Gainesville Loves Mountains

I lived in Appalachia for several years, and it was there that images of mountaintop removal (MTR) and its effects on the people and landscapes of the region were burned into my consciousness--images that I carry with me many years later. I learned about ilovemountains.org a few years ago, and became interested in building connections between the coal that my municipally-owned utility in Gainesville, FL consumes and impacted Appalachian communities. So, in 2011, I took advantage of a local environmental film festival to screen the movie Low Coal and bring Larry Gibson to Gainesville.

During his visit, Larry spoke at numerous public events, was interviewed by local media, and met with some of our City Commissioners, our Mayor, and representatives from our utility. His message was powerful and resonated with many in our community. After Larry's visit, we began pursuing an official policy to end the purchase of MTR-coal through our City Commission's utilities committee. We started a Facebook page for our group, “Gainesville Loves Mountains,” and asked citizens to contact their Commissioners and the utility to speak out against MTR. We received lots of positive media attention and it was clear that the Commission was hearing from people. I've seen firsthand that the more people learn about MTR, the less they want to be connected to it.

While we are having an impact on our Commissioners, the technocrats at our utility's fuels division have been steadfast in their opposition to any sort of restrictions on where they purchase their coal. As recently as last week, the Assistant General Manager of the utility was stating publicly that they remain “...reasonably agnostic on where the coal comes from, other than we prefer deep-mine coal for performance reasons.” Yet as we continued our campaign, other forces were at work.

As it turns out, the growing availability of natural gas, resulting partly from the controversial gas mining practice known as “fracking,” has driven fuel prices so low that in recent months the bottom appears to have come out from under the coal markets. Whereas our utility had previously considered deep-mined coal a luxury it could only sometimes afford, and had been using approximately 60% MTR-coal, we were able this year to sign 1-year contracts for nearly 100% deep-mined coal and still come in under budget.

It is an awkward position to be in, to have “won” our local campaign against purchasing MTR-coal, thanks in large part to another highly destructive mining practice. This “victory” is obviously inadequate, and our campaign will continue. Our goals for 2012 include:

· Continuing to discuss MTR at every opportunity. We'll host more film screenings and Appalachian activists this year, and continue to build public support in advance of the next round of coal contract negotiations later this year.

· Building a bridge between Gainesville and the Appalachian communities that provide our coal. One definitive victory that our campaign has had is a line item in all new coal contracts that requires the companies to disclose any major environmental violations. We'll be watching.

· Educating ourselves, our community, and our Congressional representatives on any federal efforts to ban MTR mining.

· Supporting a local effort for a more aggressive energy conservation ordinance that will move our community closer to a future free of electricity generated from fossil-fuels.

We want to hear what folks up in Appalachia have to say about our efforts, and want to encourage other communities that consume MTR-coal to duplicate our campaign. Please check out our new flyer (at top, I can send you a pdf version if you want) and contact us with any feedback, questions, or resources you have to offer.

Confessions of an Enemy Combatant

Reprint of an essay written by my friend, citizen ergot, and published in The Fine Print back in 2008.  Enjoy...

“If you’re gonna be serious about your drug use, there’s no point in buying small quantities at inflated prices…paying your dealer’s rent. You might as well buy in bulk, at discounted rates…sell it to your friends and neighbors at a mark-up…then you become ‘The Man’…” So counseled Dwight, my shift supervisor at the greasy spoon diner where I worked as a teenager. This and other hard-won wisdom, offered up between omelets and homefries on groggy Sunday mornings, was intended to help me avoid the pitfalls so common to the novice drug user. In addition to advice, Dwight offered hands-on experience—giving me my first samples of LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy, marijuana, crystal meth, and anything else I cared to try. Dwight—several years older than me, with a cool, beautiful girlfriend and the largest music collection I’d ever seen—saw himself as something of a mind-expansion mentor. He wanted me to be “turned on” in a safe environment, free of “bad shit and bummer friends.” Dwight guided me through those first few experiences, and then was there for me with bumps of speed and a wry smile when I came into work after a long night of “tripping,” short on sleep and still seeing tracers run cross the stove.


So it happened that at sixteen, when most kids I knew were still sneaking booze out of their parents’ liquor cabinets, I was probably the first guy on my block to try LSD. Needless to say, as an angsty, working-class teenager who looked at the society around him and knew that something just didn’t add up, hallucinogens pretty much rocked my metaphysical perspective. In the immortal words of Bill Hicks: “Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.” I took to hallucinogens with an almost missionary zeal, and took Dwight’s advice to heart, going in with him on bulk purchases of LSD and learning how to differentiate poisonous from hallucinogenic mushrooms in order to exploit the vast, prolific cow pastures of central Florida.


At the time, LSD and ecstasy in particular were pretty abundant, and LSD was going for about $7 per “hit.” However, we lucked upon a reliable dealer with quality product and found that we could get “sheets” of acid (100 hits/sheet) for about $125; do the math and you’ll see that Dwight’s logic was impeccable. Up until that time my life options had seemed pretty limited: I could continue slaving away at a minimum wage job and try to work my way slowly through community college, or I could join the military. My foray into drug culture provided a much more attractive possibility, however: quicker, easier money than I’d ever made and a whole new world of friends and experiences, swirled altogether with adventures and visions that Miramax couldn’t touch. For many glorious months, my life was cast against a hallucinogenic terrain, replete with new worlds to be discovered and set to a fantastic soundtrack. Ironic as it may seem, I often credit that early experimentation with psychedelics with diverting me from a much more dangerous path—one of violence and self-destructiveness that ultimately devoured the lives of countless other kids who grew up in a similar situation as myself.


