1

Environmental Catastrophes

and the roles of

Anthropologists on Mega

Mining Projects in Melanesia

Photo: Freeport McMoRan Grasberg Copper and gold mine- West Papua-photo from; Frik Els utilised

1st of June 2013 http://www.mining.com/grasberg-could-stay-shut-for-two-months-after-indonesia-

calls-for-halt-47771/

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Kanu Research Report – Assessment 4

PASI2001: Pacific Studies in a Globalising World with Dr Katerina Teaiwa

Research conducted by Daniel Jones - u5598836 and Colby Ormiston - u5501364

Report word count: Daniel Jones; 1433, Colby Ormiston; 1802, Total; 3199 (excluding refs.)

Date submitted: Monday the 9th of June 2014

Contents

Introduction.............................................................................................................3

Grasberg - Daniel Jones............................................................................................4

Panguna - Colby Ormiston.......................................................................................6

Ok Tedi - Daniel Jones.............................................................................................9

Gold Ridge - Colby Ormiston...................................................................................11

Conclusion.............................................................................................................12

Research Project Presentation and a Metaphoric Poker Game Debate...................13

Bibliography.........................................................................................................17

Appendix: Papuan Voices......................................................................................20

Abbreviations

AID Agency for International Development

ASG Australian Solomon’s Gold

AMDI Australian Mining for Development Initiative

BCL Bougainville Copper Limited

BHP Broken Hill Propriety Ltd (BHP Billiton)

BPA Bougainville Peace Agreement

BRA Bougainville Revolutionary Army

CFU Commonwealth Film Unit

DSM Deep Sea Mining

MPI Mineral Policy Institute

PLA Panguna Landowners Association

PNG Papua New Guinea

TED Trade and Environment Database

UN United Nations

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Introduction – Daniel Jones and Colby Ormiston

Our research journey set out to investigate the roles of anthropologists working for giant

mining companies who appeared responsible for accessing ‘legibility’ (Scott, 1998) with Melanesian

communities in a negotiating table paradigm. We look at four mines; Grasberg-Freeport McMoRan-

West Papua, Panguna-BCL/Rio Tinto-Bougainville, Ok Tedi-BHP-Papua New Guinea and Gold Ridge-St

Barbara-Solomon Islands. Linking anthropologists with mining companies proved to be a difficult

task and was not entirely achieved in this report. Information that was accessible where news

articles linking anthropologists whom had worked for mining companies but not published the

research done for their employers. This research indicated social and environmental advocacy and

activism in the struggles of autochthonous Melanesians against mining catastrophes. Therefore on

the one hand, mining developments provide the primary clients of anthropologists for ‘neutral’

negotiations (Filer, 1996: 26, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 179), while on the other hand some are involved

in social and environmental struggles against those companies advocating the pursuit of justice

sided with the affected communities. Our look into the following mines gives the reader insight on

the devastating affects large-scale mines can have on the environment and the role that

anthropologists can play in the process, hopefully ensuring mining is mitigated towards

obsolescence.

Photo: Damien Baker (2009) MPI copyright. Panguna mine Bougainville,

http://www.pngmininglegacies.org/mining-projects/panguna/attachment/bouganville_2009_11/

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Grasberg – Daniel Jones

West Papua is the scene of the most brutal colonial genocide in the region since Britain’s

invasion of Australia. The ‘state torture and terrorism’ (Ballard, 2002) inflicted on West Papuans is

the saddest and most horrific situation a human being can endure (see Appendix: Papuan voices).

