Article by Georgine Kengne Djeutane, Cameroonian author and economist with a background in conflict resolution, gender and human rights. She works with WoMin to improve women’s access to resources and livelihoods. In the framework of the project ‘Consent and the right to say no’, she builds women’s capacity to defend their own rights against mining projects that are installed in their communities without their consent. Georgine highlights the disastrous consequences for women of these destructive extractive activities. Finally, she discusses WoMin’s role in supporting initiatives and struggles that put women at the centre of the fight against mining.
This article is part of the book ‘Ecology and Empowerment’ published by the French network for decentralised cooperation and international solidarity f3e in its Challenges series with the support of the Agence française de dévéloppement (AFD). The whole book can be downloaded here.

A COLLECTIVE CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL JUSTICE IN THE MINING SECTOR IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Current situation

Africa’s soil and subsoil are packed with natural resources: land (vast expanses of arable land), water (major rivers) and mineral resources, including fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) and minerals (gold, diamonds and other precious stones). According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Africa is host to *1 more than 50% of the world’s platinum reserves and 78% of the world’s diamonds *2.

In 2009, the African Union adopted the Africa Mining Vision (AMV). One of its aims is to promote mining as a means of stimulating the continent’s economic growth. Even today, development and industrialisation strategies in Africa continue to be based on the extraction of mineral resources.
Pressure on Africa’s natural resources has continued to grow, driven by capitalist thinking, in an attempt to solve the multi-faceted global energy and climate crises. Extractivist projects, as well as large-scale land grabs for commercial monocul- ture (palm oil, rubber), biofuels and infrastructure projects, and the creation of protected areas and reserves, continue to have major social impacts and cause physical, cultural and environmental damage on communities, the ecosystem and the planet. These impacts include violence and conflict, loss of livelihoods and food sovereignty, health problems including reproductive diseases, loss of cultural heritage and denial of the right to self-determination, to name but a few.

*1 We say ‘host’ because Africa’s mineral resources are not fully mapped.
*2 Vision of Africa’s Mining Regime, February 2009, African Union

The costs of these external factors on women

These social, economic and environmental external factors *3 have a specific impact on women because of the patriarchal and neo-colonial division of labour and the exclusion of women from decision-making in their own communities.

Women bear the brunt of the externalised costs of extractive and infrastructure mega-projects. When land is taken from them, they lose the means to feed their families. When water is channelled away from the community or polluted, women have to walk further to find clean water sources. When forests are destroyed, women lack wood for household energy.
In the rare cases when there is compensation, it is paid to the recognised head of the family, usually a man. Women in the communities often say that the men flee to the towns and find themselves new wives or girlfriends once the compensa- tion has been paid. This leaves the women and their children abandoned, with no means of support.

*3. Social external factors can also be characterised as the transfer of economic, social and environmental benefits that should accrue to African communities and in particular to women

Existing legislation intended to protect communities is deliberately ignored by mining companies/strong>

However, certain protective laws do exist, in particular the principles of FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) set out in 1989 by the ILO (International Labour Organisation) Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (ILO Convention 169). Articles 6, 7 and 9 of this Convention stipulate that consent must be obtained before indigenous or tribal communities are displaced or development projects are undertaken on their land.*4
In defiance of these laws, the current hegemonic and capitalist way of extracting mineral resources has undermined the rights of indigenous peoples and other mar- ginalised communities, particularly the rights of women in these communities, to participate in the development of their lands and has exacerbated environmental destruction.
This push is akin to imperialism (at the heart of asymmetrical globalisation), as defined by Eduard W. Said: “Basically, imperialism means targeting, settling and staying on a land that you do not own, a distant place where others live and which belongs to them. For all these reasons, the prospect appeals to some, but for others it often means untold misery.*5.

*4. https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/fr/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID,P12100_LANG_CODE:312314,es:NO
*5. Eduard W Said, Culture et Impérialisme, Algiers, APIC Edition.

However, the communities affected, including women, have the right to self-determination

Many communities aspire to determine their own development path through inter- nal processes, and to control their livelihoods, resources and land. They also want to be visible and have their rights recognised through all forms of participation, whether state-led or corporate. But their own community participation is para- mount. It is important, because their own perspectives and practices will facilitate the definition and construction of local alternatives as part of a broader resistance to the dominant development model.
The participation of women is very important in this process. They have long opposed mining through resistance. They oppose the external values imposed on the lives of their people that limit their rights to land, livelihoods and the exercise of their social, economic and political rights. Women throughout the ages have resisted on a daily basis, opposing specific policies and building their own proposals and alternatives to the dominant development model.