I never really considered myself a serious dealer. I essentially bought enough so that I could “hook up” my expanding circle of friends, meanwhile my girlfriend and closest pals could trip for free whenever we wanted. The extra income was a bonus, but never amounted to too much and was quickly blown on concerts, partying, and travel. Yet these sorts of escapades have a way of taking on a life of their own, and at some point it became clear to me that being The Man also came with a whole other set of consequences that I wasn’t quite prepared to deal with. Red flags began to creep their way into my psychedelic haze. My younger sister, for instance, heard about my little side business from some kids at her high school; and when a friend of mine ran into some trouble with the law, the police essentially asked her to narc on me.


I learned another hard lesson when my original LSD wholesaler disappeared and I had to start shopping around for new suppliers. One guy took me for the inexperienced punk that I was and sold me a pretty sizable load of bunk shit. I quickly learned that one downside to black market dealings is that entrepreneurial acumen will only get one so far; at the end of the day, might still makes right. Initially I tried pursuing “Bunky” (as we called the guy who’d ripped me off) for a refund. But he took full advantage of this rather teachable moment and used a handgun to educate me as to the ways of the underworld. At that point I had an important choice to make: I could cut my losses and walk away, or get my own piece and “play the role model,” as the song goes. I’m probably here today, coolly reflecting on this episode from my life, because I just didn’t have the stomach for the latter. Bunky held onto his booty and I searched for a way to rebound from my poor investment decision.


One friend suggested I diversify my holdings and move into crystal meth futures. By then, I’d tried meth—or poor man’s coke, as we called it—a few times and really enjoyed it, even if I knew better than to get too cozy with it; there were more than enough emaciated, toothless wretches hanging around the trailer park to drive that point home. But quick money was quick money, or so I thought, so I bought a few hundred dollars worth just to see how it went. Mike, another co-worker, turned out to be a budding meth-head, and overnight he became one of my closest pals and best customers. Mike would come by my house several times per day, at all hours, eager to buy another bag. On each visit he would ask to see my entire line of baggied product, and would carefully inspect each one in hopes of getting the best deal. It only took a few visits from Mike, and others like him, to realize that dealing a truly addictive substance like meth was worlds apart from my earlier experiences; and the longer I did it, the more I started to feel like Satan, not to mention a growing concern for my safety. My mentor and drug guru Dwight even fell under meth’s deadly spell eventually and lost pretty much everything, only deepening my disdain for the miserable substance. Finally I flushed the rest of my supply down the toilet, and with it much of my remaining ambition to be The Man.


A year or so later, as a student in a residential, vocational training program which I’d entered mostly to get away from my home town and my dodgy past, I took to dealing one last time. This time it was only weed, which my girlfriend would meticulously hide inside the “care packages” she’d mail me on a weekly basis. Once again, the temptation of quick profit was too hard to resist; especially as each box of Lucky Charms, with its special prize inside, earned me more than a couple weeks’ pay at the facility. But it all came crashing dangerously down when one of my instructors caught on to what I was doing on the eve of my graduation and a full-ride scholarship to college. He confronted me late one night, and despite all that I had to lose at the time, I didn’t have the gall to stare him in the eyes and lie about what I’d been doing. This time my lack of thuggishness was to my benefit, however. Since I came clean about the whole affair he kept it between us and allowed me to graduate rather than turning me in. Only a slightly different turn of events or state of mind on his part and I would probably be a convicted drug felon rather than a college graduate right now.


Reflecting on these experiences years later, it feels worlds away. These days I am career and movement-focused. I work regular day-jobs. I have family responsibilities and a somewhat impressive resume. Like most middle class or aspiring middle class people, I am terrified of what a drug trafficking arrest would mean for my family, and for my future, even as my attraction to mind-altering substances lingers. I still have a somewhat missionary zeal when it comes to hallucinogens, even if only undercover, and believe that pretty much everyone should give them a try at some point in their lives. If nothing else, the world would honestly probably be a better place if people exchanged their television viewing for exploring the visions and thoughts that reside in the untrammeled vistas of their own mind.


And I still believe that the “War on Drugs” is a farce, even as I have a more nuanced political perspective on it now than I did during my days as an enemy combatant on the front lines. Though many people will continue to choose—as I ultimately did—security, responsibility, and material comfort over recreational drug use, that doesn’t mean that the harsh criminalization of drugs is right, or even efficacious. In a society as deeply divided as our own, there will always be those who have very little to lose and are desperate for a way out. As a spokesman for the organization Law EnforcementAgainst Prohibition states, real drug dealers “…accept the possibility of death and long prison terms as a condition of employment.” What seems most apparent to me, in retrospect, is the nearly irresistible allure of drugs, from a psychological as well as economic perspective. Attempting to bind and castigate that facet of our self which seeks only to escape from undesirable and mundane circumstance seems about as absurd as, well, designating a plant which grows naturally upon the earth as illegal. The world needs a little lunacy; this world, especially, needs a little lunacy.


So until that day when the calculated, dogmatic absurdities of our society run their course and we cease waging war on ourselves, I continue to sneer at the police, and rejoice in ditchweed growing wild on abandoned lots. And I strive to live the sage advice of my newfound mind-expansion mentor, Wendell, who admonishes us to everyday do something that won’t compute. “…As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go. Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.”

Sethusamudram Shipping Canal

The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal: still dredging up controversy

An abbreviated, *heavily-edited* version of this article appeared in the April 2008 issue of Gobar Times, a youth magazine published by the Centre for Science and Environment.

In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Lord Ram constructed a magical bridge from India to Sri Lanka so that he and his army could rescue his kidnapped wife, Sita. Many people believe traces of that bridge still exist and that it is in danger of being destroyed by a controversial canal project called Sethusamudram (SSCP). If completed, the 167 kilometer (km) channel would link the Bay of Bengal with the Gulf of Mannar and provide a continuous navigable route around the Indian peninsula. Currently, ocean-going vessels must navigate around Sri Lanka rather than passing through the Palk Bay, thereby increasing shipping time and costs and diminishing the development potential of much of Tamil Nadu’s coast.

