Success and failure of protest actors’ framing strategies in conflicts over land and mining in Senegal

ABSTRACT

In this article, I explore how the discursive context shapes the outcome of protest actors’ framing strategies in conflicts over large-scale land transformations. I use the discursive opportunity structures (DOS) concept to show that the outcome of framing strategies is influenced by national and transnational discursive structures. These differ depending on the specific purpose of land valorisation. Further factors influencing the outcomes are counter frames of the opponents, quality of framing strategies and frictions within movements. Empirically, I compare framing strategies used by protest actors in conflicts around a gold mine and an agro-industrial project in Senegal.

RÉSUMÉ

Dans cet article j’examine comment le contexte discursif influence les résultats des stratégies de cadrage utilisées par des acteurs de protestations dans des conflits portant sur des transformations foncières à grande échelle. J’utilise le concept de structure des opportunités discursives pour montrer que le succès ou l’échec des stratégies de cadrage est déterminé par des structures discursives nationales et transnationales. Celles-ci diffèrent selon l’objectif particulier de la valorisation foncière. Autres facteurs qui influencent les résultats sont les contre-cadres des adversaires, l’utilisation habile des cadres et des frictions à l’intérieur des mouvements. Empiriquement je me réfère à deux conflits autour d’une mine d’or et d’un projet agroindustriel au Sénégal.

KEYWORDS:

• Protest
• land grab
• mining
• discursive opportunity structures
• framing

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to all my interview partners for their time and invaluable input. I would further like to thank IPAR, particularly Dr Aminata Niang, and the West Africa office of the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation for their logistical support. I would also like to thank Junior Professor Dr Bettina Engels, Sarah Kirst and Professor Jean Grugel, as well as two anonymous reviewers, for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes on contributor

Louisa Prause is a PhD candidate at Free University of Berlin. Her dissertation analyses differences and similarities in conflicts over large-scale land transformations in the mining and agricultural sector. She works as a researcher in the junior research group GLOCON (“Global Change-Local Conflicts?”).

Notes

1 For an overview see http://www.farmlandgrab.org/search?query=Senhuile&sort_order=date (accessed 10 November 2016).

2 Interview, national NGO, Kédougou, 5 March 2015.

3 One of the most important Senegalese newspapers, LeQuotidien, only published 12 articles in 2013–2016 on the Sabodala mine, whereby nine of them reported on claims and critiques by the local communities and NGOs.

4 See, for example, the Dakar Appeal Against Land Grabbing, published as an outcome of the World Social Forum 2011 in Dakar: https://viacampesina.org/en/appel-de-dakar-contre-les-accaparements-des-terres/ (accessed 27 October 2017).

5 See, for example, Earthworks’ “No Dirty Gold” campaign or Amnesty International’s work on mining.

6 Interview, national NGO, Dakar, 26 June 2014; Interview, KODEN, Dakar, 4 February 2015.

7 Interview, Senhuile, Dakar, 6 February 2015.

8 FGD, KODEN, Thiamène, 16 March 2015.

9 Interview, Ministry of Agriculture, Dakar, 26 February 2015.

10 FGD, KODEN, Thiamène, 16 March 2015.

11 Interview, national NGO, Dakar, 12 February 2015.

12 Mémorandum et Points de Négociation du Collectif des Villages Affectés par la Société Italienne Senhuile-Senéthanol. Communauté Rurale de Ngnith, open letter, 2012.

13 Interview, national NGO, Dakar, 4 February 2015; KODEN, Dakar, 4 February 2015.

14 Interview, KODEN, Dakar, 4 February 2015.

15 Interview, national NGO, Dakar, 26 June 2014.

16 Senhuile, “Senhuile installe 12 pivots pour la culture du maïs.” (press release, 11 April 2016).

17 Interview, spokesperson local communities, Kédougou, 5 March 2015.

18 Interview, national NGO, Kédougou, 5 March 2015.

19 FGD, inhabitants of Sabodala village, 4 March 2015, Sabodala.

20 Interview, international NGO, 10 February 2015.

21 Interview, national NGO, Kédougou, 5 March 2015.

22 Interview, international NGO, 10 February 2015.

23 Teranga Gold Corperation’s response to Resource Centre on Business and Human Rights email of 22 February 2016 (open letter, 29 February 2016).

24 Interview, Forestry Department, Kédougou, 3 March 2015; Ministry of Mining, Dakar, 16 February 2015.

25 I am particularly thankful to one of the anonymous reviewers for making me aware of this point.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Free University of Berlin within the Excellence Initiative of the German Research Foundation.