Set in place by the UN with an act of [not so] free choice, Indonesia’s military migration has

slaughtered hundreds of thousands of West Papuans fighting for their land and identity since the

1960’s, as people ‘entangled in worlds’ evolve their tactics in response to state terror (Kirksey,

2012). The UN deal involved the largest copper and gold mine in the world, blasted out of the last

remaining equatorial glaciers in the world, amongst the Jayawijaya ranges (Assadi, 2008, Brown,

2014). The Grasberg deposit had an ‘estimated reserve value of $US54 billion to New Orleans based

company Freeport McMoran in 1998’ (Ballard, 2002: 15). It has been ‘personified as the incredible

hulk on cocaine of mines’ (Abrash and Kennedy, 2001: 60). In partnership with Rio Tinto the mine

accumulates ‘some 700,000 tonnes of toxic mine waste tailings per day’ (that’s nearly 26 billion

tonnes a year) discharged out over the mountain polluting the head waters of the lifeline of the

autochthonous Amungme people-the Ajikwa River, inundating wetlands and rivers below, forcing a

kind of ‘landscape diaspora’ (Teaiwa, 2005) of death to once pristine environments (Perlez and

Bonner, 2005). Ecocide of this nature violates Indonesian environmental criminal law but it doesn’t

seem to apply to Freeport (Perlez and Bonner, 2005). Back home in America Freeport is accused of

dumping radioactive waste into the Mississippi River while generating millions of dollars worth of

“green washing” advertisements about how great its operations are worldwide (Clark, 1996).

The Amungme and Komoro’s first encounter with the outside world was with Freeport’s

anthropologists and geologists wandering into the mountains in the in the 1960’s (Perlez and

Bonner, 2005). Amungme tribesmen with their penis gourds, bows and arrows have always resisted

the invasion of their sacred Motherland Mountains now desecrated by Freeport (Ballard, 2002: 18).

‘Freeport paid Indonesia $US30 million for military-mine security from 1997-2004’ (Perez and

Bonner, 2005). ‘Australian anthropologist Chris Ballard who worked for Freeport estimates 160

people have been killed by Indonesian-military mine-security from 1997 to 2004 in the mine area’

(Perlez and Bonner, 2005). Ballard (2002: 23) observes state violence inflicted on Amungme in a

variety of ways exemplified by the ‘symbolic death graffiti’ by Indonesian-military around the mine

area. His expertise led to understanding that “Mining in the Amungme landscape has been quite

literally an assault upon the body of Amungme belief and foundations of Amungme Identity”

(Ballard, 2002: 18).

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Within anthropologically in the context of Grasberg ‘the problem of writing effectively

against terror’ arises (Taussig, 1987: 3, cited in Ballard, 2002: 23), indicating as Ballard (2002: 23)

suggests ‘the risk of representing terror as a rational economy thus extending its reach and

effectively contributing to the torturer’s goal of creating total representation where the efficacy of

torture or terror is made evident through the fashioning of the victim or writer adding another

mouth to the truths of the state’. Word on the diabolical violence in West Papua is out and can no

longer be ignored by ‘the international community’ (Regan, 2010). On the one hand Ballard (2002)

reports state and environmental violence against the Amungme with an apparent ethical position of

advocating against it (considering his relationships with Amungme must have developed with trust,

respect and reciprocity). While on the other hand he has worked for Freeport as an anthropologist,

arguably breaching a sense of mutual trust by benefiting from the state terror of the Grasberg

development. An ethical decision based on the immoral context of universities involved at Grasberg

was found in a letter (Feld, 1995) from Professor of Anthropology Steven Feld who resigned from the

University of Texas after the Chancellor William Cunningham, a board member of Freeport, was

implicated with ‘collaborating in environmental and human rights abuses’ (TED, 1997).

Photo: Ajikwa River West Papua, posted on http://westpapuamedia.info/tag/grasberg-mine/

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Panguna - Colby Ormiston

The Panguna mine is located on Bougainville Island, in the North Solomon’s Province of PNG.

It is a large open-pit mine that operated from 1972 until 1989, when operations were suspended

due to militant activity. Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) operated the mine, which produced

copper concentrate containing large quantities of gold and silver that was processed at a facility in

Panguna on Bougainville (Panguna, n.d.). It was once the largest copper mine in the world. In the 17

years it was operating before the military unrest of 1989, “the mine had produced concentrate

containing 3 million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold, and 784 tonnes of silver” (Panguna, n.d.).

