ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Introduction: It’s about Oil

Meredeth Turshen

The price of oil is falling, as we go to press. in primary schools and low rates of adult OPEC has enlisted Mexico as its go-between to literacy. talk with non-OPEC members, notably Russia and Norway, about cutting production in order Developing countries that are dependent on oil to keep the price above the feared bottom of $10 and mineral wealth face a much higher danger of a barrel (a price not seen since the Thai economy civil war than resource-poor nations in any given failed in 1998, setting off a recession and five-year period. They spend a far higher reducing demand). Eleven OPEC members percentage of their budgets on their militaries, account for 61% of world exports; the world diverting funds from programs that directly share of three African countries - Algeria, Libya address the needs of the poor. Angola tops the and Nigeria - is 10.5%. As oil producing nations list of oil-dependent states and ranks lowest on lose revenue, the welfare states they support the human development index of the 25 come under stress. But even in the best of times countries in this category. Petroleum exports in this boom-and-bust industry, most citizens of generate over 90% of Angola’s hard currency oil-rich states do not benefit from their income; together with diamond exports, this countries’ wealth. amounted to $3.8 billion in 1990. According to the World Bank, 20.5% of Angola’s GNP went Developing nations that rely heavily on oil or to military expenditures in 1997. In oil- and mineral exports suffer higher rates of poverty mineral- producing countries, the level of and child mortality than similar countries with repression and poverty is often greatest in more diverse economies; they also spend more precisely those regions where these resources on their militaries, according to the study, are located. The relationship between oil, "Extractive Sectors and the Poor," written by minerals and economic, social and political UCLA Professor Michael Ross for Oxfam disempowerment is sharp and direct. It is against America. The report contests the conventional this background that Chad is about to become oil economic wisdom that developing nations dependent in the next decade. prosper by extracting and exporting their oil and mineral wealth. Oil and mineral dependency The focus of this issue of the Bulletin is on the tend to reduce the rate of economic growth. role of oil. Given the close links between the Bush administration and oil companies, we Eight of the 25 oil-dependent states are in wanted to look more closely at the issue of oil in Africa. Using a UNDP measure that factors per Africa - who is producing it, how much wealth it capita income, health and education, Ross finds generates, who controls that wealth, who that the more developing countries rely on benefits from it, and what are the social, exporting minerals, the worse their standard of economic and political costs to Africans of the living is likely to be; mineral-dependent Zambia various regional developments? We are and Zimbabwe showed marked declines in the interested in the commonalities of what oil 1990s. Oil- and mineral- dependent developing companies are doing in these countries and the countries have higher infant and child mortality types of campaign in Africa that can be rates than other countries with similar income supported in the US to help affect the role that levels. In these cases, oil dependency is linked to oil plays here and there. In soliciting the articles, malnutrition. Worldwide, an average of 26.5 we asked authors to focus on progressive children per thousand are malnourished: in oil- activism, what can people do and what has rich Nigeria, the rate is 37.7 per thousand. Oil worked, while also providing readers with dependency also correlates with low enrollment

1 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 directions to good resources, references for scale oil and mining projects, which critics see study and for campaigning.(1) as environmentally and socially destructive. In response to the protests, the World Bank began a Our authors discuss the role of oil in Chad, yearlong review in October 2001 of its Nigeria and Sudan, including the specific investments in oil, gas and mining sectors, international oil companies involved; they consulting with industry representatives, describe the campaigns in the countries, governments and non-governmental organi- identifying social movements or groups involved zations. Several of our authors comment on the in the campaigns and noting how representative Bank’s role in the Chad/Cameroon pipeline they are; they elaborate on international project. campaigns focused on the role of oil in the countries, with the major focus on US The final article deals with oil, not in Africa, but campaigns, distinguishing elite, Washington- in Saudi Arabia. Caffentzis gives us the deep focused efforts from grassroots popular background needed to understand the attacks on campaigns (that may or may not attempt to September 11th. In discussing oil and Islamic influence US policy, oil companies’ behavior or fundamentalism, he provokes us to think about popular perceptions); and they assess common how to link the environmental and human rights strategies and tactics that have worked to movements engaged in the oil campaigns in mobilize specific groups (e.g., churches, the Africa and the US with the larger anti- African American constituency, environmental globalization movement. groups and students) in the US, as well as suggest strategies and tactics that might be used ACAS has chosen to address the role of to make alliances with people focusing on the Western oil companies in Africa in order to see role of oil in other countries. (The article on if activists running campaigns in the US and Algeria is different because there is no campaign Africa could together develop a more robust in that country or in the US and very little position on Africa, oil, development, human information on environmental destruc-tion rights and the environment. Our aim is to share attributable to oil and gas production.) analyses, strategies and tactics and to help other groups make oil a focus of their work in these The campaigns described in this issue of the four years of the US oil presidency. This issue of Bulletin focus on human rights and the Bulletin will, we hope, open a vigorous environmental abuses; as Ian Gary notes in his debate about oil and energy alternatives, about article, most statements by Catholic Churches in extractive industries and development, as well as Africa do not argue that natural resources should about globalization and the looting of Africa’s remain unexploited, but that such exploitation other resources, including biodiversity. should be done in a way that avoids environmental destruction, observes human Note rights principles and benefits the African people, (1) A committee of ACAS members, comprised especially the poor who live amidst such great of Lisa Brock, Jim Cason, Jennifer Davis, Mike wealth. Should African nations avoid extractive Fleshman, Bill Martin, Marc Mealy, Meredeth industries altogether, as Oxfam argues? We note Turshen, and Michael West, contributed to the that the communiqué of the two-day workshop compilation of this issue of the Bulletin. on community resistance to oil activity, which was organized as part of the activities for the References Oilwatch Africa General Assembly in Port For the World Bank's extractive industries Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1999, which is reproduced review see: http://www.eireview.org. in this Bulletin, does not call for an end to oil For the Oxfam report see: development. http://www.oxfamamerica.org/eireport/index.ht ml Recent protests against the World Bank have focused on that institution's support for large-

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The International Community and the Crisis in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities: A Perspective on the US Role

Michael Fleshman

The United States Government: Interests and state" scenario of ethnic conflict and social Policies upheaval on the order of the Biafran civil war that would take millions of lives and send tens of The United States has long recognized Nigeria's millions of refugees into neighboring states. In strategic importance in Africa and its economic any case, the official asserted, the pro- role as a major supplier of oil to the US market. democracy movement had no prospect for US policy toward the region has therefore ousting the military, so the best policy was to sought as a first priority to secure reliable accommodate Abacha in hopes of curbing his supplies of Nigerian oil, protect the billions of worst excesses and encouraging greater civilian dollars invested in Nigeria by US energy participation in his government. companies and assist US companies to expand their share of crude oil production and domestic Although human rights and democracy are marketing. Nigerian participation in particularly on the US policy agenda, they are clearly African peacekeeping and crisis intervention, as "second tier" concerns that are invariably in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and efforts to alternately coerce or persuade the government to superseded by economic and security in- crack down on Nigerian drug trafficking terests. syndicates, corruption and "419" fraud schemes have also emerged as major themes in US- In pursuit of its core policy objectives, therefore, Nigeria relations. the United States responded to the annulment of the June 12 election and Abacha's coup by Although human rights and democracy are on imposing a handful of symbolic measures the US policy agenda, they are clearly "second intended to demonstrate disapproval but not tier" concerns that are invariably superseded by weaken or destabilize the regime. Of the handful economic and security interests. A mid-level of sanctions imposed on the dictatorship during State Department official offered me a rationale the 1990s, most, including the ban on direct US- for this ordering of US interests in late 1998 in Nigeria air links, were linked to allegations of response to a question about why the United government involvement in drug trafficking and States had abandoned the June 12, 1993 not the military's illegal seizure of power or electoral process and the imprisoned President- human rights violations. elect Moshood Abiola. National unity and “stability” are preconditions for profitable The November 1995 execution of MOSOP corporate operations and security cooperation, leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni the official argued, and are under constant threat environmentalists triggered a wave of harsh in a society riven by ethnic and religious condemnations from Western and many African tensions. The Nigerian military is the most leaders, with President Clinton announcing a reliable guarantor -- if with regrettable methods diplomatic effort to secure multi-lateral support -- of the territorial integrity and internal order for an oil embargo. It was merely a public sought by US policymakers. The official relations gesture, however, as Washington knew characterized the pro-democracy movement as a full well that the British and the Europeans thinly disguised southern secessionist movement would never agree to sanctions. It was a classic that threatened to create a worst-case "failed example of the Clinton administration's ap- proach to the Abacha dictatorship, using

3 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 rhetorical condemnations and symbolic gestures refugees and such key pro-democracy activists to mask a policy of oil-business-as-usual and as Anthony Enahoro after the British rejected his expanded security cooperation with the regime appeal for sanctuary. These humanitarian to protect oil production facilities from the gestures, while welcome, scarcely compensated growing opposition of local communities and for Washington's increasingly visible tilt police US interests in West Africa. towards Abacha.

The West then attempted what was termed an Constructive engagement emerged most clearly “African solution” to the Abacha headache by in March 1998 with Clinton's remarkable enlisting South African President Nelson endorsement of Abacha's sole candidacy for the Mandela to head an African diplomatic presidency at a press conference with Nelson initiative. Mandela promptly called for US and Mandela in South Africa. The endorsement European oil sanctions, however, and the search contradicted assurances to Congress by Assistant for an African solution was quietly dropped. Secretary of State for Africa Susan Rice just two weeks earlier that Abacha's candidacy was un- There is evidence that both US corporate acceptable to the United States and forced the and government officials began to urge a Administration into full damage control, arguing crackdown by the Abubakar regime. without much success that Clinton had mis- spoken.

In the wake of the Saro-Wiwa execution, public In fact Clinton had spoken correctly, but opinion in the US and Europe was increasingly prematurely. Washington still hoped to persuade aroused by human rights abuses in Ogoni and Abacha to drop plans to run as the only Western economic links to the dictatorship. candidate for president and allow at least token Washington and other Western countries opposition to his candidacy. The White House temporarily withdrew their ambassadors in needed at least the appearance of a democratic protest and the US began a formal review of US process to justify constructive engagement and Nigeria policy under the direction of the third Clinton's endorsement was intended as a reward most senior State Department official, Under to Abacha for that small concession. Secretary of State and former Ambassador to Nigeria Thomas Pickering. Although the review Certain now that there would be no serious was never formally completed, a new policy response from the West, Abacha was duly aimed at improving relations with the nominated by the five registered parties and dictatorship quickly emerged. Termed “con- refused to admit a senior US diplomatic structive engagement” -- the same title of former delegation headed by Pickering whose mission President Ronald Reagan's political and military was to plead with the dictator to allow a alliance with apartheid South Africa -- the contested vote. Only after Abacha's assas- Administration toned down criticism of human sination in June was Washington able to resume rights abuses and began to speak more positively high-level contacts with Nigeria's military rulers. about Abacha's wholly fraudulent transition The West brushed aside the democracy program. The scheme called for the creation of movement's demands for Moshood Abiola's five political parties that would all nominate installation at the head of a transitional civilian Abacha as their presidential candidate. In 1998 government and a sovereign constitutional con- the State Department ignored its own ban on vention and rushed to embrace the “kinder, visas for functionaries of the dictatorship by gentler” military regime of Abacha's allowing leaders of Abacha's five puppet parties replacement, Abdulsalami Abubakar. to tour the US. The sole obstacle to constructive engage-ment At the same time the Clinton Administration, now was Moshood Abiola, the still imprisoned with an eye perhaps towards the growing symbol of the June 12 electoral process. His domestic criticism of its Nigeria policy, stepped refusal to surrender his mandate in exchange for up approval of political asylum for Ogoni his release threatened to consolidate internal

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Nigerian opposition to Abubakar's transition At a closed-door meeting of the major oil program. Visits by both the UN and the companies and US government policymaking Commonwealth Secretary-Generals to Abiola in and security agencies in the spring of 1999, the prison failed to persuade Abiola to surrender the companies reportedly complained that Washing- office. When the Pickering delegation finally did ton wasn't doing enough to pressure the arrive in Nigeria in early July its mission was to Abubakar regime to end the protests. Oronto pressure Abiola to renounce the presidency, not Douglas, a leading critic of the oil companies to demand his release and installation in office. and the military, and spokesperson for the It was during a meeting with the Americans that militant Ijaw Youth Council, has been branded a Abiola suffered an apparent heart attack and “terrorist” and was persona non grata at the US died -- removing a major obstacle to both the Embassy for a period for his highly visible role Nigerian military's transition scheme and US in the resistance. interests. With the installation of the Obasanjo With Abiola gone the US moved swiftly to government on May 29, the US has sent a steady reinforce Abubakar's transition program. The US stream of technical experts, cabinet ministers provided very significant funding for the and military officials to Nigeria to restore the democracy movement's Transition Monitoring full range of political, economic and security Group for election monitoring, funded training contacts. In testimony before the US Congress workshops with the three competing political on the Nigerian transition in August 1999, the parties and provided training and technical Clinton Administration outlined a broad pro- assistance to the official Independent National gram of training, technical assistance and Electoral Commission. equipment sales for the Nigerian military and civil police forces. Although the US Department Whatever the merits of the decision of most of Defense insists that it will emphasize civilian Nigerian human rights and democracy groups to control of the military and human rights in its accept and engage Abubakar's tightly controlled projected Nigeria training programs, it is worth transition, US policy makers appreciated that noting that Sani Abacha himself received similar organizations funded to monitor the process training in the US prior to his brutal seizure of would not be organizing rallies or boycotts power. against it. Had the democratic movement chosen to oppose Abubakar's scheme there would It was at an August 3, 1999 Congressional certainly not have been US support for a hearing that corporate spokesperson David boycott. Miller revealed that US companies were prepared to provide additional funds to the In the Niger Delta meanwhile, the disruption of Obasanjo government to bolster the security crude oil production by activists of the Ijaw and force presence in the Niger Delta oil fields. Ilaje communities, including the seizure of both production facilities and oil company personnel, The Oil Companies became a major concern of US policymakers. There is evidence that both US corporate and Shell on Earth government officials began to urge a crackdown by the Abubakar regime. The provision of It is not my intention to discuss in detail the role Chevron helicopters and boats to the military to of the US and Western oil companies in the attack Ijaw communities in Bayelsa State after repression and pauperization of the oil the release of the Kiaima Declaration demanding producing communities in the Niger Delta. local control of resources or the withdrawal of Rather what follows is a description of how the the oil companies in December 1998 and companies worked in the US and Europe to January 1999 reflected the increasingly hard line deflect public criticism of those practices, view of the crisis emerging in Washington. mobilize governmental support for their interests and successfully blocked the imposition of US oil sanctions against the Abacha regime.