Yet the channel’s current proposed alignment puts it on a direct collision course with a site considered sacred by many Hindus. Proponents of the project contend that the so-called “Rama Setu,” a chain of shoals running between northwestern Sri Lanka and southeastern India, is merely a collection of sand resulting from natural geological processes such as sedimentation; there is little if any physical evidence which links the shoals to the bridge depicted in the Ramayana. Yet others point out that the reality of how these structures were formed is secondary to the cultural importance which people have assigned to the site over the ages. Picking up on these concerns, some politicians and Hindutva groups have vowed ongoing demonstrations until the project is stopped. For the moment, the Supreme Court (SC) has acceded, putting a halt on any part of the channel’s construction which would damage the Rama Setu. In a landmark ruling that will likely have significant implications for similar controversies in the future, the Court will soon decide whether the purported benefits of the canal outweigh the religious and cultural values of the existing structure. While on its face the issue may appear to be a classic question of superstition versus progress, or cultural preservation versus material gain, a closer look reveals that there may be much more at stake.

The purported benefits of the canal include advancing India’s national security via increased freedom of movement for the Indian Coast Guard and Navy; boosting trade by reducing maritime shipping costs; and improving the livelihoods of coastal residents via expansion of economic opportunities in the region. Mr. Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan, a retired marine biologist based in Chennai who has studied this project extensively and given public seminars on the topic, calls it “viable, development-oriented, futuristic, and beneficial to both countries [India and Sri Lanka].” Yet comments such as Mr. Sachithananthan’s, combined with repeated references to Sethusamudram as the “Suez canal of the East,” imply that this project may also have a lot to do with international prestige. As with similar projects in China and other “rising” nations, the completion of large-scale, technically-challenging development projects sends an important message to the rest of the world. In its 2004 ruling on this issue, Madras High Court stated: “We must never overlook the basic aim of our country which is to make India a powerful and modern industrial state. Today the real world is cruel and harsh. It respects power, not poverty or weakness…if we wish to get respect in the world community we must make our country highly industrialized and prosperous.”

Yet despite its concern for “prosperity,” the High Court refused to hear arguments that the channel would cause irreparable harm to the coastal ecology of Tamil Nadu and the fisher-folks whose livelihoods depend upon it. Nor has the Supreme Court adequately examined the ecological and livelihood objections pending before it. Yet clearly many people are concerned; at the official opening of the project’s construction in 2005, hundreds of people protesting the canal on these grounds were arrested. A month later, one of the dredger ships had to be defended by police and naval personnel as 1,500 fisher-folk attempted a blockade. Now, this coalition of fisher-folk, environmentalists, and other concerned citizens is watching to see what the SC will decide while continuing to amass evidence to support their cause as well. An SC decision allowing continued work on the canal will likely lead to renewed grassroots opposition by an “alliance” of religious fundamentalists and those who oppose the project for more secular reasons.

Much of the environmental critique of the canal is related to its proximity to the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park—only a few kms away at its nearest point. The National Park is the core area of India’s largest Biosphere Reserve and the first of its kind in all of South and Southeast Asia. It is prized both for its world-class marine ecology as well as its historical and cultural significance. Yet there is already one major port and a handful of minor ports located within or directly adjoining the Reserve, not to mention the 100,000 residents, many of them fisher-folk, along its coastline; between natural resources extraction and industrialization of the coast, preservation of the region’s biodiversity is already a considerable challenge. By enabling a dramatic expansion of ship traffic so close to the Park, environmentalists allege that the Ministry of Environment and Forests is violating the spirit of international agreements as well as its own rules regarding species protection and buffer zones surrounding protected areas.

Sethusamudram’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), carried out by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), asserts that the canal will have “insignificant” impacts on the Reserve. Yet opponents maintain that the EIA was biased in favor of the project, non-comprehensive in scope, and based on faulty data. As if to underscore this point, a dredger working in the Rama Setu area was seriously damaged in May 2007 when it unexpectedly struck a rock bed. This discovery was particularly troubling because it meant that explosives would likely have to be used to clear a path through Rama Setu, a scenario that was not envisioned by the EIA or by the “Detailed Project Report” (DPR) submitted in 2005. Critics allege that other aspects of the proposal have also not been adequately modelled.

Moreover, the effects of increased shipping and coastal development which the Assessment predicts will result from the canal have been mostly overlooked; similar to road construction into land-based conservation areas, it is likely that the major damage will result not from the project itself, but from the further incursions that it facilitates. For instance, significant port development is being proposed for Thoothukudi, Puducherry, and Rameswaram in tandem with the construction of the Sethusamudram canal. Yet the EIA repeatedly refers to the synergistic effects of these activities as outside of its scope, therefore they have not been taken into consideration.

The EIA also acknowledges that there will be “significant, adverse impacts” from the canal’s construction on fishing activities, and that displacement of current residents may occur, although “…the extent of land acquisition, the need for resettlement and rehabilitation of affected population, if any, could not be assessed at this juncture.” The Coastal Action Network (CAN), a group representing fisher interests in Tamil Nadu, believes it has a better sense of what this project will entail for fisher-folk in the region. Jesu Rethinam, one of CAN’s convenors, offers a conservative estimate that “The one lakh fishing families who will be immediately affected by the SSCP will incur losses of Rs 24,000 crores in terms of household assets and loss of livelihood assets, marine resources, land and housing, and social goods…This is a conservative estimate accounting for only the next 5-7 years and does not include environmental destruction of the coastal environment, biodiversity, etc.” Yet it is obvious that any activities which further damage the marine ecology and fisheries of the region will have substantial impacts on fisher-folk, and CAN claims that some fisher-folks are already reporting decreased fish-catch during the construction phase of SSCP. Greater ship traffic will also undoubtedly exacerbate already-existing conflicts between traditional fisher folk and industry. Rethinam continues, “In the last two years, dredging ships have destroyed fishing nets worth Rs 2.5 crore…No action was taken despite fishermen’s complaints to the District collector and the police. Instead, fishermen who ventured too near the dredging area have been harassed by the Coast Guard.”

