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Local Protesters Are Killing Big Oil and Mining Projects Worldwide

14th May 2014.

14th May 2014. Multinational corporations are infamous for pushing native people off their land in order to open a new gold mine, extract oil, or otherwise extract local resources. For decades, backlash has been thought to be both limited and ineffectual, but new evidence suggests that protests from local people are effective, extremely costly for the companies, and often lead to substantive changes to or total abandonment of a project.

Researchers at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining interviewed employees at several dozen major international corporations who are involved with extractive activities, and found that companies are increasingly having to deal with the social and environmental impacts of their work, and that it’s hurting them where it hurts most: their bottom lines.

The researchers, led by Daniel Franks, took a look at 50 planned major extractive projects (oil drilling, new mine construction, that sort of thing) and found that in fully half of them, local people launched some sort of “project blockade.” In 40 percent of the projects, someone died as a result of a physical protest, and 15 of the projects were suspended or abandoned altogether, according to Franks’ study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“There is a popular misconception that local communities are powerless in the face of large corporations and governments,” Franks said in a statement. “Our findings show that community mobilization can be very effective at raising the costs to companies.”

The number of projects in the study sample affected by local action. Image: PNAS

The reason these projects, such as the Minas Conga gold mine in northern Peruand Lanjigarh bauxite mining project in Orissa, India, were abandoned wasn’t borne out of some sense of social responsibility to not pollute the environment or to not push people off their land. It was because the protests and resulting government backlash was so great that it became financially unviable to move forward.

Delays, even early in a project, can be extremely costly—at a major mining project, $20 million per week in lost revenues and lost investment isn’t uncommon. According to the study’s respondents, a nine-month delay at a Latin American mine cost a company $750 million; protests that shut down power lines at another operation cost $750,000 a day. Even before drilling or extraction has started, lost wages and startup delays can cost $50,000 a day when programs are forced to a standstill after they’ve started.

Perhaps not surprisingly, protests were most successful when they took place early on, during feasibility and construction phases of a project.

“This [is] in part because the project is smaller in scale and therefore easier to contest, but also because at later stages of the project cycle, capital has been sunk into an area, changes become costly to retrofit, revenues begin to be generated, and there are increased incentives for companies and governments to ‘defend’ their projects,” Franks wrote.

Social media and internet access are allowing indigenous and local groups to organize more quickly, to learn from others who have had successful protests, and to connect with nonprofits and humanitarian groups that can help push their stories out to the entire world.

“There’s been a big change in the mentality of indigenous people—things like Facebook are allowing them to not be as naive,” Kelly Swing, a Boston University researcher who works in an area of the Ecuadorian Amazon that is currently fighting back against proposed oil projects, told me. “They look at what has happened in, say, Peru, and see that their culture has gone to hell in a handbasket. All of a sudden, gifts the companies offer, like boats and education and modern medicine aren’t the panacea they used to seem.”

Companies, for their part, are learning how to anticipate these sorts of hangups, and some of those interviewed (all identities and specific responses were kept confidential) said that local backlash can be predicted and quantified before it happens.

“Several interviewees were strongly of the view that the triggers for and underlying causes of company-community conflict, and its costs, are predictable, and that approaches, procedures, and standards are available to companies to avoid conflict and develop constructive relationships with community actors,” Franks wrote.

At many companies, Franks wrote, the higher ups who approve major projects are completely oblivious that their work might have some sort of social or environmental impact. To combat this, companies hire “translators” who are able to identify potential social problems and put them in a language executives can understand: money.

“Translation requires individuals within organizations who can work across functional, organizational, and conceptual boundaries, and who can work in more than one ‘language’ and interpret how social and environmental risk is translating into costs for business. The need for internal ‘translators’ suggests that corporate decision-makers do not currently have the necessary models to internalize externalities and translate social risk inward,” Franks wrote.

Franks wrote that there’s some evidence that companies really do want to make sure local people are treated correctly—that, as he found, concerns such as drinking water contamination, environmental destruction, and public health risks, are not brushed aside. Then again, he noted that “some see stakeholder-related concerns as optional ‘add-ons’ to broader regulatory processes for operating projects.”

The challenge for those “stakeholders,” then, is making sure that, no matter what, they make a project so difficult to complete that those “add-ons” become so costly that the project dies. It seems like, in an increasing number of cases, that’s actually happening.

Brutal Crackdown on Hangzhou Waste Incinerator Protest Leaves 3 Dead, Sparks Riot

12th May 2014 At least three people are reported dead with dozens more injured, hospitalized and arrested after hundreds of police began a brutal repre

12th May 2014 At least three people are reported dead with dozens more injured, hospitalized and arrested after hundreds of police began a brutal repression with baton beatings, tasers and tear gas, in a move to clear out 1000′s of proposed waste incinerator plant protesters in Hangzhou.

Social media accounts are reporting that 2 men and a child were killed by police during the initial crackdown. People report that the incident began with the police attacking the elderly people who were sitting as a barrier to the overpass encampment that has been on site in past weeks.

