paradigm shift disorder carlos zorrilla fv
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PARADIGM SHIFT DISORDER
Carlos Zorrilla
PSD: A condition afflicting individuals and governments that, once in power, implementpolicies contrary to the paradigm shift that is vital for the well-being of the planet and its
inhabitants, and for which they were elected to implement. Often, it is characterized by
demagoguery, hypocrisy and a reverting back to ruinous policies that violate human rights
and worsen environment degradation. It is aggravated by the lure of quick, easy, money
posed by extractive industries, such as mining and oil.
March 5, 2012. President Correa(r) and Yuan Guisen(c),China's Ambassador to Ecuador, look on as Ecuador's Minister of Non-Renewable Resouces, Wilson Pastor, signs the first mining exploitation contract, initiating large-scale mining in the country.Picture this if you can: A World Bank and a IMF extractive industries director are going over
the latest developments in South America over a cup of coffee in Washington. The World Bank
director turns to the IMF representative and says: Jeez, isn't it funny how things turn out!! So-
called progressive governments down south following pretty much our model of development
and implementing some of our least palatable extractive policies
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The political change that swept over most of South American
nations during the past decade or so, was supposed to usher in major paradigm shift: from the
anthropocentric to a more biocentric mode of life. From a capitalistic to a more genuinelysocialistic and democratic perspective.
In Ecuador, the transformation was about giving nature Constitutional rights, and people the
right to a harmonious, or integral way of life. It was meant to usher in a radical change from a
purely economic paradigm to a more holistic one; putting social, cultural and environmental
wealth on an at least equal footing with economic wealth. The whole idea of development was
to be radically transformed. Less materialism; more social, cultural, environmental health. Less
extractivism and natural resource pillaging; more sustainable initiatives benefiting local
economies. Sustainability was meant to encompass all three main pillars of development, and
not reaffirm what it means today: sustained, and infinite economic growth. The elements above
the surface: soil, water, biodiversity and forests would be seen as being worth far more than
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subsurface minerals. Other species had a right to co-exist with humans. Importantly, the
impetus for most of these changes in perspectives came not from politicians, but from the
citizens, who were key protagonist in the re-writing of Ecuador's, and other Constitutions in the
region.
The shift was also meant to fortify civil society groups who expected to work closely withgovernment and help government in the transition, and take part in consolidating the changes.
Power itself was supposed to undergo a radical transformation- more in tune with the people and
respectful of the environment, and less responsive to powerful home-grown and transnational
economic interests. There was to be a major shift in geopolitics: less dependency on the
imperialistic North, more healthy South-South commerce, cultural and other exchange.
As far as the model of government, it was supposed to be the beginning of the end the ego-
power of the Caudillo- or strong-man- model of governing, and democracy would flourish.
Everyone thought that respect for free speech and freedom of expression would grow.
Parliaments were to be open to the people, and the Parliaments would really listen to what the
they said. Governments would rule by the Constitutions and the rule of law, and not based onpopulist policies. Genuine participatory government was to become the norm. It was taken for
granted that Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous Peoples and communities would
be fully respected.
I'm referring about the shift in governments and politics that has shaken South America in the
past 10 or so years and that put new leaders, some from the extreme left- some supposedly
progressive- into power. Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Venezuela; perhaps Paraguay. Brazil for
many. The change was supposed to usher in a new whole new paradigm of development. No
more development schemes to ravaged Planet Earth in the name of economic growth and for the
purpose of creating avid consumers, meanwhile enriching Northern economies and feeding
unsustainable lifestyles. Capitalism was to be replaced by a green and democratic socialism.
Instead, we have leaders like Bolivia's Morales, an indigenous-campesino socialist leader who
came to power trumpeting human and environment rights, and who is now pursuing a road
through the middle of a protected area known as Tipnis. In late 2011, his government violently
repressed indigenous protesters who were marching to the capital to protest the plan. President
Morales claims that the road is needed to develop the country. It has been pointed out that the
road would also perfectly suit the commodities-export regional initiative known as IIRSA. In
spite of the international condemnation that the repression against the protesters sparked and
ongoing national resistance, Bolivia's president is still determined to go ahead with his plans.
