Micropolitics, Identity, and Citizen-State Relations: Community Responses in the Face of Emerging Gasquakes in Northeastern Groningen
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Micropolitics, Identity, and Citizen-State Relations: Community Responses in the Face of Emerging Gasquakes in Northeastern Groningen Author: Hugo Ooms Supervisor: Michiel Köhne Date: 12-08-2019 Course code: SDC‐80436 Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………..3 Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………………...4 Introduction and Research …………..……………………………………………………....5 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………………...17 The Groninger Gasquake Context…………………………………………………………...31 The Enactment of Resistance………………………………………………………………..50 Frame Analysis……………………………………………………………………………...64 Conclusion and Discussion………………………………………………………………….87 2 Acknowledgements Throughout the writing of this thesis I have received a great deal of support and assistance. I would first like to thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. FM Köhne, for his useful and critical advice. His advice has kept me on my toes throughout the research process and has motivated me to continuously improve the quality of this research effort. The elaborate feedback and phone calls provided me with a clear plan of action at times I felt overwhelmed, and has kept me on track at times the limits of my patience were seriously tested. I would also like to thank the research participants involved in this research effort. I could not have developed this thesis without the hospitality and input of these research participants who opened up their homes for me and at times even allowed me to join them for lunch or dinner. It is the kindness of these research participants that have turned my time in the field in an enjoyable and unforgettable experience that I will continue to look back upon with pleasure and appreciation. I would especially like to thank the members of Ons Laand Ons Lu and Stut en Steun who have allowed me to visit their organization, and who enhanced my understanding about the daily struggles local citizens face. The members of Ons Laand Ons Lu made me feel welcome from the very beginning, allowing me to become part of their community and to join their activities throughout the day. I greatly appreciate their hospitability and their efforts to support their fellow citizens from northeastern Groningen. 3 Abbreviations • CVW - Centrum Veilig Wonen • GBB - Groninger Bodem Beweging • EZK - Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat • KNMI - Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut • LTO - Land- en Tuinbouw Organisatie • MNC - Multinational Corporation • NAM - Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij • NCG - Nationaal Coördinator Groningen • SODM - Staatstoezicht Op De Mijnen • TCMG - Tijdelijke Commissie Mijnbouwschade Groningen • WAG - Waardevermindering door Aardbevingen Groningen 4 Chapter 1 – Introduction and Research It is the 5th of July, 2018. Dozens of local residents from northeastern Groningen have gathered at the cafeteria of the ‘Euroborg’- the arena of the regional soccer team – to watch the national political debates concerning the emergence of earthquakes in the region. These so-called ‘gasquakes’ are induced by regional gas extraction efforts and have damaged people’s homes, livelihoods and regional cultural heritage. The stairway leading up towards the cafeteria is filled with comics ridiculing Minister Wiebes of ‘Economische Zaken en Klimaat’ [EZK, Economic Affairs and Climate], who has an influential role in the management of gas extraction efforts. A table covered by shirts, caps and buttons from the ‘Groninger Bodem Beweging’ [GBB, The Groninger Soil Movement] – a prominent grassroots organization that defends the interests of local citizens in the gasquake debate - is placed at the entrance of the room. Gas-bingo cards are handed out containing hollow and technocratic statements used by politicians in previous debates, and the room is filled with flags of Groningen exerting a sense of regional pride. A local resident states to a journalist from the national newspaper ‘Trouw’ that Groningen has become an extractive colony that is home to people who are considered second-class citizens. As the debate ensues, a sudden booing emerges from the crowd. The national politicians are no longer referring to ‘the Groningers’ but ‘our Groningers’ instead, aiming to claim a sense of companionship the crowd furiously rejects. One man explains he no longer believes in national politics or our national political system in general: the debates are just a symbolic gesture to pretend politicians truly care about the fate of Groningen. The abovementioned impression demonstrates how the regional emergence of gasquakes has deteriorated trust in national politics among local residents in northeastern Groningen. The emergence of gasquakes and the perceived mismanagement of the accompanying issues has opened up an arena of contestation through which citizens aim to reclaim a voice and aim to redefine their relationship to the state. The emergence of gasquakes has exposed tension between state and local citizen interests that one was not explicitly aware of prior to the emergences of gasquakes. This requires the local population to reevaluate their relationship with the state, their notion of citizenship, and whether they choose to maintain or discard pre- existing ideas about what it means to be a ‘good citizen’ to shape community responses in the face of emerging gasquakes and perceived mismanagement of local extractive practices. As such, this thesis aims to reveal how notions of citizenship and identity play a role in the development of varying community responses in northeastern Groningen. This analysis may enhance our understanding about the way community responses are formed and how local citizens deal with the negative consequences induced by local extractive practices in general. 5 1.2 Problem Statement & Approach The study of community responses in the face of local extractive practices is more relevant than ever. The enhanced transnational mobility of corporations and the relaxed regulation of trade and financial markets since the 1980s have provided businesses with greater autonomy to pursue economic gain in an international playing field. This neoliberal development has made governments more responsive to the needs of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to anchor businesses within their national borders, at times making states less accountable to its citizens in order to sustain corporate tax revenues or to develop a preferential business climate (Karl, 1997). This is especially the case within the extractive industries, where national and corporate interests to sustain oil or gas revenues may directly clash with socio-economic and environmental concerns of local populations affected by these extractive practices (Özen & Özen, 2009). These neoliberal developments have enabled a situation in which communities are increasingly confronted with local extractive practices that affect their livelihoods. The widespread introduction of fracking as an unconventional method for the production of gas and oil has contributed to this development as well, as this technique has pushed extractive practices and other related processes into regions where gas and oil has not traditionally been produced (USGS, n.d.) The widespread introduction of extractive practices and our enhanced awareness about their environmental impact have ignited local resistance struggles against the extractive practices on a global scale. The local consequences of these extractive practices, however, are not always unveiled to the public and have no room in a neoliberal framework that revolves around efficiency, the best allocation of resources and the attainment of economic gain. As such, it is up to NGOs, environmental organizations, humanitarian workers, journalists and researchers to shed light on these local consequences, providing local communities with agency to develop their own narrative in the face of local extractive practices. It is in line with this argument that this thesis aims to shed light on the gasquake-induced issues from the perspective of local citizens in northeastern Groningen. Through the analysis of the perceptions and experiences of local citizens, this research effort aims to enhance our understanding of varying community responses prevalent in northeastern Groningen, allowing local citizens to develop their own narrative against the narratives provided by authorities involved in the management of gas extraction efforts. As such, this thesis is a case study that contributes to the body of research concerned with the analysis of community responses in the face of large-scale energy projects. Two main scholarly debates have dominated resistance studies over the last couple of decades. The first debate was introduced by Ortner, a well-respected cultural anthropologist who studied at the University of Chicago. In her much-cited article, “Resistance and the Problem of the Ethnographic Refusal”, Ortner sheds light on the issue that resistance is barely ever ethnographically analyzed (Ortner, 1995). According to Ortner, scholars have shied away from ethnographic analysis of resistance due to the challenge to remain objective in a politicized environment. Furthermore, the ethnographic analysis of resistance would imply resistance movements can be holistically understood from an outsider perspective. The challenge to maintain one’s neutrality or to develop false generalizations or 6 misrepresentations has thus ignited a situation in which scholars shy away from the ethnographic analysis of resistance. However, Ortner explains that the lack of ethnographic analyses contributes to