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Abstract
This article analyzes the efforts of communities resisting Canadian mining projects in Latin America, with an emphasis on the international linkages they make to strengthen that opposition. We use the “boomerang” metaphor to explain how global civil society can encourage state and nonstate actors to conform to basic international standards in areas such as environmental protection, Indigenous rights, labour rights, and other forms of human rights protection. However, we also suggest that the boomerang model can be strengthened and extended to provide a more rigorous analysis of the structural violence and colonial aspects of the extractive model of “development.”
Notes
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
About the authors
David P. Thomas teaches in the Department of Politics & International Relations at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
Sharoni Mitra graduated recently with an Honours degree in International Relations from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
Notes
1 Anheier, Glasius, and Kaldor, “Introducing Global Civil Society,” 4.
2 Anheier, Glasius, and Kaldor, “Introducing Global Civil Society,” 17.
3 Keane, “Global Civil Society?” 23.
4 Kaldor, Global Civil Society: An Answer to War, 3.
5 Anheier et al., “The Global Civil Society Yearbook: Lessons and Insights 2001– 2011,” 2.
6 To explore a similar, but slightly modified, approach to global civil society, see the constructivist view that is well expressed by Chandler, Constructing Global Civil Society.
7 Cox, “Civil Society at the Turn of the Millennium,” 25.
8 For further work on the Gramscian approach to global civil society, see Carroll and Ratner, “Between Leninism and Radical Pluralism: Gramscian Reflections on Counter-Hegemony and the New Social Movements,” 3–26; and Butko, “Gramsci and the ‘Anti-Globalization’ Movement,” 79–102.
9 For an excellent text on biopolitics, governmentality, and global governance, see Roberts, Global Governance and Biopolitics: Regulating Human Security.
10 Lipschutz, “Global Civil Society and Global Governmentality,” 171.
11 Lipschutz, “Global Civil Society and Global Governmentality,” 183.
12 There is also a wide variety of feminist approaches to global civil society. For example, see Jude Howell, “Gender and Civil Society”; Chan-Tiberghien, “Gender Skepticism or Gender-Boom: Poststructural Feminisms, Transnational Feminisms and the World Conference Against Racism,” 454–84.
13 Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders, 12.
14 Tarrow, The New Transnational Activism, 58.
15 Risse and Sikkink, “The Socialization of International Human Rights Norms into Domestic Practices,” 1–38.
16 Sikkink, “Patterns of Dynamic Multilevel Governance,”154. For an example of scholarship using the spiral model, see A.M. Murdie and D.R. Davis, “Shaming and Blaming: Using Events Data to Assess the Impact of Human Rights INGOs,” 1–16.
17 Price, “Civil Society and the Global Market for Loyalties,” 46–56.
18 Kaldor, “Democracy and Globalisation,” 34–45.
19 Mahanta, “Transnational Activism and the Dalit women’s Movement in India,” 140–50.
20 Htun and Weldon, “The Civil Origins of Progressive Policy Change,” 548–69.
21 Hozic, “Between ‘National’ and ‘Transnational,’” 229–39.
22 Council on Hemispheric Affairs, “Canadian Mining in Latin America: Exploitation, Inconsistency, and Neglect.”
23 Sagebien et al., “The Corporate Social Responsibility of Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America,” 104.
24 Butler, Colonial Extractions: Race and Canadian Mining in Contemporary Africa, 10.
25 Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada, “Latin America and the Caribbean” in Canada’s Global Commerce Strategy (2007–2013).
26 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction: Canadian Imperialism in Latin America, 15.
27 Marshall, “Facts and Figures 2015,” 12.
28 See Butler, Colonial Extractions: Race and Canadian Mining in Contemporary Africa; Veltmeyer, “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Extraction: A New Model or Extractive Imperialism?” 79–95; North et al., Community Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility: Canadian Mining and Oil in Latin America; Gordon, Imperialist Canada; Gordon and Webber, “Imperialism and Resistance: Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America,” 63–88; Campbell, “Regulation and Legitimacy in the Mining Industry in Africa” 367–85; Coumans, “Alternative Accountability Mechanisms and Mining,” 27–48; Deneault and Sacher, Imperial Canada Inc.: Legal Haven of Choice for the World’s Mining Industries; and Abadie, “Canada and the Geopolitics of Mining Interests,” 289–302.
29 Gordon and Webber, “Imperialism and Resistance,” 63–88.
30 Veltmeyer, “The Natural Resource Dynamics of Postneoliberalism in Latin America,” 57–85.
31 Butler, Colonial Extractions.
32 North and Young, “Generating Rights for Communities Harmed by Mining,” 103.
33 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction, 4.
34 Blackwood and Stewart, “CIDA and the Mining Sector,” 221.
35 Campbell, “Factoring in Governance is Not Enough. Mining Codes in Africa,” 10.
36 Foss, “Dirty Business, Dirty Practices,” 6.
37 Blackwood and Stewart, “CIDA and the Mining Sector,” 232.
38 McFarland and McKenna, “CPPIB, EDC to Open Offices in Latin America.”
39 “Sharing Successes,” Canada’s Engagement in the Americas 2012–2013, 15.
40 MiningWatch Canada, “Brief: The Canadian International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development (CIIEID).”
41 Sagebien et al., “Corporate Social Responsibility,” 110.
42 MiningWatch Canada, “Brief: The Canadian International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development (CIIEID).”