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The internationalization of the Niger Delta crisis company officials demanded an end to began in earnest almost a decade ago with the MOSOP's campaign in exchange for Ken's life, formation of the Movement for the Survival of gave new impetus to the Shell boycott and did the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and the launch of incalculable damage to the company's public the Ogoni people's struggle against Shell. It was image. not the first time that Shell had been slated for international human rights action because of its With activists in the US and Europe picketing presence in Africa. During the 1970s and 80s Shell petrol stations and committing civil Shell's role in South Africa, where it was a disobedience at Shell facilities worldwide, the major supplier of fuel and lubricants to the company suddenly shifted public relations gears. apartheid security forces, made it a major target Instead of simply denying the accusations of of the international anti-apartheid movement. human rights and environmental abuses in Ogoni, the company, while refusing to negotiate It was a horrendous sight. Young men with MOSOP, began to “dialogue” with Western from the community without any protective religious, human rights and environmental or safety gear stood waist deep in the oil- organizations. In recent years Shell has, with great fanfare, announced an agreement with soaked waters attempting to sop up Amnesty International on corporate security thousands of barrels of crude oil with practices, invested heavily in green advertising cotton rags and plastic buckets. and garnered the UN's seal of approval by joining its corporate club, the Public Private The far-sighted leader of MOSOP, Kenule Saro- Partnership. The company also announced that it Wiwa, realized that an alliance between the had incorporated the Universal Declaration of Ogoni people, who were challenging the com- Human Rights into its operating principles. pany at the point of production, and Western environmental and human rights organizations Yet in the Delta it is business as usual. In June campaigning against Shell at the profit point, 1999 I visited the Otuegwe 1 community in greatly increased MOSOP's chances for success. Bayelsa State, the site of a recent Shell pipeline rupture. According to community elders and Leaked company and Nigerian government Niger Delta Human and Environmental Rescue documents have subsequently revealed that Shell Organization Director Azibaola Robert, the closely monitored Saro-Wiwa's foreign travel company declared that the leak was caused by and instigated the Babangida and Abacha sabotage, but failed to conduct the required regimes to crush MOSOP's structures on the investigation. The company did hire a local ground. Saro-Wiwa's arrest on murder charges contractor to clean up the spill, and it was that in 1994 inaugurated an international campaign cleanup effort that I had an opportunity to for his release and generated unwanted public witness. scrutiny of Shell's Nigerian operations. Yet even then, Shell's public relations strategy was to It was a horrendous sight. Young men from the deny MOSOP's charges of environmental degra- community without any protective or safety gear dation and to attack Saro-Wiwa's character and stood waist deep in the oil-soaked waters motives. It would prove a disastrous mistake for attempting to sop up thousands of barrels of the company. crude oil with cotton rags and plastic buckets. Amid dead and dying raffia palms, other men The firestorm of outrage that swept the world in burned oil soaked brush and refuse in an open the wake of the execution of Saro-Wiwa and fire -- again without protective gear or safety eight other Ogoni activists was only fanned by equipment of any kind. This from a company Shell's now-notorious full-page advertisement in that trumpets its concern for human rights and the British press accusing the international the environment to its Western customers! human rights movement of responsibility for the hangings. That ad, and Owens Wiwa’s highly The Ijaw community has also begun to operate credible account of a meeting at which senior internationally, with the establishment of Ijaw

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National Congress chapters in the US and Over the next year a coalition of American Europe. human rights and trade union groups and ethical investors met with senior corporate officials to Mobil: Partner in Oppression persuade the company to speak out against human rights abuse in Nigeria. In an effort to With awareness of corporate misconduct in the reach agreement with Mobil, the group narrowed Delta growing in the US, questions began to be its demands to two cases that touched members raised about the role of US companies whose of what the corporation referred to as “our Mobil operations had largely escaped scrutiny due to family in Nigeria” -- the detention without the international focus on Shell. In early 1996 a charge or trial of oil workers’ heads Frank senior public relations official of Mobil, Kokori and Milton Dabibi. Nigeria’s second largest producer, gleefully told me that Mobil planned to keep a low profile on When corporate executives finally refused to the Delta while its competitor, Shell, remained take any action whatever -- arguing that US the target of international outrage and protest. groups should be grateful instead for the “dialogue,” a shareholder resolution on Nigeria Unaccountably, however, Mobil instead raised was introduced at Mobil’s April 1998 annual its US profile on the Niger Delta crisis with a general meeting. The company was confident series of advertisements in major American that the resolution would fail miserably, as newspapers extolling its good works in Nigeria human rights resolutions rarely attract more than and opposing sanctions. At one point the one or two percent of shareholder votes. They company ran an advertisement endorsing were not aware, however, that The Africa Fund Abacha's transition scheme. Some of these ads had persuaded several very large US public were also run in the Nigerian press during 1997 employee pension funds with hundreds of and 1998. millions of dollars invested in Mobil stock to support the resolution. Nor was the company The company also distributed an expensively aware that Cordelia Kokori, Frank Kokori's produced special supplement to its annual report daughter, and Hafsat Abiola, the daughter of the about Nigeria titled “Mobil in Nigeria: Partner in imprisoned President-elect, were in attendance Progress,” that painted a rosy picture of the to speak on behalf of the motion. company's annual $5 million charity budget and its role in job creation and environmental If Mobil's charitable giving represents only protection. There was, of course, no mention of a fraction of a penny for every dollar it human rights abuses by the company's federal extracts from Nigeria, there was no hint of government partners or the billions of dollars Mobil's operations generated for the dictatorship that in the company's glossy report. each year. If Mobil's charitable giving represents only a fraction of a penny for every dollar it Cordelia's emotional appeal to Mobil Chief extracts from Nigeria, there was no hint of that Executive Officer Lucio Noto to save her in the company's glossy report. father's life, followed by Hafsat's bitter charge that Mobil money may have been used to buy Mobil's very visible presence in Nigeria and its the bullets that murdered her mother were contractual and political ties to the dictatorship moments of high drama at the meeting and made the company an early US focus for Nigeria created a shocked uproar among the assembled human right activism. The Africa Fund produced shareholders. The eloquent statements of these a popularly written response to Mobil's Nigeria two young women, combined with a remarkably supplement titled “Mobil in Nigeria: Partner in high 9% shareholder vote in favor of the Oppression,” and assembled a delegation of resolution forced the company to reverse itself national religious leaders to meet with company and agree to raise the cases of Kokori and officials to “dialogue” about the company's Dabibi with the regime. Corporate executives operations and obligations. almost never have to face their victims, and the

7 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 confrontation accomplished in twenty minutes speech and freedom of the press, prompted some what a year of “dialogue” had failed to do. barbed comments about Chevron importing Abacha's repression along with his oil and the Abacha's death in June and the release of Kokori company eventually backed down. The company and Dabibi shortly thereafter rendered Mobil's is also facing legal action in US courts from the commitment moot, but it was a reminder of the families of their victims in what could become a political potential of a global alliance between landmark expansion of international human oppressed peoples in the producing South and rights law. progressive people in the consuming North. If the oil companies have lost some significant Chevron: Blood and Oil battles in the US, however, they have done rather better in the war over US policy. For In contrast to Mobil, Chevron avoided virtually years the major oil companies have flooded any mention of its very large presence in the Congress and the White House with campaign Delta. The company produced no literature contributions and lobbyists and succeeded in about Nigeria, declined even routine requests for blocking efforts to adopt a stronger US policy information about its Nigerian operations and toward the Abacha dictatorship. The extent to appeared determined to avoid the international which the Clinton Administration sold the policy scrutiny that was proving so troublesome to its review to the oil companies is demonstrated by competitors. All that changed with the revelation Thomas Pickering’s refusal to meet with US and that Chevron had flown Nigerian naval Nigerian environmental and pro-democracy personnel and Mobile Police to its Parabe leaders while maintaining an open door policy platform in May 1998 to remove unarmed Ilaje for the oil companies and business associations youths occupying the facility in a dispute over like the Corporate Council on Africa. Chevron compensation and employment. Two young men in particular has used the occasional kidnappings were shot dead and a third was wounded. Others and armed seizure of production facilities to were arrested and tortured. justify its resort to state violence against even peaceful protests in the Delta, and it has used the The incident was originally documented by the tragic intercommunal violence in Warri in June Port Harcourt office of Environmental Rights 1999 to portray itself as the innocent victims of Action and became a major issue in the US after senseless tribal warfare. The company has also Pacifica Radio reporter Amy Goodman reported gone to great lengths to cultivate President it in September. A few months later ERA again Obasanjo -- sending senior executives to accom- documented Chevron's complicity in attacks on pany him throughout his US tour in March 1999 oil producing communities when the company and hosting an elite reception for him at the provided helicopters and boats to the Nigerian Africa America Institute in New York. military for use in attacks on Ijaw supporters of the Kiaima Declaration in December 1998 and Abacha: The Disinformation Campaign January 1999. The two incidents dramatically shifted US public attention away from Shell and MOSOP and the Nigerian pro-democracy Mobil and fueled Congressional demands for an movement were politically active in the US, but investigation into Chevron's role in the killings. so too was the Abacha regime. Beginning in 1994, the dictatorship spent upwards of $15 The company's response to the mounting million a year on politically well connected pressure has been confused and defensive. The lobbying firms in Washington and on company has offered at least three different and disinformation aimed particularly at the African mutually exclusive accounts of events on the American community. The regime succeeded in Parabe platform, and, after reporter Goodman recruiting former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun won a prestigious journalism award for her as a principal apologist and interlocutor with the exposé, banned the entire Pacifica Radio African American leadership. Abacha also relied network from corporate news conferences and heavily on a thoroughly discredited African interviews. The ban, a wholesale assault on free American conservative, Roy Innis, and a former

8 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 lobbyist for Angolan reactionary Jonas Savimbi, decision to internationalize the Shell campaign Maurice Dawkins, to bring African American in 1991. That effort, directed primarily towards journalists and religious leaders on propaganda progressive Western environmental, human tours to Nigeria and schedule speaking tours in rights and indigenous peoples’ rights the US for anti-MOSOP Ogonis and other pro- organizations was initially almost exclusively government figures. focused on Ogoni resistance to Shell and federal government attempts to crush MOSOP through Some of the efforts, such as slick 16-page sup- state violence and terrorism. Key organizations plements inserted into African American weekly during this period included Greenpeace, the newspapers in major American cities, were quite Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Article 19 in sophisticated. Others, such as the hiring of London, Human Rights Watch, and the Nigerian thugs to disrupt hearings in New York Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organi- about the naming of the street in front of the zation (UNPO). Nigerian mission to the UN after Kudirat Abiola, backfired and contributed significantly It was only after the formal end of apartheid in to the success of that effort. April 1994 that some of the major African liberation and anti-apartheid organizations, in- The regime also operated covertly to buy cluding The Africa Fund and TransAfrica in the political access and support. The Chagoury US, turned their attention to the crisis in Nigeria. family, major players in the Nigerian oil In contrast to the strong Delta focus of the business with close ties to Abacha, for example, environmental movement, the Africa groups made an illegal $500,000 contribution to the tended to intervene in the first instance around Clinton election campaign in 1996 and suc- the national democratic struggle against Abacha. ceeded in buying special access to the President In the US the different points of entry for the and First Lady. In addition the regime funneled environmental and Africa groups and the a total of $350,000 through the military attache's historic absence of political linkages between office in New York to Henry Lyons, then head the two could have become a source of conflict. of the National Baptist Convention, the largest African American Christian denomination, in What little grassroots organizing there is return for his support. How many other Amer- on Nigerian oil in the US continues and is icans were secretly on Abacha's payroll may located almost entirely in the radical now be revealed as the Obasanjo government digs into the records of the previous military environmental and indigenous rights government. movements, with Africanists now largely dormant on the issue. The Abacha regime made a serious effort to organize both elite and grassroots support in the Instead, through careful management of the US and succeeded in slowing, but not pre- political trajectory and organizational relation- venting, the emergence of a broad public ships of the emerging coalition, and with consensus against the regime and in favor of bridging organizations and individuals like Dr. economic sanctions. The regime's money, Deborah Robinson, then director of the World together with the lobbying muscle of the major Council of Churches Program to Combat oil companies, were a significant obstacle to the Racism and the author of the seminal study effort to make human rights, economic justice Ogoni, The Struggle Continues, the differences and democracy the cornerstones of US policy in emphasis became a source of cohesion and towards Nigeria. strength.

The Solidarity Movement What emerged over time were two central campaigns, the consumer boycott of Shell and The international movement to support the oil efforts to enact binding Nigerian sanctions laws producing communities and the national demo- in cities and states. This produced an informal cratic struggle has its origins in MOSOP's and mutually reinforcing division of labor, with

9 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 the environmental groups engaged in and But the comparatively small cadre of Nigerian supportive of the national democratic struggle, pro-democracy activists and organizations who but focusing their limited resources on Shell and were active played a key role in educating and Ogoni. The Africa groups, hit hard by the sharp mobilizing Americans. Individuals like Wole reduction in funding that accompanied the end Soyinka, Owens Wiwa and Hafsat Abiola of apartheid and responding to the needs of a emerged as national spokespeople for the different constituency, were initially able to Nigerian struggle in the United States, traveling focus on the struggle against Abacha and the tirelessly across the US to speak at college realization of the June 12, 1993 electoral campuses and community churches, union halls process, but still be very much involved in and before city councils and state legislatures. building solidarity with the particular struggles Chief Anthony Enahoro maintained a low key of the minority communities in the oil fields. but effective presence as the exiled Chairman of NADECO. Pro-democracy groups like Jumoke There were organizational strengths to the Ogunkeyede's United Committee to Save coalition as well. The existence of local Sierra Nigeria in New York, Tunde Okorodudu and the Club, Greenpeace and Amnesty International national Free Nigeria Movement, the MOSOP chapters, and later the involvement of the USA chapter and well organized Nigerian pro- regional offices of the American Friends Service democracy groups in Chicago, Detroit and Committee, the social justice arm of the Quaker Boston all played central and dynamic roles in church, gave the coalition a vital capacity to the US solidarity campaign. organize and act locally throughout the country. The Africa Fund, with a small staff operating Prospects for the Future from New York, had national networks of such key constituencies as particularly African Amer- The advent of the Abubakar regime in June 1998 ican religious and civil rights leaders, state and fundamentally shifted the political terrain of the local elected officials, socially responsible international solidarity campaign and ended the investors and trade unionists that had been active international sanctions campaign. It is widely during the anti-apartheid movement and main- accepted in that the recently concluded Nigerian tained a strong commitment to economic and electoral exercise was fraudulent and that the social justice in Africa. Organizations like Obasanjo agenda is reformist instead of Human Rights Watch and Project Underground transformative. Yet it is equally clear that added important research and analytical Obasanjo has proven to be an independent and capacity. National denominations like the United decisive leader with significant popular support. Church of Christ and the Church of Christ Unless and until the new government returns to Disciples and the United Methodist Church also wholesale violations of human rights, inter- emerged as indispensable components of the national support for such key demands of the Nigeria solidarity movement as did strong local democratic movement as a sovereign national committees in Amherst, Massachusetts and St. conference will not capture the attention of Louis. Western public opinion and efforts to mobilize around it are unlikely to be effective. The sizable Nigerian community in the United States was largely disengaged from the effort to The eruption of a bitter and very public split build American support for democracy and within MOSOP in September 1998 -- and the social justice in Nigeria. In many cases the failure of the organization to resolve it -- has Nigerian expatriate community simply repro- dismayed the organization's international allies duced divisions back home through the and largely paralyzed the international Shell formation of cultural organizations to preserve campaign. their language and tradition in the US, making collective action difficult. Many other people In other areas of the Delta the advent of armed expressed a fear of retribution against resistance to corporate and government ex- themselves or family members still in Nigeria ploitation and the highly publicized kidnappings should they become politically active. of oil workers has raised a host of philosophical

10 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 and ideological difficulties for the international and environmental crisis in Nigeria among US solidarity movement. The kidnappings provided activists. Human Rights Watch continues to the oil companies and Western governments report on human rights abuses in the region and with ammunition to justify their call for a Project Underground has maintained some military solution to the resistance. Fratricidal degree of focus on Nigeria and the oil violence between and within communities, companies as part of their overall oil campaign. however linked to the marginalization of the oil What little grassroots organizing there is on producing communities or manipulated by the Nigerian oil in the US continues and is located state, has taken thousands of innocent lives and almost entirely in the radical environmental and proven to be public relations boon for the oil indigenous rights movements, with Africanists companies back home. The Nigerian movement now largely dormant on the issue. as a matter of urgency must address the issue. More encouraging have been lawsuits against Yet the emergence of Chevron's human rights both Shell and Chevron in the US brought by abuses as an issue in the US and the steady victims of corporate-sponsored human rights trickle of US and European solidarity dele- abuses in the Delta. The cases, pursued by the gations and fact-finding missions to the Delta Center for Constitutional Rights, represent a demonstrate the durability of the alliance landmark expansion of international human between the oil producing communities and the rights law and potentially open up the prospect international community. MOSOP has re- that companies will be held accountable in their emerged as a mass movement and has moved home countries for abuses committed abroad. swiftly to rebuild its structures on the ground. There are reasons, in other words, for hope. Yet the advent of the Bush administration and its many links to the repression and pollution in the The oil producing communities in the Niger Delta create new opportunities for education and Delta, although often remote, isolated and mobilization. Vice President Dick Cheney was inaccessible, are nevertheless inextricably linked the chief executive of Haliburton during a period to the international community through the when the company was implicated in gross production and sale of oil. That enduring reality, human rights abuses in Nigeria. National and the bonds of solidarity forged between Security Council Adviser Condoleeza Rice was Nigerians and the international human rights, on the Board of Directors of Chevron for many environmental and Africanist communities in the years, and even has a Chevron oil tanker named struggle against Abacha, form a small but firm after her. Washington's withdrawal from the base for the struggles to come. Kyoto process, the suspiciously high cost of energy and its industry-friendly domestic energy To borrow the rallying cry of the liberation policy had, until the bloody attacks of movements of southern Africa: A Luta September 11, galvanized environmental and Continua. Victoria e Certa. The struggle con- consumer groups and opened up further tinues. Victory is certain. opportunities for coalition building.

