Right to food, right to mine? Competing human rights claims in Bangladesh

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe right to food is increasingly evoked by a range of actors, but there is not sufficient critical analysis of distinct interpretations of what this right means in practice. Through examination of a mineral extraction project with agricultural implications, this article explores diverse human rights narratives and illuminates associated corporate efforts to minimize recognition of food as a fundamental right. A British mining company proposes the Phulbari open pit coal mine in an agriculturally important region of Bangladesh. Highly contested by affected populations, clashes in 2006 between the police and protestors turned deadly in the area. In February 2012, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs cautioned the Government of Bangladesh regarding human rights violations associated with the planned mine. They warned that the project would displace hundreds of thousands of people, while destroying fertile agricultural land. In contrast, an ongoing publicity campaign by the corporation attempts to promote their intervention as a positive step, fully compliant with international human rights and corporate social responsibility standards. Taking this case as an exemplar, the article illuminates the pursuit of mining profit and the distinct use of human rights narratives by corporations and UN Special Rapporteurs. These diverse actors represent the layering of voices weighing in on mineral extraction and associated right to food concerns. Collectively, these layered narratives represent a new terrain for the promotion and contestation of mining and highlight the need to scrutinize mining practices in light of social responsibility and human rights claims being voluntary and self-regulated.

The regional identity politics of India’s new land wars: Land, food, and popular mobilisation in Goa and West Bengal

“…In line with Amita Baviskar's (2008: 7) argument that the materiality of natural resources is always embedded in wider structures of meaning that cannot be distilled down to 'the economic last instance', this literature has reminded us how land, as a factor of production and a site of belonging and identification, bridges material and symbolic concerns (Bedi, 2015b;Fay and James, 2010). In this article, we seek to contribute to this literature by exploring how land, and its produce, are mobilised in anti-dispossession campaigns in the Indian states of Goa and West Bengal.…”

“…India's SEZ policy thus opened up a political space for oppositional movements to mobilise widely shared land and food concerns that were national or even global in scope. Indeed, case studies from around the world have analysed the agricultural implications of land grabbing (Bedi, 2015b;De Schutter, 2011;Franco, 2012;Goldstein, 2016;Kugelman, 2012) and foregrounded issues of food security or food sovereignty (Edelman et al, 2014). The movements' evocation of land and food that we later analyse thus relate to broader structural transformations and critiques thereof -also emanating from within different Indian ministries and parliamentary standing committees -questioning the agricultural and food security implications of the SEZ policy and what has been called 'the great Indian land grab' (Sud, 2009) more generally.…”

“…These states have been home to some of India's most intense recent struggles over land (on Goa, see e.g. Bedi, 2013bBedi, , 2015aBedi, , 2015bDa Silva, 2014;Jones, 2009;Sampat, 2015; on West Bengal, see e.g. Banerjee, 2006Banerjee, , 2014Banerjee and Roy, 2007;Majumder, 2012;Nielsen, forthcoming;Ray, 2008;Roy, 2014), and we have selected them for comparative analysis because in crucial ways they illustrate the localised identity dynamics in India's land wars.…”

Mines and signs: resource and political futures in Bangladesh

“…Power cuts, as frequent as they were during 2007‐8, were thus symptomatic of much that had gone astray in the way of national progress. Despite less than half of the population enjoying access to electricity (Bedi ; International Energy Agency ), ever‐rising consumption created serious lags between demand and supply – a gap of 1,500 megawatts daily, to be precise (Asian Development Bank ). The World Bank added to the collective woes by estimating a 10 per cent loss of business sales owing to load shedding (Gunter ).…”

“…Collective grievances reached a climax on 26 August 2006 when three young men were killed in a collision between the paramilitary and the demonstrators. The latter opposed the forcible displacement of more than a hundred thousand people, the method of extraction and the export of coal, and the collusion of the state and a foreign mining company, the UK‐based Asia Energy (Bedi ; Luthfa ; Muhammad ). Amid escalating tensions, the company had to suspend its activities in Phulbari.…”