Not normal, not just: protest against large-scale mining from a moral economy perspective

ABSTRACT

This article investigates conflicts over large-scale mining through the lens of E. P. Thompson’s concept of the moral economy. The concept proves fruitful for an analysis of the local impacts of fundamental political-economic transformations, notably how people are affected by, and react to, structural changes. The recent global “commodity boom” and the related expansion of large-scale mining is a case in point. I refer to the moral economy to analyse conflicts around two gold mines in Burkina Faso. I argue that protests against mining are far from being irrational and instinct led, just as Thompson demonstrated for the food riots. Rather, the protests are driven by the notion that the way in which the “mining boom” has proceeded is profoundly unjust. Behind the conflict are different basic assumptions regarding what is considered legitimate and “normal,” namely the right to food and to live in dignity, as opposed to profit-making.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article examine les conflits autour de l’extraction minière à grande échelle à travers le prisme de l’économie morale de E. P. Thompson. Ce concept se révèle fructueux pour une analyse des impacts locaux des transformations politico-économiques fondamentales, en particulier la manière dont les individus sont affectés par les changements structurels et y réagissent. L’essor récent du marché des produits de base et l’expansion associée de l’extraction minière à grande échelle est un parfait exemple. Je me réfère à l’économie morale pour analyser les conflits autour de deux mines d’or au Burkina Faso. Je soutiens que les protestations contre l’extraction minière sont loin d’être irrationnelles et de relever de l’instinct, exactement comme Thompson l’a démontré en ce qui concerne les émeutes de la faim. Au contraire, ces protestations sont déterminées par la notion d’un mode d’évolution du « boom minier » profondément injuste. À la base du conflit, se trouvent plusieurs hypothèses concernant ce qui est considéré comme légitime et « normal », à savoir le droit de s’alimenter et de vivre dans la dignité, par opposition à la réalisation de profits.

KEYWORDS:

• Extractivism
• mining
• conflict
• protest
• moral economy
• Burkina Faso

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Extractivisme
• extraction minière
• conflit
• économie morale
• Burkina Faso

Acknowledegments

I am very grateful to Mohamed Dagano and Desiré Nikiema for carrying out the questionnaire study. Special thanks go to Brahima Diabaté, Kristina Dietz, Franza Drechsel, Herman Moussa Konkobo, Lore Rapport, Ouiry Sanou and André Tibiri for their patience, confidence and support. The German ministry of education and research provided research funding, which is highly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In March, September and December 2015; March–April and September 2016; March and September–October 2017; February–March and September–November 2018; and February–March 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung [01LN1302A].

Notes on contributors

Bettina Engels

Bettina Engels is an assistant professor of conflict and African studies at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. Together with Kristina Dietz, she is director of the research group “Global Change – Local Conflicts? Conflicts over land in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa in times of global transformation” (GLOCON). Her research and teaching focus on structural change in the global countryside, radical transformation, contentious politics, and conflicts over land and mining. She has published in the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, the Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Extractive Industries and Society, Labour History, and Review of African Political Economy.