Postscript - October 2001 Whether and how to capitalize on these opportunities will be the focus of the ACAS oil Shortly after writing this report in September workshop in Washington, DC in March 2001. 1999 I left The Africa Fund to pursue other projects and have not been immersed in [This text was originally prepared for the Center developments in Nigeria or US solidarity efforts for the Defense of Human Rights in September since that time. With that caveat, it is 1999. Michael Fleshman was then Human nevertheless my impression that very little has Rights Coordinator for The Africa Fund in New happened around the continuing human rights York]

11 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Commentary: Janus Unbound: Antinomies of Petrobusiness and Petropolitics in the Niger Delta

Okechukwu Ibeanu Department of Political Science University of Nigeria Nsukka, NIGERIA Email: [email protected]

The very interesting report by Michael Fleshman creates thousands of jobs annually. Only about underscores how things have changed and yet 27% of people in the Niger Delta have access to remained the same in the Niger Delta. Indeed, safe drinking water and about 30% of the Niger Delta seems to be inherently households have access to electricity, both of paradoxical. Like Janus, there are always two which are below the national averages. There is faces to everything in the Niger Delta. For one doctor for every 82,000 people in the Niger instance, the region has the potential to be very Delta, rising to one for over 132,000 in some wealthy, yet it wallows in pervasive poverty. areas. This is over three times the national The leaders of communities in the Niger Delta average of around 1:40,000. This extreme are very rich, and at the same time their people poverty exists in a region that provides as much are extremely poor. The region now has as 80% of government revenues in Nigeria and a hundreds of elected officials at different levels substantial part of the energy that drives the of the Nigerian government, yet the vast United States. The situation has spawned a deep majority of people of the Niger Delta still feel sense of relative deprivation in the Niger Delta. deeply unrepresented. The people of the Niger Delta signed on to a new democratic government Still, the Achilles heel of developmentalism through their votes in the 1999 election, yet the remains that it is prone to conflicts because government still largely acts with authoritarian of its tendency to be exclusivist, regi- high-handedness towards them. The different communities and peoples of the Niger Delta menting, hierarchical and exploitative. share a common fate of external oppression and privation, yet among themselves ethnic schism, For instance, there is evidence that the 1998 hatred and wars persist. Also, as Fleshman rally of youths organized by Sani Abacha (with shows, the international community has de- the tacit backing of oil companies and monstrated great solidarity with the people of Washington) in support of his sit-tight project the Niger Delta, yet international forces subsequently galvanized popular resistance expressed in the likes of Shell, Chevron, Mobil, against the government and oil companies. The the New York Stock Exchange and policy rally brought many unemployed youths from the makers in Washington have fueled the rape of Niger Delta to Abuja for the first time and the Niger Delta. The consequence of these graphically showed them the stark contrast lasting paradoxes is a peculiar fusion of hope between the opulence of Abuja, funded by oil and despair, enthusiasm and cynicism among the revenues, and the squalor of their communities. peoples of the Niger Delta in their dealings with the Nigerian state and globalized petrobusiness. The increasing sense of relative deprivation experienced by the people of the Niger Delta, The rising poverty in the predominantly remote which is engendered by the contradiction of communities of the Niger Delta is well known. riches, has been behind the intractable conflicts Youth unemployment is among the highest in in the region. The conflict trajectory has been the country not withstanding that the oil sector two-pronged, expressing the ambivalence and dialectical response of local people to

12 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 incorporation into global capitalism. This am- as these may seem, they are not unexpected bivalence is expressed, at one level, in resistance because of the perceived benefits of such against incorporation, and at a second level in a incorporation. More seriously, it is a reflection willingness to become incorporated. The first of the pervasiveness and dominance of develop- trajectory of conflict is the state/petro-business mentalist ideology of ruling groups even among versus oil communities. The state, which underprivileged groups. In a recent study of normally should mediate conflicts, is itself a “People’s vision of development in Nigeria” we major protagonist in the conflicts. In it, the state realized the very strong affinities across classes uses violence to protect the individual and in perceptions of development in the Niger collective interests of officials and, more Delta: electricity, paved roads, cars, etc. Still, importantly, the interests of global capital the Achilles heel of developmentalism remains expressed in petrobusiness. The violent strug- that it is prone to conflicts because of its gles of local communities against the state and tendency to be exclusivist, regimenting, global capital constitute one important hierarchical and exploitative. Thus, even as dimension of popular response to the debilitating greater amounts of money are sunk in the Niger effects of incorporation into the global circuits Delta as a means of pacifying the region, even of capital. greater conflicts have resulted. The best that has been achieved is a matrix of concentric circles of The second trajectory of conflict is that payoffs and rewards built on blackmail and involving intra and inter-ethnic/communal violence. The closer a person is to the center, the conflicts in the Niger Delta. One recalls the greater his/her capacity to blackmail oil Ijaw-Ilaje conflict, the Ogoni-Andoni conflict, companies and therefore the greater his/her the Ogoni-Okrika conflict, the internecine payoff. In time, members of the raucous inner conflict between the two Ijaw clans of Basambri circle fade away in a whimper and silence as a and Ogbologbomabri in Nembe, and the fatal new core of vocal “community leaders” emerge: wars between the Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri over more black-mail, more payoffs. Consequently, the ownership of Warri, a major center of conflicts and violence are never eliminated, they petrobusiness in Nigeria. The central causus are only recycled through new purveyors. Yet in belli in these conflicts are conflicting claims all this, the true representatives of the people are made by communities to land and creeks on systematically sidelined and silenced, most which there are petroleum deposits or oil times violently. Insofar as they represent the true installations. In many cases, state officials and wishes of their people, which is a fundamental oil companies either generate or fuel these restructuring of relations in the globalized oil conflicts in their antics of divide and rule. For industry, they will remain an endangered group. instance, it is known that oil companies have local chiefs and notables on their payrolls in The unending cycle of violence has produced a return for cultivating favorable public opinion cogent rationale for state violence against the on behalf of oil companies. However, the oil people of the Niger Delta, even under the companies increasingly divulge their names to present civilian government. In this regard, on restive youths, thus fueling anger and conflicts one face of Janus appears what ostensibly is a within communities. new democratic agenda for the Niger Delta, but on the second face is etched a militaristic This second trajectory of conflict in the Niger solution based on state violence. Early on, the Delta manifestly or latently expresses the new government seemed conscious of the im- willingness of local communities to be portance of the problem in the Niger Delta. Soon incorporated into global capitalist relations. It is after his inauguration in May 1999, President for instance interesting that while the Ogoni Obasanjo toured the region with a promise to were ruing the environmental devastation of right the wrongs of military rule and implored Shell’s activities on their land, some other the people to embrace non-violence and communities were fighting each other over the dialogue. Obasanjo followed this by proposing ownership of oil wells and yet others were to establish a Niger Delta Development Corp- inviting oil prospecting companies. Ill-advised oration (NDDC). After more than twelve months

13 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 of politicking, the Corporation finally came into the invading army was to shoot civilians on being in 2000. The issue of fixing the limits of sight. These draconian measures, which were the Niger Delta contended between the widely condemned by civil society organizations maximalists, who equated it with the oil- within Nigeria, attracted only a faint whimper of producing States, and the minimalists, who disapproval from the international community. preferred a political definition limiting the Niger Delta to the ethnic minority States of the Guinea For another thing, progressive forces in the coast, was never fully resolved. To worsen the North seem to be suffering a sympathy situation, the Chairman of the Board of the fatigue over the Niger Delta. Compassion Corporation, Onyema Ugochukwu, is from Abia State, one of the states inhabited by the Igbo, for the Delta appears to be too expensive one of three dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria. now. This has not gone down well with the minority ethnic groups of the Delta and a simmering Fleshman correctly identifies the inter- tension continues between the Board Chairman nationalization of civil society, characterized by and the Managing Director of the Corporation, a solidarity between progressive forces in the Mr. Omene, who is from a minority ethnic North and oil producing communities of the group. Even at that, Omene’s appointment has Niger Delta during the period of military rule. In raised eyebrows in the Delta since he was an the post-military era, that solidarity has all but employee of Shell and it is said that Shell had a collapsed. The reasons for this are not hand in his appointment. These misgivings are farfetched. For one thing, President Obasanjo interpreted as insensitivity on the part of the new has been adept in courting an international government, even if the NDDC is widely community that in any case is all too willing to accepted as a positive step to redressing the go along with him. Surely, Nigeria is too problems of the Delta. economically and politically important for major international actors, be they oil companies, The militarist face of the Janus was bared in governments, the Bretton Woods institutions or mid-November 1999 in the Ijaw town of Odi in private donors, not to listen to Obasanjo. For Bayelsa State. Some radical youths of the Ijaw these actors to be left in the wilderness, as under ethnic group had taken some policemen hostage Abacha, is too expensive a prospect to be and tortured them to death. The policemen had countenanced. The civilian government has gone to the town of Odi to investigate rumors seduced the international community into that some Ijaw youths were mobilizing to storm believing that human rights is no longer an issue the city of Lagos in reprisal for attacks a month and that civil society organizations have done earlier on Ijaw residents of Lagos by the their work and must now leave the elected refractory ethnic Yoruba organization, the representatives of the people to govern. This Oodua People’s Congress (OPC). It was widely position contrasts markedly from that of civil believed that the OPC attacks on Ijaw residents society organizations in the Niger Delta. They of the Lagos suburb of Ajegunle were a insist that while occupants of structures that carryover from the conflicts in the State of Ondo dictated the problems in the Delta may have between the Ijaw and Ilaje, a Yoruba clan. The changed, the structures themselves and their government interpreted the killing of the internal dynamics have not. In any case, the policemen as a resurgence of the activities of the elections that brought the civilian government to Egbesu, a quasi-spiritual Ijaw nationalist power were essentially Eatanswill (meaning a movement that had effectively confronted the corrupt election or selection) and the state security forces in Bayelsa State during the constitution it is running was imposed by the 1 twilight of military rule. In response to the military. Civil society therefore calls for killings, President Obasanjo ordered the renegotiations of not only the present political Governor of the State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha regime, but also the entire basis of the Nigerian to produce the culprits. When this failed, federation. These have been captured in the Obasanjo ordered in the army with blood persistent demands for resource control and a chilling consequences. The engagement rule of sovereign national conference.

14 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

For another thing, progressive forces in the Surely, the struggle continues. But is victory North seem to be suffering a sympathy fatigue certain? One is no longer sure! With Janus over the Niger Delta. Compassion for the Delta unbound, we may not even recognize the victory appears to be too expensive now. Moreover, when it comes with its many faces. That is the there are new hotspots around the world like Niger Delta for you. Afghanistan that require urgent compassion and sympathy. Indeed, international civil society is Endnote not given to prolonged attention spans. Soon, 1 The idea is that the election that brought the present collective amnesia sets in and withdrawal government to power was widely acknowledged to be follows. This points to the ephemeral nature of corrupt (some say fraudulent), notwithstanding that such international solidarity. Many organizations the international community was eager to endorse it. The departing military regime imposed the con- in the Niger Delta have come to realize that the stitution. In fact, most of the elected officials did not struggle is principally a domestic one. The see a copy of the constitution until after they were preoccupation now is how to reorganize in the sworn in. face of new realities.

Oil Development in Sudan

Eric Reeves Smith College

I. Oil development in Sudan now sustains and exacerbates the longest and most destructive Moreover, oil revenues presently stand as civil conflict in the world. More than two the greatest obstacle to a resolution of the million human beings have perished in the most conflict. recent phase of the conflict, which re-ignited in 1983 at least in part because of Chevron’s discovery of commercially significant oil The most promising oil reserves lie in the south reserves in the late 1970s. Because the dis- of Sudan. In the eyes of the presently ruling coveries occurred in areas near the 1956 division National Islamic Front (which came to power by between northern and southern Sudan, then military coup in 1989, deposing an elected President Nimieri attempted to re-draw the government), this unfortunate fact of geography boundaries in order to place oil reserves in the has dictated that they pursue a relentless policy north. Nimieri’s further reneging on the 1972 of scorched-earth warfare to create “security” Addis Ababa peace agreement, and his attempt for the foreign oil companies. Tens of thousands to impose shari’a (Islamic law) on the south, of indigenous people have been killed, more also helped trigger the renewal of fighting. than 200,000 displaced.

Chevron withdrew from Sudan in 1984 when the These brutally destructive policies have been southern opposition killed several of its workers, chronicled by many human rights organizations, and this essentially ended their role in oil by the UN Special Rapporteurs for Sudan, by the development. It was not until the late 1990s that staff of humanitarian organizations operating in commercial activities again resumed in serious southern Sudan, and by numerous independent fashion, with the entry of Canadian, Chinese, news reporters. Further confirmation was of- and Malaysian oil companies. Over the last five fered by an extensive Canadian assessment years the consequences of oil development have mission of late 1999, commissioned by then been devastating, sustaining and exacerbating Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy in response to the conflict in a number of ways. civil society activism and the reports of the UN

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Special Rapporteurs (of particular significance is summer of 2000 that all efforts to reach the the report of Leonardo Franco of October 1999). extremely vulnerable populations of southern Sudan were suspended. Attacks on human- Moreover, oil revenues presently stand as the itarian targets are presently continuing. greatest obstacle to a resolution of the conflict. All Sudanese revenues, from all oil projects and The airstrips built by the foreign oil companies concession sales, go directly to the National in their concessions are also used for military Islamic Front, unencumbered by any credible purposes by the Khartoum regime. The Cana- mechanism for equitable or productive dian assessment mission established this as distribution. Indeed, the regime has boasted “totally incontrovertible” in its report (January openly of its willingness to use revenues for 2000), and a Canadian/British human rights military purposes, and has made good on these team has very recently (October 16, 2001) boasts. Acknowledged military spending, issued a highly authoritative report confirming according to IMF documents, reveals that over that helicopter gunships continue to use the oil the last three years military spending has company airstrips for attacks against civilians in doubled (oil began to be exported in August the south and other areas in and bordering the oil 1999, though the regime had clearly been using concessions. anticipated oil revenues to fund military pur- chases, especially from China). Moreover, II. The companies making up GNPOC, the only several dual use facilities (military/commercial) significant producing consortium in Sudan, have recently been completed near the capital of include Talisman Energy of Canada (25%), Khartoum. These have allowed for a very Petronas (the state-owned oil company of significant increase in domestic military pro- Malaysia) (30%), and China National Petroleum duction, and the regime is now militarily self- Corporation (40%). Sudapet, the Sudanese state sufficient in several categories. oil company, has a nominal 5% stake, but the royalty contracts dictate that at present pro- Oil from the major producing consortium in duction levels, Khartoum receives approxi- southern Sudan (the Greater Nile Petroleum mately 40% of profits after the scheduled capital Operating Company [GNPOC]) also goes recovery. directly to a 10,000 barrel a day refinery in the town of El Obeid, which lies (not coincidentally) Other companies operating or controlling adjacent to the forwardmost military air base of concessions in southern Sudan include: Lundin the regime. From the El Obeid air base, Petroleum (a small, recently restructured Swe- Antonov bombers (actually retrofitted Russian dish company, that operates with Petronas and cargo planes) have conducted an ongoing OMV of Austria in the most southerly of the campaign of bombing against civilian and concessions); Gulf Oil (Qatar), which operates humanitarian targets throughout southern Sudan in the most easterly concession along with China and other marginalized areas, most notably the National Petroleum Corporation; and Nuba Mountains in southern Kordofan province. TotalFinaElf (the French oil giant, which These attacks, numbering in the many hundreds controls the largest concession areas in the over the last few years, are nothing less than south). Agip of Italy has signed an agreement state-sponsored, state-conducted terrorism, in with Petronas. The Russian Slavneft has also that they serve no military purpose other than to signed an oil exploration and production agree- terrorize civil society and create further internal ment with Khartoum. displacement (Sudan’s internally displaced population of 4.5 million is the greatest in the The response to oil development in Sudan by world). American civil society has been nothing short of extraordinary. Though advocacy efforts are also The deliberate targeting of UN-sponsored underway in Canada and Europe, and growing in humanitarian relief has also been a hallmark of strength, it is in the US that a broad and deep Khartoum’s conduct of the “oil war.” So intense coalition of political, human rights, and religious was the bombing of humanitarian relief in the groups has forced Sudan to the top of America’s

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African foreign policy agenda. Numerous Canadian Anglican and Lutheran Churches are African American political and church organi- committed to divestment. The Ontario Teachers, zations have become especially committed in the whose Pension plan is one of the largest last year -- in part because of the ways in which shareholders of Talisman, have voted to divest. oil development has helped sustain a vicious There is a great deal of advocacy effort now trade in human slaves (this has been abetted by coming on line in Europe. Some observers have Khartoum through its military proxies as part of described this divestment campaign as the most its war effort). The Congressional Black Caucus successful since those of apartheid-era South is unaminously behind the Sudan Peace Act, as Africa. passed by the House of Representatives (422 to 2, June 13, 2001); this bill contains provision for Amnesty International has continued to press capital market sanctions, i.e., the shares of all hard on oil development issues, though they foreign companies operating in Sudan would be haven't taken an advocacy position on de-listed from the NYSE and the NASDAQ (US divestment/oil company withdrawal. Human sanctions already prevent any commercial Rights Watch, which has been outspoken in their presence by American firms in Sudan). Though criticism of oil development before, is about to the bill is in legislative limbo following the issue a major study of oil development in Sudan, events of September 11, its passage by the and it will become the definitive (300-page) House is a landmark in the American response document on the subject. The Casey Institute in to destructive oil extraction ventures in de- Washington, DC has been vigorously committed veloping countries. Organized labor (AFL-CIO) to the Sudan campaign. Many individual church also supports this version of the Sudan Peace and Christian organizations have also committed Act, as does the American Israel Public Affairs resources and political clout (e.g., Safe Harbor Committee. in California).