The police violence sparked a violent response from the thousands that were gathered to protest. At least 15 police vehicles, including buses were overturned and some of them burned. The resistance to the police continued in waves into the night.

Several people are reporting that cell and internet service have been cut off. Chinese state run media has yet to report on the incident.

Hundreds of police were sent out today to quell the protest.

Nembe Communities Occupy Shell Oil Facilities in Nigeria

12th May 2014

Stakeholders and indigenes of Nembe-Bassambiri in Bayelsa State last weekend besieged oil facilities operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over it’s divestment plans and proposed sale of its Oil Mining Licenses (OMLs).

The host to some of the SPDC’s installations in Nembe Local Government Area of the state, were angry at the plan by Shell to sell OML 29 located in their domain without consulting them.

Shell has reportedly placed its 45 percent stake in four oil wells including OML 29 for sale as part of the company’s divestment.

OML 29 is believed to have increased to 62,000 bpd of oil and 40 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscf/d). It also holds reserves of 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

The aggrieved protesters who stormed the company’s facilities on Saturday with diffrent placards asked Shell to stop production for three days to address their demands.

Numbering over 100, the demonstrators consisting of women, youths, chiefs, leaders and elders from the community came on 15 speedboats.

The protesters led by a member of the community’s Oil and Gas Committee, Chief Brigidi, took over the Nembe-Brass waterways, chanting solidarity songs as they sailed to SPDC’s major oil platforms in the area to register their grievances.

Some of the placards displayed by the protesters read: “the land is ours, the oil is ours, Shell cannot divest without us”; “No, to Shell OML 29 sale”; “After polluting our land and water, Shell wants to sell our land”.

Others are “No to fraudulent sell of investment”. “No to Shell fraudulent divestment”; “OML 29, OPU Nembe demand justice”; “Do not sell our oil wells to strangers” and “Include our companies in OML divestment plans”.

A member of the Nembe-Bassambiri Council of Chiefs, Chief Bukunor Alfred, said members of the community were angry at the plan of SPDC to sell oil blocks in the area without consulting them.

He said delegates sent by the council of chiefs to dialogue with SPDC on the development returned disappointed, saying, “Our placards have shown that we are not happy with Shell. We are by this protest giving Shell three days to shut down operation and dialogue with us or we will ensure that these facilities are permanently closed.”

He said though SPDC had contributed in the development of the community, the company was wrong to take a major decision of divesting without consulting its landlords.

“We are not against what they are doing. But we want to say that we are the landlords and we are supposed to be notified on what our tenants are doing,” he said.

Also, the Chairman of Opu-Nembe Improvement Union (ONIU), Mr. Ebinyo Robert, said the community would not let the company to leave unceremoniously after destroying its environment through pollution.

He insisted that the company must involve the community in all the processes involved in selling OML 29.

He warned that individuals and companies indicating interest to buy the oil wells should desist or have the community to contend with.

He said the communities have nominated three companies, Amot Oil E&P Limited, A-Abas Resources and Isea BMG, to participate in the bidding process.

He said: “The place has been polluted and our enviroment, our water our land, has been degraded for a long time. We have not been rehabilitated the way we really wanted it.

“By this demonstration, we are telling the parties to the sale including the bidders to desist from going ahead because if they do, of course, the land is ours, the water is ours and the oil is ours, they will have us to contend with and they may not like us in the manner in which they will meet us when they come to operate.

“So, we are asking the SPDC to stop the flow and all operations for now and ensure that the community is carried along because that is the only way we can have peace here.

“We are also saying that the community has nominated three companies, Amot Oil E&P Limited, A-Abas Resources and Isea BMG, to participate in the bidding process. So, SPDC should involve these companies in the process.”

But the Operations Team Lead Santa Barbara Flow Station, Mr. Akpe Emmanuel, welcomed the protesters on behalf of Shell.

He thanked them for the peaceful manner in which they conducted the demonstration and promised to pass their grievances across the SPDC.

He said: “Once again, you are welcome. I want to thank you for the manner in which you presented your case. I really appreciate it on behalf of Shell.

“Like the community has assigned you to represent them, I am also here on behalf of Shell. I have heard all you have said. It is my duty to pass this message to my principal.”

Mass Trial of Indigenous Leaders Set to Begin this Week in Peru

12th May 2014 A massive trial involving 53 Indigenous leaders and activists is set to begin this week, reviving the tragic events that took place four years ago in the Amazonas Region

12th May 2014 A massive trial involving 53 Indigenous leaders and activists is set to begin this week, reviving the tragic events that took place four years ago in the Amazonas Region of Peru.

In April 2009, a national indigenous mobilization was organized to stop a plan by the Peruvian government to roll-back indigenous land rights and make it easier for industry to exploit the Amazon rainforest.

The first month of the mobilization, led by more than 1200 communities, was largely peaceful. However, that began to change on May 9, 2009, when the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in the regions of Loreto, Amazonas, Cusco, and Ucayali–where thousands of Indigenous Peoples were concentrating their efforts.

Once the state of emergency was declared, the number of confrontations with police and military began to climb. Nevertheless, the mobilization pressed on, with Indigenous Peoples carrying out daily protest actions across the country.