Given that the project will affect at least six of Tamil Nadu’s thirteen coastal districts, including hundreds of fishing villages and lakhs of fisher-folk, such impacts are no small matter. Yet the level of consultation with these communities in the lead-up to construction was poor. Though there were public hearings held from September 2004 to February 2005 in the districts to be affected, these meetings were racked with protest and interrupted by the December 2004 tsunami; in some instances vocal critics were barred entry or removed from the premises. As with the environmental assessment, the project’s social accounting also appears to have fallen short. The shortcuts the government took in securing local support have resulted in conflicts during the construction phase of the channel and ongoing resistance from the fisher community.

But perhaps the most critical weakness of Sethusamudram is from the economic perspective, as re-assessments of the canal’s DPR have undermined some of its key arguments. Even if the project were to remain on-budget—which is unlikely due to underestimations of dredging costs, its primary expense—some recent economic analyses demonstrate that the canal will also fall short with regards to revenue. Jacob John, an economist based in Bangalore, is the author of one such analysis. John estimates that there will be significantly less financial incentive for foreign ships to use the canal than the DPR has suggested; this projection does not bode well for the canal given that revenue from these ships was supposed to provide two thirds of its income. Further, the channel’s limited depth means that only ships with a draught (the distance from a ship’s lowest point to the water’s surface) of 10 meters or less will be able to use it. Therefore as the shipping industry moves towards ever larger ships, and Indian ports are being deepened to accommodate them, NEERI’s EIA states that deepening the Sethusamudram channel would be both economically and environmentally unviable. These facts bring the actual usefulness of the project, and hence its ability to generate a profit, into serious question. Beyond the concerns about revenue, interest rates have risen substantially since the initial planning stages, meaning that the loans which would be used to finance Sethusamudram will now be much more expensive to repay.

For all of these reasons, the canal is obviously in need of a mid-term assessment even if the SC overrules the religious opposition. As John argues:
Given the likelihood of overestimation of the revenues and underestimation of costs, it is a big question on whether the project will be viable on the grounds it was granted approval. Therefore, do mechanisms need to be built into project design, that stop projects that have significantly changed vis-à-vis the original approval documents…At the heart of this debate is the way many projects are projected to give stratospheric gains for the economy, employment, GDP, etc, but in reality there is little check once the entire project has been approved and operationalized… there is a duty of those promoting projects to consider the impacts it has on people, and allow people to review these impacts especially in the early years of a project.

On the other hand, if the SC does rule to halt destruction of Rama Setu, thereby putting it on indefinite hold, the situation could become even more complicated. Since the canal project was initially put forward more than 140 years ago, there have been numerous proposed routes. Despite their other shortcomings, NEERI is correct in the assessment that, from the ecological and livelihood perspective, the current route is the least destructive. As CAN asserts: “There is no scientific justification for a realignment of the canal. The destruction will be the same or worse.” Regardless, many religious opponents of the canal’s current alignment would support the project if it were to utilize one of the alternate routes, thereby causing a split between those who oppose the canal on religious grounds and those who oppose it for environmental or economic reasons. Revathi, a journalist who has studied the issue closely and is currently producing a documentary film on Sethusamudram, says, “A true ‘coalition’ with the religious fundamentalists does not exist. The BJP and RSS were sitting quietly during the early stages of the project; their motivations for becoming involved at this late stage are purely political and self-serving. I don’t see any big commitment from them for the environment, for the fisher-folk, for the taxpayer.” Yet reconsideration of alternate routes would at least delay construction and hopefully open Sethusamudram up to a fresh round of environmental and economic assessments.

Two and a half years after its official unveiling, the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal continues to dredge up controversy. There are still no definitive answers on the probable environmental, economic, and livelihood outcomes of the project, and we will likely never know whether the Rama Setu is a natural formation or one built by a god thousands of years ago. But what is clear are the deep-seated problems with the process through which the GOI continues to define and implement development. Take, for instance, the blatantly biased perspective of the Madras High Court, which concluded that:
We should not obstruct the scientific and technical progress of the country in the name of environment protection. No doubt, the environment has to be protected, but… industrialization itself ensures a good environment…

Yet progress should not be imposed on people from on high, and discussion, planning, and implementation of development objectives must make a thorough accounting of all stakeholders and their rights as well as employing the precautionary principle with regards to potential social and environmental impacts. While all the legal wrangling and citizen unrest may be a serious inconvenience to those who want to see this project completed anytime soon, it presents new possibilities for the GOI to open up to the public and address the critiques which have been raised by all sides. If the SSCP turns out, as its critics assert, to be a terrible idea, then the time, resources, and acrimony wasted on it will hopefully be a reminder to the government that full involvement of stakeholders, responsiveness to criticism, and ongoing assessment is central for any future endeavors. Yet even if supporters are right that this is a meritorious project whose time has come, then they obviously need to learn how to do a better job demonstrating those benefits and marketing such projects to the public in the future.