The American Conference of Catholic Bishops Key resources: has taken a deep interest in the issue of oil Amnesty International reports: “Sudan -- The Human development in Sudan, and they have spoken out Price of Oil,” May 3, 2000 vigorously. Conservative and evangelical Christ- [http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AFR540042000 ian groups and rights organizations have also ?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\SUDAN] made an especially great contribution to forcing Christian Aid (UK) report: “The Scorched Earth: Oil the Bush administration to recognize the and War in Sudan,” March 2001 (Christian Aid has seriousness of Sudan, and the human suffering almost 30 years experience working in both north and and destruction so obviously related to oil south Sudan) development. The Committee on Conscience of [http://www.christian- the US Holocaust Musem has designated Sudan aid.org.uk/indepth/0103suda/sudanoil.htm] as "at risk of genocide" and their exhibit in the Museum, as well as their brochure (and a Report by Georgette Gagnon (Canada) and John Ryle blistering oped in the Washington Post) (UK): “Report of an Investigation into Oil De- highlight oil development in Sudan. They've velopment, Conflict and Displacement in Western Upper Nile, Sudan,” October 16, 2001 (Gagnon was been extremely helpful in the campaign. a member of the original Canadian assessment mission; Ryle is a Sudan expert, with specialized Most tangibly, a divestment campaign against knowledge of southern Sudanese ethnography) Talisman Energy, which is listed on the NYSE [http://www.ideationconferences.com/sudanreport20 and Toronto Exchange, (led, for example, by the 01/resourcepage.htm] American Anti-Slavery Group [Boston], which helped to start the divestment campaign, the Reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs for Sudan can Presbyterian Church/USA and just recently the be found at: Episcopalians) has brought the largest [http://www.unhchr.ch/SearchFormtest1.nsf/0a17df0 independent oil and gas producer in Canada to 71aa8104ac125662e00356cad?CreateDocument] the brink of a forced exit from Sudan. The

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Chad Oil : Why Develop It?

Delphine Djiraibe

Oil in Chad is a topic that has caused much ink – rich underground resources, notably oil. and saliva – to flow. Opinions on the role that the development of this resource might play in A military group with General Idriss Deby as the economy and in the struggle against poverty President currently runs the country; this group in a country as little known as Chad are as came to power in an armed takeover in 1990, divergent as they are numerous. What are the theoretically ending more than a dozen years of risks of developing oil and constructing a bloody dictatorship. Deby’s power was legiti- pipeline between Chad and Cameroon? What mized by elections that were fraudulent and role has civil society played since the conception sometimes violent and that were seen as of this project? Why isn’t this a project that will democratic only by their authors and allies. help develop the country? These are some of the Democracy, human rights, protection of the questions that this article attempts to answer. environment, and sustainable development are First, a brief introduction to Chad. mere slogans used by those in power to gain the sympathy of donors and to rake in development Chad, a former French colony, obtained nominal aid, which is used to wage war or, in the best independence on 11 August 1960. The World case, to satisfy the base material interests of the Bank categorizes Chad among the five poorest regime. This sketch may seem a somber countries in the world. It is a tropical country exaggeration but sadly it represents reality. It is with a hot, dry climate and a short rainy season; in this context that the oil project has been the rains are unevenly dispersed across the launched. country. Chadians survive on their agricultural, livestock and fishing activities. Important under- What is the Oil Project? ground resources, which have yet to be developed, include oil and minerals. The oil project comprises the development of three oil fields that were discovered in the Doba All oil development runs risks that are Basin at Komé, Bolobo et Miandoum, which linked to questions of the environment, form a triangle. The project involves drilling 300 human rights and socio-political manage- wells in the triangle, the construction of a pipeline 1,070 km long from the Doba Basin, ment. passing through the forested reserves of Cameroon, to the Atlantic Ocean. At the port of The population is diverse in terms of both Kribi a refinery will be constructed to treat the ethnicity and culture. Three religions are crude oil and export it to the Great Powers, represented, Christianity, Islam and animism. which need it to support their high technology Chadians are usually divided into Northerners, industries. The consortium in charge of the who are Muslim and animist, Nilotic and development is led by ExxonMobil and includes nomadic, and Southerners, who are Christian Chevron and Petronas (Malaysia’s national and animist, Bantu and sedentary. This artificial petroleum corporation). Chevron and Petronas division is widely used by politicians and joined the consortium when Shell and Elf quit warlords in the service of their causes. The on the pretext of internal business problems, socio-political history of Chad has been grafted leaving Esso the sole partner. After much con- onto armed conflicts, the true objective of which troversy the World Bank approved the project on is to grab or hold onto power. The mark of the 6 June 2000, presenting it as a development Great Powers has always been present in these project that offered Chad a unique opportunity to conflicts, one suspects because of the country’s launch national development.

18 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

of bonus) to buy arms, without giving advance Why is the Project Controversial? notice to the council as required by the law.

All oil development runs risks that are linked to The Campaign questions of the environment, human rights and socio-political management. Chad is a tropical In 1996 when Irène Mandeau, a member of the country already threatened by desert en- German section of Amnesty International told croachment. Because the oil discoveries are in me about the oil project, of which no word had the Doba Basin, which is the greenest part of the filtered into the country, I immediately set to country, the construction of the pipeline, which work. Conscious of the advanced stage of involves cutting trees and clearing vegetation, corruption in Chad and Cameroon, the problems will aggravate the problem of deforestation and of human rights violations, the lack of demo- aid the advance of the desert. (One may also cracy and the repressive character of the military mention the consequences of further oil ex- government of Chad, I set about mobilizing civil ploitation for global warming.) In addition, there society, both in my country and abroad, to is no technical guarantee at this time that the campaign for a delay in order to assemble a current consortium will make an effort to avoid better set of conditions that will cause the least air and water pollution and maintain biodiversity human and environmental damage. or in general minimize the negative impacts of the project on the environment. From N’Djaména to the capitals of Europe to Washington DC, NGOs have clearly The people directly affected by the project have exposed the risks of the oil project and the not been either adequately consulted or suf- ficiently informed about the negative impacts of need to observe a moratorium so as to the project. In a country in which the population better prepare adequate conditions for its has been traumatized by more than 30 years of realization. war and more recently by massacres perpetrated by the military on civilians in the region near the I contributed to research at the national level oil fields, the presence of the military during the through the organization of information semi- consultative sessions was enough to dissuade nars, and I participated in public debates in my people from expressing their opinions. As a capacity as president and spokesperson of the result, the losses that people will suffer have Chadian Association for the Promotion and been poorly evaluated and the compensations Defense of Human Rights and as coordinator of they have been allocated are not proportional to the network of defendants, which includes the damages they will sustain, nor do they development NGOs, human rights associations, conform to the will of the victims. women’s groups, and peasant and workers organizations. In 1999 during a stay at Columbia We do not know whether the resources that oil University in New York, I was able to speak of will generate will be used for the benefit of the our concerns and present the human rights and entire population of Chad and for the goals of environmental problems to the American public reducing poverty and achieving sustainable and obtain their support. I traveled around the development. Under pressure from civil society, US with help from the American section of the World Bank and the Government of Chad Amnesty International and spoke about Chad, its adopted a law to manage oil revenues. This law social, economic and political problems, and the established a council that will monitor the dangers of developing oil in a country so poor as management of oil revenues. However, it is Chad and in an environment so vulnerable. difficult to have confidence in a government known for its lack of respect for the law and for At the invitation of Korinna Horta of violations of established rules and obligations. Environmental Defense, who had already Here’s proof: the government has used the first worked on this and similar projects, I went for sum received from the consortium (paid as a sort the first time to Washington, DC; there Korinna and I organized an information campaign and

19 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 lobbied to postpone the adoption of the project cited the project as the one that mobilized more until such time as the conditions necessary to world attention than any other. The World Bank avoid a human and environmental catastrophe and the other financial institutions consider it as could be assembled. We met with administrators a test case. Many researchers and students have and high-level managers of the World Bank, as chosen it as the topic of their studies. well as with people at the Department of State, Treasury and Congress, to brief them and alert The collaboration between northern and them to violations of human rights related to the southern NGOs has been very effective and project, as well as to the Chadian government’s continues to bring the highest level of legal lack of structural and institutional capacity to advice and technical support to the case against manage such a project and the risks of conflict the oil project. Both national and international that it can engender. This initial work had the attention have been mobilized around this effect of mobilizing American and European project, with the result that it is known as the NGOs concerned with human rights and the one most monitored in the history of projects environment. I continued to do this work in financed by the World Bank. Everyone is active collaboration with Korinna during my waiting to see the result. The short time that has stay at the Center for International En- elapsed between the World Bank’s approval of vironmental Law, where the contribution of the project and the commencement of work is lawyers and specialists in international human reason for anxiety rather than hope. The powers rights law added an important element to the in N’Djaména have come out and are claiming case. sovereignty in the face of a World Bank that is caught in its own contradictions and that cannot This project is a living example of the resolve the deteriorating economic, social and power of the oil companies for which profit political situation in Chad. All hope of rises above any consideration of protection sustainable development, which is the project’s objective, is disappearing. of the environment or respect for human rights. What is certain is that this project is profitable and will bring money to the oil companies and From N’Djaména to the capitals of Europe to repay the World Bank’s loans. The decisions Washington DC, NGOs have clearly exposed the taken and the policies put in place are more for risks of the oil project and the need to observe a the purpose of reimbursing loans and securing moratorium so as to better prepare adequate benefits for the oil companies than for anything conditions for its realization. The civil society else. This project is a living example of the campaign has been a success in that it forced power of the oil companies for which profit rises decision makers to make some changes in the above any consideration of protection of the conception of the project, even though such environment or respect for human rights. fundamental problems as the impact on the environment, the benefit that the population will [Delphine Djiraibe is President of the Chadian derive from it, and the management of revenues Association for the Promotion and Defense of that it will generate have not been satisfactorily Human Rights; she is currently at the Center for resolved. Another source of satisfaction is that International Environmental Law. Translated the NGO campaigns helped keep the project at from the French by Meredeth Turshen.] the forefront of public attention. The president of the World Bank has on several occasions

20 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

NGO Efforts in Africa’s Largest Oil Project

Korinna Horta Environmental Defense

The contrast between two worlds in Sub- Development without Politics? Saharan Africa’s single largest investment project could not be more striking. An hour’s Environmental problems are always simul- drive over dirt roads from the nearest town, taeously political problems. Nowhere is this Bebedja, which does not have running water or more evident than in countries where the electricity, lies the base camp of Kome, the livelihoods of large sections of the population logistical center for the drilling of 300 oil wells depend on access to land, forests and water in a deep in Chad’s southern region. The camp is a direct fashion. Environmental Defense and other white man’s enclave complete with a small Northern-based environmental groups with a airport, generators, air-conditioned office con- history of working closely with environmental, tainers, and even little flower beds in the large development and human rights organizations as suburban-looking parking lot filled with a fleet well as trade unions and churches in developing of ESSO marked jeeps and trucks. The camp is countries have learned first hand about the surrounded by the small villages of rondavel critical role of civil and political rights in mud and straw houses in the shade of tall ancient promoting development that is environmentally mango trees where life’s daily routines have sound and socially equitable. Despite recent barely changed over the centuries. But now the prospect of oil being pumped out underneath In the view of the local organizations, the their soil raises specters of hope and fear. Hope project could not but lead to more for schools, clinics and jobs. Fear of further repression, more hardship for the already government repression, violence by gangs linked to the military which terrorize local people with traumatized population of the country’s impunity, polluted water wells and loss of south and possibly a renewal of the civil valuable land and trees. More insecurity is added war which had been ravaging Chad for by increasing conflict between local villages and thirty years. migrant herders and other Chadians from the country’s north lured to the region by the discussion of the need for good governance and promise of El Dorado. human rights in its development discourse, the world’s largest development agency, the World Will the oil in Chad’s ground bring ruin to its Bank, claims that its mandate does not allow for people as it has done in other African oil- consideration of human rights. As a result, producing countries from Nigeria to Angola? Or financing decisions by the World Bank continue can it, as its financial backers claim, lead to a to be framed in technical and supposedly reduction in poverty and protect the envi- apolitical terms which fail to consider how large ronment? Delphine Djiraibe’s article provides amounts of money channeled to governments an overview and analysis of the project, while affect relationships of political and economic the focus here is on the role and efforts of NGOs power within a country and what that may mean to address the serious risks of this project today, for poverty reduction and sustainable develop- which will leave both Chad and Cameroon trans- ment. formed for generations to come. Initial information on World Bank plans to support the oilfield development project in southern Chad and a pipeline through Cameroon

21 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 to ship the oil to markets in Europe and North genous peoples whose forest-dependent live- America, sounded alarm bells amongst some lihoods were being destroyed. Pipeline con- Washington-based NGO in 1997. Was this oil struction and the pressures of logging and project going to lead to another Ogoniland or a wildlife poaching which would certainly Sudan-type situation of prolonged civil war? accompany it could do nothing but aggravate the And why did the World Bank want to use public existing situation. Yet, when we surveyed the funding intended to lift poor people out of Cameroonian NGO community about the poverty to support a consortium of oil com- pipeline, we found out that most had no panies in such a high risk venture? information at all about the project and the few who had heard about the project were unaware Coming Together: Northern and of its routing. Southern NGOs The first thing to do was to piece to gather as Northern-based NGOs, such as Environmental much information as possible about the project, Defense, the Bank Information Center and to put it in its political context and to create the Friends of the Earth, knew that the immediate political space for local groups to get their thing to do was to find out about the concerns voices heard in international media and de- and aspirations of groups working in Chad and cision-making platforms. Cameroon. A Germany-based representative of Amnesty International with a long history of The Catalytic Role of the World Bank working on Chad’s dismal human rights record, made a unique contribution in helping to A consortium of oil companies first discovered establish close contact between those working in oil in Chad’s Doba Basin in the early 1970s but Washington, D.C., Paris and Berlin/Bonn, and suspended development of the oil fields in 1979 local human rights organizations on the ground. because of ongoing armed conflict in the In the view of the local organizations, the project country. The consortium was reorganized se- could not but lead to more repression, more veral times and in early 2000 consisted of hardship for the already traumatized population Exxon-Mobil as the leader of the consortium of the country’s south and possibly a renewal of with participation of Chevron and the Malaysian the civil war which had been ravaging Chad for state oil company Petronas. With total revenues thirty years. However, while the drilling of oil of about $185 billion annually, Exxon-Mobil, wells and the thousands of mini-pipelines perhaps the wealthiest corporation on the planet, linking these wells were spelling a potential hardly needed World Bank financial support as a social and environmental disaster in Chad’s pre-condition for advancing with the project. But Doba Basin, most of the project’s environmental impacts were thought to happen along the over According to the NGOs in Chad and 600 mile pipeline through Cameroon. The Cameroon, the World Bank-supported pipeline was to traverse major rivers, fragile consultations that took place in the context ecosystems and one of the few remaining largely intact areas of rainforest inhabited by the semi- of the project were little more than a farce. nomadic indigenous Bakola people. Already the destruction of Cameroon’s rainforests had led that is exactly what Exxon-Mobil and its part- the country to suffer one of the highest ners insisted upon. Documents obtained in deforestation rates in the world. Environmental Washington, D.C. showed that the financial Defense had been working with Cameroonian structure of the project was contingent upon NGOs for several years to call attention to the World Bank participation although regular massive logging of Cameroon’s biodiversity- World Bank loans and co-financing from the rich forests, which was largely carried out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the unscrupulous practices of mostly European World Bank Group’s affiliate for private sector companies and made possible by corruption at financing, were to amount to less than $200 the highest level of Cameroonian government. million out of total project costs of about $3.7 The costs of forest destruction were largely billion. There was a two-fold reason for this being borne by local communities and indi- insistence on public co-financing: First, World

22 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Bank participation would provide political risk international NGO coalition in North America insurance because no government in the region and Europe made the moratorium their central could afford to be on bad terms with the World campaign issue. Chadian and Cameroonian Bank as this would entail a cut-off from all other NGO representatives and community leaders public and private sources of finance. Second, visited Washington and several European capi- World Bank participation would provide the tals on numerous occasions to make their points project with a quality seal of approval which directly to the World Bank’s Board of Executive would help mobilize much larger co-financing Directors, Treasury or Finance ministry officials, from other sources, such as the European members of Congress, parliaments and the Investment Bank, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, media. The arguments they presented were Coface, the French export-credit agency, and a often well received by many officials and led to range of commercial banks. increasing pressure on the World Bank to build a range of safety measures into the project. From the NGO-perspective, World Bank involvement in the project provided a unique These measures included pressure on the point of leverage. Public pressure over the past Chadian government to adopt a Revenue Man- decade had forced this publicly funded insti- agement Law intended to ensure transparent tution to adopt a range of promising policies management of the expected oil income, a re- meant to protect the environment and the routing of the pipeline away from some of the interests of project affected people. An example more ecologically-sensitive areas, capacity- is the policy on environmental assessments (OP building projects for both governments to 4.01) which requires that local communities and address the social and environmental risks of the NGOs not only be consulted but that their views project, and the establishment of an International also be taken into account in project design and Advisory Group (IAG) to provide independent implementation. monitoring of the implementation of the safety measures. Work on these measures led to a delay African NGOs Self-Organize in World Bank approval of the project for about two years. According to the NGOs in Chad and Cameroon, the World Bank-supported consultations that The Counter-Offensive took place in the context of the project were little more than a farce. In southern Chad, for The delay of a final decision on the project led example, representatives for the project would Exxon-Mobil to set-up a large-scale operation in enter villages in the company of armed military both Washington and Brussels to systematically guards at a time when local people were still lobby and obtain support for the project from traumatized by the 1998/99 massacres com- lawmakers, government officials and the media. mitted by the military which had led to the At the same time, pressure was building up killing of hundreds of unarmed civilians and the within the World Bank to speed up the approval wounding and disappearance of many more. The process and allow no further ‘caving in’ to NGO only serious public debates about the project concerns. Amongst its initiatives to neutralize were organized by courageous local civil society NGO-criticism of the project, the World Bank organizations themselves with the support from spread information about a split between NGOs outside church groups and others. These took with Northern NGOs purportedly opposing the place in the towns of Donia (1998) and Bebedja project for their own selfish reasons while (1999) in oil-producing regions and led local Southern NGOs were giving it their full support groups to call for a moratorium on financing for as a poverty alleviating instrument. To make the this project until adequate legal frameworks and point, a group of representatives of so-called enforcement mechanisms would be in place to Chadian and Cameroonian civil society ensure transparent and equitable use of the oil representatives were flown into Washington in revenues and the protection of human rights and the fall of 1999 to lobby for the project. These the environment. individuals had no affiliation with any groups or, in the case of a religious representative, had Taking the lead from local groups, the come to Washington without knowing the

