where we “are present with a long-term perspective and with political and financial weight” as Danida puts it. This applies amongst others Uganda, Niger, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. “One of the things we particularly insist on is that women should be able to own and inherit land. This can increase agricultural production by 5-10 percent because women are far more productive and innovative in agriculture”, says Christian Friis Bach.

[Q] But this is also completely contrary to ancestral traditions and values on which people build their identity. Can you as a donor allow yourself to change that?

“Yes, because not all values are equally worthy. For me it is fundamental to give women equal rights to the land, both human and political, besides, it is the way to boost agricultural production”, says Friis Bach.

The right over their own bodies

Women must not only have the right to land, but also the right to decide over their own bodies. This is another fundamental principle that, in time, will contribute to the economic development, he continues.

“Women should have the right to decide when and how often they will bear children. This is crucial in order to allow them to get through school and complete their education. And population growth in Africa is so high that it seriously undermines their ability to solve the structural problems”, says Christian Friis Bach.

[Q] By what right can you insist that our concept of equality should apply in Africa?

“Fortunately, these are not just our values. These are universal human rights, as developed by all countries worldwide throughout two hundred years. So we can allow ourselves to insist on them”. Similarly, he perceives the inviolability of property as an important part of the civil and political rights. “And that is not a Western invention either”, says Christian Friis Bach.

Helle Munk Ravnborg, newly elected president of Danish ActionAid and senior researcher in poverty at the Danish Institute for International Studies, recently appealed in Politiken [the newspaper in which this interview is also published] that the government recognizes the reality that the majority of the land in Africa is collectively owned.

Christian Friis Bach would very much like to offer Danish assistance to register the collectively owned land to avoid that uncertainty about ownership is misused by corrupt officials and foreign investors.

“But I will insist that land ownership becomes private and individual. It is a fundamental condition for us to develop agriculture. Otherwise there is no incentive to invest in the land. No one builds terraces, plants shade trees or buys fertilizers, if the harvest is not theirs”.

Unclear and collective ownership also slows down a key part of the transition: much larger and more effective farms based on foreign capital.

“In the long term there are very many people who need to move away from the agricultural sector and into the cities. But without ownership to the land, they cannot sell it. They cannot take money with them, which can be used to start a life in the city. Therefore, lack of land rights is in all ways a very large barrier to development”.

[Q] But the African societies have lived with collective ownership for millennia; it is a fundamental part of their culture and tradition. Can you without further ado establish that it needs to change?

“Yes, I am relatively clear on that point. We just have to recognize that the system is not functioning”.

[Q] Are you absolutely sure that the Western, market-oriented model works for Africa?

“I do not know if the market economy is a Western invention, I think it is rather universal and global. But yes, I am sure that the market economy functions for Africa. I have seen great many examples of this. African women farmers in particular are very innovative when they are given the chance”.

[Q] You recognize that there will be swift and harsh structural changes. Can you allow yourself to impose a model onto African societies that large parts of the continent are not ready for?

“We must not impose anything on them. That is precisely why the individual land ownership is crucial. It gives poor farmers and women a voice and a strength to resist changes that conflict with their interests”.

[Q] But you insist on changing the gender relations, the land ownership rights and the power structures of societies. It took Europe several hundred years and fierce fighting to get through a similar development. Can we expect and demand that Africans readily jumps to where we are today?

“The world cannot wait for Africans to take their time to build up capacity as we have done in our part of the world. There is an enormous pressure on the global food supply. The 9 billion, we expect to be in 2050, will eat as if they were 12 billion because they will live in the cities and eat more meat”. “While this takes place, up to 25 percent of the agricultural land will be adversely affected by climate change, and we will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by half. It is a phenomenal task. It is going to happen very quickly, and it will find resistance in the local populations”.

But it would be wrong to see it as a battle between the rich investors in the North and the traditional societies in Africa, he adds. “If Africa does not develop and increase the production of food, it will not only hit the poor in Africa, but also the poor in the rest of the world where the food crisis also may be very harsh”. “What is encouraging is that it can be done. I have just returned from a region in Ethiopia that previously was almost a desert, but where massive investment has changed it into a green oasis where you can harvest three times a year. There is now less poverty, more jobs and higher growth”, says the minister.