These figures contributed to approximately 44% of PNG’s exports for that time period. The

contributions from the mine to the national government in the form of taxes, duties and dividends

made up approximately 17% of internally generated PNG government revenue during that time

(Panguna, n.d.). The mine dominated the island’s economy during the 1970’s and 1980’s. BCL’s

ownership is made up by 54% Rio Tinto, 19% by the PNG government, and public shareholders –

from around the world including some Bougainvilleans, own the remaining 27% of the share capital

(Panguna, n.d.).

The Panguna mine has had devastating effects on the environment in Bougainville. The

destruction of native forest along with tailings created by the mine has resulted in severe

environmental damage in the Panguna area, including damage to nearby rivers and the ocean

(Panguna, n.d.). It is estimated that “billions of tons of poisonous tailings were dumped in the Jaba

and Kawerong rivers” (Choudley, 2002, p. 60). Along with forests and food gardens within the area,

river fish, animals and coastal marine life all were poisoned, died, or disappeared. The mine “created

a huge crater, half a kilometre deep and two kilometres wide” (Choudley, 2002, p. 60). Green

mountains were transformed into barren rock, turning the Jaba valley into a moonscape. The people

of the area were showered in dust from the mine that contained toxic heavy metals and were also

forced to drink from polluted water (Choudley, 2002, p. 60). These factors and BCL’s persuasion

forced persons close to the mine to relocate according to BCL’s anthropologist Douglas Oliver

(Oliver, 1973, Oliver, 1991, CFU, 1970).

On the social side of things, the mine was very important to the PNG economy but the

people of Bougainville were seeing very little benefit from it. From within an organisation called the

Panguna Landowners Association (PLA), a social movement against the mine began (Lasslett, 2009).

Subsequent to BCL’s failure to address PLA demands for environmental compensation, PLA affiliates

deployed acts of sabotage and arson against the mine (Panguna, n.d.). They took explosives from the

mine itself and used them to destroy mining equipment, roads to and from the mine, cut off power

to the mine, and other acts of vandalism (Panguna, n.d.). Throughout this conflict, Francis Ona, a

previous employee of BCL who became fed up with the environmental impacts of the mine as well

as the low level of royalties paid to land owners, became a local hero; evading capture and injury by

the PNG government and cultivating an image as an eco-revolutionary leader (Panguna, n.d.). From

1987 he and his cousin Perpetua Serero were voted in as chairpersons of the new PLA promoting a

revival of egalitarian values and environmental custodianship (Lasslett, 2009). The following quotes,

from Francis Ona himself, were gleaned from a source found through the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau

at ANU in the form of a letter from Francis to Bart Kigina of the Justice and Peace Committee,

Tubiana, Kieta on the 29th of April 1989;

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“What I see here is that our human race is under a big threat with the existence of BCL

through these major factors:

1. The use of dangerous chemicals in its production line

2. The environmental damage caused by the Panguna mine and infact that 9 prospecting

authorities would bring about when mining continued ahead

3. A fifth of our total area of Bougainville is already damaged. No creature will ever exist on

it again. Another four-fifths when covered will completely restrict our people from

subsistence farming which in return will mean the life of the entire province

4. Social unrest is continuing to increase with presence of outside influence”

*(Ona, 1989)

He stresses the environmental and social dangers the people of Bougainville become victims

to if the mine stays operational. Ona declares his reasoning for initiating the Bougainville

Revolutionary Army (BRA) in his statement, “What we are fighting for is to get out of this

government which is about to sacrifice the democracy at the mercy of the economy” *(Ona, 1989).

He believed that the government of PNG was not for the people but “for the economy of PNG and

Australia” *(Ona, 1989). The letter we found written by Francis Ona to Bart Kigina finished with the

line, “We are ready to fight for our people until we die. This is the only way left for us and our future

generation” *(Ona, 1989). Subsequent to our research the letter was exposed and shared though

the Papua New Guinea Mine Watch news blog site (Oearupeu, 2014).

