A massive open-cast coal mine was proposed for Phulbari in 1994, with the support of the governme... more A massive open-cast coal mine was proposed for Phulbari in 1994, with the support of the government and international financial organisations. Threatened by displacement, the apparently powerless community mobilised against the mine. Allied with the national and the transnational activist organisations, they successfully stopped the mine. This remarkable success is the subject of the thesis. This resistance is compared quantitatively with the incidence of protests in 397 other mines in the South Asia. Predictors of protest include density of population, proportion of area under forest cover, and ownership by a multinational company. These factors alone would predict a high probability of protest in Phulbari. To understand how the resistance unfolded and why it was successful, the thesis relies on ethnographic evidence. I conducted participant observation and interviewed sixty-four individuals in Phulbari and Dhaka in Bangladesh and in London. Mobilisation against the mine can be exp...
There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent d... more There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent decades. The repercussions are evident in the rise of protests from local communities against mining, but these face multinational companies, state and financial institutions operating as a coalition of the powerful. This paper investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The paper presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in tran...
The Daily New Age 17th Year anniversary Supplement, 2020
THE COVID-19 pandemic has affected and will be affecting the world including both developing and ... more THE COVID-19 pandemic has affected and will be affecting the world including both developing and developed countries. Countries of the world have responded differently to this pandemic since the impact has been variable across the globe. Scholarly literature on COVID-19 frequents internet academic world and is mostly concerned about the impact of this pandemic on global and regional economic and health sectors. There are country specific studies too. Studies analysing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Bangladeshi politics, society and economy (especially the manufacturing industry) also have a prominent place. Based on Bangladesh Peace Observatory’s data on the pandemic, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients were 32,097,561 worldwide, with 981,968 people succumbing to it till September 25, 2020. Under such circumstances, Bangladesh as a developing country has a lot of challenges to deal with too. I explore what, according to scholarly studies and anecdotal experiences of activists, is happening in Bangladesh around COVID-19 pandemic preparedness and management.
When we think about the role of media in social movements, we identify media's representation of ... more When we think about the role of media in social movements, we identify media's representation of the core grievance of the movement, traction of the movement in the media and its role in helping the movement. Using two examples from Bangladesh's recent environmental justice movements, I show the changing role of media coverage on the movements, given the political opportunity structures available and discuss the differences between the cases. Using newspaper data and social media interactions, I compare the dynamics of media's treatment of two movements, one against a proposed open cast coal mine in Phulbari, Dinajpur and another protesting against the establishment of a coal-fired power plant near Sundarbans. For the first case, I analyze the role of print media and for the second, both print and social media. I argue that both old and new media served as stages showcasing contested meanings of development, environmental injustice in both cases. However, I also show that the differences between the contribution in motivating the resistances by old and new media is different. However, both types of media, when appropriated by the capitalist interests can become weapons against the marginalized more often than it works as a space for upholding their voices.
There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent d... more There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent decades. The repercussions are evident in the rise of protests from local communities against mining, but these face multinational companies, state and financial institutions operating as a coalition of the powerful. This article investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national-level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The article presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in transnational environmental politics.
There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent d... more There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent decades. The repercussions are evident in the rise of protests from local communities against mining, but these face multinational companies, state and financial institutions operating as a coalition of the powerful. This paper investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The paper presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in transnational environmental politics.
