Rights Action
February 2, 2022
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The Other Face of Renewable Energy: Extractivism
Reflections inspired from “Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala”
By Sarah Wochele, for Denver Justice & Peace Committee
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/the-other-face-of-renewable-energy-extractivism
Recently, Goldcorp Inc. – one of the companies highlighted in the “Testimonio” – was bought out by Newmont Corporation (based in Greenwood Colorado), the world’s largest gold mining company, that now owns Goldcorp’s mining assets – ill-gotten licenses and processing plants – in Honduras and Guatemala, where there are on-going struggles for reparations for harms and violence caused by Goldcorp’s cyanide leaching, open pit mines they operated in both countries.
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Many people in Guatemala, including prominent Maya leaders and intellectuals, refer to Canadian mining projects as the “fourth conquest” or “fourth invasion”. This is following the
(1) 1524 Spanish colonialist invasion
(2) 19th century plantation economy
(3) the US backed state repression and accompanying genocides from 1960–1996.
However, the violence has never really ended thanks to human rights abusing corrupt governments. Those impacted today by mining projects in Guatemala describe it as a “deja-vu experience.” US and Guatemalan government officials laid the groundwork for Canadian and other mining companies to come in and further exploit and extract from the people of Guatemala.
Indeed, developers the world over are often, quite literally, capitalizing on the legacies of colonialism and ongoing coloniality that have left many in precarious positions of marginalization.
Mining corporations carry the torch of structural violence — violence that is rationalized and ultimately legalized by the state, often in the name of “development.” But they don’t do it alone; the same people who are responsible for genocides in Guatemala, are also those who are signing deals with Canadian mining companies. These are the same people who sponsored the re-writing of the Guatemalan mining law in the 1960s and again in 1997 to benefit private interests. It is not only politicians, but police, security, paramilitaries and militaries who are in service to the mining industry.
Violence is the spine of extractivism, taking place even at micro levels — such as the rife assassinations of land defenders — in the name of global profits, displaying the interconnection of global and local.
In Testimonio’s introduction, its editors note that mining companies are actually mineral exploitation companies. Truth-telling is the spirit of Testimonio. According to its editors, Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell, it is a tool for the individual and community to recollect traumatic events and to honor the voices of those impacted to speak for themselves.
In reading each chapter, one recognizes that mining companies are undeniably exploiting more than minerals.
Not only does Testimonio dig into the Guatemalan genocides, but it calls out Canada’s leading role in the global mining industry. 70 percent of equity capital (investments made in exchange for stock in a company) raised globally from the mining industry was done so on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Venture Exchanges.
Canadian companies are guilty of continually violating FPIC (free prior informed consent). They also are participating in and benefitting from repression, corruption and impunity.
The book, The Water Defenders (2021), a story of global solidarity, talks about the nearly decade long (successful) community resistance in El Salvador against metallic mining in the country. In 2017, El Salvador was the first country in the world to approve a total ban on metal mining.
However, recently in December 2021, the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining in El Salvador delivered a warning that there is intent from the right-wing Bukele administration to reverse this victory.
In Guatemala, mining has meant forced displacements. Some homes literally are crumbling to the ground from the use of mining explosives, such as in the village of La Cuchilla in San Rafael Las Flores. It has destroyed the local agriculture-based economy, forcing many to flee to Mexico in order to enter the US.
It is disturbing to realize that in Global North efforts to both embrace and profit from a renewable energy transition, mining for renewable energy minerals is creating a different kind of climate refugee: those who are fleeing from the local destruction imposed on them for faraway climate mitigation plans.
A nuanced global-local analysis of the energy transition, as well as inventive alternative-building are required if we are to collectively move forward in a responsible and justice-centered manner in the face of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.
While Indigenous communities and their allies in the US specifically have advocated against the fossil fuel industry via protests, blockades, and legal actions against pipelines, many now are facing the mining industry who have greenwashed their mission for the Global North energy transition.
The Stibnite Gold Project is an arm of Canadian company, Perpetua Resources (formerly Midas Gold), which is planned for Valley County, Idaho — home to three indigenous communities: Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes. The EPA found that Perpetua’s original plan for a 20 year operation would have disproportionate impacts on tribes, particularly by way of destroying fish habitat and poisoning the area with mercury pollution.
Also, their gold mining process will use cyanide for the extraction process — The Water Defenders goes into great detail about how concerning this process is.
In the Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona, another Canadian mining company, Hudbay Minerals, is trying to unearth an open-pit copper mine, stating it is the “key” to “green” energy, despite resistance from Tohono O’odham, Pascua Yaqui and Hopi communities.
Similar to Guatemala and El Salvador, the US has mining laws that value the mining industry. In 2021, Indigenous groups and their allies in the US called on the federal government to create stricter hard-rock mining laws and to prioritize recycling metal (also known as urban mining) over unearthing new mines. More attention and funding for research into urban mining is necessary to actualize this alternative.
There are numerous complexities to the renewable energy transition, and most often in the US a global justice lens is lacking. Our vision at Denver Justice Peace Committee (DJPC) is to emphasize people-to-people solidarity, particularly with communities in Latin America and the US.
While the mining industry is expanding, there are also more opportunities for global solidarity campaigns — particularly as we watch mining companies seek projects in the US. As we enter 2022, DJPC will continue to support efforts to expose the violence of the mining industry.
Additional resources:
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Organize TESTIMONIO public presentations: Grahame Russell ([email protected]) / Catherine Nolin ([email protected])
More information: www.testimoniothebook.org
Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)
To support land and environment, human rights and justice defenders in Honduras and Guatemala – including the community defenders profiled in TESTIMONIO - make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
- U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
- Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
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