Chief among these imposed institutions, they say, are exploitative free trade agreements and structural adjustment programs that finance extractive industries, such as the extraction of consumer products in rich countries. The Philippines is one of the world’s leading sources of minerals, particularly nickel and copper, and the Comprador government (along with multinational corporate partners and institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) is pushing for the construction of more mines in the Philippines. I am doing it. LAN representatives say this has led to “human rights violations, environmental destruction, forced displacement, ethnic killings, kidnappings and murders.”
Unfortunately, stories like this are common in the global mineral supply chain. In Guatemala, Russia and Indonesia, nickel mining companies have been implicated in land theft, violence, sexual abuse and environmental pollution. In Argentina and Chile, indigenous communities protesting against lithium mining and corruption have also faced abuse and violence from police.
The situation is even worse in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which supplies most of the cobalt used in electric cars, smartphones, and other rechargeable batteries. In his 2023 book, Cobalt Red: How Congolese Blood Affects Our Lives, global slavery researcher Siddharth Kalla describes the grueling labor in the cobalt industry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He writes about conditions, child labor, slavery, and environmental destruction. “The depravity and indifference unleashed on working children[in Congo’s cobalt mines]is a direct result of a global economic order that preys on the poverty, vulnerability and dehumanization of those toiling at the bottom of global supply chains. It is the result.”
The inequalities that occur in these industries are staggering. Ninety-nine percent of miners work in the Global South, but wages there are 87 to 95 percent lower than workers in the Global North doing the same work, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. That’s what it means. One of the researchers, Jason Hickel, said this was “a result of the dynamics of imperialism in the global economy”, which funnels cheap resources from poorer countries to richer ones. (Most of the metals mined are used in wealthy countries.)
“We can never have an ethical relationship with the Global South if the West only wants our resources.”
The question of how to change this inequity is difficult because the dynamics of imperialism that Hickel refers to are profitable, and powerful corporations act to protect their wealth. This is certainly the case for car companies that use lithium from places like Tucker Pass and cobalt from the DRC. One employee at a major U.S. automaker said he “hit a legal wall” after discussing human rights and environmental issues in his company’s supply chain with colleagues. The message from management was “stop asking questions, don’t cause trouble,” and she recanted. “I have to work,” she told me.
The scale of systemic barriers is sometimes surprising. In Panama, as a result of mass mobilization, the government banned new mines in 2023. But earlier this year, a business investor filed a lawsuit claiming the decision infringed on foreign companies’ mining rights and violated the Panama-Canada Free Trade Agreement. If investors win, the Panamanian government could be forced to pay billions of dollars. In a similar case in 2019, a World Bank arbitrator ordered an Australian mining company to pay $11 billion after Pakistan denied permission for a copper and gold mine. Pakistan was forced to withdraw and issue permits after being fined a quarter of the entire government budget.
All of this points to the need for systemic change. “We can never have an ethical relationship with the Global South if the West only wants our resources,” a LAN representative told me. “But there is no single action that will solve this. Boycotts, strikes, education, that’s all great. But we need deeper, more united action.”
He is a community organizer and economist at the Highlander Center, a Tennessee-based centennial school for social justice and labor organizing whose alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Rosa Parks. Denzel Caldwell, who works in the US, agrees. “We need to completely rebuild the relationship between the Global South and the Global North,” Caldwell said. “This is why the workforce needs to adopt a decolonial perspective. We all want better working conditions, but does unity end at the U.S. border?”
The need for collective action to reshape the relationship between the Global North and the Global South has been debated among community organizers for decades. The late civil rights activists Grace Lee and James Boggs wrote in 1974 that “The revolution in the United States will be the first in history to require the masses to make material sacrifices rather than get more.” It will be the first revolution.” “This country has been gained at the expense of[the Global South],” they write.
In Boggs’ view, to break away from consumerism we need to “rethink ourselves…beyond the confines of capitalism.” In other words, rather than simply imagining a more equitable distribution of wealth or “greener” products like electric cars, they envision a society that strives toward entirely non-financial goals. is.
These alternatives are becoming increasingly popular around the world. Bhutan’s constitution, adopted in 2008, directs the government to minimize income inequality, protect the environment and prioritize “gross national happiness” over gross national product. In Europe, degrowth movements are calling for a planned democratic downsizing in the use of energy and raw materials, sacrificing economic growth for the sake of justice and sustainability, while seeking to maintain good living standards. And in South America, a concept called “buen vivir,” which is rooted in indigenous traditions and prioritizes harmony between humans and nature, is gaining ground.
“Real change will require a type of unity we have yet to see.”
Caldwell says it’s important to build these alternatives. His research focuses on the solidarity economy, which he describes as a “comprehensive set of institutions and practices based on reciprocity, cooperation, democracy, pluralism, and building a world beyond racial capitalism.” “Terminology” is explained. As an example, he points to worker-owned cooperatives. Time Bank — A barter system in which people exchange time credits and services in units of time rather than money. Participatory budgeting — A democratic process in which community members decide how public funds are spent. and community land trusts that act as responsible stewards of land use on behalf of place-based communities. However, he says, none of these are “scalable under global capitalism.”
The challenge remains how to get there from here. “The growth of this new ‘green’ industry will cause massive environmental disruption and displace millions of indigenous peoples,” said the National Coordination of India’s Federation of Labor Organizations, called the Workers’ Charter. says Chandan Kumar, a government official. “But there is still no alternative framework. We are still stuck on fundamental issues such as minimum wage. We have workers making clutches and gears here in the supply chains of Volkswagen, General Motors and Mercedes. But their salary is $100 a month. They don’t have enough to eat.”
Kumar believes real change will require a type of unity never seen before, but he sees signs that it may not be far away. For example, under Sean Fein’s leadership, the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Farm Machinery Workers of America, one of the largest and most diverse labor unions in North America, has recently aggressively entered the political minefield. I’m working on it. Ceasefire in Gaza. Kumar believes this means labor organizers could make further progress on other issues soon. “They[trade unions in the Global North]need to be more proactive,” he says.
Caldwell agrees. “Labour radicalism is a long, buried tradition,” he says. “A hundred years ago, workers were not afraid to fight the state and had a strong sense of internationalism. We need to remember that history. It is important to fundamentally question ourselves.”
Kumar finds the tension between the evils of so-called “green” industries and workers’ rights difficult. “I’m lost and confused,” he told me. “We’re in a sandwich situation here.”