This paper examines the concept of indigenous knowledge and its role in the politics of indigenou... more This paper examines the concept of indigenous knowledge and its role in the politics of indigenous movements from a political ecology perspective. It offers an empirical analysis of indigenous knowledge among the Mandi (Mande/Garo), a matrilineal ethnic group in Bangladesh. This study shows that Mandi farmers do not identify their knowledge as indigenous although they identified themselves as different from the majority population of the country. Drawing from the literature and ethnography, I find that indigenous knowledge as a concept is untenable, both theoretically and empirically. However, the concept is very popular in the development discourse and in indigenous movement. At one hand, the international development organizations use it as a tool for making the indigenous habitat available for capitalist market penetration, on the other, the indigenous people regard this concept as a way to get their voices heard in the local and global development planning. Indigenous knowledge lives because it serves the role of a weapon for both sides of the development apparatus.
working paper supports 'backlash' under certain conditions. The case illustrates that even after ... more working paper supports 'backlash' under certain conditions. The case illustrates that even after violent repression by state forces, protestors did not refrain from 'costly' high-risk protest behaviours. This paper provides two explanations: first, emotions over-shadowed costs of high-risk behaviours leading protestors to ignite sparks of risky protests. Second, after being violated; protestors' community obligation to stay together and keep protest alive was a crucial determinant of further mobilization. By using qualitative interviews of activists, supporters and company beneficiaries, I illustrate how after the violent repression -emotion, community obligation, strategic leadership and media performance helped the protestors to use the weakness of the regime's unplanned violence.
A massive open-cast coal mine was proposed for Phulbari in 1994, with the support of the governme... more A massive open-cast coal mine was proposed for Phulbari in 1994, with the support of the government and international financial organisations. Threatened by displacement, the apparently powerless community mobilised against the mine. Allied with the national and the transnational activist organisations, they successfully stopped the mine. This remarkable success is the subject of the thesis. This resistance is compared quantitatively with the incidence of protests in 397 other mines in the South Asia. Predictors of protest include density of population, proportion of area under forest cover, and ownership by a multinational company. These factors alone would predict a high probability of protest in Phulbari. To understand how the resistance unfolded and why it was successful, the thesis relies on ethnographic evidence. I conducted participant observation and interviewed sixty-four individuals in Phulbari and Dhaka in Bangladesh and in London. Mobilisation against the mine can be exp...
There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent d... more There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent decades. The repercussions are evident in the rise of protests from local communities against mining, but these face multinational companies, state and financial institutions operating as a coalition of the powerful. This paper investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The paper presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in tran...
The Daily New Age 17th Year anniversary Supplement, 2020
THE COVID-19 pandemic has affected and will be affecting the world including both developing and ... more THE COVID-19 pandemic has affected and will be affecting the world including both developing and developed countries. Countries of the world have responded differently to this pandemic since the impact has been variable across the globe. Scholarly literature on COVID-19 frequents internet academic world and is mostly concerned about the impact of this pandemic on global and regional economic and health sectors. There are country specific studies too. Studies analysing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Bangladeshi politics, society and economy (especially the manufacturing industry) also have a prominent place. Based on Bangladesh Peace Observatory’s data on the pandemic, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients were 32,097,561 worldwide, with 981,968 people succumbing to it till September 25, 2020. Under such circumstances, Bangladesh as a developing country has a lot of challenges to deal with too. I explore what, according to scholarly studies and anecdotal experiences of activists, is happening in Bangladesh around COVID-19 pandemic preparedness and management.
When we think about the role of media in social movements, we identify media's representation of ... more When we think about the role of media in social movements, we identify media's representation of the core grievance of the movement, traction of the movement in the media and its role in helping the movement. Using two examples from Bangladesh's recent environmental justice movements, I show the changing role of media coverage on the movements, given the political opportunity structures available and discuss the differences between the cases. Using newspaper data and social media interactions, I compare the dynamics of media's treatment of two movements, one against a proposed open cast coal mine in Phulbari, Dinajpur and another protesting against the establishment of a coal-fired power plant near Sundarbans. For the first case, I analyze the role of print media and for the second, both print and social media. I argue that both old and new media served as stages showcasing contested meanings of development, environmental injustice in both cases. However, I also show that the differences between the contribution in motivating the resistances by old and new media is different. However, both types of media, when appropriated by the capitalist interests can become weapons against the marginalized more often than it works as a space for upholding their voices.