Works cited:
*personal interviews with Mr. Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan and Sudarshan Rodriguez
*“Sethusamudram Canal: An Expensive Voyage?” Economic and Political Weekly July 21, 2007; Jacob John
*Rodriguez, S., J. John, R. Arthur, K. Shanker, A. Sridhar. 2007. Review of Environmental and Economic Aspects of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP). pp 76.
*SWAMINOMICS “150-year dream for 150-year old ships” 23 Sep 2007, Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar.
*“Sethu project faces 20-30% cost surge” Animesh Singh / New Delhi September 20, 2007;
*Tamil Nadu State Forest Department
*Wikipedia
*”In Short” 11/15/07
*”Sethusamudram's financial woes”
*”Ecological reasons to oppose Sethusamudram project” 10/15/07,
*”Political Dredging” 7/31/05
*”Sethusamundram project is unviable” 6/15/07.
*“After 150 Years”
*”Deep Waters” & “Blueprint Blues” 5/15/07.
*focused analysis on project in 3/15/06 issue of DTE.
*”Neighbours Worry”, 10/15/05.
*”Strait Hit”, 6/30/05.
*”Green Light?” 6/15/05.
*”A very heavy metal load” 2/28/01.
*”Saving a reserve” 1/15/98
*”Threat to dugongs” 7/31/01
*”Reserved!” 10/31/01
*”Assessing Marine Threat” 5/15/02
*”PMO exposes system slip-up” 4/15/05
*”Supreme Court stays DMK-sponsored Tamil Nadu shutdown” By ANI (www.aniin.com) Sunday September 30, 03:07 PM;
*”Setu- Faith vs national interest” Central Chronicle, 9/19/07;
*“Silence, controversy shroud…” 9/10/07;
*”Project a recipe for disaster, scientists say” 9/12/07;
*”Centre criticized for excluding key experts from Sethu panel” 10/23/07;
*”SC rejects Swamy plea for reconstitution of Sethu committee” 10/24/07;
*”Govt on back foot, withdraws affidavit” 9/15/07;
*”No one benefits from a Rs2,600 crore channel” 9/13/07;
*”Lack of Access to Sethu Panel Criticized” 10/30/07;
*”Channelling religious sentiment into rare political opportunity” 9/14/07;
*Interview w/ T.R. Baalu, 2/6/08;
*W.P.NOS.33528 AND 34436 OF 2004 and W.P.M.P.Nos.40521 and 41570 of 2004 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS; DATED: 17.12.2004 CORAM THE HON’BLE MR.MARKANDEY KADJU, CHIEF JUSTICE and THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE N.V.BALASUBRAMANIAN
*”Adam’s Bridge,” Encyclopedia Britannica online
*Sethusamudram Corporation Limited
*”Environmental Impact Assessment for Proposed Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project.” National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)
*”Tuticorin port has potential to be global container hub: PwC” by Raja Simhan T.E; The Hindu Business Line 6/16/05
* “DMK has been isolated on Sethu issue: TN BJP” The Hindu, February 5, 2008
*”Sethu project: Centre counters environmental concern.” March 2, 2008.
*”Centre files fresh affidavit on Sethu project in SC.” The Hindu, 2/29/08.
*”Role of Fisherwomen in Coastal Eco-system of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and TamilNadu—an Overview” by Vijaya Khader and R. Sathiadhas; prepared for the 22nd Annual Conference Proceedings of the AIAEE in Clearwater, FL.
*“Govt should declare Sethu heritage: BJP” NDTV.com; 2/1/08
*“Yes to Ram, no to sethu: Govt” NDTV.com; 1/31/08
*“Coast Guard 'torpedoes' Sethu project” The Economic Times, 2/1/08
*“Sethu project to raise security issues: Coast Guard DG” The Economic Times 1/31/08
*”The Sethu gridlock” by Professor Willie Mendis. The Island online edition.
*”Cong files affidavit in SC to give Sethu its go-ahead.” IBN Live, 3/1/08.
*”Government seeks apex court’s nod to Sethusamundram project“ Thaindian News, 2/28/08.
*”Doublespeak On Ram Sethu” Tehelka, 3/7/08.
*”Sethu project will trap government in immeasurable debt: experts” The Hindu, 2/19/08
*”Rama Sethu in the mist of political prejudices” Mynews.in, 2/7/08.
*Captain (retired) H Balakrishnan of the Indian Navy, 10/1 interview with Shobha Warrier of Rediff, which is one part of Rediff’s ongoing coverage the project
*”Impacts of the Proposed Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (An Alternate Report).” Coastal Action Network, 3/12/04.
*Tuticorin Port Trust, “Final Detailed Project Report.” Feb. 2005
*”Review of the Environmental Impacts of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP),” by Sudarshan Rodriguez. Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter No. 6, July, 2007.
*”A Status Report on Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project & the Struggles against the project.” The Movement Against Sethusamudram (Sea Channel) Shipping Canal Project.

India & Burma: “Look East” or look the other way?

This article was originally published in the November 2007 issue of the Industrial Worker, my union's newspaper.

On October 6, 2007 people in dozens of cities around the world took to the streets in solidarity with activists inside Myanmar/Burma. The aim of these actions was to both call attention to 45 years of harsh military rule and to put an immediate global spotlight on the upsurge of protest within Burma in recent weeks. Dubbed the “Saffron Revolution,” these are the largest and most vociferous demonstrations that have taken place inside the country since the protests of August 1988, which ended in a military coup and the massacre of thousands of civilians.

As in ’88, the current protests within Burma were catalyzed by increased economic austerities imposed by the Burmese government, but quickly assumed a pro-democracy character given the harsh suppression of any form of public dissent. Organizers are now demanding, in addition to economic relief, national reconciliation and the release of movement leaders such as May Win Myint, Dr. Than Nyein, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Myint and Nyein have been imprisoned without a trial since October of ‘97, while Suu Kyi has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years under house arrest.

Predictably, the Than Shwe regime’s response to the protests has been violent, resulting in hundreds of injuries and at least nine deaths. Many activists are calling for immediate intervention by the international community. In particular, organizers have implicated Burma’s main ally, China, as well as multinational corporations doing business in Burma. October 9^th was an international day of action against Chevron for its ties to the Burmese government, and a global advertising campaign has targeted the Chinese Communist Party for its support via “investment, imports, and armaments.” Somewhat overlooked in this focus is the important role of Burma’s other major neighbor, India.

In addition to long-standing cultural ties, India and Burma have a shared political history, dating back to their former integration under the British Empire. Sizable numbers of ethnic Indians continue to reside in Burma, and vice versa, again owing to the upheavals of colonialism and its aftermath. Burma also served as a headquarters for the Indian revolutionary Subhash Chandra Bose and his anti-colonial Indian National Army from 1943-5, thus playing a significant role in India’s struggle for independence. Yet what role will an independent, democratic India play in the modern-day struggles of the Burmese people?