Women’s invisibility maintained by the patriarchal system and capitalism

In some African countries, the women massively impacted by these growing min- ing projects are increasingly marginalised and do not take part in the consultation process if there is one. Many of these women, although outraged and indignant, are not sufficiently equipped to defend their rights. They are faced with the false promises constantly hammered home by the mining companies about the benefits that the community or their children could derive from working in the mine. Feeling abandoned and voiceless, no longer knowing which way to turn, many have given up and others are on the verge of giving up the fight.
Their ongoing frustrations remain deep and acute because, throughout human his- tory, traditional gender roles have often defined and limited women’s activities and opportunities. This discrimination is reinforced by multiple forms of discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin, national origin, skin colour, social class, disability and age. Women are often excluded from decision-making bodies and consultation forums before mining projects are launched, even though, as we said earlier, they are the first to witness the impact of these projects on their lives and livelihoods.

The LILAK *6 report sums up the violence and injustices perpetrated against women in the extractive sector: The findings are as follows:the attitudes of the companies have not changed, they talk about their promises and the benefits of mining, not about the extent and objective assessment of their projects; and consent is obtained through hand-picked indigenous leaders. As women are not always recognised as leaders in the communities, it is not considered necessary to inform them, or to give them the opportunity to participate in any form of consultation leading up to the consent process, so their ideas and values are not taken into account in the whole process. Indigenous and/or impacted women are further marginalised and silenced throughout. Even their rights to information are violated by the government and mining companies, making them even more invisible.

In light of the above, shocked and driven to action by the various forms of oppres- sion and forms of injustice that weigh on women, WoMin, a pan-African ecofem- inist organisation, has been waging the battle since 2013. WoMin’s *7 mission is to mobilise and create women’s movements to challenge the large-scale destructive extraction of natural resources and propose alternatives that meet the needs of the majority of African women *8. It is in this capacity that we support certain women in impacted communities in Africa to better organise themselves and defend their rights, that we support their efforts to mobilise and resist, by making their “NO” heard loud and clear by decision-makers and mining companies. Over the years, we have consolidated a constructive partnership with these women, by supporting awareness-raising campaigns focused on women and geared towards activism.

*6 LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous women in the Philippines), Mining and violence against rural and indigenous women in the Philippines, 2013.
*7 WoMin, an ecofeminist organisation, is based in South Africa https://womin.africa. We are a team of activists, thinkers, practitioners and researchers from across the continent. A team of 21 women work on four pillars or issues covering consent and the right to say no, alternatives to development, violence against women in the mining and energy sector, and climate justice. The Consent and the Right to Say No project works with women attected by the Bombore mining project in Burkina Faso, the Toliora (Tuléar) mining project in Madagascar, women processors in Bargny, Senegal, and women attected by the Souapiti dam in Guinea Conakry. See the WoMin website.
*8 See the WoMin website, https://womin.africa/

Mobilisation strategy: power to women

Since 2017, WoMin’s strategies and actions have included:

Organisational support

It is important to note that the movements we work with already existed in the communities. We did not create them. Our intervention took place in a context where, although these movements existed, they were struggling to make themselves heard. The women were resigned to the situation and had very little support at local or national level. They already had goals to achieve: to defend their rights to consent and, for many, to say no to these destructive projects that were plung- ing them into extreme poverty. We supported these women and initially helped them to obtain recognition of their legitimacy to set up a movement, and of the legitimacy of their demands at national level. In several African countries, in order to operate, you need to obtain approval from the relevant authorities. Thanks to our support, the women who had organised themselves into a movement were able to prepare the necessary documents and follow the procedures to obtain the necessary authorisations.

Continuing education

The first step was to deconstruct stereotypes and preconceived ideas about the role of women in society. We also had to work to restore their confidence by over- turning the information that had been hammered into their heads: that there was nothing they could do, since the project had been decided and things were going to go ahead as planned by the mining companies, and that they would never win their case. To give them reasons to continue their resistance, they were provided with information on the existing legal and non-legal instruments to uphold human rights at national level (in particular the Constitution and customary law), but also at sub-regional, regional and international levels, which the communities can draw on to defend their rights. We have made these rights available to the women in simplified form and are helping them to understand them better, so that they can use them in their advocacy or lobbying if necessary.

We do not stop at that when it comes to training: frontline activists are invited to take part in the feminist political schools that WoMin organises. The aim of these schools is to create a space where women can talk freely about their problems, how these projects impact their lives, share their personal experiences and find common solutions. We also give them the opportunity to understand the root causes of their problems, such as capitalism and patriarchy, and how it works. This information is necessary to enable them to build counter-powers in their action to support other resistance movements in Africa.

Documenting the impact of projects on the environment and on livelihoods/span>

We work with women to document and highlight the impact of these projects on the environment, on their health and on their survival. At the end of this phase, they know and understand the impact of the losses that await them, on their current families and on future generations. We give them the time and resources to learn about these impacts and the tactics used by the extractive industries to divide communities, so that they can protect themselves. Having mastered the documen- tation of impacts, either through drawings or the editing of short videos, we move on to the next stage by supporting them in major community awareness-raising campaigns, targeting men, young men and women, elders, in short all layers of the population, to broaden their support base.

