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Digital Goa News Service
Panaji, April 9 - In a major setback to Goa's mining industry, China, major importer of Goa's mineral ore, has banned Chinese trading houses from importing low-grade iron ore.
According to reports coming here, China has placed a ban on imports with Fe (iron) content less than 60%. The ban is applicable to traders importing iron ore and is not applicable on imports from steel plants.
Goa Mineral Exporters Association (GMOEA) has expressed fears that the ban would adversely affect the Goan mining industry. It may be noted that 70 % of Goa's iron ore export is to China while 80 per cent of this is low grade ore. The ban will have direct impact on as much as 30 Million Tonnes, said an official of GMOEA.
As per the reports reaching here, Beijing has banned Chinese trading houses from importing low-quality iron in a move that could, paradoxically, increase the raw material procurement costs of the country's steelmakers, trading sources said yesterday.
The surprising decision comes as the 40-year-old pricing system for iron ore, based on annual prices and lengthy negotiations, crumbles. The system has been replaced by quarterly contracts linked to the spot market, where prices are higher. In most cases, steelmakers will end up paying up to twice as much for the commodity.
China is the world's largest iron ore importer, accounting last year for about 70 per cent of the $200bn-a-year seaborne market, up from 16 per cent a decade ago.
The official China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, known as CCCMC, sent a letter to traders this week ordering them to stop importing ore with iron content below 60 per cent.
Steelmakers and their brokers are not affected by the ban, a trading executive familiar with matter told the Financial Times. He added it was unclear who would enforce the ban and how it would do so. In the past, attempts to ban imports have failed.
If the CCCMC directive is enforced, it would reduce iron ore flows from India, the world's third-largest exporter, into China, forcing traders to import from elsewhere, driving up benchmark spot prices. Australian ore has a 62 per cent iron content and it is the benchmark used in the industry as the main reference to set the new quarterly contracts.
Brazilian ore has, in general, an iron content of about 63.5 per cent to 65 per cent. India's ore generally has an iron content of 55 per cent to 58 per cent.
The news of the ban helped to push the cost of spot Australian benchmark iron ore - 62 per cent iron content - to a fresh 18-month high of $166.20 per tonne, up 3.1 per cent on the day.
"The ban is already playing a role in the market's psychology," a broker said. Iron ore prices have surged 40.6 per cent since January.
Traders and brokers said they were perplexed by the ban. The move by the CCCMC comes only days after the China Iron and Steel Association, the trade body that last year represented the country in the ore negotiations with the miners, to boycott Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.
The boycott call was largely dismissed by analysts, who said that Chinese steelmakers had only two months' worth of stockpiles and needed the supplies from the three big miners.
Melinda Moore, an iron ore analyst at Credit Suisse, said that "any attempted boycott of iron ore [was] impractical and likely to backfire".
Showing posts with label Capitalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Capitalism. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Body as a site of resistance: activism in an era of neoliberalism
By H.Bedi
Underlying much Indian organizing around industrialization and development issues are concerns about the changing political and economic regimes promoted locally, nationally, and globally. The rise of neoliberal forces has created a different context for organizing and activism in India. With the encouragement of capitalism in particular, many communities and broader struggles question who is gaining from market liberalization. Protest against economic liberalization has been partially shaped through actions where the body of affected communities and other concerned citizens have been used as sites of resistance. The body as a site of resistance has proved to be a particularly poignant and charged form of protest, particularly when examined from a gendered perspective. Activists have used their bodies in a range of ways to represent their opposition. They have physically blocked industrial construction, undergone hunger strikes, walked hundreds of kilometres in padyatra, sat in dharna, and placed their emotional and physical bodies at risk in a myriad of other forms.
This piece will look at a specific form of bodily protest in relation to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Orissa. Seen as a part of the economic liberalization of India, SEZs are spaces owned and managed by private entities within a sovereign nation that abide by a special set of trade and economic laws, provide sophisticated infrastructure and tax incentives, and are designed to promote economic growth (Seminar 2008). In the protest against these zones, the body becomes a source of power, but what are the ramifications for those involved, particularly women? What are the gendered connotations when women occupy a site and are met by a private security force that is entirely or predominantly male? There is a particular vulnerability for some women using their body as a site of resistance. This has been painfully evident when women protesting SEZs in Nandigram endured brutal sexual violence.