A Positive Example

During a trip to Nampula for a meeting with AGIR (Action Programme for a Responsible and Inclusive Governance) and its partners, we were told that we would visit the community of Nacoma in the village of Mele, Meconta district, about 83 km from the city of Nampula, where, with the support of the National Association of Rural Extension (AENA), the community formed an association composed of 20 members (13 women and 7 men) to improve their crops. This association would be presented to us as a good example of a farming, savings and literacy project (for the community even created a school in the farm area itself).

After an almost two hours journey, we finally arrived to the place. Several women with colourful scarves and capulanas, clapping and singing welcoming songs for us, greeted us at our arrival. There were barely any men, only three were present.

From there, always singing and clapping, they led us to a small plot of land next to a dirt road where they showed us an example of the good practices and crop improvements they had learned for a more efficient agriculture on poor soils. These women, with the help of a partner of AGIR in Nampula who shared its knowledge with them, improved the soil of the area, which was not the best for agriculture, through the practice of techniques such as the use of dry grass to conserve soil moisture and thus retain its nutrients. From AGIR’s partner, they mentioned they also learned that setting fire to a plot before using it, a widely used method in the area to prepare the soil, when done systematically ends up reducing the nutrients and weakening the soil. They further demonstrated, using only water grass and sand, rudimentary examples of other methods used to enhance and improve their harvests, and showed us how they had arranged between them to monetize the goods they produce (cassava, pigeon pea, sweet potato, peanut, etc… ) and thus increased their income allowing it to improved their lives and their families. Finally, they showed us a peanut dryer made by the association, made with simple poles and grass where it was protected from rain, insects and other animals.

After visiting the peanut dryer, our group informed that visitors would also like to see and know the method of collecting income from all who were part of the association. Then showed us a wooden suitcase, where not only they deposited their earnings, but where they also kept the register of their loans, as well as their savings, each amount in its place (in three man socks of different colors). They explained to us that the suitcase had two keys and that they were never in the same place or with the same person. The keys were handed over to two different people in the group and when the suitcase was opened everyone should be present to count the money together, a measure of security for all.

We were impressed by the organization, methodology and capacity of a group so small yet so effective in managing their own interests. A good example of community empowerment, with which all present were astonished. However, for us it was more than that. It was once again a confirmation of the power of the people of Mozambique and Mozambican women in particular, their ability, courage and perseverance in trying to resolve their difficulties and strive for a better future. For us it was a true life lesson!

To finish, we would like to leave you with some food for thought: What will happen to these women in the community of Nacoma when the giant and controversial ProSavana is implemented? We know that Meconta is one of the areas covered by it… Will it be the “early death” of another good example in Mozambique? Or will it survive?

Jun 17 2013

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Activism, Responsibility and Justice, Water and Development

Supporting democracy and fighting dams: JA in South Korea

A few weeks ago, Justiça Ambiental (JA!) was invited to make a presentation at the Human Rights Cities Forum in Gwangju, South Korea, by the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements (KFEM)/ Friends of the Earth Korea.

Gwangju city has historically been a symbol of democracy and Korean opposition to authoritarianism. In 1980, there was a huge uprising and peoples’ movement against the coup and dictatorship of General Chun Doo-Hwan. Gwangju citizens, especially students, rose up to oppose the fascist government. What followed was unmitigated violence from the army and the police, leading to the massacre of pro-democracy activists. Official sources of the dictatorship in 1980 put the total casualties at 144 civilians but the actual number may be between 1000 and 2000 deaths.

But the May 1980 protests in Gwangju slowly spread to other places and started to turn the tide against dictatorship. For the rest of the 1980s, Koreans continued to struggle for democracy and eventually ended authoritarian rule. To commemorate the strength of this powerful city, its citizens and its past, every year Gwangju city hosts this Human Rights Forum. The mayor of the city, Kan Un-tae, himself was present at the Forum.

The conference was held at the Kim Dae-Jung Convention Centre, named after Kim Dae-Jung, a politician from the Gwangju region who was one of the people arrested in the mobilisations. It is interesting to note that this region of South Korea is rich in natural resources, hence became a target for extraction and suppression of people.

JA was invited to speak on ‘environment and human rights’ and to share stories of the brutality of natural resource extraction in Mozambique. Prakash Sharma from Friends of the Earth Nepal also attended and spoke about climate change threats to the Himalayas and the Nepali people.