With the Indigenous Peoples showing no signs of backing down, on May 20, Peru’s Congress took a positive step forward by repealing one of four laws that sparked the mobilization: Legislative Decree 1090, a new forestry law that removed the protected status of some 45 million hectares of rainforest. Six days later, a second legislative decree, aimed at promoting private investment in irrigation projects, was declared unconstitutional.

While there was enormous relief over the removal of the two decrees, two others remained:

Legislative Decree 1064 removed a requirement that obliged companies to come to an agreement with indigenous communities over land compensation and land use before entering their lands (effectively giving mining, oil & gas, logging, and hydro companies free access to enter any Indigenous territory).
Legislative Decree 1089, meanwhile, gave unrestricted powers for land titling to COFOPRI, the government body that specializes in granting individual land titles.

With both decrees posing a significant threat to the security of Indigenous land rights, in addition to the fact that the government failed to carry out a process of consulting or seeking the consent of effected Indigenous Peoples–in violation of ILO Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples–the mobilization pressed on.

After a few more weeks of protest, it looked as if a resolution was at hand. Several thousand Awajun and Wampis Peoples had set up a series of strategic blockades on Fernando Belaúnde Terry road in Bagua, Amazonas Region. Having so effectively seized the important road, the government sought to strike a deal with the Awajun and Wampis, ultimately convincing the Indigenous Peoples to begin taking down their blockades. Many of the Awajun and Wampis were long gone by the time June 5 rolled around.

In the early morning hours of June 5, the Peruvian military police made their move.

When the dust finally settled, 38 people were dead and more than 200 were injured.

Two weeks after the brutal confrontation, Peru’s Congress overwhelmingly voted to strike down both Legislative Decree 1064 and 1089.

Following Congress’ vote, Daysi Zapata, vice president of the Interethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP), the organization that started the mobilization, officially called for an end to all protests, stating, “Today is an historic day, we are grateful that the will of indigenous peoples has been heard, and only hope that in future, governments meet and listen to the people, and not legislate the laws back in.”

Four years later, the decrees have remained off the books; the government taking judicial aim at many of the Indigenous Peoples who took part (or allegedly took part) in the mobilization. Since 2009, more 100 separate lawsuits have been filed involving at least 350 Indigenous men and women.

The upcoming lawsuit, known as the “Curva del Diablo”, will be the largest of them all. In fact, with 53 indigenous leaders facing anywhere between 35 years to life in prison, it is going to be the largest trial in Peru’s history.

AIDESEP President Alberto Pizango, who is among the 53 named defendants, recently commented in an internal AIDESEP interview:

There’s a “Before Bagua” and an “After Bagua”. A before in which the Peruvian State didn’t want to and didn’t know how to listen to the proposals of indigenous peoples. This exacerbated the situation until things came to what happened, which unfortunately took so many lives unnecessarily. I’d say an “After Bagua” because thanks to the Amazonian mobilizations I can say that today the indigenous agenda is not only inserted in the national level and within the State, but on the international level.

Pizango continues:

I’d just say to the indigenous peoples and my indigenous brothers who are being tried for these regrettable events that they should stay firm in continuing to lift up the voice of indigenous peoples. All we have done is comply with our role as being the official spokespeople and work to insert in the national public agenda the different claims as mandated to us by our peoples. I’d reiterate to my brothers that they should stay firm in the significance of indigenous peoples rights. We’re going to overcome these accusations, we should be conscious of the fact that we haven’t committed any crimes. Perhaps our only crime was to carry the voice of the people, which is what we’ll be judged for starting May 14th….

Colombian Poor Occupy Lands Slated for Military Base

wYdfu2J 12th May 2014 FORTUL, COLOMBIA–Holding down an occupation for five months isn’t easy. Doing so in Colombia, even less so.

wYdfu2J 12th May 2014 FORTUL, COLOMBIA–Holding down an occupation for five months isn’t easy. Doing so in Colombia, even less so. But members of the community of Héctor Alirio Martínez in the municipality of Fortul, near the border with Venezuela, have raised the stakes even higher: they’re occupying land owned by the Ministry of Defense. The 100 hectare terrain now spotted with wood and plastic homes was slated to become a large military base.

Locals say the land originally was purchased by Occidental Petroleum in order to build a large new base to coordinate protection of a new oil pipeline which passes less than a few hundred meters from the lot.

“This land belongs to the Ministry of Defense, it was purchased and sponsored by Oxy, so we as good people from Arauca said that the most viable thing is to take over this plan, and see if the Minister of Defense will give it to us over time, many people needed this land,” said Jhon Carlos Ariza Aguilar, the Vice-President of the community of over 2,000 families. They began the occupation on November 26, 2013.

I met with Jhon and other members of the community on a hot February afternoon, weeks after the community was supposed to have been removed by force. On January 20, the army entered the shack settlement with a tank, and an eviction was scheduled for February 4, but that date came and went with community members in an uneasy calm about what would take place next.