Stung by native resistance to his government's development plans, Evo Morales recently tried to
discredit the opposition, allegedly stating that environmentalism is the new colonialism1. It's
hard to believe that someone like Evo Morales wouldnt know that modern environmentalism
was largely inspired by Native Americans, and disappointing that he would equate
environmentalism with colonialism, which was anything but green. But Morales is not the only
president in South America following tried-and-tested neoliberal development plans, or using
the police to violently repress the resistance said plans provoke.
In Ecuador, Rafael Correa, who was packaged to the public as a progressive and who was voted
into power partly based on his pro-environment platform, has followed some of the World
Bank's most effective prescriptions to allow the North to continue helping themselves to the
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country's resources. His regime is dead set on transforming Ecuador, a mega biologically and
culturally diverse nation, into yet another mining country exporting raw mineral resources to the
North. The government, for example, is not satisfied that only 5% of the country has been
explored by mining corporations, and would like to see it expanded to not less than 40%, and is
looking all over the world for partners to start mining the Andes.
Correa's mining policies highlight the contradictions of his government perspective on
development perhaps like no other issue. For example, while outwardly supporting a green
initiative to leave massive amounts of petroleum under the Yasuni protected area in exchange
for cash from developed economies, Correa's government is opening new pristine areas for
mining and oil development. In the case of mining, it is specially tragic, since Ecuador is the
only Andean nation free of large-scale metal mining, and has the unique opportunity- and more
than enough renewable resources to do it- to choose a different development path, avoiding the
numerous and well-documented ills that mining development brings to developing nations.
Because of its great and irreversible environmental impacts, large-scale mining permanently
closes a country's door to develop sustainable economic activities wherever it operates.
Resistance and Mining
Correa's mining plans are being implemented in spite of virulent protests from campesino
communities and Indigenous Peoples, and after decades of experiencing all the problems that
petroleum development has inflicted on the country, its people, and the economy. Petroleum
development in Ecuador is synonym for severe erosion of ethnic diversity in the country's
biodiverse Amazon region, poisoning of untold numbers of rivers and streams and making
thousands of locals sick with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Partly because of this
grim past with petroleum, and partly based on knowledge of mining's real impacts in tropical
rainforests regions and local communities, Correa's plans have met stiff resistance and sparked
widespread social protests in the country. The latest protests against mining in March of this
year showed that the resistance is not limited to impacted communities, or led by a handful of
organizations. The protests brought together thousands of individuals from most of the country's
indigenous organizations, campesino groups as well as from dozens of other civil society
groups- including several large unions- to the streets in Quito. It was a shock that the
government is still trying to assimilate.
Beyond oil development's social and environmental curse, the development has created a
noxious dependency on the black gold that has suppressed other sectors of the economy and
that, for decades, has been the main provider of the national budget. It also put blinds onfunctionaries that made it impossible for them to imagine a life without the money from
exporting commodities. Thus, now that oil is running out, what more perfect choice can there
be- and one that the World Bank would approve of- than to developed the country's untapped
mineral resources! What will happen 20-30 years down the road when the minerals also run out
and Ecuador's pristine places have been transformed into open pit nightmares leaching heavy
metals is not hard to imagine.
Along with the rush to open the whole country to mining by- you might have guessed it-
transnational mining companies, a whole development package is aggressively being sold to
the people. Development, in the best tradition of capitalism, is being equated with things like
high-paying jobs, paved roads, large hydroelectric dams, open-pit mines, clinics, computers and
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so forth. In other words, material development. And, it's not that these things are are necessarily
all bad, the problem lies in that they reinforce the failed model of development that is killing the
oceans, wiping out biodiversity, and turning the planet into an oven and its citizens into
compulsive consumers. The extractive development model also keeps developing countries poor
and tied to exporting primary resources. For many who helped the current government come to
power, the regime's development plans is an unforgivable regression from what it was supposedto have been. In fact, disgust with his way of governing and his betrayal of the party's ideals
that President Correa was supposed to represent, drove many of his closest collaborators to
abandon his party's so-called Citizen's Revolution, and join the opposition.
The Compass Needle Shifts East (or, goodbye Uncle Sam, hello Uncle Cheng!)