We also attended a prize ceremony where young people from across the world were awarded prizes for writing essays on human rights situations in their own cities and countries. Among the prize-winners was our neighbour, a young South African student called Zama Lehlogonolo.

After the end of the Forum, all the participants were taken to the main street where the Gwangju massacre had taken place in 1980. Gwangju citizens commemorated the occasion with a parade, celebrating Korean culture, dances, etc. The atmosphere was so positive. People remember the massacre but they use the memory to celebrate their lives instead.

The next day, we attended the May 18 ceremony at the cemetery where many of the massacred citizens were buried. There were speeches and Korean songs of protest. People lifted their fists the whole time the songs were being sung. It was very powerful.

Later that afternoon, our KFEM hosts took us back to Seoul city by train. The next day we spent a bit of time walking around and getting to know Seoul and its history. We saw Changdeok-gung Palace, quite a modest palace from the Joseon dynasty of Korea, from the time before the Japanese colonization of the Korean peninsula. We also saw a magnificent

Buddhist temple called Jogye-sa. Interestingly, about 22% of Koreans are Buddhist and 18% Christian but the biggest chunk, almost 50% are atheist.

On May 20, we meet the local staff of KFEM office. Then we went to the Congress building of Seoul city, to support a hearing of farmers and community members who were impacted by the 4 Rivers project. This is a project involving about 16 dams on 4 rivers, and has already caused destruction of livelihoods and ecology, so similar to the situation in Mozambique. There was also a photo exhibition showing the destruction caused by the project. Local farmers, activists, professors and Congressmen gave testimonials, following which the Congressmen from the progressive Democracy Party, and pledged to investigate the inconsistencies with the project. JA was also interviewed by Ohmynews, Korea’s largest online newspaper, about the reality of dams in Korea and Mozambique.

Later that evening, KFEM organised an open event with local citizens and students, called the ‘Glocal Talk Concert’, with an aim to raise Korean people’s international awareness. JA showed 2 short films, one on the situation of Vale-displaced communities in Cateme and the other with testimonials from Mphanda Nkuwa dam affected people.

All in all, JA’s experience in South Korea was phenomenal. It was wonderful to make international links on issues of extraction, environment and livelihoods. We were able to increase the visibility of Mozambique’s situation.

May 20 2013

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Activism, Responsibility and Justice

The Three Brickmakers

Last Tuesday at 5am, three brickmakers out of the hundreds of people who have been protesting for fairer compensations in Moatize for the past weeks, were arrested by the Mozambican Police while protesting peacefully at the gates of Brazilian mining giant Vale. According to the men, who we maintained contact with throughout the whole week, the police made them clear the railway they had blocked to prevent the coal from leaving the site and afterwards they were picked from the crowd, handcuffed and taken to the police station.

Thursday we got the information that they were going to be accused of disturbing the peace and making death threats to an employee of Vale.

What was happening was as obvious as ridiculous, but for legal reasons, we couldn’t say anything at the time…now we can.

According to our sources in Tete, the three men have been set free this morning after their hearing and will await for the verdict in freedom.

As expected, the death threat accusation was dropped because the alleged victim (a Brazilian citizen who works for Vale) failed to identify any of the accused as the person or people who threatened him and failed to tell the court what words those who threatened him used.

What he did tell the court, was that he could not possibly pinpoint three men as the people responsible for the threat, since there were hundreds of people protesting when it happen…

It is almost funny. How can this happen? How can these men stand accused of such a serious crime in such a frivolous way?

We, as I am sure many other Mozambicans, would love to hear an explanation from those responsible.

What is happening in Moatize is shameful.

We know it because we were there just a couple of weeks ago, because we know some of these men and we know that they are being persecuted not because they have disturbed the public peace, but because they have disturbed Vale’s peace and the peace of a government who is clearly compromised in this process and is probably the main responsible for all this mess.

We also know that they were not arrested at random, they were targeted by an overbearing system because they are outspoken men respected by their communities. They are the closest to a leader that they have. Those responsible for these coward actions thought that if they could scare them, the others would be scared too.

Shame on you!

Tagged Moatize, mozambique, protest, Vale

Mar 21 2013

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Activism, Climatic Change and Resilience, From the Field, Responsibility and Justice, Water and Development

JA! celebrates the International Day of Rivers

March 14th Meeting

On Thursday, 14 March, Justiça Ambiental (JA!) marked the occasion of the ‘International Day of Rivers’ by holding simultaneous events in Tete and in the capital Maputo.