Fortul is a municipality in the Colombian foothills, between the mountains and the wide open plains, and not far from the Arauca River, which marks the border with Venezuela. This oil rich region is also deeply conflictual, on the road over, soldiers hung around a handful of tanks, and army presence is ubiquitous. ELN and FARC guerrillas also patrol the area and have carried out attacks on Caño Limon-Covenas pipeline which serves Occidental’s nearby Caño Limon field. Under the heavy afternoon sun, a group of men lounged under a handful of trees, and women relaxed under a shelter beside them. Identical palm shacks protected by green cloth roofs dotted the area.

As we spoke, a taxi cab arrived, with a mattress strapped to the top and furniture in the trunk, indicating another family permanently moving into the area. Ariza Aguilar indicated that about one in four members of the occupation was an internally displaced person, forced out of their homes because of the ongoing conflict.

“Oxy bought this land and they gave it to the Ministry of Defense” in 2010, said Jhonny Alexis Castro, the Fortul representative of the Joel Sierra Human Rights Foundation. Oxy did not respond to a request for comment.

The Oleoducto Bicentenario, a meter wide oil pipeline that will eventually travel 960km from Casanare department to the port of Coveñas, is three minutes from the occupation by road, on the back end of the community the underground pipeline is but a few hundred meters away. “That’s why they wanted a battalion here, but there is a school very close, having a battalion here would mean having a checkpoint right in front of the school,” said Castro.

Today, children from the settlement are already attending the school. “What matters is that the children go and study, it doesn’t matter if we have electricity or not, that [they study] is the important thing,” said Ariza Aguilar. He invited me to swim in a river nearby, which provides those living in the community with a place to gather water, wash clothing, and bathe.

The community of Héctor Alirio Martínez is the first permanent occupation of land owned by the Ministry of Defense in Colombia. The community takes its name from a local peasant activist who was pulled from a house at dawn and shot to death by soldiers along with two others on August 4, 2004. “The problem is that Arauca is considered a red zone in Colombia, and any leader who orients people, who even just teaches them how to go to city hall (to manage their paperwork), that’s enough to say they’re a guerrilla and hunt them until they kill them,” said Ariza Aguilar.

Community members know that taking part in the occupation is an extremely risky activity, but for many the need for housing and the ability to send their children to school outweighs the risk.

Protesters in East China Clash with Police Over Waste Incinerator Plan

10th May 2014 Protesters in eastern China clashed with police at a rally against plans to build a huge waste incinerator that residents fear will be harmful to their health and add to pollution.

Choking smog blankets many Chinese cities and the environmental degradation resulting from the country’s breakneck economic growth is angering its increasingly well-educated and affluent population.

Two of the protesters told Reuters that the demonstrations, which have lasted for more than two weeks, turned violent with hundreds of police descending onto the streets of Yuhang, close to the tourist city of Hangzhou.

“There have certainly been injuries,” one of the protesters, Wu Yunfeng, said by telephone. “The police have closed down the roads into Yuhang and locked the site down.”

Another protester, who declined to give her name, said several police cars had been overturned.

A police officer, reached by telephone, said the demonstration had already ended. He declined to provide further details.

Reuters was unable to reach the local government for comment.

On Friday, the official Hangzhou Daily newspaper defended the construction of the incinerator, saying the technology it would use was safe and up to standard.

Hangzhou, capital of prosperous Zhejiang province and best known in China as the site of a famous lake, has seen its lustre dimmed in recent years by a recurrent smog problem.

Pictures on China’s Twitter-like Weibo site showed police fighting with protesters and at least two protesters with blood streaming down their faces.

Another picture showed several hundred people surrounding a large group of police.

“We don’t want our children and grandchildren to get cancer. Give us back our beautiful home,” read one letter of protest carried on Weibo.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the pictures’ authenticity.

About 90,000 “mass incidents” – a euphemism for protests – occur each year in China, triggered by corruption, pollution, illegal land grabs and other grievances.

Late in March, hundreds of residents of the southern town of Maoming staged protests against plans to build a petrochemical plant there, for fear it would contribute to pollution.

Tibetan Jumps to His Death to Protest Chinese Mine

9th May 2014 A young Tibetan stabbed himself and jumped to his death from the roof of a building in Tibet’s Chamdo prefecture on Wednesday after authorities tried to halt his protest against a Chinese mine being built in the area,

Phakpa Gyaltsen, 32, died instantly after throwing himself from a building in Dzogang (in Chinese, Zuogang) prefecture’s Tongbar town, a Tibetan living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Wednesday, citing local sources.

After telling local Tibetans that he would “do something” to oppose Chinese mining in Dzogang, Gyaltsen “went to the town center, climbed onto a high building, and called out for Tibetan freedom,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“When attempts were made to stop him, he stabbed himself twice and jumped off the building, dying instantly,” he said.

Tibet—called Xizang, or Western Treasure, by China—has become an important source of minerals needed for China’s economic growth, and mining operations in Tibetan regions have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth.

Chinese mining operations at a site near Madok Tso called Ache Jema began almost two months ago, an exile source in Europe said, also citing contacts in Dzogang.

“They claimed that they are working to build a dam, but in reality they are planning to mine in the area, the source said.