23 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 objectives of their visit. Embarrassingly, their attention to the problems as they arise. In written statement was identical to an official addition, much hope resides in the work of the statement in support of the project published by IAG and in the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, the Chadian embassy. For good measure, a which has recently received the green light from Senegalese dance troupe from Paris was brought the World Bank’s Board to investigate possible to the 1999 World Bank/IMF annual meetings in World Bank policy violations in the project. Washington, to be paraded as Africans who had come to show solidarity with the project. A Rights-Based Approach to Development In June 2000, the project document presented to the World Bank’s Board claimed that “Chad had A recent statement by the World Bank sum- successfully put in place democratic political marizes the core of the problem: “The Bank is institutions.” Despite project risks, the document concerned by human rights in Chad as else- claimed that this investment represented the only where, but its mandate does not extend to way for lifting Chadians out of poverty. In political human rights.” But can the high risk addition, the project was hailed as a model for Chad/Cameroon Oil & Pipeline project succeed public-private sector partnership, in which a in reducing poverty and promoting sustainable relatively small amount of funding triggered a development when political rights are repressed much larger private sector response. The Bank’s and freedom of expression and discussion are Board obliged by approving the project and severely curtailed? thereby setting in motion the single largest investment project in Africa. The late Cameroonian writer Alexandre Biyidi, better known as Mongo Beti, one of Africa’s From the point of view of African NGOs and foremost literary figures, put it succinctly in a their partners in the North, this confidence in the magazine article for L’Autre Afrique: “No project was premature. Their concerns were Freedom – No Pipeline.” However, the project’s confirmed when Chad’s president used part of public and private sponsors did not agree. What the first payment by the Oil Consortium for the project now does is further expose the weapons purchases. After being initially em- fundamental incoherence of current develop- barrassed, the World Bank declared that this ment financing by the World Bank and others “little policy slippage” would have no further which pay lip-service to good governance and consequences and rewarded the government by empowerment of local people while paying little granting it a $260 million in debt relief. The attention to local political realities and human generous gift came during the Chadian electoral rights. campaign in the spring of 2001 and the fraudulent re-election of Chadian President What is needed in the Chad/Cameroon project Deby, who did not hesitate to imprison and and development is the adoption of a rights- torture the leading opposition candidates in the based approach where development means sup- immediate aftermath of the election. port for national and local decision-making to promote sustainable livelihoods. This approach Can a measure of social justice and the pro- requires that the political and economic forces tection of the natural environment be behind unsustainable practices are publicly accomplished under the current juggernaut? The analyzed and that the role of the state and who International Advisory Group has published its runs it, as well as the relationships between first report which concludes that the project classes and groups are taken into account. moves ahead at two speeds: Construction work Large-scale money flows based on the current, proceeds on schedule while the social, supposedly apolitical, approach carries the risk environmental and capacity-building compo- of undermining prospects for democratic change nents of the project have hardly gotten off the and further reducing incentives to strengthen do- ground. NGOs continue to carefully monitor the mestic accountability. situation and will continue to call international

24 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Africa's Churches Wake Up to Oil's Problems and Possibilities

Ian Gary

“What does the Catholic Church care about an independent African states, church leaders have oil pipeline?” been seen as supporting the ruling power structure, or, as they often were during the It is a question Fr. Patrick Lafon, Secretary colonial era, part of the structure itself. General of the Catholic Church of Cameroon, (Although this article focuses on the role of the gets asked often, especially by those in positions Catholic Churches, often the single largest of power who wish that the Church, a powerful denomination in many African countries, other social and political as well as religious insti- churches, including mainline Protestant and tution in the country, would stick to preaching Evangelical churches and the World Council of and ministering to its flock. Churches, are doing important work.)

But the Catholic Church in Cameroon, like sister Because of the nature of global capital and Catholic and Christian churches in many multinational enterprises, advocacy related countries across Africa, is not “minding its own to oil exploitation must take place at a business” when it comes to sometimes harmful impacts that oil exploitation and development number of levels at the same time. can have on African citizens. Indeed, it is speaking out in bold new ways on the problems In the late 1980s and early 1990s, though, with and possibilities of oil exploitation and the the onset of structural adjustment programs and paradox of pervasive poverty amidst massive their devastating economic impact, and the wave mineral wealth. of democratization after the end of the Cold War, churches have started to become more “What I tell them,” Fr. Lafon says, “is that our involved in public advocacy, addressing the advocacy on the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Pro- need for democratization and structural change. ject is part and parcel of preaching the gospel of In the last five years, against the backdrop of Jesus Christ.” international debates about globalization, main- line churches in Africa have become aware of African Churches and Public Advocacy and taken action on the problems related to oil exploitation in Africa. From Catholic Church Although it is best to avoid blanket general- leaders protesting the hanging of Nigerian Ogoni izations, it may be safe to say that Christian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa to church leaders in churches in sub-Saharan Africa in the latter half Sudan calling for the immediate halt in oil of the 20th century were, for the most part, not exploitation in that war-torn country, African notably involved in addressing issues of struc- church leaders are waking up to the problems tural injustice as were their counterparts in Latin and potentials of oil exploitation. America. Apart from the significant role that some churches played in the liberation struggle This new awareness draws from the religious, in South Africa, the role of churches in African moral and social mandate of Africa’s churches. liberation and independence movements was Just stewardship of resources, the integrity of relatively minor, and sometimes they were creation, a “preferential option” for the poor and supporters of the colonial status quo. An explicit notions of distributive justice all relate to this political or “liberation theology” has been new focus on the just use of Africa’s abundant notably absent on the continent.1 Parochial con- natural resources. (It is important to note that cerns have tended to dominate and in some most statements by Catholic Churches in Africa

25 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 do not argue that natural resources, as some Conference of Bishops (USCCB), have been international environmental campaigners would involved with the pipeline project issue since argue, should remain unexploited, but that such 1998. The CRS Central Africa program, based in exploitation should be done in a way that avoids Yaoundé, Cameroon, has worked with the environmental destruction, observes human Catholic Church in both Cameroon and Chad to rights principles, and benefits the African peo- raise their awareness of the importance of the ple, especially the poor who live amidst such project. CRS has supported the Catholic Peace great wealth.) and Justice Commission in Cameroon with information, strategic advice and financial re- Speaking out on Oil: The Case of the Chad- sources. Cameroon Pipeline Project The message of the churches to oil Recent international advocacy by the Catholic companies, the government and the Church on the controversial Chad-Cameroon international community has been Pipeline Project illustrates some of the power of church advocacy on African oil issues. The unequivocal, clear and consistent – stop Chad-Cameroon pipeline project is a $3.7 billion exploiting the oil until a just peace is effort involving the ExxonMobil, Chevron, negotiated. Petronas (the Malaysian state oil company), the World Bank and the governments of Chad and In October 1999, the Catholic and Protestant Cameroon. The project is designed to exploit bishops of Cameroon issued a joint "Point of significant oil deposits in southern Chad and View" on the pipeline project. In a remarkable transport the oil through a pipeline to the show of unity, the bishops said that the project Atlantic coast for shipment to the world market. had great potential to address the social needs of The World Bank justifies its involvement by the citizens of Cameroon, but that four serious promoting the poverty alleviation potential of concerns remained. These concerns included the the project -- the project could yield $2 billion in environment, compensation for those affected by revenues for Chad and $500 million for construction of the pipeline, the involvement of Cameroon, depending on world oil prices, over civil society in project planning and imple- the 25-year life-span of the project. Oil com- mentation, and revenue management issues panies viewed the participation of the World associated with the project in an environment of Bank as "political risk insurance" which enabled endemic corruption. them to raise more money on international capital markets for construction costs. The The Christian Churches cannot remain World Bank views its role as helping the indifferent to this project which impacts governments of Chad and Cameroon to manage the . . . life and survival of millions of the revenue and the environmental and social men and women. The project promises consequences of the project. International civil to generate huge revenues that would be society organizations -- environmental, human able to help our people progressively rights and faith-based groups -- have concerns escape from the rut of poverty. In order that the benefits of the project will not reach the that this does not remain an ideal, and poor in a context of endemic corruption and that the project does not threaten the political repression. Additionally, many believe quality of life of the people, certain that plans to address environmental effects, requirements must be fulfilled...We call compensation for relocated peoples and revenue upon all of the major parties concerned, management are inadequate and will not be the governments, the oil companies and realized before the oil starts to flow. Despite all other financial parties involved in these concerns, the World Bank board of this project to be guided by principles of directors approved the project on June 6, 2000. social justice, that they seek to improve the conditions of life for people, that The local Catholic Church and Catholic Relief they prevent catastrophes and that they Services (CRS), the overseas international relief protect the balance of nature. It is and development agency of the US Catholic necessary to examine the ethical, legal

26 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

and environmental implications in- civil society partners in Cameroon, Chad and the volved before making a commitment to US to ensure that promises made by the World the project. We recommend that an Bank, oil companies and the governments of independent commission be created. We Chad and Cameroon are kept. CRS activities believe that is the price that must be have included financial support for an inde- paid in order that the project have the pendent pipeline monitoring project. Working greatest chance of achieving its goal, the with grassroots community groups, three local fight against poverty.2 NGOs – Center for Environment and Development, Service ecuménique pour la paix The statement was sent to the USCCB and and Environment-Research-Action – are transmitted to the World Bank and US Treasury monitoring the geographic length of the pipeline Department with a letter of solidarity and construction route in Cameroon and bringing support from Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, attention to problems in the implementation and the head of the USCCB Committee on construction of the project to local, national and International Policy. In May 2000, Fr. Lafon international actors. In November 2001, Fr. visited the US and advocated the Cameroonian Lafon made a return visit to the US to express Church’s position in a series of meetings with concerns, with CRS and USCCB staff, regarding World Bank, US Government and oil company project implementation. officials. With support from the USCCB and CRS, Fr. Lafon and members of civil society The Angolan Catholic Church has been at from Chad and Cameroon were able to meet the forefront of the civil society peace some the World Bank's board of directors days movement and has urged warring parties before their vote on the project. not to “send arms in exchange for At the Treasury Department, the Catholic diamonds and oil – send food, and above Church in Cameroon, USCCB and CRS, pressed all restore peace which is torn away with their position on the project with senior US our diamonds and oil.” officials, alongside those of many of the groups CRS has been working with on the project, Meanwhile, in Chad, where the political envi- including Environmental Defense, the Bank ronment is even less conducive to public Information Center and the Center for advocacy, the financial stakes are much higher, International Environmental Law. While in the and where Christianity is a minority religion, the US, Fr. Lafon had interviews with the Wall Catholic Church has still spoken out. At the Street Journal and other media outlets and was beginning of 2000, the Catholic Bishops of Chad able to brief the Interfaith Center on Corporate issued an appeal saying that: Responsibility (ICCR) before a shareholder resolution on the project was presented to the Oil profits must be used to meet the ExxonMobil annual shareholders meeting. people's essential needs present and future, not to increase the riches of a While church leaders in Cameroon and many few. . . [Those] invested with power others in international civil society questioned must respect those whom God has the advisability of project approval under entrusted to their care, and stop present conditions, the World Bank approved the exploiting the powerless and the poor. project in June 2000. The advocacy by the [Measures are needed] to ensure a fair Church and others had significant influence in distribution of the profits for the good of project design changes, including increased all the population. [Oil is] a common compensation for individuals and communities, good which could allow the country to inclusion of some revenue management safe- guarantee itself better economic guards, and pipeline re-routing to avoid some of future… do not use it for your own the most sensitive areas in Cameroon. profit… Be transparent in your manage- ment of common resources, treat Since project approval, CRS and the USCCB common goods as if they were those of have continued to work with church and other your own family... The time has come

27 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

for more social justice, respect sharing the US that would prohibit companies doing and solidarity in the management of the business in Sudan from raising money on US national patrimony... Chad has all the capital markets. means for nourishing its people and 3 allowing them to live with dignity. The transnational networks, credibility, institutional strength and structures, Sudan: Oil, Conflict and Pan-African political power and constituency of Solidarity churches lend themselves to oil advocacy. In Sudan, the Catholic Church and others are trying to address life and death concerns related Other churches in Africa have conducted their to oil exploitation – the use of massive new oil own advocacy on Sudanese “blood oil” in wealth by the Government of Sudan in Khar- solidarity with sister churches in Sudan. When toum to prosecute its 18-year old war against the Kenyan government officials indicated that they southern half of the country. Over two million would purchase Sudanese oil in July 2001, have died and four million were displaced Kenyan church leaders and human rights groups during the fighting. The government has mobilized against the plan. Nairobi's powerful admitted that oil revenues have allowed it to Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki double its military spending in the last two used his pulpit to rally against the plan in years, with lethal effect. Sunday sermons. In South Africa, the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) The message of the churches to oil companies, expressed “grave concern” in July 2001 that the government and the international community Soekor, South Africa's oil parastatal, was in the has been unequivocal, clear and consistent – advanced planning stages for activities in Sudan. stop exploiting the oil until a just peace is “By negotiating new concessions in areas that negotiated. In August 2001, the Sudanese have not been 'cleansed' of communities Catholic and Anglican bishops issued a joint regarded by the Khartoum government as statement saying there should be a “suspension disposable [Soekor would] contribute to the of oil extraction until peace is achieved. Its escalation of the conflict in Sudan. Oil is key to continuation fuels the war, uproots civilian the war in Sudan. During our visits to Sudan, we populations, and reinforces the existing saw for ourselves the results of the forced imbalance in wealth sharing.”4 They have given removal and displacement of tens of thousands the same message to executives of Talisman Oil of southern Sudanese to make the oilfields and of Canada, the major Western oil company pipeline safe from attack," said Cardinal Wilfred 6 involved in Sudan, whom the bishops met in Napier, President of the SACBC. ANC August 2001. government officials, in an earlier visit to Sudan, had stated the South African government's Our country is poor and in need of commitment to “developing relations with economic development. However, oil is Khartoum in the areas of oil extraction and not contributing to the development. We mining.” As Cardinal Napier commented, witness this displacement of our flocks “Given our experience under the apartheid from their homelands, driven away by regime, we should be the last to support a helicopter gunships, Antonov bombers government that is at war with its own people.” and government troops and militias in order for oil companies to work in Oil and Church Advocacy in Congo- relative security. Private companies, like Brazzaville and Angola any other organ in the society are obliged to abide by and promote respect Although Sudan’s oil has garnered much for the principles of the Universal attention, less well known are the problems Declaration of Human Rights.5 wrought by oil in Congo-Brazzaville. Oil, conflict, and French and American commercial The Sudanese Catholic Bishops have also rivalries are key components of that nation’s supported the use of capital market sanctions in political history, and the Catholic Bishops have

28 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 again spoken out on the issue. After a de- get involved in advocacy to help ensure that vastating civil war in the late 1990s, fought aggressive oil exploitation does not come at the mostly over the nation’s oil resources, the expense of human rights, the environment, and bishops stated: “How can one understand that the human dignity of the poor who live amidst during the last three decades, the frequent such massive wealth. discovery and start-up of oil wells, always important, has not been accompanied by any The USCCB has been engaged in advocacy kind of visible sign of economic transformation around the Chad-Cameroon pipeline and oil in or rectification of the social situation of our Sudan and will likely continue to support oil- population? Our oil must be an instrument for related advocacy of sister Catholic Churches in the life and not the death of our people.” The Africa. A major pastoral letter from the US Catholic Justice and Peace Commission is now bishops on US-Africa relations issued in developing research and advocacy programs to November 2001 speaks forcefully on the issue of address the impacts of oil in Congo-Brazzaville. Africa’s natural resource wealth:

In nearby Angola, oil and diamond wealth have Africa's wealth in natural resources — supported an even more tragic and long-running which should be such a rich source of civil war. Angola supplies over 8% of US oil blessings — has sometimes become a needs and American companies have continued source of tremendous suffering...Foreign to operate profitably despite the war. Although corporations — American, European, diamonds support the UNITA rebel movement, Asian, and others — reap large profits oil revenues of over $2 billion annually allow from diamonds and oil while too often the MPLA government to continue waging war demonstrating little concern for the and avoid negotiations. The Angolan Catholic negative impact their activities may Church has been at the forefront of the civil have on peace, stability, human rights, society peace movement and has urged warring and the environment...Governments, parties not to “send arms in exchange for international financial institutions, and diamonds and oil – send food, and above all private corporations involved in the restore peace which is torn away with our exploration, development, production, diamonds and oil.” COIEPA, the church-led and sales of natural resources (e.g., oil, peace movement, plans to send a delegation to diamonds, timber, minerals, and pre- the US in 2002 to lobby the US government, oil cious gems) all have a moral re- companies and others to play a role in building a sponsibility to ensure that the otherwise just and lasting peace in Angola. legitimate development of these resources does not contribute directly or Global Solidarity: US and European indirectly to corruption, conflict, and Churches and Africa’s Oil repression. Transnational corporations ought to adopt codes of conduct that There is a real opportunity to implement ef- reinforce their social responsibilities, fective advocacy campaigns on Africa’s natural direct their activities toward the resources through global solidarity between common good, and adopt transparency African and US churches. The transnational in operations and financial account- networks, credibility, institutional strength and ability.8 structures, political power and constituency of churches lend themselves to oil advocacy. One concrete example of this new commitment Churches are well placed to address concerns at to oil advocacy is found in the work of CRS, the grassroots while giving voice to these which has embarked on an “Extractive concerns in Northern corridors of power. The Industries in Africa Initiative.” Through the need for oil advocacy is urgent – Africa initiative, CRS works with African country accounts for 14% of US oil imports, and a report program staff and partners – as well as the US issued last year by the National Intelligence Catholic Church and other US-based partners – Council predicted that by 2015, Africa would to help ensure that natural resource exploitation supply 25% of US oil needs.7 US churches can fosters poverty reduction and not conflict. CRS

29 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 supports training, research, policy and advocacy and important public advocacy role – or activities at the local, national, regional and potential role – of Africa’s churches. Bridges of international levels. In May 2001, CRS collaboration should be developed between sponsored a workshop in Douala, Cameroon, African NGO oil activists, their Northern part- which attracted 35 staff and partners from nine ners, and international church networks. countries in Africa – Sierra Leone, Liberia, Through this work, and the work of others, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s oil wealth could become a beacon of Congo-Brazzaville, Angola and Sudan. Re- hope rather than a flame of despair. source people from Global Witness in London, Third World Network-Africa in Accra, Ghana, [Ian Gary is Strategic Issues Advisor for Africa as well as the Harvard Human Rights program with CRS in Baltimore and is lead staff on the participated. In addition to the Chad-Cameroon CRS Extractive Industries in Africa Initiative. pipeline, research and advocacy activities are The views represent those of the author and not progressing in a number of African countries. necessarily those of CRS.]

Other churches in the US have been involved in Endnotes oil advocacy, most notably around Nigeria and 1 Gifford, Paul. African Christianity: Its Public Role. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. Sudan, using shareholder activism and divest- 2 ment strategies reminiscent of an earlier struggle Translated excerpts from the “Point de Vue des against apartheid. (European churches and Chretiens du Cameroun sur le Projet Petrolier Tchad- Cameroun (Point of View of Christians Concerning church development agencies have also been the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project)” issued by the active on Sudan’s oil, the Chad-Cameroon Catholic and Protestant Bishops of Cameroon, 25 pipeline, and other oil-related campaigns.) October 1999. 3 "The Year 2000, a new era for a new life", The Way Forward Christmas/New Year Appeal, Catholic Bishops of Chad, N’djamena, January 2000. Because of the nature of global capital and 4 “Let There Be A Just and Durable Peace in the multinational enterprises, advocacy related to oil Sudan: An Appeal by the Bishops of the Catholic and exploitation must take place at a number of Episcopal Churches of Sudan,” Nairobi, Kenya 17 levels at the same time. Churches, with their August 2001 5 Sudan Catholic Bishops on September 1, 2001, at institutional strength, credibility, transnational conclusion of Plenary Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. networks, moral authority, influence on 6 “South Africa Helping Prolong Sudanese War, international opinion and access to policy Bishops Say: Soekor Oil Deal Would Fuel the makers in Africa and the North, are well suited Fighting, Conference Warns”, IRIN News, to play key roles in the struggle to make Johannesburg, 20 July 2001. governments, international financial institutions 7 National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2015: and corporations more transparent and ac- A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts, Washington: December 2000. countable in managing and exploiting oil re- 8 sources. Recent activity by churches in many “A Call to Solidarity with Africa: A Statement of parts of Africa designed to address the impact of the U.S. Catholic Bishops.” United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, Washington, D.C., oil production should be supported and en- November 14, 2001. couraged. Too often, analyses of “civil society” in Africa have ignored or obscured the distinct

30 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Algerian Oil and Gas

Meredeth Turshen

The Role of Oil and Gas Analysis

The Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, Much of Algeria’s recent behavior – which was created soon after independence in Bouteflika’s trip to Washington, liberalization of 1963, is so large that it is called a state within a the economy and increasing ties to MNCs – can state. The hydrocarbons sector generates around be understood in the context of the government’s 95% of Algeria’s export earnings (bringing in decision to apply for admission to the WTO and $18.7 billion in 2000) and provides some 60% to enter into a treaty with the European Union. of government revenues. Algeria's oil reserves One purpose of Bouteflika’s visit to Bush in July are estimated at around 9.2 billion barrels. The 2001 was to gain Washington’s promise to back country produced 802,000 barrels a day of crude Algeria’s WTO application. But as in the past, in 2000. In December 2000, the government Algeria wants to control its interaction with the announced plans to increase crude production to outside world. In April it hosted a meeting of 1.5 million barrels a day and to double the African energy ministers in Algiers, which number of companies operating in the country resulted in an agreement to form an African over the next five years. Some of this extra Energy Commission, to be based in Algiers. output will come from the Hassi Berkine fields, Because Nigeria is the only other African mem- which Sonatrach is developing with Anadarko. ber of OPEC, Algeria hopes regionalization will Oil production is less than half that of gas. counterbalance MNC power.1 Algeria is in the world's top 10 for gas reserves; it is the second largest supplier of gas to the Algeria’s decision to expand oil and gas European Union and the world's third-largest gas production plays into a principal objective exporter. New targets for gas exports are 65 of the Bush Administration, which is to billion cubic meters per year by 2005. reestablish the western monopoly that Algeria holds huge external debt: the total at the controlled 95% of the world’s oil fields end of 2000 was $25.1 billion, and the external before OPEC and that ended in 1973. debt-service ratio was 22%. The Economist Intelligence Unit anticipates current-account Privatization is at the top of Algeria’s legislative surpluses of 12.3% of GDP in 2001, and agenda. The Khelil bill (named for the Energy forecasts real GDP growth at 3.6% in 2001 and and Mines Minister) will create two new auto- 5.5% in 2002, reflecting the impact of invest- nomous national entities and a new management ment in a major gas project. In August 2001, BP policy that will govern approval of regulations, (the third largest oil company in the world) and research and development contracts, and con- Sonatrach announced a $2.5 billion 30-year cessions for transport by pipelines, as well as contract to develop seven gas deposits at In supervise the rules for technical matters, tariffs, Salah. Four companies are supplying equipment, occupational safety and health, industrial including Kellogg Brown & Root (Halliburton). security, authorizations for prospecting, and the The announcement followed President collection of license fees for the public treasury. Bouteflika’s visit with Vice President Cheney in The bill limits Sonatrach’s participation to a July. No doubt the US Export-Import Bank will maximum of 25% in the development of newly issue a credit guarantee to enable Halliburton to opened fields. Unionized oil workers (FNTPCG sell equipment and services to Sonatrach as it [the National Federation of Petroleum, Chemical did in 1998 ($56 million for nine companies) and Gas Workers] and UGTA [the General and in 1997 ($150.4 million authorized). Union of Algerian Workers]) in the Saharan oilfields and the coastal refineries at Skikda and

31 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Arzew understand that this bill means pri- for revenues to pacify the revolt. The Algerian vatization and that it threatens their jobs: they government fears that the latest conflict in the oppose it. Kabylia region will play into the hands of the multinationals (see Turshen 2001 in ACAS “On Environmental Impact the Edge”). If the Bush-Cheney strategy creates a global oil glut and forces prices down, the The production and use of hydrocarbons have rebellion in Algeria is likely to grow; when oil is taken a toll on the environment. Pollution is less than $17 a barrel, Algeria cannot pay its concentrated in the Saharan oilfields and in the debt or provide desperately needed social petrochemical export centers of Arzew, Skikda services. and Annaba on the Mediterranean. Hydrocarbon effluents from the Algiers refinery are causing Closer Algerian ties to the US also promote irreversible land damage and serious agricultural another Bush strategy, which dates to Bush père losses. Air emissions, especially nitrogen oxides in the 1980s: befriend oil-producing countries and other volatile organic compounds, produce like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in order to hobble the smog now hanging over Algiers. Although OPEC from within (and work with non-OPEC there have been no large-scale oil spills to date, producers, notably the UK and Norway [North the Mediterranean, with its heavy oil tanker Sea oil], Russia and Angola to check OPEC traffic, is considered the most polluted sea in the from without). Because these strategies fell short world. of their ultimate goal, the Bush Administration now seems to be trying to gain influence over Conclusion the remaining national oil companies like Sontrach, Petronras and Pemex. Algeria’s decision to expand oil and gas Endnote production plays into a principal objective of the 1 Bush Administration, which is to reestablish the The 11 OPEC members are: Algeria (741,000), western monopoly that controlled 95% of the Indonesia (1.2 million), Iran (3.4 million), Iraq, Kuwait (1.8 million), Libya (1.2 million), Nigeria world’s oil fields before OPEC and that ended in (1.9 million), Qatar (601,000), Saudi Arabia (7.5 1973. For many third world nations, OPEC million), UAE (2 million), and Venezuela (2.6 represented the decolonization of the extractive million) (Sept 2001 production quotas in barrels per system: it reduced the direct access of the day are in brackets). “Majors” (now Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Gulf, BP-Amoco, Arco, Total-Fina-Elf and Anglo- Resource list Dutch Shell) to 15% in the 1980s, even if these Aissaoui, Ali 2001 Algeria : The Political Economy MNCs continue to control 40% of sales of final of Oil and Gas Oxford: Oxford University products. Since 1973, the US and European Press governments have used their fiscal powers to Al Anouar, Tahar Mohamed « Algérie-OMC: le tour de vis » El Moudjahid 16-07-01 counter OPEC. Although OPEC controls the Benboudjemâa, Mohamed Tahar 2001 « Les majors price of crude by setting production quotas, it au marché mondialisé du pétrole » Le receives only 20% of the consumer price: taxes Quotien d’Oran 7 août account for as much as 80% of the price in EIU 2001 Country Reports – Algeria Europe. OPEC revenues were $250 billion in Ghozali, Sid Ahmed 2001 « Trente années après le 2000, but the governments of consuming 24 février 1971 : Quelle privatisation? » Le countries received $1 trillion. Quotien d’Oran 7 août Le Quotien d’Oran, 7 août 2001 (www.quotidien- Drilling in Algeria is part of a worldwide surge oran.com) special supplement on in drilling. The Bush Administration is helping nationalization of oil and gas Moumene, Karim “Contrat Sonatrach-BP” El Watan companies expand into new fields at home (the 13/08/2001 bill to drill in ANWAR and the Gulf of Mexico) (www.elwatan.com) and abroad. Many of the overseas oilfields are in Skeet, Ian 2001 “OPEC” Oxford Companion to countries like Algeria, mired in internal conflict Politics of the World Oxford: OUP that both weakens the government’s ability to Townsend, David "Reforming Algeria" Petroleum negotiate contracts and feeds its immediate need Economist July 2001, 68(7): 15-16

32 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Oilwatch Africa General Assembly Communiqu

Port Harcourt, Nigeria February 10, 1999.

Preamble And noting the definition of resistance as "the Noting that transnational companies have right of a people to say no and mean it, in supported dictatorships, authoritarian and cor- defence of our collective environmental and rupt governments, in order to favour their profit human rights in order to achieve positive interest in different regions of the world, with change". systematic violation of human and environmental rights, the rights of their em- We, the representatives of NGOs, Local ployees and the rights of the peoples in whose Communities/CBOs and other interest groups lands they exploit. that are impacted by oil activities and other mining activities in Africa, meeting at the Concerned that the activities of the transnational Workshop of the first Oilwatch Africa General companies in indigenous territories result in Assembly in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, this 10th their deprivation, the destruction of their natural day of February 1999, do hereby resolve as resources and threaten their survival thereby follows: contradicting the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention No. 1. That we condemn the alliances between the 169 of the International Labour Organization states of Africa and transnational companies in (ILO) concerning indigenous and tribal peoples the perpetration of injustice, human and in independent countries, as well as the first environmental rights violations against local and article of the International Covenant on indigenous communities in whose territories Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which they carry out their activities. states the following principle: (i)We condemn the use of military force and State acts of terrorism against the host Article 1.1. All peoples have the right to self- communities of oil extraction and other determination. By virtue of that right they freely mining activities. determine their political status and freely pursue (ii) Transnational companies should adhere their economic, social and cultural development. strictly to international environmental Article 1.2. All peoples may, for their own ends, standards in the countries of operation. freely dispose of their natural wealth and (iii)Transnational companies and the States resources without prejudice to any obligations should respect the culture and traditions of arising out of international economic co- the local peoples whose lands they exploit operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a 2.(a) We demand that States should make people be deprived of its own means of conscious and sincere effort to implement the subsistence. following international conventions concerning the rights of the local people: Informed that the activities of the transnational (i) UN article (2) 1 concerning self- companies systematically damage the environ- determination. ment, habitats, live-lihood, marine life and (ii) ILO convention 169 concerning wildlife without regard to the protection of the indigenous and tribal people i.e. in environment and survival strategy of the people. independent countries (iii) Respect to UN 1977 declaration on the rights of indigenous local people

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(iv) UN article 3 on human rights mental protection and development processes (v) African Charter article 24 on Human that affects them. and Peoples Rights (iii) The State should ensure the restructuring of (vi) Article of the UN Convention on the judicial system to enable local communities Biological Diversity. to seek redress at the law courts. (iv) All African States should guarantee the 2(b) Compensation rates should be reviewed protection of the rights of women and children upwards taking into account life span of the against dehumanisation, discri-mination and natural resources, including economic trees exploitation by transnational companies and damaged and life expectancy of beneficiary. state institutions. 2(c) There should be a moratorium on oil and other mining activities to determine the level of Strategies damage to local and indigenous communities and their natural environment, as well as ways of 1. There should be an alliance of oppressed local remediation. communities in Africa and elsewhere to address 2(d) We demand transparency in all transactions their concerns involving the World Bank/IMF and the States 2. There should be exchanges of information, concerning all projects in local communities. materials and experiences of local populations colonised by transnational companies to enrich 3(i) As a matter of urgency all African States their struggle for emancipation should institute the necessary mechanism for the 3. NGOs, CBOs and other interest groups should implementation of Agenda 21 of the UN Rio support the activities of local communities Conference on Environment and Sustainable fighting for their environmental and human Development. rights. (ii) The participation of local communities 4. African States should organise national or should be guaranteed by the State in environ- regional conferences of minorities as part of the process for self-determination.