During the war, about 20,000 people were killed – amassing about 10% of the Bougainville

population. The PNG Defence Force (PNGDF), BRA’s opponent, was supplied and paid for by Rio

Tinto and the Australian government (Lasslett, 2012). Throughout the war, the “Australian-

supported and armed PNGDF attacked villages with helicopter gunships, and tortured and killed the

Bougainvillean people” (Choudley, 2002, p. 60). The war got so serious that in April 1990, Port

Moresby implemented a land, sea and military blockade around Bougainville in a BCL hatched

strategy to “starve the bastards out” (Momis affidavit, 2001). They did this in order to turn the

people against the BRA so the mine could reopen. This blockade meant, “all government and social

services were suspended, schools closed and medical staff left Bougainville” (Choudley, 2002, p. 60).

It lasted for nine years and kept out journalists, food, medical supplies, food, and humanitarian

assistance (Choudley, 2002, p. 60).

In response to the blockade, the people of Bougainville had to utilize their environment in

the most unique of ways. For instance, with the lack of diesel, the people of Bougainville discovered

how to use coconut oil. In description, “the oil was fermented in upturned fridges discarded at the

beginning of the crisis, boiled and used as fuel for generators and the specially-adapted four-wheel

drives” (Choudley, 2002, p. 60). The young people who left their studies due to the war combined

technical and indigenous methods to “customize available bits of machinery like truck gearboxes to

make small hydroelectric power installations on the fast-flowing rivers” (Choudley, 2002, p. 60).

They salvaged the abandoned mine for the parts of their innovative technologies. Solar energy was

also exploited to charge batteries used for two-way radios and satellite phones (Choudley, 2002, p.

60). These became important links to the outside world during the blockade.

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Currently the mine remains closed but pressure from Australian and the USA with a planned

intervention to help BCL reopen it is apparent (Smith, 2013). In 2001 the Bougainville Peace

Agreement (BPA), a constitutional settlement with PNG, formed the basis for a referendum on

Bougainvilles independence from 2015-2020 (Regan, 2010). After reviewing the evidence and

testimony from Francis Ona, it seems that the reopening of the mine would only bring more

economic and social inequality to the people of Bougainville, cause more environmental damage and

spark continued social unrest.

Photo: Damien Baker (2009) MPI copyright. Artisanal mining at Jaba River tailings Bougainville

http://www.pngmininglegacies.org/mining-projects/panguna/

Photo: Defunct Panguna mine pit, http://mekamui.wordpress.com/

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Ok Tedi - Daniel Jones

The Ok Tedi mine in western PNG is a catastrophe, environmentally, socially and

economically. The big Australian; BHP is responsible for the disaster but ‘divested it in 2001 into a

charitable trust called to PNG Sustainable Development Program and in return was granted legal

immunity’ (Fox, 2013) after litigation brought against it caused on the basis of its environmental

legacy affecting downstream communities became effective (Kirsch, 1997). Hence they attempted to

wipe their hands of it and left, but it will always haunt BHP Billiton (Fox, 2013). Very high rainfall and

earthquakes in the western province Star Mountains of the North Fly River District meant

environmental mitigation was set up to fail ‘as the company repeatedly argued that there was no

method for storing the tailings without destroying the projects economic viability’ (Filer, 1997: 58).

Hence economic expedience rather than foreseeable environmental ramifications were the tragic

errors of the Ok Tedi/Fly River environmental disaster that sees more than ‘70 million tonnes of

mine waste discharged annually into the river system and eventually the ocean’ (Kirsch, 1997: 121).

The inundating flooding mud has swelled the Fly River significantly breaching into villages and their

gardening lands making life very hard and ‘very muddy’ for a long time to come (Porabou et al.,

2012).