“So the local Tibetans decided to stop the plan, and every day three Tibetans were sent to guard the area, working in rotation.”

Detained

Some of those watching the site were later detained by police in Tongbar but were released after a few days, he said.

“Local authorities also tried to convince area residents not to oppose the mining by offering each family 10,000 yuan [U.S. $1,603] in compensation,” RFA’s India-based source said, adding, “But the Tibetans argued that mining would have negative impacts [on the area].”

“Phakpa Gyaltsen then told the local Tibetans that he would do something himself so that they would not have to protest and cause problems.”

Gyaltsen, the elder son of the area’s Choeshoe family, is survived by a wife and three small children, with another child on the way, he said.

“Phone connections to the area are now blocked, and it is difficult to learn anything more about what is happening,” he said.

Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, with 131 Tibetans to date self-immolating to protest Chinese rule and call for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Former ELF Member Pleads Guilty to Arsons; Snitches on Friends for Reduced Sentence

Tomorrow, May 5, 2014, Liam Mulholland will be sentenced for his involvement in a 2003 ELF arson.

Mulholland pleaded guilty to setting fire to a house at Mystic Forest housing development in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on March 21, 2003. Spray painted on the garage of a neighboring house were the words “ELF – No Sprawl.”

In Michigan, the mandatory minimum for this kind of property destruction is five years in prison. However, the government has requested a reduced sentence because of Mulholland’s “cooperation” with the federal government.

From his plea agreement and the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, it seems Mulholland handed the feds a lot of information. He claimed involvement in several more ELF and ALF actions, including arsons that destroyed two homes at another housing development in Michigan in June of 2003; using incendiary devices to destroy chicken delivery trucks in Bloomington, Indiana in May of 2002; an arson at a housing development in Bloomington, Indiana in June of 2002; and a failed attempt to set fire to a pumping station in Stanwood, Michigan, in September of 2003.

Mulholland also provided feds with the names of the other activists with whom he carried out these actions—as well as where and how they traveled, where and when they planned and discussed their actions, what they purchased for the actions, how they disposed of the purchased items, and how they carried out each action.

The government is requesting a sentence of 18 months for Mulholland—a reduction of 42 months from the state’s mandatory minimum—because his cooperation will aid the government in cracking down on the other ELF and ALF suspects: “The government has determined that the defendant’s cooperation to date amounts to substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of others.”

Photo captured from Local 4 Defenders.

The agreement also asserts that, because of his cooperation, all his charges related to the other admitted ELF and ALF arsons will be dismissed.

And it seems that Mulholland isn’t the only one snitching. The Sentencing Memorandum states that, though Mulholland often asserted that he was simply “along for the ride” during these actions, the feds have received contradictory information: “According to witnesses, it was the defendant who had the expertise to construct incendiary devices and did so for both the arson of the delivery trucks at Sim’s Poultry, as well as the attempted arson of the Ice Mountain pumping station.”

Stay tuned for more information after tomorrow’s sentencing hearing. If anyone has pictures of Liam Mulholland, or more information, please send them to collective [at] earthfirstjournal [dot] org, so that the word can be spread, and activists and activist groups can be on guard for the presence of this snitch.

For more information on snitches and informants, be sure to check out our online Informant Tracker.

Rabbit is an editor for the Earth First! Journal and Newswire. He can be reached at rabbit [at] earthfirstjournal [dot] org. If you appreciated reading this article, or want to support the informant tracking and prisoner support services, please consider subscribing or donating today.

Japan’s Northwest Pacific Whale Killing Program Could Start Later This Month

April 18 2014 On March 31^st, a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) served a devastating blow to Japan’s whaling industry.

April 18 2014 On March 31^st, a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) served a devastating blow to Japan’s whaling industry. The court’s landmark ruling stated that the Japan whale Research Program in the Antarctic (JARPA II) was not conducted for the purposes of scientific research. It ordered that Japan revoke the scientific permits given under JARPA II and refrain from granting any further permits under that program.

In a blatant show of defiance of this ruling, Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) last week filed court briefs stating that they intend to return to slaughter whales in the Southern Ocean for the 2015-2016 season with a newly designed “research” program and will seek a permanent injunction against Sea Shepherd.

Another example of Japan’s complete disregard for the wishes of the international community could soon unfold as the Japan whale Research Program in the Northwest Pacific (JARPN II) is scheduled to start this month. According to a Japan Times article of April 17: “The Japanese whaling fleet’s departure for the Pacific Northwest has been delayed to April 26 instead of Tuesday 22nd” because of disagreements between the Foreign Ministry and the Fisheries Agency after the International Court of Justice last month ordered Japan to halt its annual “research” hunts in the Antarctic Ocean after ruling they are not scientific in nature. The Foreign Ministry is concerned that if Japan whales in the Northwest Pacific immediately after the ICJ ruling, anti-whaling countries may sue to halt hunts there as well. The Fisheries Agency insists that whaling in the Northwest Pacific should continue, but at a reduced target catch of 60 whales. The delay “might be a side effect of U.S. President Barack Obama’s planned three-day visit to Japan starting Wednesday.”