43 Arsenault, “Digging up Canadian Dirt in Colombia.”
44 Brown, “Introduction: Canadian Aid Enters the Twenty-First Century,” 18.
45 Brown, “Extractive Industries as an Overseas Development Strategy,” 227.
46 Mackrael, “Ottawa Expands List of Countries to Receive Foreign Aid Priority,” paragraph 3.
47 Coumans, “CIDA’s Partnership with Mining Companies Fails to Acknowledge and Address the Role of Mining in the Creation of Development Deficits.”
48 For further analysis of the linkages between mining and foreign aid, see Blackwood and Stewart, “CIDA and the Mining Sector.”
49 Campbell, “Factoring in Governance Is Not Enough,” 11.
50 Coumans, “Alternative Accountability Mechanisms and Mining,” 45.
51 Grayson, “Human Security, Neoliberalism and Corporate Social Responsibility, 514.
52 Gordon and Webber, “Imperialism and Resistance,” 69.
53 Campbell, “Regulation and Legitimacy in the Mining Industry in Africa,” 381.
54 Canadian Council for International Cooperation, “Moving Beyond Voluntarism: A Civil Society Analysis of SCFAIT 14th report, ‘Mining in Developing Countries—Corporate Social Responsibility,” 4.
55 The Canadian Press, “Feds Pay $180K to Run Mining Counselor’s Office, with No Counselor.”
56 Keenan, “Commentary. Desperately Seeking Sanction,” 114.
57 Keenan, “Commentary. Desperately Seeking Sanction,” 116.
58 Szablowski, “Operationalizing Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in the Extractive Industry Sector?” 112.
59 Szablowski, “Operationalizing Free, Prior, and Informed Consent,” 114.
60 Yagenova and Garcia, “Indigenous People's Struggles Against Transnational Mining Companies in Guatemala,” 158.
61 Yagenova and Garcia, “Indigenous People's Struggles,” 158.
62 Vittor, “Indigenous People and Resistance to Mining Projects (English Version),” 51.
63 Veltmeyer, “The Political Economy of Natural Resource Extraction,” 89.
64 Engler, “Stephen Harper’s Endless Campaign for Mining Profits,” paragraph 1. For further cases, see Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), “Anti-mining Group Stage 36 Hour Sit-in at Canadian Embassy in Mexico City,” Vancouver Media Coop (July 20, 2009), http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/fr/newsrelease/1752; and Council of Canadians, “Mexican Activist Murdered for Opposing Mining Company—Killing Sparks Protest at Canadian Embassy,” MiningWatch (December 3, 2009), http://www.miningwatch.ca/fr/mexican-activist-murdered-opposing-canadian-mining-company-killing-sparks-protest-canadian-embassy-m.
65 Dakins and Moyles, “Indigenous Farmers Confront Canada’s Goldcorp.”
66 Keenan, “Desperately Seeking Sanction: Canadian Extractive Companies and their Public Partners,” 5.
67 The Tata Centre, “Breaking the Silence—About Us.”
68 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction, 70.
69 Carroll, “Gold Giant Faces Honduras Inquiry into Alleged Heavy Metal Pollution.”
70 For example, see Amador and Russell, “Endemic Health Crisis in the Siria Valley (Honduras), Caused Assuredly by Goldcorp Inc.”
71 Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, “What We Do.”
72 See a list of Interpares’ counterpart organizations in Latin America here: https://www.interpares.ca/counterparts?field_related_region_tid =32. Accessed January 6, 2017.
73 Mining Justice Alliance, “Mining Justice Networks.”
74 MiningWatch Canada, “About Us.”
75 North and Young, “Generating Rights,” 97–98.
76 Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, “Tort.”
77 See Keenan, “Bringing Canadian Mining to Justice”; and North and Young, “Generating Rights,” 98.
78 North and Young, “Generating Rights,” 98.
79 North and Young, “Generating Rights,” 101.
80 Amnesty International Canada, “Brief on Bill C-300.”
81 MiningWatch Canada, “Letter from 39 Latin American Human Rights Organisations Supporting Bill C-300.”
82 Keenan, “Commentary. Desperately Seeking Sanction,” 117.
83 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), “Precautionary Measures PM 260–67.”
84 Center for International Environmental Law, “Press Room: Guatemala Suspends Marline Mine.”
85 See Goldcorp Inc., “IACHR Modifies Marlin Mine Precautionary Measures; Request to Suspend Mine Operations Removed”; and MiningWatch Canada, “Human Rights Commission’s Climbdown a Wake-up Call for Human Rights Defenders in the Americas, Not Indicator of Goldcorp’s Performance.”
86 Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), “Press Room: Guatemalan Community Leaders ask Canadian Government to Investigate Human Rights.”
87 See the following for solid context on this case: S. Grech, “Chapter Two—Guatemala: Landscapes.”
88 Scheper-Hughes and Bourgois, Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology, 4–5. Quoted in Butler, Colonial Extractions, 87.
89 Butler, Colonial Extractions, 287.
90 Kuyek, “Legitimating Plunder: Canadian Mining Companies and Corporate Social Responsibility,” 207–8.
91 Clark, “Canadian Mining in Neo-liberal Chile: Of Private Virtues and Public Vices,” 95.
92 Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, “About.”
93 Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, “About.”
94 Scholars have addressed this issue in other areas where Northern actors engage with struggles in the Global South. For example, on the issue of international labour standards, see Don Wells, “Local Worker Struggles in the Global South: Reconsidering Northern Impacts on International Labour Standards,” 567–79; and on the topic of fair trade coffee, see Gavin Fridell, “Fair Trade Slippages and Vietnam Gaps,” 1179–94.
95 Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders, 12–13.
96 Butler, Colonial Extractions, 135.