One of the fundamental changes in the new development scheme was supposed to include a
shift in geopolitical orientation; lessening the connections to the imperialistic North, and
strengthen South-South exchange. However, instead of South, the economic and political
compass needle is increasingly pointing East. Iran, for example, has shown a great deal of
interest in Correa's government, and Ecuador responded by greatly expanding relations withIran and, at the same time, supporting the Gaddafi and Assad governments, in accord with
Chinese political interests.
Financially, the eastern shift is not much different. Loans from institutions like the World Bank,
the Inter-American Development Bank and the IFM have been almost completely eclipsed by
loans from Chinese state-controlled banks like the China Development Bank and the China
Export Import Bank. China, for example, has lent nearly 9 billions dollars to the Correa
government in the past couple of years to cover budget deficits during the past several years,
which is helping to fund his lavish, and popular, social programs. And it's not just only Ecuador
that is on the radar screen for Chinese financial institutions. according to a recent report2 ,in
Latin America, Chinas lending to the region in 2010 was more than the World Bank the Inter-
American Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of the United States combined.
In addition to high-profile loans, China is also funding some of Ecuador's biggest infrastructure
projects, including the country's biggest hydroelectric project, and is interested in fully funding
a massive 13 billion dollar petrochemical complex on Ecuador's coast. For its part, Ecuador
signed special deals with the Asian giant to repay part of the loans by exporting a significant
percentage of Ecuador's exportable oil production. The loans are no gift to the Ecuadorian
people either; the country is paying about 7% interest on them, much higher than what other
international lenders charge.
And, as with the World Bank and other western international lenders those loans don't come
without strings attached. For now, the visible strings are access to petroleum and copper, but inthe future it could include other metals, agricultural land, lumber, and whatever other resource
the Chinese are in need of. Or, as BBC news article3 bluntly put it:
One of China Development Bank's specific tasks is to try to alleviate and, where
possible, eliminate bottlenecks in supplies of raw materials or land for China's economy.
This is cause for concern after Correa's recent statement that there is no limit to borrowing from
China.
An attractive aspect of these loans is that, from the perspective of governments like Ecuador's,
the money comes without those bothersome transparency, human rights, labor, respect of
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Indigenous People's rights, and environmental safeguards. The loans also come without the
insistence from the lenders that the money be used to help the country mitigate poverty.
Needless to say, the flexibility is a real temptation for corrupt governments to misuse the
funds, and makes it easier to prolong their stay in power by subsidizing popular social programs,
regardless of their economic or environmental sustainability.
The Copper Connection
Ecuador's enthusiasm for Chinese financial support didn't stop with the petroleum deals. In
March of 2012, the country signed its first mining contract, paving the way for the construction
of Mirador, the country's first large-scale open-pit mine. Mirador happens to be a copper mine,
and it happens to be owned by a Chinese consortium made up of two of China's largest state-
owned corporations. In inking the deal, the Correa government didn't let legalities get in the
way, even after the nation's Comptroller General findings leaked to the press revealed 17 major
irregularities with the mining project, most of them sufficient to have annulled the project.
Another troubling factor in this particular grab for copper is that, according to an external audit,the project's Environmental Impact Statement was severely deficient, leaving out key data, and
not considering essential factors like seismic risks. Yet, the study was approved days before the
signing of the contract with the Chinese. The outrageous disregard of laws to accommodate
Ecuador's largest debtor is very disturbing, and is emerging as the model the government will
follow for other extractive projects. A similar disregard for the rule of law to facilitate other
mining and oil projects in the southeast of the country, which includes not respecting
community consultation processes, and redrawing boundaries of protected areas to
accommodate mining and oil interests, have helped further tarnish the government's discredited
environmental policies. Taken together, the flagrant disregard for the law sends a signal that the
government will push mining no matter what; even if that 'what' means gross violations of
human and collective rights, a severe weakening of democratic values and institutions, andwide-scale environmental degradation. A study released by the country's Ombudsmen in late
20114 on human rights violations drew attention to the link between the country's extractivist
plans and human rights violations, when it came to the conclusion that a significant share of the
violations were linked to resistance to extractive projects, and that there was a systematic
criminalization of the social protest. A study released in April of 2012 by one of Ecuador's most
prestigious universities came to similar conclusions5.