This thought piece is based on reflections from on-going fieldwork and secondary resources. Through a review of media information, and qualitative interviews with activists and communities affected by industrialization, certain patterns of protest and themes of injustice have emerged. Respondents describe that they feel as though the threat of displacement and disenfranchisement, particularly among agrarian communities, is occurring on a new scale as industrialization is promoted. Some also describe heightened aggression and violence against communities and other protestors when they physically stop or block industrial activities. Despite this perceived threat, communities, including women, actively use their bodies as a medium to display their discontent with exclusionary industrialization. In doing so, women actively engage in the struggle and at times this intimate form of protest renders them vulnerable and may further existing marginalization related to class and gender. Recent protest related to the promotion of Special Economic Zones reveal how and why women chose to protest with their bodies, desperation associated with the struggles, and the particular ramifications they face as a result of their decisions.
As quoted in Business standard, an affected villager, Sulachana Dei, explains, "we are ready to give our land but not leave one inch of land for Posco steel project" (Business Standard 2008). The South Korean Pohang Steel Company (POSCO)’s plans to establish a steel plant, mines, and a port in Orissa state have led to much civil unrest, violence, and political maneuvering. POSCO applied for SEZ status, and while the status was delayed, moved forward with alternate environmental clearances. Posco’s survey teams attempted to enter Dhinika village in February 2008. Their movement was halted by hundreds of women, children, and other villagers who created fences around the circumference of the village. This collective monitored the fence using bows and arrows, lathis and other weapons to ensure that the teams could not enter the site. Women stood shoulder to shoulder with men and children armed only with bows and arrows to defend themselves against the power of the company and the state.
The head of a local organizing movement states, "village women have taken oath near village Goddess not to give one inch of land to the said project." The villagers prefer not to face the uncertainty of displacement, and have actively used their bodies as a virtual shield from the land encroachment. Occupation of any industrial site is potentially dangerous for anyone, but entry into a special economic zone can be particularly perilous because these zones do not have local or national police guards. Instead they operate under a distinct set of laws, and are governed by private security forces employed by corporations. Although police accountability in India can be questionable in many instances, SEZ private security firms have even less accountability to protect the welfare of local community members- particularly women who may not usually be so visible in an industrial site.
For the women protestors, there is also a level of social exposure and uncertainty associated with this form of resistance. How will male security forces respond to their body shield? How will their community view them after they have spent time in physical protest? Despite their sacrifice, in August 2008 the Indian Supreme Court ruled to allow Posco to use large amounts of forest land, possibly displacing 20,000 people. In September, affected community members continued to protest, carrying bows, arrows and sticks, against the plant.
In Orissa, affected villagers directly used their bodies as sites of resistance to demonstrate their rejection of this form of industrialization. Streaming through this example is personal and collective conviction, threats of violence, a strong connection to land, and a willingness to place the individual body in harms way to protect their land and dignity. Through these actions, some women occupy new spaces that are usually predominantly masculine areas of work. The presence of women in what may be considered masculine spaces is quite remarkable in the local cultural context. In this way, they go from being invisible or not present in these industrial spaces to visible protestors, and in certain instances at risk of social or physical scrutiny. They were susceptible to violence, and the potential post-protest social ramifications.
This example is illustrative of the extent that communities feel pushed by economic liberalization and industrialization that is not aligned with their connection to agriculture and land. The strain of this threat has pushed many women to protest in this manner, exposing them to physical risk and possible social repercussions. Some of these women have never protested in their life, and to lay their emotional and physical bodies on the line to protect their families and land is an extreme display of their personal convictions. As this is research in progress many questions remain unanswered, and there continues to be much to learn and understand about women and how they use their bodies as sites of resistance to SEZs.
Underlying much Indian organizing around industrialization and development issues are concerns about the changing political and economic regimes promoted locally, nationally, and globally. The rise of neoliberal forces has created a different context for organizing and activism in India. With the encouragement of capitalism in particular, many communities and broader struggles question who is gaining from market liberalization. Protest against economic liberalization has been partially shaped through actions where the body of affected communities and other concerned citizens have been used as sites of resistance. The body as a site of resistance has proved to be a particularly poignant and charged form of protest, particularly when examined from a gendered perspective. Activists have used their bodies in a range of ways to represent their opposition. They have physically blocked industrial construction, undergone hunger strikes, walked hundreds of kilometres in padyatra, sat in dharna, and placed their emotional and physical bodies at risk in a myriad of other forms.