Although the ICJ ruling does not include JARPN II, as Australia and New Zealand’s case centered on “their” whales in their “backyard”, even the Japanese government realizes, according to a NHK World article of April 10, that “the court’s ruling could be applied to those waters depending on methods used, including the number caught.”

The article continues: “The concern is prompting the government to assess its research procedures. It plans to decide as early as next week whether to go ahead with research whaling in the Northwestern Pacific. Some in the government claim that it should conduct the Pacific research whaling as planned. But others argue that Japan could be sued again if it continues the program without due consideration to the court’s ruling.”

Immediately after the ICJ ruling, the spokesman for the Japanese delegation to the court, Nori Shikata said: “Our program in the Northern Pacific is outside the scope of the proceedings before the court, and so they are two separate programs and this ruling is about the program in the Antarctic,”

On April 15th, before a meeting with the president of the ICR, Japan’s Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed willingness to continue whaling in the Pacific despite the ICJ ruling. He said he is determined to “maintain the solid policy of preserving whale-eating culture and securing supply of whale meat.”

On that same date, Kyodo Senpaku, which owns Japan’s whaling fleet, said it had urged Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to allow the Northern Pacific whaling to take place as usual. “The minister gave us strong encouragement by saying that he would firmly consider it, given that the research itself was not gainsaid.”

Aside from the geographic region and the whales targeted, the JARPN and JARPA programs are identical twins when you look at their goal, construction and history. Thus a large part of the ICJ’s motivation for the ruling on Antarctic whaling can be directly applied to the Northwest Pacific slaughter:

A court would find no evidence of any studies of the feasibility or practicability of non-lethal methods, nor find evidence that Japan examined whether it would be feasible to combine a smaller lethal take and an increase in non-lethal sampling to achieve its research objectives.
As with the evaluation of JARPA (1988-2005) and JARPA II (2005-2014) by the ICJ, a court investigation of JARPN (1994-1999) and JARPN II (2000-present) will reveal a considerable overlap between the two programs’ subjects, their objectives, and their methods.
Both state identical goals such as improving knowledge on stock identity/structure and feeding ecology.
As with JARPA II, which called for a significant increase in the minke whale “sample” size and the lethal “sampling” of additional species (humpback and fin whales) compared to JARPA, the Northwest Pacific kill quota escalated from the killing of 100 common minke whales annually under JARPN to 100 common minke whales, 50 bryde’s whales, and 10 sperm whales under JARPN II. In 2002 they increased the minke whale quota to 150 and added 50 sei whales. The next year, the minke quota became 160 and the sei whale quota was doubled to 100. In 2008 the program proposal was an annual take of 340 minke whales, 50 bryde’s whales, 100 sei whales and 10 sperm whales.
The ICJ determined that weaknesses in Japan’s explanation for the decision to proceed with the JARPA II sample sizes prior to the final review of JARPA lend support to the view that those sample sizes and the launch date for JARPA II were not driven by strictly scientific considerations. The same applies to the transition from JARPN to JARPN II.
The ICJ noted that there were three additional aspects of JARPA II which cast further doubt on its characterization as a program for purposes of scientific research: the open-ended time frame of the program, its limited scientific output to date, and the lack of cooperation between JARPA II and other domestic and international research programs. All of these aspects apply to JARPN II.

Given these examples, it becomes clear that if JARPN II were under the scrutiny of the ICJ or any other court outside of a whaling nation, the conclusion of that court would sound much the same as in the case of JARPA II: “The Court concludes that the special permits granted by Japan for the killing, taking and treating of whales in connection with JARPA/N II are not ‘for purposes of scientific research’ pursuant to Article VIII, paragraph 1, of the Convention.”

As a result, Japan would have violated the moratorium not only in the Antarctic, but also in the Northwest Pacific.

Beyond all the legal talk, it is of course clear to every rational person that just as Japan’s Antarctic whale program is a disguise for commercial whaling, the same goes for the program in the North Pacific.

Still in the court’s ruling there is this sentence: “The Court finds that JARPA II can broadly be characterized as ‘scientific research’.” How “broadly” exactly do you want to go?

Science thrives on our thirst for knowledge. All valuable research starts with a question. With that question as a foundation, scientists build a research program that might provide them with answers.

Japan has no questions; they had to disguise their continuation of commercial whaling as science. Deciding on an outcome was easy: the resumption of commercial whaling. Then they defined the desired conclusions: “there are plenty of whales” and “these whales eat our fish.” As whales in Antarctica migrate South to feast on krill and not fish, they had to come up with something else there: “minke whales have become too abundant and threaten the recovery of the blue whale and therefore have to be culled.”

Calling this science, even broadly, is an obscenity.