One unique aspect of the deal with the Chinese, which has raised some concern, is that Correa
pressured the companies to pre-pay 100 million dollars in future royalties. I know of no other
country in the world where mining companies pay royalties years before a mine is even built.
The gamble on the part of the Chinese is not much of an issue, since it has been shown thatState-owned Chinese corporations are willing to lose a lot of money- 600 million dollars in the
case of the Mecca Metro6, for example- in order to win political, and other kinds of favors from
countries rich in resources.
What the advanced royalty payment does is give the government money to use in the mining
region to attempt to neutralize the opposition and gain the support from the communities by
paving, building, wiring and sanitizing the place. It also makes it possible to show off minings
positive side (concrete 'development'). However, it also ties the hands of Ecuadorian
governments- present and future- to effectively avert, or control mining's insidious
environmental and social impacts.
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Happiness is still king and, because it's difficult or inconvenient to put a monetary price on
ecosystem services or for the government tax them, these services are worthless. Poverty is still
measured only in dollars and cents, and the environmental destruction and social and cultural
havoc produced by mining and other extractive industries are still seen as unfortunate costs of
development; externalities for someone else to pay in another time.
As far as the living and non-living elements of an ecosystem are concerned, including human
communities, it matters not at all what economic or political system is the author of their
demise. Whether in the name of pure capitalism and free markets, or socialist or communist
principles that justify the destruction of our Home to, paradoxically, improve living conditions
of the human population, devastation is devastation.
Duality of ProgressThere's no denying that there have been some very positive changes in Ecuador, as well as the
other countries mentioned. Social spending has gone way up, there is less economic poverty,
and many economically impoverished citizens, for the first time, have access to basic services,
like free medical attention. Public education is also, in theory, free for everyone, to university. I
say in theory because the country was unprepared for the increase in demand for this and other
services, and the systems collapsed. And, like many other populist governments before it, this
one has also been accused of using these popular programs to buy support. But overall, and in
spite of the fact that the richer are richer these days in Ecuador, one cannot ignore the fact that
positive economic and social progress has been made. Parallel to these positive achievements,
however, the flush of financing is also going to some questionable ends, including funding sharp
increases in defense spending, putting Ecuador at the stop of defense spending per portion of the
GNP in South America7; higher even than Colombia, which has to confront a decades-long civil
war.
One Huge Step Backwards for Collective RightsOne of the most noxious policy decisions regarding development taken by the Correa regime,
and widely rejected by civil society and Indigenous groups, is that of not recognizing
communities or Indigenous People's right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, or accepting
communities decision on development plans as binding. The President, along with key cabinet
members, have publicly said, on numerous occasions, that they equate the consultation process
with the simple act of socialization of projects, and that consent by affected stakeholders-
including local governments- is not to be considered. This refusal to recognize this key civil
society safeguard, and the right of these two fundamental civil society groups to choose a
different path of development, is seen as a huge step backwards in the establishment of
collective rights. It also makes a complete mockery of the government's sustainabilitydiscourse. Ironically, it's a policy expected more from the conservative right and capitalist
interests, than from the progressive left.
The Risks of Questioning Development
In Ecuador, persons and organizations who challenge the governments development plans are
either anti-development, agents of the political right, or just dumb, infantile ecologists, and/or
all of the above. Lately Correa has, as Morales, added a xenophobic ingredient to his attack on
the opposition to extractive development by saying that it is funded by rich gringos.
And, there is a lot to challenge. In this paradigm that refuses to die, there is no room for the
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noble principles behind Sumak Kawsay- or harmonious living- and the rights of nature nature
become little more than nice terms to exploit. Human and Indigenous Peoples rights are seen as
obstacles to development, and development goals keep being set in shiny desks in the capitals,
far away from the land and people they would destroy or relocate. In other words, and as our
two imaginary functionaries from the Bank and the IFM might say: My oh my, business is
humming along as usual!'
To make sure nothing stands in the way of this new progressive steam-roller, if your
organization's idea of development is not in line with the government's National Development
Plan- which was done without any kind of meaningful participation from civil society- your
organization can lose its legal status and the directors become the target of aggressive smear
campaigns by government officials. If it occurs to you to exercise your Constitutional right to
resist extractive activities, you are arrested, labeled a terrorist and can be jailed for years.
