Centering partners’ voices

"When we talk about energy transition, it is more something for northern countries, for the United States and for Europe. How can we talk about any energy transition in countries where you don't even have power?” With his sharp critique and probing question, Jean Claude Mputu of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) framed the latest bi-monthly Centering Partners’ Voices online conversation hosted by the Global Solidarity Collective of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. 

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Bringing together partners from across the global south and Presbyterians from throughout the United States, the Global Solidarity Collective creates space for hearing perspectives and testimonies of global partners in order to help generate understanding and solidarity among all participants. 

The theme of the most recent Centering Partners’ Voices held in late January focused on the impacts to rural and Indigenous communities from the rapidly growing demand for lithium and cobalt needed for the so-called energy transition. The energy transition in question refers to the phasing out of fossil fuels in exchange for renewable energies like solar and wind and replacing technologies like combustible engines with electric vehicles in order to abate the climate crisis. Necessary for such technologies are critical and rare earth minerals such as lithium and cobalt, among dozens more. 

Invited to share their testimonies about the impacts of the growing wave of mining projects that seek to exploit this increased demand were Jean Claude Mputu and Dirk Shaka, representing the “Congo is Not For Sale” coalition that works to fight corruption in the government and extractive industry in the DRC, and Francisca Beatriz Perea, leader of the “Fiambala Despierta” popular assembly that rose up in 2016 in defense of water and land against threats from lithium mining in her native Catamarca region of Argentina. 

“How can we even talk about energy transition for people who don't even have roads, or electric vehicles? How can we talk about energy transition for people who lack food, whose water resources are polluted because these products that are supposed to protect the planet pollute everything?" said Mputu in reference to cobalt mining in the DRC. 

Together, Mputu and Shaka gave an overview of mining across the DRC, noting that the DRC is the world leader in the production of cobalt. While much mining in the eastern part of the country is artisanal in nature, large foreign mining companies from China, Europe and the United States dominate the industry at large. Extreme poverty and an absence of state accountability shape a social context that continues to suffer the legacies of colonialism. The massive open pit mining projects leave environmental catastrophes that destroy ecosystems and leave populations poisoned. As Shaka indicated, the Congolese have been deemed to be the collateral damage in a geopolitical struggle for resource extraction, largely being fought between China and the United States. 

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From across the globe in Argentina, Perea offered parallel questions and testimony as she spoke about the lithium mining in her community of Catamarca, Argentina. “We ask ourselves, is the energy transition just and sustainable? No, not for our people who lack so many services and whose water is consumed by the mining project.”  

The lithium mining project that Perea references is the Tres Quebradas project that began in 2016 without notification nor adequate information for the community. Initially the project was operated by the Canadian company Neolitium. Perea said, “They told us that the project would bring progress to our region and plenty of employment, and so initially the project was welcomed by the people. But when the project began we noticed that the exploitation and extraction began in the high wetlands that are of great importance to our ecosystems.”  

The region of Catamarca is considered semi-desert, and hard rock lithium excavation consumes millions of liters of water. As Perea continued to describe the impacts on the ecosystems she also noted that the promised work never came. In fact, opportunities for employment became even less over time when the operations were transferred to a Chinese company. To this day, despite the continued operations of the mining project, there is still a lack of basic services such as health, education, and electricity for the larger population. 

In a time for questions and conversation following the testimonies of Mputu, Shaka and Perea, Cody O’Rourke participating from Palestine, asked the presenters, “All of this is connected to capitalism. What have been some helpful resources for people to read to understand how capitalism actually works? And how to fight against that? How do people have that difficult conversation?”

Shaka reflected on this question observing that “capitalism is not about fairness. It is about taking resources from the South, creating added value to those resources elsewhere, and consuming them in the North.” 

The Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo, a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church, noted in response, “Education is key. I have written to faith- based environmental organizations that too easily promote electric cars as an answer to the climate crisis, but they say nothing of how mineral extraction is impacting communities in the Global South.” 

Astudillo is also a professor of Eco-theology and a longtime advocate within the PC(USA) in addressing the climate crisis. “There needs to be a concerted effort to educate people of faith in the Global North on how electric cars cannot be a solution if communities in the Global South are suffering even further for this new type of resource exploitation,” Astudillo said. “Faith based environmental groups also need to focus on the issue of reducing our energy consumption.” 

You can watch the recording of the full conversation here 

Join us for our next Centering Partners’ Voices gathering “Democracy in Peril” on Tuesday, March 18 at noon Eastern Time, where we will hear from global grassroots leaders on staying sane, planning, and continuing the fight for democracy and human rights in challenging times. Register here.

You can register for all the upcoming Centering Partners’ Voices gatherings hosted by the Global Solidarity Collective here.