Photo: Ok Tedi http://www.mining-recruitment-jobs.com/mining/blog/ok-tedi-copper-gold-mine/

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Researching anthropological roles in Ok Tedi led me to Stuart Kirsch an American

anthropologist who worked with ‘Yonggom speakers in the village of Dome on the Ok Tedi River’

(Filer, 1997: 62). Kirsch’s position was anthropological activism through advocacy between lawyers

and the indigenous community applicants pursing justice over the environmental devastation people

were forced to live in, although he also wrote a social impact study for BHP (Kirsch, 2002). His

advocacy ‘contributed to an out of court settlement in 1996 of an estimated $US500 million for

indigenous plaintiffs against BHP for compensation and tailings containment’ (Kirsch, 2002: 176,

Banks and Ballard, 1997). Kirsches anthropological approach appears very ethical, yet Colin Filer

appears insistent that Kirsch is acting as an ‘honest broker’ rather than an advocate for indigenous

peoples struggle with capitalism and claims anthropology in mining ought to be a neutral

stakeholder’s game (Kirsch, 2002: 179-90). Filer (1990) has ‘argued that mining projects initiate a

downwards spiral of social disintegration, focusing on the problems associated with the distribution

of economic benefits from mining companies to local communities’ (Kirsch, 1997: 119-20). Whereas

Kirsch sees ‘the shortcoming of the Filer et al. model in that they fail to address that the problems

are caused by environmental impacts of mining projects’ which agreeably is most significant. Kirsch

(1997: 120) said those “models ignore the possibility that mining crises may be the result of social

protest movements that object to the high environmental costs of mining”.

Photo: ABC TV, (FOX, 2013)

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Gold Ridge – Colby Ormiston

Gold Ridge Mine is located on the island of Guadalcanal, the central island of the Solomon

Islands (St Barbara, 2014). A brief history of the mine is found on their website:

In May 2005, Australian Solomon’s Gold (ASG) acquired Gold Ridge and Allied Gold

subsequently took over ASG in 2009. In March 2010, Allied Gold announced a $150 million

refurbishment and redevelopment program. St Barbara acquired Allied Gold in September

2012 (St Barbara Limited: Gold Ridge, 2014).

The mine, which as mentioned above is owned by Melbourne-based St Barbara, was shut

down due to flooding in Guadalcanal last month. The government is overseeing it and the group that

was put in charge of mine assessment by the Solomon Islands government is looking closely at the

tailings dam (Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, 2014). The team was from United Nations and their

concern was a dam collapse. They believed it poses a threat to the communities and environment

down steam, and in turn needs to be drained (Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, 2014).

Gold Ridge has also had its share of social conflict. It was taken over by Guadalcanal militants

in June 2000; this was followed by two years of civil conflict. The conflict involved groups “from the

islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal” and resulted in the evacuation of Malaitans from the mine area

(Evans, n.d., p. 121).

With the recent closure of the mine due to floods and the ongoing investigation of the

environmental damages and/or concerns associated with the mine, it seems that the future of St

Barbara’s Gold Ridge Mine is in question.

Photo: http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/cyclone-ita-wreaks-havoc-at-st-barbara-s-golden-ri

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Conclusion – Colby Ormiston and Daniel Jones

In turn, after taking part in research for this report, it is no doubt that the opening of a mine

can be a catastrophic decision for the environment of the region. It can result in the destruction of

large river systems and the communities surviving off of them, as seen in Ok Tedi. The social

pressure implemented on the local communities by mining corporations can result in huge conflict

affecting the entire country and not just the region being mined, as seen at Panguna in Bougainville.

The introduction of mines to these areas seem to turn green mountains into barren moonscapes as

seen in Jaba Valley, result in the dumping of millions of tonnes of mining waste into river systems

and the ocean annually as seen at Ok Tedi, as well as spark conflict and social unrest in the region

that can result in historical colonial genocides or civil wars, as seen in West Papua and Bougainville.

Anthropologists have a choice of which side to be on in these situations. They can work for the

economic benefit provided to them by the mining companies, or work for the social benefit of the

indigenous people by taking the advocacy route. Colin Filer argues for a neutral approach in these

conflicts and situations but it seems apparent that even if there is an anthropologist acting as a

referee in these situations, the mining companies and governments affiliated with them do not like

to play by the rules. The environmental, economic, and social catastrophes caused by these mines

need to be stopped. The indigenous people of the areas do not have enough of a voice on the issue

and sometimes the government is reliant on the economic boost provided by these mines. It is up to

anthropologists to provide a voice to these people and help them put a stop to the oppression and

destruction of their native lands. Otherwise it is too easy for the rest of the world to turn the other

cheek and let the colonial-influenced mining companies wreak havoc in these regions for the sake of

the economy. In light of our research ‘framing the Pacific’ (Fry, 2000) history of environmental

catastrophes caused by mining developments, it has become apparent that anthropological

practices ought to be ethically strengthened toward ‘proprietary rights for Indigenous communities’

of mining company commissioned studies and ‘advocacy’ (Kirsch, 2002), against inevitable social and

environmental mine sparked disasters ideally before they begin by leaving their resources to them.