While India’s response to the Burmese government’s crackdown in ‘88 was decidedly pro-democracy, in recent years New Delhi has become much more pragmatic in its relations. Cooperation with Burma is in fact a central facet of India’s important “Look East” policy, and India continues to increase its military, diplomatic, and financial ties to the Than Shwe regime, often at the expense of the Burmese democracy movement. High-level diplomatic relations have grown significantly between the two countries, and India’s former Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh declared India’s desire for a “long-term partnership” with Burma in 2005. India is currently seeking to expand its bilateral trade with the country, has extended millions of dollars in grants and loans, and is engaged in several joint development projects. Indian oil and natural gas companies also continue their explorations in Burma unabated.

Might these deepening economic ties somehow compromise India’s purported interests in supporting the growth of democracy in the country? Mani Shankar Aiyer, Minister in-charge of Development of India’s North Eastern Region, thinks not: “We have long been champions of democracy. We haven't compromised on that, but ground realities are ground realities.'' India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora, who paid a visit to the Than Shwe government within days of it opening fire on nonviolent protestors, was even more straightforward: "We have a good understanding with the military junta and we are confident that our companies will do big business there in the direction of seeking energy security for the country."

Military relations with Burma have also grown, and serve multiple purposes for India, including securing both countries’ borders and counteracting China’s increasing influence in the region. Earlier this year India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee promised a continued flow of military equipment to Burma. The two countries have also conducted joint military operations along the Indo-Burma border with the aim of neutralizing separatist groups that have been troubling India on its northeastern frontier. Yet these actions not only lend legitimacy to Than Shwe’s government, they also subvert U.S. and E.U. bans on the importation of military items into the country, with India acting as a middleman for the transfer of Western technologies and expertise. Further, India’s military aid (along with the handful of other nations which continue to arm Burma) undermines both armed and nonviolent resistance movements within the country, thereby prolonging the lifespan of the Than Shwe government.

Not surprisingly, there is no evidence of any October 6 protests in China, but India’s rich civil society has begun to step up to the plate. Activists in at least three Indian cities have staged solidarity demonstrations. A small protest march and rally took place October 6^th in central Delhi, followed by a candlelight vigil that evening at nearby India Gate. The recent tumult in Burma is receiving significant media attention, and numerous Indian opinion leaders are calling on the country to increase diplomatic pressure and pay attention to more than just its own short-term interests. In response, Indian leaders are attempting to negotiate a tricky middle way which will encourage reform in Burma without jeopardizing India’s own economic and security goals.

Whether Burma’s Saffron Revolution will indeed bring about substantive change in the country, or give way to business as usual, remains to be seen. What is imperative however is that we not give Burma the Las Vegas treatment; despite Than Shwe’s attempts to quash Burmese civil society and isolate it from the outside world, what happens in Rangoon will not stay in Rangoon. The international community must act in solidarity with the people of Burma, and any actions that solidify Than Shwe’s grip on power are a crime against humanity.

Sources:

-www.Wikipedia.com

-www.Avaaz.org

-http://protestchevron.blogspot.com/

-“Burmese army opens fire in monks' clash” Bangkok Post, 9/7/07

-“India’s Untold War of Independence” Amitav Ghosh, The New Yorker, June 23 & 30, 1997

-“Protests against Myanmar junta go global” AP, Sunday Times of India, New Delhi, 10/7/07

-Amnesty International

-“Candlelight protest in Delhi against Myanmar junta” Headlines India, 10/7/07 http://www.delhi.headlinesindia.com/index1.jsp?news_code=58767

-“Indian oil PSUs jittery over Burma unrest” Syed Ali Mujtaba, Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com).

September 29, 2007

-ONGC Videsh, the International Petroleum Company of India, http://www.ongcvidesh.com/index.asp

-“Indian govt: Business as usual with Myanmar” October 9, 2007 (NDTV News), posted on http://www.indoburmanews.net/

-“India opposes sanctions against Myanmar” October 9, 2007 (Zee News), posted on http://www.indoburmanews.net/

-“Indian envoy met Suu Kyi, Delhi backs talks with junta” October 10, 2007 (Indian Express) posted on http://www.indoburmanews.net/

-“Burma visit highlights India’s “Look East” strategy” Sarath Kumara, 6 April 2005, published on the World Socialist Website: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/indi-a06.shtml

-“Look Immediate East” Sanjoy Hazarika October 07, 2007, Hindustan Times

Special Economic Zones in India

Special Economic Zones in India, or Hey, They Worked Great in China, Right?

This article was originally published in the October 2007 issue of the Industrial Worker, my union's newspaper.

In one of his recent works, How Much Should a Person Consume?, noted Indian historian Ramachandra Guha points out that developing nations currently on the rise, such as India and China, do not have the same opportunities for colonial plunder that were available to the West. While these budding economic superpowers are increasingly pursuing stronger "relationships" with other developing nations, to date they have relied largely on plundering their own human and natural resources in the name of development. Indeed, to quote Gandhi, "the blood of the villages is the cement with which the edifice of the cities is built."

Immediately upon arriving in India in March of this year, I found such sentiments underscored by events in the village of Nandigram in the state of West Bengal. According to official accounts, open warfare erupted between as many as 5,000 enraged villagers and paramilitary police aided by supporters of the ruling Communist Party of India. The conflict, which resulted in hundreds of injuries and the deaths of more than a dozen protestors, captivated the nation and received wide-scale media coverage. The source of the conflict: the proposed creation of a “Special Economic Zone” (SEZ) in the region and resulting eviction of agriculturalists from land that they depend upon for their livelihoods.

