115 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
115 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
The **Phulbari Anti-Mine Movement** was an effort by
|
||
[environmentalists](Environmentalism "wikilink") and indigenous people
|
||
to stop the construction of a [coal mine](Fossil_Fuels "wikilink") in
|
||
[Bangladesh](Bangladesh "wikilink") from [2006 to
|
||
2014](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Southern_Asia "wikilink").
|
||
|
||
## Background
|
||
|
||
Phulbari is a region in the northwest region of Bangladesh. It is an
|
||
important agricultural region that is also home to low quality coal
|
||
deposit. Several companies have proposed to use the open pit technique
|
||
for [mining](mining "wikilink") the coal, which would displace thousands
|
||
of people, many of them indigenous people. The proposed mining projects
|
||
would destroy farmland, homes, and divert water sources to be used in
|
||
the mining process. The [Australia](Australia "wikilink")-based mining
|
||
company BHP Billiton discovered coal at Phulbari during surveying and
|
||
drilling between 1994 and 1997.
|
||
|
||
In 2005, BHP Billiton assessed Phulbari’s coal mining potential and
|
||
decided to sell its rights to mine to London-based Asia Energy
|
||
Corporation after concluding that the depth of the coal deposits would
|
||
making mining activity so destructive that it would not be feasible to
|
||
comply with Australia’s environmental standards or those of any nation
|
||
worldwide. Asia Energy Corporation bought the rights to mine and
|
||
proposed an open pit mine project in 2005. Asia Energy Corporation
|
||
estimated that the mining project would take 36 years to mine the
|
||
deposit, extracting up to 8 million tons of coal per year. The
|
||
Bangladesh Department of Environment granted the project “Environmental
|
||
Clearance for Mining” on the 11th of September 2005. In order for the
|
||
project to move ahead, the Government of Bangladesh had to officially
|
||
approve the project proposal.\[1\]
|
||
|
||
## Timeline of Events
|
||
|
||
- 26/08/2006: 50,000 people marched in protest against the proposed
|
||
mining project. The Bangladesh Rifles, a paramilitary organization,
|
||
fired on the protesters and killed 3 people. Between one and two
|
||
hundred other protesters were injured. One protester defiantly said:
|
||
“We will give our lives, but we will not leave this place. We will
|
||
not allow the mine to happen. The government can take as many dead
|
||
bodies as they want, we won’t leave the village. And no one from
|
||
Asia Energy will come here again. They won’t even be able to enter
|
||
this area. We will fight.”
|
||
- 28/08/2006: Workers' in shops, offices, schools and roads launch a
|
||
three-day long [general strike](General_Strike "wikilink") that
|
||
shuts down the countries economy in protest of the mines
|
||
construction. The strike causes Asia Energy Corporation to suspend
|
||
operations in the country and its employees flee the country under
|
||
police escort.
|
||
- 31/08/2006: The Bangladeshi government signs the August Agreement,
|
||
which promises to ban open pit mining in Phulbari, institute
|
||
peoples’ ownership over their own resources, ensure energy
|
||
security, cancel bad deals, ban the export of mineral resources and
|
||
strengthen national capability to ban open-pit mining in Phulbari
|
||
and exclude Asia Energy Corporation from the country. This stops the
|
||
strike.
|
||
- ??/02/2007: Mr. Nuruzuman, a local leader of the anti-mine movement,
|
||
is publicly tortured by the military.
|
||
- 26/08/2008: On the second anniversary of the massacre of anti-mine
|
||
protesters, a public vigil is held. Also in August, 110
|
||
environmentalist organizations sign a letter to companies that
|
||
invested in the mine project to end their investments. Several banks
|
||
comply and withdraw capital from the project.
|
||
- 10/03/2009: The Bangladeshi government claims to have lost a report
|
||
by a government formed committee of experts that found the
|
||
government's plan to reopen the mine illegal and that it was not
|
||
economically viable.
|
||
- 26/08/2009: On the third anniversary of the massacre of anti-mine
|
||
protesters, flowers are placed in public locations across Bangladesh
|
||
to remember the fallen. Protest marches occur across the country in
|
||
protest of the proposed reopening of the mine.
|
||
- ??/10/2010: Tens of thousands of people march for 400 kilometres
|
||
over 7 days to protest the mine.
|
||
- 28/02/2011: Two thousand people blockade a highway in Phulbari and
|
||
demand the government honour the August agreement. The Rapid Action
|
||
Battalion (an internationally condemned death squad for its use of
|
||
torture and extra-judicial killings) is sent in to intimidate the
|
||
protesters and guard offices of the coal company.
|
||
- 05/05/2011: Women and children protesting the mine are attacked by
|
||
thugs employed by the government, publicly breaking their hands.
|
||
Other protesters begin a two-day blockade of roads and railway lines
|
||
in protest of this display of violence.
|
||
- 07/05/2012: Police attack and violently beat protesters calling for
|
||
a ban on open pit mining and demanding renewable energy projects. 15
|
||
of the protesters were injured.
|
||
- 23/11/2012: The Bangladeshi government bans gatherings of more than
|
||
four people indefinitely in an effort to stop the movement. This
|
||
results in thousands rioting across the country, a strike that
|
||
paralyzes trains, businesses and schools, attacking police and
|
||
blocking roads. An effigy of Dan Mozena, the [United
|
||
States](United_States_of_America "wikilink") Ambassador to
|
||
Bangladesh, is burned because of his lobbying for the mine's
|
||
construction.
|
||
- 01/01/2013: Protesters threaten to destroy the offices of the mining
|
||
company if not vacated.
|
||
- 27/01/2013: The mining company sees shareholder's take out their
|
||
capital, refuse to visit the country and many senior members resign.
|
||
|
||
## Results
|
||
|
||
On the 6th of February, 2014, the government of Bangladesh canceled the
|
||
coal project, recognising that food security and protecting the farmer's
|
||
land is in Bangladesh's best interest. Open pit mining in Phulbari has
|
||
stopped for now. Further development in the mining is being prevented by
|
||
the protesters threat of action against the project.\[2\]
|
||
|
||
## References
|
||
|
||
<references />
|
||
|
||
1. Global Nonviolent Action Database: "Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh
|
||
Protest to Stop Open Pit Coal Mine 2006-2014" -
|
||
<https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indigenous-peoples-bangladesh-protest-stop-open-pit-coal-mine-2006-2014>
|
||
2. [Wikipedia](Wikipedia "wikilink") -
|
||
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_movement_opposing_open_pit_mining_in_Bangladesh_from_2006_-_2014> |