This piece will look at a specific form of bodily protest in relation to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Orissa. Seen as a part of the economic liberalization of India, SEZs are spaces owned and managed by private entities within a sovereign nation that abide by a special set of trade and economic laws, provide sophisticated infrastructure and tax incentives, and are designed to promote economic growth (Seminar 2008). In the protest against these zones, the body becomes a source of power, but what are the ramifications for those involved, particularly women? What are the gendered connotations when women occupy a site and are met by a private security force that is entirely or predominantly male? There is a particular vulnerability for some women using their body as a site of resistance. This has been painfully evident when women protesting SEZs in Nandigram endured brutal sexual violence.
This thought piece is based on reflections from on-going fieldwork and secondary resources. Through a review of media information, and qualitative interviews with activists and communities affected by industrialization, certain patterns of protest and themes of injustice have emerged. Respondents describe that they feel as though the threat of displacement and disenfranchisement, particularly among agrarian communities, is occurring on a new scale as industrialization is promoted. Some also describe heightened aggression and violence against communities and other protestors when they physically stop or block industrial activities. Despite this perceived threat, communities, including women, actively use their bodies as a medium to display their discontent with exclusionary industrialization. In doing so, women actively engage in the struggle and at times this intimate form of protest renders them vulnerable and may further existing marginalization related to class and gender. Recent protest related to the promotion of Special Economic Zones reveal how and why women chose to protest with their bodies, desperation associated with the struggles, and the particular ramifications they face as a result of their decisions.
As quoted in Business standard, an affected villager, Sulachana Dei, explains, "we are ready to give our land but not leave one inch of land for Posco steel project" (Business Standard 2008). The South Korean Pohang Steel Company (POSCO)’s plans to establish a steel plant, mines, and a port in Orissa state have led to much civil unrest, violence, and political maneuvering. POSCO applied for SEZ status, and while the status was delayed, moved forward with alternate environmental clearances. Posco’s survey teams attempted to enter Dhinika village in February 2008. Their movement was halted by hundreds of women, children, and other villagers who created fences around the circumference of the village. This collective monitored the fence using bows and arrows, lathis and other weapons to ensure that the teams could not enter the site. Women stood shoulder to shoulder with men and children armed only with bows and arrows to defend themselves against the power of the company and the state.
The head of a local organizing movement states, "village women have taken oath near village Goddess not to give one inch of land to the said project." The villagers prefer not to face the uncertainty of displacement, and have actively used their bodies as a virtual shield from the land encroachment. Occupation of any industrial site is potentially dangerous for anyone, but entry into a special economic zone can be particularly perilous because these zones do not have local or national police guards. Instead they operate under a distinct set of laws, and are governed by private security forces employed by corporations. Although police accountability in India can be questionable in many instances, SEZ private security firms have even less accountability to protect the welfare of local community members- particularly women who may not usually be so visible in an industrial site.
For the women protestors, there is also a level of social exposure and uncertainty associated with this form of resistance. How will male security forces respond to their body shield? How will their community view them after they have spent time in physical protest? Despite their sacrifice, in August 2008 the Indian Supreme Court ruled to allow Posco to use large amounts of forest land, possibly displacing 20,000 people. In September, affected community members continued to protest, carrying bows, arrows and sticks, against the plant.
In Orissa, affected villagers directly used their bodies as sites of resistance to demonstrate their rejection of this form of industrialization. Streaming through this example is personal and collective conviction, threats of violence, a strong connection to land, and a willingness to place the individual body in harms way to protect their land and dignity. Through these actions, some women occupy new spaces that are usually predominantly masculine areas of work. The presence of women in what may be considered masculine spaces is quite remarkable in the local cultural context. In this way, they go from being invisible or not present in these industrial spaces to visible protestors, and in certain instances at risk of social or physical scrutiny. They were susceptible to violence, and the potential post-protest social ramifications.
This example is illustrative of the extent that communities feel pushed by economic liberalization and industrialization that is not aligned with their connection to agriculture and land. The strain of this threat has pushed many women to protest in this manner, exposing them to physical risk and possible social repercussions. Some of these women have never protested in their life, and to lay their emotional and physical bodies on the line to protect their families and land is an extreme display of their personal convictions. As this is research in progress many questions remain unanswered, and there continues to be much to learn and understand about women and how they use their bodies as sites of resistance to SEZs.
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