Exchange and solidarity visit

We are increasing the number of solidarity and learning exchange visits, where women from one community visit another community involved in resistance to learn from its struggle. The women train each other and, as they are the custo- dians of knowledge, this mutual training and learning gives them the strength to resist, to continue the struggle and to make their voices heard because they know that they are not alone. A women’s counter-power is thus created with the aim of amplifying their voice.
We have also helped set up a solidarity network by facilitating the creation of platforms and sub-regional networks where the various national struggles are connected and can come together to exchange ideas, such as the thematic Social Forum on the extractive economy.

Social media and community radio

We understand the importance of social media, especially with Covid19, and some of the women leaders have been trained in their use. They themselves take pho- tographs exposing the ongoing impacts of mining projects on their communities and the environment, and publish them to mobilise public opinion. They also make short videos and post them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Training in the use of community radio has also been very important, because these women, in their mother tongues, inform, raise awareness and make themselves heard. They do not need anyone to talk about their problems for them, because they are the ones expe- riencing them, and they have the necessary communication tools to expose them.

The right to say no (Right2SayNo)

As stated earlier, laws protecting communities do exist, but unfortunately very few of these instruments support a community’s right to make decisions about the land and natural resources it occupies and uses. To remedy this shortcoming, and given that legal proceedings take a long time, we have joined forces with national resistance groups to launch the ‘Right to say NO’ campaign, which is a call by communities for the right to a good and decent life, to health and well-being, to control of seeds and respect for collective land rights, to live in a relationship of benevolent interdependence with nature, to be free from all forms of violence and to benefit from public and social services. This is a NO to a destructive economic system that harms people, land and nature from which powerful corporations profit *9.

This right (Right2SayNo) is born of resistance and is therefore essentially about POWER and a challenge to those who hold and use power destructively. Saying NO challenges systems of power and asserts the right of communities to define their own interests and their own future.
When communities and groups defend nature against major projects that destroy species and people, they are defending the right of future generations to exist.

*9 Information sheet 1: What is the Right to Say NO? https://womin.africa/

Conclusion

Trained and equipped, women affected by mining projects speak out to defend their rights and make claims to the media, mining authorities and governments. They use their knowledge, their voices and design their own posters for awareness-raising and advocacy campaigns, and take part in sub-regional and regional meetings with investors to present the impact of their funding on their lives and on the environment.
In their resistance, women defend living and hoped-for development alternatives. This is the key idea behind the YES for which women and their communities are fighting.
Women’s ideas and their real-life application of ‘development’, which focuses on sustainability, dignity and the well-being of people and the planet, are in conflict with corporate and government ideas of development.
By valuing women’s points of view and involving them in development decision-mak- ing processes, women become empowered. The work they do every day to ensure the well-being of their families is highlighted and valued. Because in this way, they are fighting to free women, communities, ancestral lands and forests from the power of multinationals by saying YES to the preservation of biodiversity, ecosystems, ancestral production methods and above all to the preservation of the commons *10.

*10 WoMin information sheet 4. Why the Right to Say No is a Women’s Rights question? https://womin.africa/

* COMMENTARY *

The true wealth of a nation lies in its people, by Diego Escobar

This article, which highlights the role of African women in building a new perspec- tive on what it means to lead a good life and how to achieve it, in this case from a gender and social inclusion perspective, was of great interest to me. As the Human Development Reports since 1990 state, “the true wealth of a nation lies in its peo- ple”, and this is even truer when it comes to the actions and visions of women, who suffer the negative effects of imperialism and asymmetrical globalisation.
As Pekka Himanen says, “the concept of dignity includes a dimension of care and empathy. Without this emotional core, ethics easily remain a set of abstract prin- ciples that are not put into practice. Dignity is a sense of the value of oneself and of others. From an ethical point of view, care is dignity operationalised”*11.
Basically, this article rethinks the position on human dignity and the just ecological entitlement that African women need, on the basis of justice and the inclusion of their capacities and needs.

Another model is possible, by Blanca Bayas

This article does an excellent job of defining the impact of the patriarchal division of labour and the reasons why women are fighting for a different model, both at a more macro level and within our own organisations.
From the point of view of the most radical feminist and ecofeminist economics, the struggle aims to achieve a reproducible model (with rights covered and the resilience of commons), in order to put an end to the productive and productivist model, a cross between capitalism, patriarchy and neo-colonialism, which leads to commodification, privatisation and the concentration of power among trans-national corporations.

*11 Himanen, Pekka. Rethinking human development. The cultural link between informational development and human development.