Whereas before, it was the corporations who were going after the protest leaders, it is now the
State who criminalizes the protests. Since Correa came into office, for example, nearly two
hundred indigenous and campesinos have faced, or are now facing, terrorism or other similar
criminal charges for taking part in protests against mining and other extractive projects 4,5. In
fact, the main organization representing the Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador, CONAIE, and who
actively supported candidate Correa, has had to brunt relentless attacks from Correa the
President ever since they parted ways, primarily due to the government's mining policies. The
attacks against CONAIE is only one facet of a sinister and sustained effort to undermine the
influence of non-governmental organizations in the country that don't support the government's
development plans- and especially its mining plans. The lack of tolerance in Correa's
government for differing perspectives regarding the development model the country should
follow is frightening.
There are many other examples of the steep cost that civil society and nature in Ecuador arepaying for this version of Development Shift Disorder, and for questioning its premises. These
include, criminalization of the protest, concentrating power in the Executive Branch and fatally
debilitating the Legislative and Judicial branches of government, intimidating the country's free
press and hampering freedom of expression.
You probably think that we were out of our minds in believing that some of these fundamental
changes would take place, and you might be right. However, keep in mind that the principal
authors of the country's new Constitution that embodied most of the progressive above ideas
was the people; so this time much more was expected from the State. Also, if you've been
involved in walking the long road towards achieving social justice and environmental
sustainability, and serious about the need for urgent paradigm change redefining development'sbasic premises, then you know that hope springs eternal and that utopia is not a unreachable
dream, but a journey; a path we must constantly walk even in the face of overwhelming
obstacles and constant betrayals. Not to do so makes us accomplices of a paradigm so
destructive that it now threatens all life on Earth.
1. http://www.diaadia.com.ar/mundo/evo-le-cierra-puertas-estados-unidos
2.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/chinese-loans-to-latin-america-top-world-bank-idb-combined.html
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-122129364.http://www.cedhu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=7
5.http://www.uasb.edu.ec/UserFiles/372/File/pdfs/NOTICIASYSUCESOS/2012/Informe%20Derechos%20Humanos%20(CD)%20.pdf
6. China Railway Corporation is the same company that is part owner of the Mirador copper mining project
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http://www.diaadia.com.ar/mundo/evo-le-cierra-puertas-estados-unidoshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/chinese-loans-to-latin-america-top-world-bank-idb-combined.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/chinese-loans-to-latin-america-top-world-bank-idb-combined.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12212936http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12212936http://www.cedhu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=7http://www.cedhu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=7http://www.cedhu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=7http://www.uasb.edu.ec/UserFiles/372/File/pdfs/NOTICIASYSUCESOS/2012/Informe%20Derechoshttp://www.uasb.edu.ec/UserFiles/372/File/pdfs/NOTICIASYSUCESOS/2012/Informe%20Derechoshttp://www.uasb.edu.ec/UserFiles/372/File/pdfs/NOTICIASYSUCESOS/2012/Informe%20Derechos%20Humanos%20(CD)%20.pdfhttp://www.diaadia.com.ar/mundo/evo-le-cierra-puertas-estados-unidoshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/chinese-loans-to-latin-america-top-world-bank-idb-combined.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12212936http://www.cedhu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=7http://www.uasb.edu.ec/UserFiles/372/File/pdfs/NOTICIASYSUCESOS/2012/Informe%20Derechoshttp://www.uasb.edu.ec/UserFiles/372/File/pdfs/NOTICIASYSUCESOS/2012/Informe%20Derechos%20Humanos%20(CD)%20.pdf -
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http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2033238,00.html7. http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120511/DEFREG02/305110006/South-American-Defense-Spending-
Doubles-5-Years-Report?odyssey=nav%7Chead
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http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2033238,00.htmlhttp://www.defensenews.com/article/20120511/DEFREG02/305110006/South-American-Defense-Spending-http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120511/DEFREG02/305110006/South-American-Defense-Spending-Doubles-5-Years-Report?odyssey=nav%7Cheadhttp://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2033238,00.htmlhttp://www.defensenews.com/article/20120511/DEFREG02/305110006/South-American-Defense-Spending-http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120511/DEFREG02/305110006/South-American-Defense-Spending-Doubles-5-Years-Report?odyssey=nav%7Chead
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