34 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Oil, Islam and September 11: An Essay Addressed to the Antiglobalization Movement

George Caffentzis October 6, 2001

I write this essay to participate in a discussion This essay is inevitably tentative and hypo- within the antiglobalization movement on the thetical, given our present lack of precise know- events of September 11. I am anguished about the ledge concerning the details of the crimes -- even lives lost in the bombings of that day. I am also now, three weeks after September 11, there is concerned about the scenario that is in front of us: public confusion as to the identities of some of the *Plans for massive bombings against Af- immediate perpetrators. Also, my aim is ghanistan and protracted warfare against a list of classification and explanation, but not vilification. countries (perhaps 60, according to President Bush) presumably supporting terrorism or lodging For the Bush administration is determined to terrorists. use the hijackings and mass murders of *The escalation of xenophobia especially September 11 as a political opportunity to against Arabs, but targeting all immigrants, and this not just in the US. transform the definition of dissent here in *The demonization of the anti-globalization the US and to project the US military into movement, accused of being an enemy of the oil-rich former republics of Soviet "western civilization." Central Asia. *New, widespread restrictions on civil liberties. What can we do in this situation? The legal and moral facts are enough. The killings of September 11 constituted one of the worst one- Our first task is obviously to stop the escalation of day massacres in the last decade, probably only violence, and mobilize against a US-led war on those in the first days of the Rwandan genocide of Afghanistan or any other country the Bush ad- the Tutsis can rival it in terms of numbers. The ministration picks to be a target for its "war" on thousands of murders are a major crime against "terrorism." We also need to build solidarity with humanity and, though the immediate perpetrators the Arab and immigrant communities in the US are dead, their accomplices, if they had any, now under attack physically and ideologically. should be captured and prosecuted in the appro- But these generalized responses, however correct, priate courts without the US government com- are not enough. We must gain a better mitting similar crimes against the humanity of understanding of what has happened and why, other countries. That this last proposition is a since any confusion on this point can have the matter of controversy in the US at this moment most serious consequences for the anti- shows how perilous are the times we are in! globalization movement. For the Bush ad- ministration is determined to use the hijackings Oil, Globalization, and Islamic and mass murders of September 11 as a political Fundamentalism opportunity to transform the definition of dissent here in the US and to project the US military into On a broad level, the events of September 11, the oil-rich former republics of Soviet Central 2001 can be traced back to the economic, social, Asia. A purely generalized politics is doomed to and cultural crisis that has developed in North taking a reactive stance in this historical situation, Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia in the even when the Bush administration's con- aftermath of the Gulf War and, prior to it, the tradictions begin to unravel in the next few weeks. accelerating process of globalization, starting in the late 1970s.(1) The first aspect of this crisis has

35 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 been the impoverishment of urban workers and to the working classes of North Africa, the Middle agriculturalists in this area, due to Structural East and West Asia and using their wealth to Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and import liberal- create a multinational network of groups ization, dating back to Egypt's "open door" policy stretching through every continent and often that cost the life of Anwar Sadat and saw the taking on a life of their own. emergence of Islamic fundamentalism as a new political force.(2) As a social program, Islamic fundamentalism has distinguished itself, in addition to its unmitigated From the Cairo "bread riots" of 1976, to the bolstering of patriarchal rule, for its attempt to win uprisings in Morocco and Algeria of 1988, both over the urban populations through the provision crushed in blood baths, to the more recent anti- of some basic necessities such as schooling, IMF riots in Jordan (and the list is much longer) healthcare, and a minimum of social assistance. the difficulties of merely staying alive has become These initiatives were undertaken often in re- more and more dramatic for workers, causing sponse to the ending of government subsidies and major splits within the capitalist classes from programs in these areas, which was dictated by the Morocco to Pakistan as to how to deal with this Structural Adjustment Programs designed by the rebellion from below (Midnight Notes 1992). A neoliberals in the World Bank and IMF. Thus, for further element of crisis has been the situation in example, it is the Islamic fundamentalist networks Palestine. This, too, was made more intense by the that organize health care and education in the Gulf War and Israel's response to Palestinian Palestinian "territories," almost functioning as an demands, namely more settlements, the attempted alternative government to the PLO at the usurpation of Jerusalem, and escalating repres- grassroots level.(3) sion. Regardless of their actual disposition towards the Palestinians, this situation has become Over the last decade as the crisis in the Middle a cause of great embarrassment for these ruling East and internationally has intensified, so has the classes, revealing, as it does, their duplicity and antagonism of the Islamic fundamentalist net- the shallowness of their commitment to Islamic works against the US and its domestic supporters solidarity. in the different Islamic countries. But this conflict has been stalemated in key countries in the 1990s. For at the moment, at least, our movement is In Algeria, for example, the Islamic Salvation the only one capable of leading an escape Front, which grew rapidly after the anti-SAP riots from the hellish dialectic of homicide and of 1988 and almost took state power by election in 1991, was stopped by a military coup. For the last suicide that the forces of global capital and decade, through a horrendous civil war where the perpetrators of the September 11 between 60,000 and 70,000 were killed, the massacres have launched into oblivion. Algerian Islamic fundamentalists have been decisively weakened by attrition and military But the most important factor of crisis has been repression. In Egypt, the Mubarak regime has the hegemonic role of the US in the region, as used direct repression as in Algeria, as well a exemplified by the devastation of Iraq, the US system of microscopic social surveillance. For government's proprietary relationship to the "the [Mubarak] government acted to stem the management of oil resources in the Middle East, proliferation of private mosques and associated and the building of US bases right in Saudi charitable foundations and to end their Arabia, Islam's most sacred land. On all these extragovernmental autonomy" (Faksh 1997: 54). counts, deep divisions have developed within The result has been a major defeat of these ruling classes pitting pro-American govern- fundamentalism in, perhaps, the second most ments -- often consisting of royal dynasties in the important Islamic state. Fundamentalists seizing Arabian Peninsula -- against a new generation of state power in Sudan and Afghanistan have not dissidents within their own ranks who, in the dramatically reversed these setbacks, for in both name of the Koran, have accused them of being countries they inherited, and have not been able to corrupt, of squandering the region's resources, of end, long-standing civil wars. selling out to the US, of having betrayed Islam, all the while offering an alternative "social contract"

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But stalemate does not mean defeat, and there is brought back to power in George W. Bush's no doubt that Islamic fundamentalism continues to administration were the ones who were re- have an attraction within the ruling circles of the sponsible, during his father's presidency, for the wealthiest Islamic nations. This internal contra- training and financing of the very organizations diction has created a tangled net of consequences, they now hunt under the banner of "terrorism." which are now embarrassing and endangering Therefore, the executive dynasties in both the US many people in the US government and in the and Saudi Arabia must both be worried about governments of the Middle East. For they have "family members" who have been compromised financed and trained the very generation of by their past connections to the networks they dissidents that is now so violently turning against now claim are responsible for the events of them. On the one side, a portion of the Middle September 11. This goes up to the President's Eastern oil revenues has been used to finance family. For example, the Wall Street Journal assaults on symbols of the New World Order, (9/28/01) reported that the President's father because of the divided loyalties of the Middle works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Eastern ruling classes; on the other, the US Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international government has financed and trained many consulting firm, as do other close associates of the members of this dissident branch of the Middle President like former Secretary of State James Eastern ruling classes in its effort to destabilize Baker. the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The crude and desperate attempts by ideologists of On the basis of this analysis, then, the the Bush administration to somehow connect, in September 11 attacks on New York City and ever more arcane ways, the antiglobalization Washington DC were the "collateral movement with the Islamic fundamentalists is fueled by a desire to distract public attention and damage" of a struggle over the fate of oil hide a real anxiety on its side which is summed up politics in its heartland: the Arabian in the question: when will the long list of real Peninsula. connections between the "terrorist network" the Bush administration is hunting and its own The governmental and informal financial and personnel be revealed? That is why, perhaps, military support of armed Islamic fundamentalists President Bush harkened back to his childhood did not end with the Soviet pullout from memories of "Wanted Dead or Alive Posters" Afghanistan in 1989. These militants played (with the emphasis on "Dead") when speaking of important economic, military and ideological roles Osama bin Ladin and his associates. For the that forwarded US policy against Yugoslavia (in administration's legitimacy would be undermined, Bosnia and Kosovo) and against Russia (in if they ever spoke the truth. Chechnya, Dagestan, Uzbekistan) up until September 10, 2001. The deal apparently was: do Why now? Why so desperate? the dirty work of fighting and destabilizing secular communist, socialist and nationalist regimes in These generalized facts concerning the hidden Eastern Europe, Caucasia and Central Asia and civil war within the oil producing countries from you will be rewarded. These "free floating" Algeria to Iran serve to describe the context of the militants did the US's dirty work for 20 years, but attacks on the World Trade Center and the they obviously increasingly were convinced that Pentagon. For I am assuming that the immediate the US had not delivered. They were not given perpetrators of the attacks were committed to their proper reward: taking power at the center of some branch of Islamic fundamentalism. But these the Islamic world, the Arabian Peninsula. facts do not help us understand why the attacks took place in September 2001 and why the This complicity and deal-making is why, perhaps, resistance to the US took such a desperate form. the Bush administration is so hesitant to do what For these attacks are symptoms of desperation not would be natural after such a massive intelligence of power, as they will likely lead to a devastating and security failure attested to by the September US military response with predictable results: the 11 crimes: get rid of the incompetents. That would destruction of thousands of Islamic fundamentalist be difficult, for many of those who have been militants along with tremendous collateral damage

37 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 on the people of Afghanistan and many other foreign entities, bringing them nearer to levels that countries in North Africa, the Middle East and apply to local companies. Wholly owned foreign West Asia. Who on the ground can survive in businesses will have the right to own land, such a maelstrom? Indeed, the actual perpetrators sponsor their own employees and benefit from and their accomplices, whoever they are, must concessionary loans previously available only to have been very desperate to take such a risk with Saudi companies" (Bahgat 2001: 6, my emphasis) their own network and the lives of millions of [NB: it is obvious why "the right to own land" people of the region. It is also probable that many would be a red flag for anyone committed to the (perhaps most) people even in the most militant sacred character of the Arabian Peninsula.] The Islamic fundamentalist circles object to the Middle Eastern experts were literally falling over bombings in New York and Washington DC, if themselves in their effort to highlight the new not for moral, then simply for strategic reasons, Investment Regulation. One described it in the knowing full well that their hard-fought for following words, "Keep your fingers crossed, but achievements might all go up in smoke as a result it looks as if Saudi Arabia is abandoning almost these actions. 70 years of restrictive, even unfriendly policy toward foreign investment" (MacKinnon 2000). Clearly something very important was in process This law constituted, in effect, a NAFTA-like of occurring that the perpetrators of September 11 agreement between the Saudi monarch and the US needed desperate and inherently uncertain mea- and European oil companies. sures to thwart. What was it? If my hypothesis is right, the source of this desperation are events at At the same time as this law was being discussed, the geographical center of Islam, Saudi Arabia, a ministerial committee announced that up to $500 which echoed throughout the Islamic world. My billion of new investments would be deployed view is that the political factors motivating the over the next decade to change the form of the mass murder and suicides of September 11 Saudi national economy. Foreign oil companies involved the oil industry and globalization in the had already promised $100 billion of this Arabian Peninsula. Here is the story. investment. In May of 2001 the first concrete step in this stepped up globalization process was Beginning in 1998 (after the collapse of oil prices concluded when Exxon/Mobil and Royal due to the Asian Financial Crisis), the Saudi Dutch/Shell Group led eight other foreign monarchy decided, for "strategic reasons," to companies (including Conoco and Enron from the globalize its economy and society beginning with US) to take on a $25 billion natural gas the oil sector. The oil industry had been development project in Saudi Arabia. The finan- nationalized since 1975, which means that foreign cial press noted that the deal would not be very investors were allowed to participate only in lucrative in itself, but that "It's part of a long-term "downstream" operations like refining. But in ploy of the oil companies, [which] want ultimately September 1998 Crown Prince Abdullah met in to get access again to Saudi crude" (LA Times Washington DC with senior executives from 5/19/2001). several oil companies. According to Gawdat Bahget, "The Crown Prince asked the oil Thus, by the summer of 2001, the Saudi monarchy companies' executives to submit directly to him cast the die and then legally, socially and recommendations and suggestions about the role economically entered the Rubicon of globalization their companies could play in the exploration and (but with its "fingers crossed," undoubtedly). It development of both existing and new oil and gas "globalized" not because the Saudi Arabian debt fields" (Bahget 2001: 5). These "recom- was unmanageable (as was the case with most mendations and suggestions" were then submitted other countries that bent to the globalizing dictates to the Supreme Council for Petroleum and of the IMF) but because, faced with intensifying Mineral Affairs in early 2000 (after being vetted opposition, the King and his circle realized that by the Crown Prince), and, by mid 2000, the only with the full backing of the US and European Saudi government began to respond cautiously by Union could they hope to preserve their rule in the ratifying a new foreign investment law. Under the coming years. In other words, confronted with new law, "tax holidays are abolished in favor of significant social problems and an insurrectional sweeping reductions in tax on profits payable by element within its own class that could not be

38 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 defeated by open confrontation, since it took on troops packing and turning their oil revenues into the garb of Islam too, the Saudi Arabian the economic engine of a resurgent Islam were government seems to have decided that a rehaul of facing a historic crisis in the summer of 2001. its economy would defeat its dangerous Without a major reversal, the Islamic funda- opposition through attrition and would further mentalist opposition would have to face the solidify its alliance with US and European capital. prospect of a total civil war in their own countries The strategy was aimed at reducing the large and or face extinction. Certain elements -- whether growing unemployment rate among its young they were individuals or groups, I cannot know citizens, its dependence on oil exports, and its now -- of this opposition decided that only a spec- huge foreign labor force (in 1993 there were 4.6 tacular action like the September 11 hijackings million foreign workers out of a total population and destruction of thousands of people in New of 14.6 million; today they are approximately 6-7 York and Washington could turn back the tide. million in a population of about 22-23 million) by Perhaps they hoped that if enough turmoil and "getting the economy moving again."(4) This uncertainty can be generated by the attacks in the required a radical departure from the clientelistic US, they would generate a strategic US retreat methods of social control the Saudi monarchy had from the Arabian Peninsula, just as the bombing used in the past to keep social peace, which was in Lebanon in 1983 led to the US pull out there. made possible until recently by its immense oil On the basis of this analysis, then, the September wealth. But this wealth is not infinite and indeed 11 attacks on New York City and Washington DC was declining on a per capita basis -- for example, were the "collateral damage" of a struggle over the GNP per capital fell from approximately $13,000 fate of oil politics in its heartland: the Arabian to $8,000 from 1983 to 1993 and has since Peninsula. Moreover, in order to test this continued to fall (Cordesman 1997: 64). In- hypothesis in the coming weeks we should evitably, this initiative would impact the economic investigate the developments in the Peninsula, policies of the other oil producing governments in which will undoubtedly be hidden from sight, the region, especially the Gulf Cooperation more than the sound and fury that will be directed Council states -- Oman, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and towards Afghanistan for more obvious reasons. Kuwait. The Bush Reaction: A "War" on "Terrorism" It is now a foregone conclusion that anyone and US Military Penetration of Central Asia interested in understanding Afghan-centered aspects of the Bush administration will have It is important that we understand the political and economic aims of the hijackers and their accom- to take into account the "oil factor." plices, but it will be even more important for us to be clear about the Bush administration's agenda. If it works, this strategy would deal a decisive For one need not indulge in conspiracy theories to blow to the Islamist opposition, undermining its recognize that the Bush administration will use the ability to recruit converts who would be employed events of September 11 as best as it can to in the upper echelons of a "globalized economy forward its program (while acknowledging that and society" instead of being driven to despair by the shock of the destruction of lives and property political powerlessness and long periods of on that day has profoundly destablized President unemployment. But the introduction of foreign Bush's domestic economic and social agenda). ownership of land and natural resources, backed up by large investments, and the hiring of more There are two clear territories which the Bush expatriates from Europe and the US, would force administration has strategically used the death and a major social change.(5) The cat-and-mouse game destruction of September 11 to move on: a that the Saudi monarchy had played with the conceptual restructuring of the political horizon fundamentalist dissidents (by which the King and and a geopolitical thrust into the former Central his dynasty claimed to be even more fun- Asian republics of the USSR that became nation damentalist than them) would end. Whatever states in 1991. These states, especially Kazakh- hopes the Islamic opposition in the ruling classes stan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, have signi- of the Arabian Peninsula had ever harbored of ficant oil and gas reserves. "The proven and getting their governments to send the American possible energy reserves in or adjacent to the

39 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Caspian region -- including at least 115 billion against Yugoslavia above and beyond its barrels of oil -- are in fact many times greater than ostentatiously decried (and newly found) concern those of the North Sea and should increase for Kosovars' human rights (cf. for example, significantly with continuing exploration. Such Chossudovsky 2001, Federici and Caffentzis plentiful resources could generate huge returns for 2000, Talbot 2000). It became clear then that one US companies and their shareholders. American of the reasons the US attacked Yugoslavia (one of firms have already acquired 75 percent of the few remaining Russian allies in Europe) was Kazakhstan's mammoth Tengiz oil field, which is to impress on the Russians that it will use all of its now valued at more than $10 billion." (Kalicki might to discourage them from interfering with its 2001: 121). These countries, along with the investments in Caucasia and Central Asia. It is former and present Caucasian republics, form the now a foregone conclusion that anyone interested southern border of Russia's "Near Abroad," which in understanding Afghan-centered aspects of the the US has been aiming to penetrate militarily for Bush administration will have to take into account some time both for immediate economic purposes the "oil factor" (especially given the direct and for the ultimate goal of disintegrating Russia involvement of many members of the Bush itself into a set of pliable statelets. administration in the oil companies that are heavily invested in this area.) The minute President Bush named Osama bin Ladin as "the prime suspect" and "his" camps in The events of September 11 and their Afghanistan as the training ground for the consequences have been a tremendous blow terrorists that destroyed the Twin Towers, every against the antiglobalization movement, diplomatic move aimed at setting up forward military bases and fly-over rights to attack bin since it has given the governments all over Ladin also doubles as a tool for the US military the planet the opportunity to close public occupation of Central Asia itself. After all, we are spaces and to repress dissent from whatever being told equivocally by the administration both source in the interests of "public safety." that bin Ladin is the center of the evil and that even his capture ("Dead or alive") will not end the threat of terrorism from that quarter. Therefore, This is not to say that this geopolitical thrust into the military campaign against both bin Ladin and Central Asia was high up on the Bush terrorism (we are assured) will be quite prudential administration's agenda prior to September 11. and take months, even years to accomplish. The expansion of drilling rights within the US was Perhaps the most damaging thing that might one of its first oil-related initiatives and happen to this double-edged US government preoccupied it throughout the summer of 2001. campaign would be for bin Ladin and his circle to Indeed, Jan Kalicki, a "point man" in the Clinton depart from the scene while leaving behind a well- administration on Central Asian oil, wrote an documented history of their involvement with the article for the September/October 2001 Foreign US government over the last 20 years! Affairs complaining about Bush's back sliding in Central Asia. After detailing the Clinton admini- The recognition that this US war against Osama stration's accomplishments, he fretted that they bin Ladin and his supporters in the Taliban "are now at risk of unraveling due to inadequate government is also a way to realize one of the attention from the Bush administration and main post-Communist goals of US foreign policy restrictive US policies. In contrast to the Clinton was immediately apparent to analysts of the oil administration’s vigorous support of Caspian industry and critics of the NATO war in energy initiatives, the Bush team seems to have Yugoslavia after September 11. The reading of the placed those issues on the back burner" (Kalicki Bush administration's moves as the new "Great 2001: 130). Kalicki ended his article with the Game," a.k.a. "the war for oil and destabilization following words: "For the US to squander its past in Central Asia", was easily documented because success and future potential in the region through much of the relevant material required for this complacency and inattention would be a serious interpretation had been researched in 1999 when mistake." He is undoubtedly now pleased by the many were trying to understand the motives of the swift end of Bush's "complacency and inattention" Clinton administration's involvement in the war