In Tete, over 50 community people came together on the banks of the Zambezi River. These included communities that will be displaced

Removing a fallen tree on the way to Mphanda

from their lands and homes if the Mphanda Nkuwa Dam is built across the Zambezi River. We were also joined by communities affected by Vale, Rio Tinto and Jindal, all carving out the earth to extract coal from their villages.

The meeting was organised by JA!, along with our partners Liga dos Direitos Humanos (Human Rights League), AAAJC (Association for Support and Legal Assistance for Communities), UNAC (National Farmers Union, Tete provincial chapter).

The all-day meeting was held at the Tete Provincial Centre of Agricultural Formation. JA supported the community members to come in the night before, since their homes are far and the transportation systems in Mozambique are very poor. The communities affected by Vale, for instance, used to live in Moatize, 19kms from Tete. Now they have been moved to

Sr. Morais lived his entire life near the river, if the dam is built he will have to move far from the river. What about his rights!

Cateme, 56kms away from Tete, and transport could easily cost 150 Meticais (US$ 5) each way! The Mphanda Nkuwa communities live over 70kms from Tete. The area is very remote and roads are almost non-existent.

The meeting on 14 March brought together these community people and organisations to talk about communities that live and thrive on rivers and other natural resources. When such communities are displaced from their resources, they usually lose their subsistence base and with that, their self-reliance. There were presentations on:

Human rights,
Dams and the context of Mphanda Nkuwa
Challenges with the Land Law relative to the Mines Law
Mega-projects and false promises
Fight against dams: a case from India’s Narmada Valley
Climate Risks for the Zambezi River

But in the most important part of the meeting, the community people were talking to each other and sharing their own experiences. The people that will be displaced by Mphanda Nkuwa heard directly from communities still struggling to

View from the proposed dam site

get their rights after being displaced by Brazilian mining giant, Vale. The ruthless Indian company, Jindal, has also started mining coal in the village of Mualadzi. However, they haven’t removed anyone yet, so people continue to live among the coal dust while the mining continues.

The stories shared by people were heart-breaking. They reveal the cruelty of the extractive model where self-reliant communities are robbed of their natural resources which are increasingly being commodified by the corporate-driven development model.

After the meeting the JA team took the communities back to their villages by the river. We went to visit Sr. Morais, an outspoken elder of the fisherfolk community, who was lived by the river his whole life. The secretary of the bairro (village) prevented him from joining our meeting, even though JA specifically asked for him to participate. If he is forced to move inland, far from the river, his livelihood and, with it, his culture and traditions will

Zambezi

be threatened. We believe this is a crime and a violation of his rights, as well as of all the fishermen whose livelihoods depend on the river.

Along with the meeting in Tete, JA also held an event in Maputo, where we challenged another actor who is actively pushing this damaging extractive model: the World Bank. In Maputo, we invited friends and colleagues to take to the streets. We congregated near the World Bank headquarters in Mozambique, on Kenneth Kaunda Avenue, where we distributed flyers and spoke with passers-by, even Bank workers, students from the neighbouring Faculty of Law of Eduardo Mondlane University and other interested citizens. The Bank was targeted to raise awareness about their role in pushing destructive large dams. The Bank’s stated goal is to reduce poverty but for most of its existence it has actively pushed projects that have

increased poverty especially of the most vulnerable communities.

Action on World Bank in Maputo

Tagged international day of rivers, mphanda nkuwa, zambezi

JA4change

"Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." Cree Indian Prophecy

Category Archives: Responsibility and Justice

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NEW REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY EXPOSES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN MOZAMBIQUE; BUT THE UN RAPPORTEUR REFUSES TO ANSWER US

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A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT SHAME, A PEOPLE WITHOUT HOPE

Africa is Sovereign and WILL NOT ACCEPT being Re-colonized

Neocolonialism: Who Do You Think You Are?

Unbelievable…

Friis Bach is Up for a Match Against the African Chiefs

A Positive Example

Supporting democracy and fighting dams: JA in South Korea

The Three Brickmakers

JA! celebrates the International Day of Rivers

"Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." Cree Indian Prophecy

Category Archives: Responsibility and Justice

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Unbelievable…

Friis Bach is Up for a Match Against the African Chiefs

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