An important point that some might forget in this day and age, where for many science has replaced the gods of old, is that just because something is called science, be it as a guise, truly so or just broadly, that in itself justifies absolutely nothing! We only have to look at what is done to animals in laboratories all around the world to realize that science often lacks ethics and morals. In the definition of the ICJ, probably even the experiments of Nazi doctors in WW II concentration camps could “broadly be characterized as ‘scientific research’.” That doesn’t make it all right…

Regarding JARPN II there is another disguise within the disguise of commercial whaling as science. When Japan in 1988, under US pressure, lifted its objection to the moratorium on commercial whaling, this also ended Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling (JSTCW) for minke whales, as minkes are one of the 13 species of larger whales that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). In response to the moratorium, four of the last nine JSTCW vessels from Abashiri (Hokkaido Prefecture), Ayukawa (Miyagi Prefecture), Wada (Chiba Prefecture) and Taiji (Wakayama Prefecture) stopped operating. The remaining ships continued killing short-finned pilot whales, Risso’s dolphins and Baird’s beaked whales in Japan’s coastal waters, as these “small cetaceans” are not covered by the IWC’s regulations.

Since 1987, Japan has tried to get a quota from the IWC to resume the killing of minke whales under a sort of aboriginal subsistence whaling scheme as exists for Alaskan Inuits, Northeast Siberian Chukchi, Greenlanders and for the natives of Bequia. The IWC has for all these years refused to grant a minke whale quota for JSTCW because they judge it to be a commercial proposal.

To get around this, the ICR added a coastal component to JARPN II in 2002. The ICR contracts Japan’s Small Type Whaling Association to provide vessels and crew to participate in whaling operations off Ayukawa, now part of Ishinomaki, (Miyagi prefecture) from April through May and off Kushiro (Hokkaido) in September and October to shoot 60 minke whales in each area. The ICR buys the whales from the whaling companies at a set price and then sells part of the meat at a subsidized price back to the JSTCW towns.

In this light, the ICR’s activities in the Northwest Pacific are an even bigger scam than those in Antarctica.

This is the hunt that is about to start on April 22^nd, followed a month later by the offshore component that includes the last-of-its-kind floating abattoir, the Nisshin Maru and the familiar Yushins.

All this could just be underway before the annual meeting of the IWC scientific committee starting May 12 in Slovenia. The committee members are almost certain to question the legality of JARPN II in light of the ICJ ruling on JARPA II.

The international community cannot stand by and allow Japan to make a mockery out of its agreements and institutions. It’s time for the world’s leaders to pick up the phone and explain to Tokyo in no uncertain terms why they should keep their whaling ships in port

A New Wave of Environmental Protest Rocks China In the Midst of Lethal State Repression

18 April 2014 As recent protests against the construction of a PX refinery in Maoming attest, environmental issues are of greater concern than ever for the Chinese.

It began as an environmental protest of about a thousand people a few weeks ago on Sunday, March 30 in Maoming, southern China. By day five it had grown to over twenty times its initial size, with about a dozen deaths, scores of arrests and images of dozens of unarmed protesters scattered across the streets, lying in pools of their own blood. The government blamed protesters for the tipping over of police vehicles and attacking official buildings, while the protesters in turn accuse the police of attacking unarmed, peaceful citizens.

In an authoritarian state like China, where people are unable to let off steam on election day, protests are common — albeit risky and usually illegal. But what was behind this particular environmental protest, and how did it get so out of hand? We start by looking at the production of a chemical that is common, but seemingly misunderstood: paraxylene.

Paraxylene, or PX for short, is made in large quantities for the production of plastic bottles and polyester. China is the world’s largest user of PX, and has to import about half of what it consumes. The government recently decided that a 500 million dollar factory would help make up the shortfall, and went into partnership with Sinopec, Asia’s biggest refiner, to open a factory near Maoming.

Paraxylene is dangerous to produce. It affects the nervous system if ingested through the skin or breathed in. Organs can be affected upon bodily exposure. It affects body development and reproduction — at least in mice. Pregnant women are told not go near it. It damages hearing, and can cause chemical pneumonia. And it is highly flammable, even explosive at warm temperatures. Local people became concerned that a dangerous behemoth on their doorstep could damage the environment and affect their health.

Still, the production of most chemicals carries an element of danger, and one might have thought that, if properly regulated, such a large factory would have enormous economic benefits for the community. Indeed, the local authorities believed just that, but when they sent ten thousand brochures to the public informing them of the economic benefits the factory would bring, it backfired — culminating in a popular protest shortly afterwards. Why the public didn’t trust the state to provide a safe, regulated factory is not difficult to see in the context of rapid capitalist development, widespread environmental irresponsibility and an authoritarian state apparatus.

Ahkok Wong is an activist and school lecturer from down the road in Hong Kong, potentially enjoying his last two days of freedom.

“Environmental problems are one of the main outcomes of a one party-ruled, corrupted, non-humane government,” he starts. “The citizens started discovering what harm the PX plant can bring, so there are [a lot] of protests, and then the police arrest and kill protesters, forcing people to sign agreements that they support PX plants,” he continues. “They control the media and the internet so the news cannot get across the country.”

Protesters like Ahkok are sentenced by a judiciary with links to the government, which in turn has links to big business — for example, the Maoming PX joint venture between Sinopec and the state. Ahkok is going to court in a few days, for his participation in a 300,000 person-strong anti-Chinese government protest in Hong Kong. Is he expecting a fair trial? “I’m expecting nothing, to be honest.”