Enough is enough. Yet ‘framing Pacific sustainable development’ with continuing mining under the

$130 million ‘Australian Mining for Development Initiative’ (AMDI, 2011) accompanying (with the

intention of potentially replacing) was-AID, is an outrageous continuation of belligerence and

neocolonialism. Mega-mining projects have been proven inappropriate in Melanesia, not only

because companies have exploited ‘weak’ environmental laws in conjunction with land grabs, but

because the undermining of Motherland (providing a responsible lifeline to a sustainable future), is

not the grassroots Melanesian way. Equally throughout the Pacific, the prospect of Deep Sea Mining

(DSM) (PNG Mine Watch, 2014) poses a significant threat to autochthonous people’s symbiotic

relationship with their healthy ‘sea of Islands’ (Hau’ofa, 1993). Trade links in agriculture and

sustainable tourism have not been sufficiently explored, especially in the context of relatively new

boutique organic, fair-trade and eco- tourism markets with the potential of providing economic

solutions to assertions of ‘weak states’ (Fry, 2000) proving large-scale mining is defunct (Porabou et

al., 2012). Unfortunately negativity has rained in on this report with emphasis on mining and the

horrors of West Papua most relevant now. However readers ought to be informed of the seriousness

of what is at stake when anthropology and mining companies combine in the region, to proliferate

ethical thinking and decisions rather than repeating the past by offering better advice for safe and

positive futures in the ‘sustainable development’ realms of ‘Pacific studies in a globalising world’

that doesn’t involve destroying their environment.

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Kanu research project presentation

Presentation of major points from our research on the four mines. 10 minutes

Kanu research video-collaged by Daniel Jones

Available on you tube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIdhS_rK7gE&feature=youtu.be

Bibliography of films in order of presentation

Forgotten Bird of Paradise, you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaGou3vB3A0

Freeport Mine Tailings, Izzy Brown, you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucS3DQdsoBs

Ground Rules –Chapter 4, you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BYnGWGm-Uc

My valley is changing (1970), you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYSENPoZv58

The Coconut revolution (2001), you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDpvxQe_Jhg

After the God Rush, Journyman.tv, you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJqPaOubSgQ

OTML flyover, Michael Jacobsen, you tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwPQjN6bWXs

Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, Latest news on Gold Ridge, Solomon’s monitoring tailings dam,

http://ramumine.wordpress.com/tag/gold-ridge-mine/

Metaphoric poker game debate

Delegate the class into a poker game and ask the class to side with one of the following groups;

Government (Dealer) 20 billion 18 million in chips

Mining Corporation (player) they have 31 billion 30 million

Landowners (player) 3 million 500 thousand

Downstream communities (invited to play through the courts) 5000 in hundreds+ 500 million in an

out of court environmental compensation settlement

Introduction: Stakeholder analysis using the poker game metaphor came from Colin Filer, found in

my research (Daniel) on the roles of anthropologists in mining at Ok Tedi in a critique by Stuart

Kirsch (2002). It referred to a published debate in Anthropology Today on the appropriateness of

advocacy within anthropology (...). Filer maintains anthropology ought to remain neutral in respect

of dealing with mining companies, governments and indigenous communities, where as Kirsch

shows advocacy in anthropology contributed to a $500 million dollar out of court settlement for

mine affected downstream communities on the Ok Tedi River with whom he had sided.

We going to act out the debate between Colin Filer (Dan) and Stuart Kirsch (Colby) using direct

quotes and paraphrases in the context of this debate gleaned from Kirsch (2002 and1997) and Filer

(1990, 1996, 1997 and 1999).