This outbreak of violence was but a crescendo however to ongoing struggles in the region, and throughout the country, around SEZs. Less than two months prior, the IWW’s International Solidarity Commission had issued a letter in support of a rural workers’ union (the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, or PBKMS) in West Bengal. Yet it would be naïve to allege that India’s land struggles originated with the nascent SEZ approach to development. Rather SEZs are merely the newest public face to the liberalization of the Indian economy (dating back to the early 1960s, and intensifying in the 1990s), and to the politics of rich and poor going back much, much further. As noted by the PBKMS: “The legal mechanism for these land seizures—the Land Acquisition Act—derives from [British] colonial law.” Guha also points to an “imperial model of [natural resources] management” that runs throughout modern Indian history, the aim of which has been “…to legislate commercial exploitation of [natural resources] as the only legitimate use, thereby denying traditional subsistence use by locals. Such an approach inevitably resulted in ongoing breaches of policy and even open rebellion by locals.”

A far cry from the economies of the North, in India a vast proportion of the population still relies directly on the agricultural sector for their livelihood. While academics speculate as to whether the nation’s economy has entered a “new phase” of development, a whopping 60+% of Indians still rely upon natural resource-based livelihoods, declining only 15% over the past 50 years. Agriculture directly employs 234 million Indians, and these agriculturalists, again in contrast to those in the North, run predominantly small, subsistence-based operations, with 90% of landowners still tilling their own fields. In India, as in much of the global South, land is life. Contrast this economic reality with a brutal history of land-grabs and displacement and the outcome is not hard to imagine. Indeed, India’s poor have good reason to view “development” schemes with hostility; the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) estimates that since 1950, 40 million people (the majority of whom are tribal people and Dalits, or “untouchables”) have been displaced from their land due to large industrialization projects; at least 75% of them still await rehabilitation and resettlement. As reported in the pages of the Industrial Worker in recent months, similar State-sponsored land grabs, also in the name of development, have resulted in mass civil uprisings in Vietnam and in China.

Though India first began experiments with free trade zones (under the rubric of “Export Processing Zones”) back in the 60s, the more recent rush to develop SEZs is frequently attributed to the “success” of this model in China. Yet as Shankar Gopalakrishnan points out in a recent re-assessment of Chinese SEZs, “The general impression that China’s special economic zones are a remarkable success is an incomplete one. Left out of the picture are inequities in development, arable land loss, real estate speculation and labour violence…What is happening in SEZs can be seen as progress, therefore, only insofar as aggregate investment is concerned; socially it is nothing but regression.” Further, he concludes that while Indian states are scrambling to emulate and even intensify the Chinese SEZ model, they have utterly failed to address the aspects of this model which have led to such regression.

Special Economic Zones in India, as in other countries, have been established with the ostensible goals of attracting greater foreign and domestic investment, improving productive capacity, and boosting employment and exports. This model typically involves a “streamlined” regulatory environment, enhanced infrastructure, tax breaks, government subsidies, and other forms of State support. And according to the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, SEZs are yielding great results, with an increase of hundreds of thousands of new jobs and several billion dollars of private investment predicted by year’s end. Yet these rosy statistics leave many questions unanswered and gloss over a few important facts on the ground.

Already mentioned is the highly contentious issue of displacement of those dependent upon natural resources, such as the Mundra SEZ in Gujarat, whose development undermines the livelihoods of local fisher-folk and pastoralists, or the proposed Midnapur petrochemical SEZs in West Bengal, which would be built alongside and over top of the area’s freshwater supply and farmlands. In addition to dispossessing locals and the specter of environmental spillover, SEZs are also specifically designed to create “industrial townships” or “countries within a country,” thereby removing authority from local governments and even township residents and relaxing important labor, health and safety, and environmental legislation. If SEZs are truly being established to advance the common good, then they should obviously be beholden to citizens and to laws enacted to protect residents and the natural environment. In the words of one local NGO critical of the SEZ model, “…this is a new form of the East India Company establishment.”

Indeed, the SEZ debate epitomizes the competing interests of rich and poor so frequently glossed over in “development” schemes. By simply designating their project a SEZ, developers are able to (sometimes forcibly) acquire land at rock-bottom prices, fueling a highly-speculative real estate boom with powerful ripple effects for neighboring farmers struggling to hold on to their land as well as landless agricultural laborers. While the robber barons make a fortune, those most ill-prepared to adapt to the rapid economic, demographic, and ecological shifts accompanying the SEZ model of development are left behind. Further, since no more than 50% of the overall land area of the SEZ is required to be devoted to manufacturing, the rest can be used for “support infrastructure” such as housing developments, shopping malls, and other amenities aimed at India’s growing middle class—all subsidized at taxpayer expense. As with China’s SEZ experience, rapid development in a few privileged pockets will likely be exchanged for revenue shortfalls in the country’s poorest districts—a policy which can only exacerbate regional inequalities.

Critics of SEZ policies can be found even within the ranks of the Indian bureaucracy, with the Finance Ministry bemoaning an estimated 1,750 billion rupees (>$43 billion) in foregone tax revenues by 2011—a hefty price tag for a cash-strapped government unable to deliver basic services to much of its populace. To-date it has not even been adequately demonstrated that the private sector investment flowing into the SEZs is a direct result of the policy itself, as opposed to capital which would have been invested in the fast-growing Indian economy anyway but is simply being redirected towards the path of least resistance (as capital is wont to do). Sunita Narain of CSE points to Korean giant Posco's mega steel plant as a case in point: “It 'managed' to get categorized as an SEZ, well after it had already come into the country to set up shop.”