40 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 to Central Asia after September 11 and welcomes (whatever the debates within the movement about a return to oil business as usual there. the effectiveness of these demands). On the contrary, the economic and political crises caused Looking Back Carefully by globalization have intensified in the last two years. Moreover, the official response to the The events of September 11 and their movement has become increasingly violent and consequences have been a tremendous blow repressive. This violence reached a climax in against the antiglobalization movement, since it Genoa in July with the police's shooting of Carlo has given the governments all over the planet the Guiliani, their maiming and torture of hundreds of opportunity to close public spaces and to repress protesters, and their beating of thousands of dissent from whatever source in the interests of others. "public safety." In order to regain the initiative we must understand our situation: the anti- There were, however, not only two forces in globalization movement is in a struggle against confrontation in 2001 -- the circle of globalizing both the supranational agencies of globalization, capitalists and the antiglobalization movement which are now draping themselves in US flags, consisting of thousands of peasant, worker, and the dissident rulers-in-the-wings of the feminist, environmental and human rights groups Middle East, who drape themselves in Islamic across the planet -- there was a third: the military flags and want a better world-class deal for Islamic fundamentalist, representing with arms the themselves and their "followers." To begin to political demands of the dissident members of the move again we must free ourselves to resee our Islamic ruling class This group was and is own past in order to understand our future in this committed to mortal violence, patriarchy and context. reassertion of the Islamic ruling class's control of the energy resources of their region from Algeria Let us remember our own story. From Seattle in to Indonesia against the claims of the transnational November 1999 to Genoa in July 2001, the oil companies. It stepped into the vacuum of antiglobalization movement expressed in the First despair the stalemate between the antiglobal- World the recognition that the supranational ization and the supranational agencies of agencies (IMF, World Bank, WTO, G8) which globalization inevitably generated, driven by its claimed to deal with the economic and political own crisis as outline above. problems of humanity are illegitimate on two counts: (a) they have failed to solve these The power of the antiglobalization move- problems (e.g., the Third World debt has ment is in its potential to build a real, not increased dramatically since the Debt Crisis of the simply ideological, political struggle of the early 1980s) and (b) they have no democratic responsibility to humanity (e.g., the IMF and world's working people against the plans of World Bank are largely controlled by their largest globalizing capitalism. shareholders: the US, Japan and the EU countries). The antiglobalization movement which On the basis of looking back carefully, then, I had started in the mid-1980s with the resistance conclude that we in the antiglobalization move- against structural adjustment in the countries of ment must not be caught between the huge bombs the Third World had finally surfaced in the streets of Bush and the smaller bombs of Islamic of the First.(6) fundamentalism or be the grass trampled by the lopsided struggle between the giant and the small But that was the problem: though the elephants. For at the moment, at least, our move- antiglobalization movement was able to block or ment is the only one capable of leading an escape disrupt their meetings, the supranational agencies from the hellish dialectic of homicide and suicide stonewalled the movement's positive demands. that the forces of global capital and the Neither massive debt cancellation, nor fairer trade perpetrators of the September 11 massacres have provisions nor a "Marshall Plan for the World" launched into oblivion. nor the abolition of the World Bank and IMF were launched in response to the movement's efforts

41 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Looking Forward Further, it is crucial that the anti-globalization movement begin to build a connection with the According to my hypothesis, then, not only have Middle East -- by addressing its more urgent thousands of people in NYC and Washington DC demands. For it is plausible that had this process been killed as pawns in a power struggle in the been more advanced it would been far more ongoing "oil wars" of the Middle East, the attack difficult for the perpetrators of the September 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has massacre to portray all the people in the US as brought us back to the political structure that enemies of Islam, and by the same token it would prevailed during the Cold War; that is, a structure be more difficult now for the US government to where we in the antiglobalization movement have contemplate indiscriminate bomb attacks on to confront both sides, since neither side repre- nations in North Africa, the Middle East and West sents the interests of working people in any part of Asia. This making of connections will present the world. The Islamic Fundamentalists' misogy- many difficulties, logistic and otherwise; but a nous treatment of women -- culminating with the starting point is to make a connection with the politics of open enslavement embraced by the immigrant Middle Eastern and West Asian com- Taliban -- the autocratic way in which Sharia Law munities in our own countries. The crucial point is has been imposed on many unwilling citizens; the to avoid the situation that prevailed during the atrocity of the punishments inflicted on those who Cold War, when for half a century the Russian break it (including capital punishment); and the working class and the workers of North America chauvinistic brand of Islam imposed at all social and Europe had nearly no contact, except spo- levels by self-proclaimed Islamic fundamentalist radically, through the mediation of communist governments like Sudan's and Afghanistan’s -- all parties with the result that by the 1990s, even the speak unequivocally on this point. seemingly most militant among the Soviet Union's workers -- the miners -- could be fooled by In this context, the priority of the antiglobalization "experts" from the AFL-CIO into accepting movement is to offer an anti-war, anti-patriarchal privatization, as happened in the last days of the alternative to the deadly politics of the funda- Soviet Union. mentalists and their globalizing adversaries by showing that we can address the issues that have The power of the antiglobalization movement is in lead to this situation: its potential to build a real, not simply ideological, -Control of natural resources. Why should the political struggle of the world's working people US and Europe claim possession of the world’s against the plans of globalizing capitalism. Farm- resources as if they were their birthright? How can ers from India, trade unionists from Canada, the population of North America and Europe students from Europe marched, talked and continue to be blind to the social cost of the oil organized together in the great antiglobalization they put in their cars, and the economic and social events of the last two years. This increasing inequities built upon it? unification of people across barriers of all kinds -- -The construction of a Palestinian homeland. geographical, religious, gender, political -- has For how long will generations of Palestinians have challenged the agendas of both the Islamic to grow up in refugee camps with nothing to hope fundamentalists and the capitalist globalizers. The for and the burning, unquenchable anger of the suicidal attack on Washington and New York and terrible injustice done to them -- an injustice the Bush administration's response, therefore, also reaffirmed with every new Israeli settlement in are attacks on the antiglobalization movement what was once their land? because they both are calculated to bring in- -The politics of WB/IMF. Can we afford a creasing divisiveness and despair within a globalization program that reduces the people of planetary working class that was beginning to see, vast regions to refugees, paupers, and immigrants? articulated in both words and images, an Can we allow a world where the majority are alternative non-violent, non-chauvinist, non-racist, displaced from their lands, their basic means of and non-sexist reality taking shape. It is crucial survival, and are forced to migrate across the that we do not let the war drums and increasing world in a new Diaspora resembling the slave restrictions on civil liberties and the freedom to trade? move across borders succeed in erasing the movement's organizing achievements.

42 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

Notes victims as part of a turf war over the country's illegal alcohol trade. Whatever the truth of this accusation, the (1) There have been many problems in describing the alcohol business in Saudi Arabia is a very lucrative one unbroken succession of nations states that, according to -- "a litre bottle of locally brewed wine or beer costs naive political geography, begins with Morocco in the $60, a case of Budweiser $259, and a bottle of Johnny west and ends with Pakistan in the east. It is not Arab, Walker Black Label Scotch goes for $225" (Fennell but is it Islamic? Doesn't such a description succumb to and Snider 2001: 18) -- and will get more lucrative now orientalism? After all, we do not describe the arc of that the new Investment Regulation has given foreign nations from Chile to Russia through Ireland and companies headquartered in non-Islamic countries a Iceland as "Christendom," even though the dominant green light to bring in their own employees. religious affiliation of their populations (if they have (6) For a discussion of the slow growth of the any) is some brand of Christianity. But if not Arab and antiglobalization movement from the Third World to not Islamic, then what? I have chosen as nominalist a the First, see the "Introduction" of (Midnight Notes path as possible in this essay, with the full recognition 2001). of its problems. (2) Again, a definitional problem rears its head: what is Bibliography Islamic fundamentalism? Given that there are many Bahgat, Gawdat 2001. Managing Dependence: groups and movements claiming to be Islamic American-Saudi Oil Relations. Arab Studies Quarterly, fundamentalists or being described as Islamic Vol. 23, Issue 1, pp. 1-14. fundamentalists, the definitional effort is difficult. For Chossudovsky, Michel 2001. Who is Ousmana bin the purposes of ideological categorization, the Islamic Ladin? Posted at fundamentalists seek to establish an Islamic state, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html which is to be modeled on the way of life of the early Cordesman, Anthony H. 1997. Saudi Arabia: Guarding Muslim community. Of course, we must remember the Desert Kingdom. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Marx's old consumer advice: be wary of the words of Faksh, Mahmud A. 1997. The Future of Islam in the the tailor who is trying to sell you a coat! For an Middle East: Fundamentalism in Egypt, Algeria, and excellent analysis of Islamic fundamentalism and its Saudi Arabia. Westport, CT: Praeger. political and ideological limitations see (Faksh 1997). Federici, Silvia and Caffentzis, George 2000. "War and (3) For the role of Hamas, the major Islamic Globalization in Yugoslavia." Radical Philosophy Fundamentalist organization in Palestine, in social Review, Vol. 2, No. 1. reproduction see (Nusse 1998). Fennell, Tom and Snider, Michael 2001. Prisoner of (4) For a trenchant description of the crisis the long- Riyadh. Maclean's, 6/25/2001, Vol. 114, 26. term social, demographic and economic trends MacKinnon, Colin 2000. Saudi Arabia: Major Change forebode for the Saudi monarchy, published on the eve in Investment Climate. Washington Report on Middle of the decision to go forward on the path of East Affairs, Vol. 19, Issue 6, p. 72-73. globalization, see (Cordesman 1997: 47-76). Midnight Notes 1992. Midnight Oil: Work, Energy, (5) A little noticed development in Saudi Arabia might War, 1973-1992. New York: Autonomedia. indicate the surprising tangents produced by the new Midnight Notes 2001. Auroras of the Zapatistas: Local legislation. In November of 2000, two car bombings in and Global Struggles in the Fourth World War. New Riyadh left one British man dead and five other York: Autonomedia. foreigners injured. Was it the result of Islamic dissident Nusse, Andrea 1998. Muslim Palestine: The Ideology action? Perhaps that was the first reaction, but in of Hamas. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. February of 2001 Bill Sampson, a Canadian, confessed Talbot, Karen 2000. Chechnya: More Blood for Oil. to the crime along with Alexander Mitchell, a Briton, Covert Action Quarterly, 69. Posted as: and Raf Schyvens, a Belgian. The Saudi government http://www.covertaction.org/full_text_69_03.htm claimed that the three murdered and maimed their

43 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001

“On the Edge” Commentary Series

Here again, we reprint the latest in ACAS’ continuing, critical “On the Edge” series that presents short essays on current issues from ACAS members and friends. As always, these commentaries are first distributed by email to members and are also posted on our website: acas.prarienet.org.

Note: The views expressed do not represent ACAS official positions; they are provided to stimulate progressive discussion and debate.

Algeria, Contested and Embattled

Meredeth Turshen [email protected]

A decade of violence and news of bloody Repressed by government forces, the unrest left massacres have replaced the positive images of around 50 dead. In May peaceful demonstrations Algeria – the FLN’s successful fight to liberate organized by arch (tribal) and village committees the country from French colonialism, which was alternated with deadly police confrontations in captured for many of us in Pontecorvo’s film, The the streets of Tizi-Ouzou, the regional capital, Battle of Algiers; the pioneering writings of and many smaller towns. In June the Frantz Fanon based on his Algerian experience; demonstrations moved to Algiers (the largest and Algeria’s leadership (with Cuba) of the Berber city in the country) and swelled from tens Group of 77, which launched the New Inter- of thousands to hundreds of thousands. The national Economic Order in 1974 and called for question here is, who is organizing (and who is self-reliant national development grounded in a participating in) the massive demonstrations in strategy of collective Third World action. the capital?

Violent attacks began after the FLN-led govern- What is at stake for Algeria – and the prize ment cancelled the second round of national for western corporations – is the govern- elections in December 1991, which the FIS (the ment-controlled oil and gas fields. Islamic Salvation Front) was likely to win. At first, the targets were single intellectuals, professionals, bureaucrats, journalists, foreigners, The two questions – who is responsible for the army recruits, and nonconforming women; later, past killings and who is orchestrating the current whole neighborhoods of men, women, and protests – are related and important for what they children were massacred. According to some reveal about the ability of groups vying for power estimates, as many as 100,000 people were killed. to capture and capitalize on popular discontent The question some are asking is, killed by whom? for their own purposes. Most Algerians hold the Islamists responsible for the decade of murders, And just when it seemed that the violence was but some accuse the government of complicity subsiding, new fighting erupted, this time and others believe the FLN should legalize the between the military and the Berbers, who FIS again and share power with it. Six political account for 15-20% of the population. In April parties (including the FLN and the FIS) signed angry high school students rioted in the densely the Rome Accords for national reconciliation in settled mountain towns of Kabylia east of January 1995. The socialist party (Front des Algiers, where the Berbers are concentrated. forces socialistes – FFS) was one of the six; in its

44 ACAS Bulletin, No. 60/61, Fall 2001 anti-government position, the FFS has allied itself some commentators believe amnestied Islamists with the FIS. The FFS was also quick to join the are inciting the chaos. Because the Islamists have Berber Cultural Movement (MCB), which targeted women in the past, news that women had planned the first rallies in Kabylia this spring, and to cancel a demonstration in Kabylia because has been prominent in arranging subsequent rioters took over the area even before the women marches in Algiers. To Berber cultural demands could assemble and that armed rioters ran through for recognition and instruction in Tamazight, a women’s dormitory at the university in Tizi- their ancient language, the FFS has added anti- Ouzou, forcing the students to flee, support this government political slogans and pressed for the supposition. There is talk of autonomy for resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Kabylia, which would amount to the dismantling of the unitary Algerian state (a pattern we have The two questions expose the interplay between seen elsewhere). This ploy is reminiscent of De internal and external forces. The FIS has received Gaulle’s last-ditch proposal to give independence aid from the Islamic world, as well as from its to the north of Algeria, while France retained affliliate in France, the Fédération Algérienne en control of the oil-rich Sahara (another area of France (FAF). There was a time in the 1990s Berber-speakers). For some Algerians, this talk of when several European governments and human autonomy invokes the specter of NATO inter- rights groups (France, Germany, Britain, Human vention in Kosovo; they fear that NATO might Rights Watch, Amnesty International) backed the “come to the defense” of Berbers in Algeria FIS and, despite lack of evidence, claimed that under the guise of humanitarian intervention. the Algerian military had committed the mas- sacres and had falsely blamed them on the What is at stake for Algeria – and the prize for Islamists. The FFS has received aid from the western corporations – is the government- French, mostly from leftist groups (e.g., FFS- controlled oil and gas fields. US progressives Europe) and Berber groups in France (most of the should not be misled by the French left. Read very large Algerian population in France is what progressive Algerians in Algeria have to say originally from Kabylia), which have organized (for example, at www.ifrance.com/algerie-verite). small solidarity demon-strations in Paris and Given the oil interests that dominate the Bush Marseilles. The French left press (Le Monde administration, we should resist calls for Diplomatique, for example) consistently attacks humanitarian intervention, a policy ACAS has the Algerian government; its complaints about debated in the past (see Cason, ACAS Bulletin corruption are justified, but the alternative — an no. 57/58). Islamist state — is not preferable to the vast majority of Algerians. 27 June 2001

Who benefits from the current unrest and who would profit from the fall of Bouteflika’s coalition government? So many of the orderly marches have ended in rioting and looting that

45