14

While Dan and Colby debate, embodying the roles of Filer-the referee of the game and Kirsch-the

downstream village group advocate, the class can embody the dynamics of the following metaphor;

*The dealer is doing its best to accommodate the company with the money and the company is

encouraging the dealer to bend the rules with regular donations.

*The landowners are trying to work out the rules and make a sensible bet to come out a winner but

money keeps disappearing from within. Division and exclusion becomes a social problem on top of

the environmental problems they are facing.

*The downstream communities have only just been invited to play thanks to Kirsch’s advocacy and

court proceedings. Downstream communities ultimately want their buggered-up environmental

situation improved.

Debate 10 min;

Colby (Kirsch 2002: 180)-“To Filer, relations between mines and indigenous communities resemble a

game of high stakes poker, which can be considered a fair contest because one set of rules applies to

all the players, even though some can afford to wager larger sums of money or are more

experienced in playing the game”.

Dan-Filer (1990: 93) [I used the same metaphor to describe mine negotiations in Bougainville] “I am

inclined to think of this process as a game of strip poker in which everyone expects to lose some of

their clothes but no-one wants to lose all of their clothes, and which is supposed to go on until

everyone is satisfied with the total amount of clothing which has so far been removed”.

Colby (Kirsch, 2002: 180) “No Poker game is fair when one player (the company) changes the rules to

suit its hand, threatens to walk away from the table before the others have the opportunity to

recoup their losses and has a secret pact with the dealer (the government), who agrees to evict

anyone who challenges the way the game is being played, at Ok Tedi the high stakes game was by

invitation only requiring a court appearance for the communities downstream from the mine even

to gain a seat at the table”.

Dan( Filer, 1996) “Stakeholder analysis involves all parties converging at the negotiating table

assuming commonalities of interest that the anthropologist adopting the role of an honest broker

can help to identify”.

Colby-Kirsch (2002: 178) “I argue that activism is a logical extension of the commitment to

reciprocity that underlies the practice of anthropology...there is always a risk of political fallout for

anthropologists who adopt an activist stance, this may be muted when focusing on the

responsibilities of one’s own society to regulate business and industry, including their impact

abroad”.

Dan -(Filer, 1996: 26, cited in Kirsch 2002: 179) “I recommended that anthropologists adopt a

position of neutrality by presenting themselves as stakeholders with the special ability to persuade

all the stakeholders to take better account of each other’s mutual interests”.

15

Colby-(Kirsch 2002: 193) “mine affected communities may mandate engagement and advocacy on

our part, rather than a scholarly, neutral stance. The notions of right and wrong can be invoked not

only in relation to truth, but also with regard to the cause of social justice”.

Dan- (Filer, 1996: 26, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 179)-‘Kirsch is an honest broker rather than an advocate’.

Colby-(Kirsch 2002: 175) “I argue that neutrality may not be possible in disputes between

transnational corporations and indigenous communities because of the structural inequalities that

make it easier for corporations to take advantage of anthropological expertise and silence opposing

voices”.

Dan-(Filer 1999: 89, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 195).” In the political setting of mineral resource

development in PNG...it normally does make more sense for anthropologists to act as ‘honest

brokers’ in mediating the relationships between different stakeholders (including multinational

companies) than it does to act as the partisans or advocates of local communities in their struggle

against the world capitalist system”.

Colby-Kirsch (2002: 193) “Corporations wield influence over the distribution of anthropological

knowledge that is not ordinarily matched by their indigenous counterparts. Advocacy might be seen

as the only way to help level the playing field”.

Dan- (Filer, 1997: 57) “We need to abandon the simplistic portrait of a classic David and Goliath

struggle between downtrodden indigenous peoples and monstrous multinational companies and

recognise the wide variety of local, national, and foreign interests which have become involved in Ok

Tedi’s downstream compensation debate”

Colby-(Kirsch 2002: 181) “Filer’s vision of a level playing field leads him to propose that

anthropologists act as referees in disputes over resource development projects, rather than

advocates on behalf of indigenous stakeholders”.