Given the high social costs and inequitably-distributed benefits of current models of development, citizens’ groups across India are agitating for alternatives. Sadly, scenes such as those witnessed at Nandigram are likely to reoccur. Today there are few regions of India which are not caught up in one way or another with contentious land disputes that pit the State and moneyed interests against the working poor, many of whom with little left to lose. In response to this public outcry, the government has taken a number of steps, including limiting the size of SEZs and stripping state governments of the power to acquire land on behalf of developers. The Ministry of Rural Development is also formulating a much-needed overhaul to the State’s approach to resettlement and rehabilitation, and political leaders have suggested that productive farmland should not be diverted to SEZ projects. Whether these reforms will address criticisms of SEZs without also undermining the professed goals of the program remains to be seen, but for the moment at least, the SEZ march continues largely unabated. As of this summer, a total of 339 SEZs had been formally approved by the central government, with another 170 projected approvals on the way.

WORKS CITED:

-Guha, How Much Should a Person Consume?

- Guha chapter in Environmental Issues in India for commentary on how British colonialist policy/relations w/ rurals has continued under independent India (e.g., 1935 declaration re: State’s role in land acquisition)

-ISC solidarity letter re: West Bengal: http://lists.iww.org/private/isc/2007-January/000881.html

-IUF statement on violence/repression in West Bengal: http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=4017&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1

-“India: General strike called after 14 protesters killed” http://libcom.org/news/india-general-strike-called-after-14-protesters-killed-20032007

-“Special Economic Zones: Are They Good for the Country?” by Ram Krishna Ranjan, Centre for Civil Society

-Shri Kamal Nath, India’s Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, addresses University of Oxford (University College) re: the Doha round of the WTO negotiations. May 4, 2007. http://commerce.nic.in/pressrelease/pressrelease_detail.asp?id=2025

- March 2005, IMF Country Report No. 05/87. “India: Selected Issues”

-Economic and Political Weekly May 26, 2007 “Nandigram and the Question of Development” MALINI BHATTACHARYA

- Economic and Political Weekly May 26, 2007 “Help the Rich, Hurt the Poor: Case of Special Economic Zones” E A S SARMA

-Shankar GOPALAKRISHNAN, “Negative Aspects of Special Economic Zones in China” Economic and Political Weekly April 28, 2007.

-CSE’s Natural Resources Management and Livelihoods “Towards Green Villages” workshop materials

-Website, Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce: http://sezindia.nic.in/HTMLS/about.htm

-“Prowling tiger: India pushes anew for special economic zones”

Jul 9th 2007, From the Economist Intelligence Unit ViewsWire: http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9462984

-“A peasant surprise: A scheme to provide land for industrial development hits the skids”

Jan 25th 2007 | GAR CHAKRABERIA, From The Economist print edition: http://www.economist.com/background/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597150

-“Cash cows: They worked in China. But will India's zones boost investment, or just divert it?”

Oct 12th 2006 | DELHI, From The Economist print edition: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8031219

-Editorial Note: SEZ Policy “Ceiling on size will limit growth” by Savita Kulkarni

-website and research paper of Paryavaran Mitra http://paryavaranmitra.org.in/

-“A concession called SEZ, all for foreign exchange: Special Economic Zones barter away democracy” by MAHESH PANDYA AND HIRAL MEHTA; http://downtoearth.org.in/Full6.asp?FolderName=20061031&FileNAme=news&sid=30&sec_id=18

- Sunita Narain editorial in Down to Earth 10/25/06

-Gobar Times, 30/6/07 http://www.gobartimes.org

-Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Outlook 2007

-Down to Earth, “Freeze on special economic zones lifted” 4/30/07: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070430&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=12

-“Background Paper: Land Acquisition and Displacement” Shri. Sanjay Upadhyay, Supreme Court Advocate, New Delhi

-“Land Sovereignty and Food Sovereignty the Key Issue in the Land Debate,” Dr. Vandana Shiva

-“Testimonies from Nandigram,” April 15, 2007, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070415&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=1

-“Mundra SEZ Spells Displacement for Fisherfolk” March 31, 2007, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070331&filename=news&sec_id=50&sid=18

-“UP Farmers Continue Protest Over Land Acquisition by Reliance” February 15, 2007, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070215&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=6

-“Update” Dec. 31, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/Full6.asp?FolderName=20061231&FileNAme=news&sid=60&sec_id=4

-“SEZ, How Special” November 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20061115&filename=news&sid=58&page=1&sec_id=9&p=1

-“Scratched record: Will SEZs succeed, where precursors failed?” November 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20061115&filename=news&sec_id=9&sid=59

-“Zones of conflict: Land acquisition has united farmers” November 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20061115&filename=news&sec_id=9&sid=61

-“Not wasted: New compromise excuse to grab” November 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20061115&filename=news&sec_id=9&sid=63

-“Windfall loss:Tax breaks: Public money for private gain” November 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20061115&filename=news&sec_id=9&sid=64

-“New nabobs” November 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20061115&filename=news&sid=66&page=2&sec_id=9

-“SEZs get a social face” Down to Earth, Oct. 31, 2006: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20061031&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=8

-“Union ministries clash over SEZ” September 30, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20060930&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=8

-“Gujarat NGOs demand separate environment court” July 15, 2006 Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20060715&filename=news&sec_id=49&sid=51

-“SEZ who?: No industrial revolution this“ March 15, 2006, Down to Earth: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20060315&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=17

-“Protests against land acquisitions in India intensify“ 8/22/07, http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/152479/1/

-“Medha Patkar criticises Indian govt's new SEZ policy” April 9, 2007, http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/148030/1/

-“Nandigram bloodbath puts WB’s land acquisition policy on hold” March 20, 2007 http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/147295/1/

-“India:Special Economic Zones on the Backburner” Feb. 12, 2007, http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/146035/1/

-“Indian economic zones 'hitting the poor'” http://uk.oneworld.net/article/view/145038/1/ 1/21/2007

-“Modhwadia smells foul play in land allotment to DLF” September 6, 2007 http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=254904

-Shoma Chaudhury interview with Arundhati Roy, March 31, 2007, http://www.tehelka.com/story_main28.asp?filename=Ne310307Its_outright_CS.asp