Indian land grabs in Ethiopia show dark side of south-south co-operation
The takeover of peoples' land and water by corporations – even if they are
from the global south – is a new form of colonisation
Posted by
Anuradha Mittal
* Monday 25 February 2013 11.14 GMT <
http://www.guardian.co.uk/>
guardian.co.uk
The idea of south-south co-operation evokes a positive image of solidarity
between developing countries through the exchange of resources, technology,
and knowledge. It's an attractive proposition, intended to shift the
international balance of power and help developing nations break away from
aid dependence and achieve true emancipation from former colonial powers.
However, the discourse of south-south co-operation has become a cover for
human rights violations involving southern governments and companies.
A case in point is the land grab by Indian corporations in
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ethiopia> Ethiopia, facilitated by the
governments of both countries, which use development rhetoric while further
marginalising the indigenous communities that bear the pain of the resulting
social, economic and environmental devastation. It is against this scenario
that international solidarity between communities affected by the insanity
of a development model that prefers profits over people is reclaiming the
principles of south-south co-operation.
Ethiopia's late prime minister, Meles Zenawi, welcomed
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/india> India's expanding footprint in
Africa as essential for his country's wellbeing, a vision shared by his
successor, Hailemariam Desalegn. The Export-Import Bank, India's premier
export finance institution, <
http://www.eximbankindia.com/press120412.asp>
gave the Ethiopian government a $640m (£412m) line of credit to develop the
controversial sugar sector in lower Omo. Indian companies are the largest
investors in the country, having
<
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/land-deals-africa-ethiopia> acquired more
than 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) of land for agro-industrial projects.
With 80% of its population engaged in agriculture, Ethiopia is home to
<
http://www.fao.org/hunger/en/> more than 34 million chronically hungry
people. Every year,
<
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/HRD%20July-Dec%202
012.pdf> millions depend on aid (pdf) for their survival. Amid such hunger,
large-scale land deals with Indian investors are portrayed as a win-win
situation, modernising agriculture, bringing new technologies and creating
employment.
Research by the
<
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/unheard-voices-human-rights-impact-land-inv
estments-indigenous-communities-gambella> Oakland Institute, however,
contradicts such claims. Most of what is produced is non-food export crops
while tax incentives offered to foreign investors deprive Ethiopia of
valuable earnings. The promises of job creation remain unfulfilled as
plantation work at best offers menial low-paid jobs.
Worse still, the Ethiopian government is using its
<
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ethiopia0112webwcover_0.pdf>
villagisation programme to forcibly relocate (pdf) about 1.5 million
indigenous people from their homes, farms and grazing lands to make way for
agricultural plantations. Those who refuse face intimidation, beatings,
rapes, arbitrary detention and imprisonment, and even death. The repression
of social resistance to land investments is even
<
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/land-deals-africa-ethiopia> stipulated in
some land lease contracts: "[it is the] state's obligation to 'deliver and
hand over the vacant possession of leased land free of impediments' and to
provide free security 'against any riot, disturbance or any turbulent
time.'"
It was to challenge this form of south-south co-operation that the Oakland
Institute, in partnership with Indian civil society groups the
<
http://www.insafindia.net/> Indian Social Action Forum (Insaf),
<
http://www.kalpavriksh.org/> Kalpavriksh and Peace, organised an
Indian-Ethiopian summit on land investments in New Delhi in February. Obang
Metho of the <
http://www.solidaritymovement.org/> Solidarity Movement for a
New Ethiopia and Nyikaw Ochalla from the <
http://www.anywaasurvival.org/>
Anywaa Survival Organisation, members of the Anuak community of Gambela,
Ethiopia, travelled to India with shocking testimonies of how their
community has been dispossessed of livelihoods, ill-treated and subjected to
misery while the Ethiopian government leases land to Indian corporations at
giveaway prices.
This coming together of Indian and Ethiopian civil society groups marks a
turning point in the struggle for
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/land-rights> land rights and
livelihoods in the two countries and beyond. For the first time, the agony
of communities who face human rights abuses as their lands are taken over
has reached the investors' doorstep, sending a powerful message to the
investors and governments of Ethiopia and India. At the same time, it
initiated a rewriting of south-south co-operation where the takeover of
communal lands that have been homes, grazing grounds and water sources for
generations, by corporations – even if they are from the global south – is
being recognised as a new form of colonisation. It was a starting point, and
plans for further collaboration are under way.
Unlike the Ethiopian leaders who met the Indian business delegations in
person, Metho and Ochalla did not get a hearing with Indian government
officials, despite several requests. Instead, it was activists who are
challenging land grabs across India who travelled to New Delhi to meet them.
They told how control over land and natural resources is spurring violent
clashes in nearly 130 districts of India. Meanwhile, reports came in that
<
http://indianewsdiary.com/?p=9516> 12 platoons of police had moved in on
villagers in Govindpur and Nuagaon in Odisha, to forcibly clear lands for
the Korean Steel Posco project. Women and children were beaten
indiscriminately and people were arrested as they tried to prevent the
demolition of their betel vineyards – one of the most viable local
livelihoods.
We need to challenge the paradigm of development that trivialises and
ignores the human consequences of these land acquisitions by corporate
investors and governments. The idea that "some have to be sacrificed" for
the "larger national good", which is nothing more than the double-digit
economic growth that benefits a few, must be rejected – even if the deals
are between developing countries and framed by the rhetoric of south-south
co-operation.
• Anuradha Mittal is founder and executive director of the Oakland
Institute, an independent policy thinktank based in Oakland, California
Received on Mon Feb 25 2013 - 11:11:54 EST