There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent d... more There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent decades. The repercussions are evident in the rise of protests from local communities against mining, but these face multinational companies, state and financial institutions operating as a coalition of the powerful. This article investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national-level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The article presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in transnational environmental politics.
There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent d... more There has been a major shift of investment in extractive industry to the global South in recent decades. The repercussions are evident in the rise of protests from local communities against mining, but these face multinational companies, state and financial institutions operating as a coalition of the powerful. This paper investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The paper presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in transnational environmental politics.
This paper examines the concept of indigenous knowledge and its role in the politics of indigenou... more This paper examines the concept of indigenous knowledge and its role in the politics of indigenous movements from a political ecology perspective. It offers an empirical analysis of indigenous knowledge among the Mandi (Mande/Garo), a matrilineal ethnic group in Bangladesh. This study shows that Mandi farmers do not identify their knowledge as indigenous although they identified themselves as different from the majority population of the country. Drawing from the literature and ethnography, I find that indigenous knowledge as a concept is untenable, both theoretically and empirically. However, the concept is very popular in the development discourse and in indigenous movement. At one hand, the international development organizations use it as a tool for making the indigenous habitat available for capitalist market penetration, on the other, the indigenous people regard this concept as a way to get their voices heard in the local and global development planning. Indigenous knowledge lives because it serves the role of a weapon for both sides of the development apparatus.
working paper supports 'backlash' under certain conditions. The case illustrates that even after ... more working paper supports 'backlash' under certain conditions. The case illustrates that even after violent repression by state forces, protestors did not refrain from 'costly' high-risk protest behaviours. This paper provides two explanations: first, emotions over-shadowed costs of high-risk behaviours leading protestors to ignite sparks of risky protests. Second, after being violated; protestors' community obligation to stay together and keep protest alive was a crucial determinant of further mobilization. By using qualitative interviews of activists, supporters and company beneficiaries, I illustrate how after the violent repression -emotion, community obligation, strategic leadership and media performance helped the protestors to use the weakness of the regime's unplanned violence.
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Papers by Samina Luthfa
coalition of the powerful. This article investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national-level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The article presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in transnational environmental politics.
(Mande/Garo), a matrilineal ethnic group in Bangladesh. This study shows that Mandi farmers do not identify their knowledge as indigenous although they identified themselves as different from the majority population of the country. Drawing from the literature and ethnography, I find that indigenous knowledge as a concept is untenable, both theoretically and empirically. However, the concept is very popular in the development discourse and in indigenous movement. At one hand, the international development organizations use it as a tool for making the indigenous habitat available for capitalist market penetration, on the other, the indigenous people regard this concept as a way to get their voices heard in the local and global development planning. Indigenous knowledge lives because it serves the role of a weapon for both sides of the development apparatus.
coalition of the powerful. This article investigates how an apparently powerless community in Bangladesh succeeded in harnessing long and strong connections with transnational organisations to halt a proposed open-cast mine. Local protestors first connected with national environmental rights groups and then with diverse transnational partners. I examine how the Phulbari resistance, as it is known, succeeded by managing connections using reciprocal tenacity and obligation towards the environment. A strong and independent national-level environmental justice mediator (National Committee) kept the coalition close to its local core. The article presents an empirical case on the rise of the global South in transnational environmental politics.
(Mande/Garo), a matrilineal ethnic group in Bangladesh. This study shows that Mandi farmers do not identify their knowledge as indigenous although they identified themselves as different from the majority population of the country. Drawing from the literature and ethnography, I find that indigenous knowledge as a concept is untenable, both theoretically and empirically. However, the concept is very popular in the development discourse and in indigenous movement. At one hand, the international development organizations use it as a tool for making the indigenous habitat available for capitalist market penetration, on the other, the indigenous people regard this concept as a way to get their voices heard in the local and global development planning. Indigenous knowledge lives because it serves the role of a weapon for both sides of the development apparatus.