The other context in which to see this disagreement is with regards to the catastrophic levels of pollution and environmental damage all over China, particularly in the north. For example, at any given moment the air in most Chinese cities is somewhere along a spectrum between mildly harmful and extremely unsafe. Furthermore, China produces nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as the second biggest emitter, the USA. On top of this, one quarter of China already is, or is rapidly becoming, desertified. This leads to silted rivers, floods, drought, dust storms and erosion. In addition, a wealthier population with a penchant for ivory, rhino horn and shark fin soup is leading to diminishing biodiversity, within its borders and beyond.

Most of China’s groundwater is so polluted that it can’t be used for drinking even if treated. Underground water supplies are also extremely polluted. Wildlife soon perishes upon contact with the water from many rivers. Last year thousands of dead pigs clogged up a river running through Shanghai which was contaminated by benzene through a factory spillage. Twenty people were hospitalized. Factories pollute rivers with impunity — and this has in many cases lead to cancer villages — areas so polluted as to now be uninhabitable. Animals in these villages die, the rivers change color, touching the water makes the skin itch, and as the name suggests, there are high levels of cancer.

With this in mind, it is not surprising that the state of the environment is up to fourth — and rising — on the list of Chinese public concerns, according to a Pew Survey carried out earlier this year, behind inflation, corruption and inequality. With growing environmental concerns comes a growing grassroots movement. No surprise, then, that environmental issues were at the heart of half of all the protests in 2013 that had over 10,000 participants. Meanwhile, the government is taking notice, and has taken steps to be seen to be paying attention.

“We shall resolutely declare war against pollution as we declared war against poverty,” Li Keqiang, China’s Prime Minister told parliament, live on state television, last month. This was followed by an increased budget to help prevent deforestation, a sizable clean water fund, and some modest pollution-culling targets. Fifteen thousand companies now have to declare all of their pollution levels to the environment ministry, which will make the information public.

This seems quite impressive, particularly as China didn’t even have an environmental ministry until 2008. Rules are all very well of course — the problem is implementation. Factory owners discharge waste at night, sabotage monitoring equipment, and easily skip around or bribe underfunded law enforcement agencies. They can quietly mix leftover chemicals with water and dump it into the nearest river. Still, the new laws show that the government is paying attention, so perhaps that ought to placate a restless public. Some give the government credit — others think it is mostly for show.

To understand where the government might really stand on this issue, we need to think in terms of how China values itself when comparing itself with the rest of the world. Economic indicators such as GDP seem to have a higher priority than harder-to-measure indicators of quality of living, especially when national pride vis-à-vis America comes into play. A paraxylene plant boosts business, jobs and output. As long as the state can be seen to be taking action with pollution, while doing relatively little, the government can help to maintain its position so long as the media remains compliant. And here seems to lie the Chinese contrast — what seems to be the case is sometimes quite the opposite.

Take the PX plant protests. At one point, authorities told the local newspaper that the building of the plant was being suspended. But it seems they told Sinopec no such thing, and work on the plant continued uninterrupted. While the authorities are now finally acknowledging the existence of cancer villages, they go into opaque partnerships with polluting industries. They allow protests in theory, but put so many restrictions into the ‘small print’ as to make them almost impossible in practice.

“If there are more than three people gathering in public and the police assume you are a threat to society, you can be arrested,” says Ahkok.

The government tell their own citizens they are listening to their environmental concerns. Meanwhile they block searches for “Maoming” or “PX” on search engines and on the popular social media site Weibo. People are told to trust the authorities. Meanwhile, on the very first day of the protests, seventy Maoming city officals were investigated for graft. A supposedly communist government represses the poor and benefits the wealthy. China starts to resemble a chemical spillage, public health deteriorates and those who speak out get arrested.

On a somewhat more optimistic note, however one may feel about the obvious human rights challenges that come with China’s one-child policy, there is no doubt it helped curb the country’s dangerously oversized population. With the help of a burgeoning economy and a strong inclination towards school success, an educated cadre is growing within the population; one that is more and more aware of the world, of their government, and of the quality of their lives. China’s hyperactive microblogger community are a byproduct of this, and are helping to heighten awareness for a lot of people.

But calling for the truth has its own risks. Xu Zhiyong, an anti-government activist, is halfway though a four-year prison sentence for calling on government officials to disclose their assets. “Those of you watching this trial from behind the scenes, or those awaiting for orders and reports back, this is also your responsibility. Don’t take pains to preserve the old system simply because you have vested interests in it,” he said as he was being sentenced. “No one is safe under an unjust system. When you see politics as endless shadows and reflections of daggers and swords, as blood falling like rain with its smell in the wind, you have too much fear in your hearts.”

Back to Ahkok Wong: “China does not have law and system,” he says. “They bribe, they arrest people who investigate truth, but there are no standards to follow. Only those who have absolute power and capital can change the situation, but then they benefit from all of this development and capital growth.”

“China is not meant to last,” concludes Ahkok. “It wouldn’t make any sense if this country could last.”

James Smart is from the South of England and is currently working as a university teacher and teacher trainer in Istanbul, Turkey.