Dan-(Filer, 1996: 26, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 179) “mining companies in PNG require the assistance of

anthropologists and are in fact the primary customers for such expertise and advice and also that

indigenous communities will sometimes trust anthropologists who work for mining companies to

represent the community interest with ethical and political sophistication” (Filer, 1996, in Kirsch

2002).

Colby-(Kirsch, 2002: 193)“my contribution to the ok Tedi Campaign has been possible precisely

because I have treated this work as part of an ongoing relationship with the people with whom I

have carried out research, a series of transactions in which we exchange ideas and information”

Dan-Filer (1996) ‘Kirsch’s ethnographic knowledge of communities downstream from the mine had

enabled him to provide expert advice to the mining company (in the context of a social impact

study), to the community members themselves and to their solicitors’.

Colby-(Kirsch, 2002: 182) ‘The social impact study of the lower Ok Tedi River communities that I

carried out was commissioned in 1992...one of the mine executives reportedly told a member of the

research team that he intended to bury Kirsch’s report so deep that it will never see the light of

day...the question of corporate veto power over distribution of anthropological knowledge is at

16

issue, even though this particular report clearly had three claims on it-that of the anthropologists

intellectual property, local communities as participants in the research and the mine as the sponsor

of the study’.

Dan- (Filer, 1997: 57) “My Knowledge of the case was based on my erstwhile role as a supplier of

anthropological expertise to the mining company. This is a role whose potential contradictions

doubtless present the prospect of a good story, but it proved very difficult to tell this story in a way

which did not reduce journalists to a state of confusion”

Colby-(Kirsch, 2002: 180) “Filer assumes the possibility of remaining neutral in relation to conflicts

between multinational corporations-given their money, their power, their solicitors and occasional

power of veto over the publication of anthropological research-and indigenous communities, for

whom the support of academics, NGO’s, journalists and, much less frequently, solicitors willing to

take up their case, may constitute strategic assets”

Dan-(Filer, 1999: 90, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 195) “I recommend that anthropologists should act as

messengers whose messages are justified primarily by the contribution which they make to various

kinds of agreement over the terms and conditions of the development process. In this case, the

object or subject of study is not a community (or even a group of them), but the structure of the

political setting or process itself. The anthropologist becomes a kind of policy analyst”.

Colby-(Kirsch, 2002: 193)“Social scientists who claim neutrality in disputes between corporations

and indigenous peoples may deprive those communities of potential benefits from knowledge that

was produced in interaction with the communities themselves, even though the same information

may be made available to the corporation in the form of unpublished reports conversations and

advise”.

Dan (Filer, 1996: 26, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 180) “My fear is that Kirsch may have underestimated,

even if he has not intentionally disguised, the real importance of his involvement in the settlement

of the Ok Tedi dispute, as an honest broker and anthropologist. If anthropologists conceive

themselves merely as allies or supporters of the righteous and indigenous, they may be missing an

opportunity to do and claim something which is far more effective in its practical outcome, even if it

is harder to defend in the global tribunals of political correctness”.

Colby (Kirsch, 2002: 176)-What are the responsibilities of anthropologists towards the communities

with whom they work?...should anthropologists adopt a position of advocacy in relation to local

political [and environmental] struggles? What are the consequences of maintaining a neutral stance

in such contexts?

Dan (Filer, 1996: 26, cited in Kirsch, 2002: 179)- “What exactly do anthropologist contribute to this

struggle. What weapons, tactics or strategies make them especially useful to the alliance?

17

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20

Papuan Voices – Daniel Jones

Papuan Voices (Engage Media, 2013) is the name of a production of short films mild in comparison

to the media bombarding facebook and you tube of the atrocities committed in West Papua. I feel

it’s most important to bring the voices of the people themselves directly to the discourse and is why

I have submitted this Appendix. Therefore the following quotes are transcripts from a you tube

media collage reiterating the state terror people are forced to endure with respect to their extreme

pain and suffering;

“we want independence because we are Papuans different race and colour to Indonesians...and they

rape our girls and wives and kill us they are interested in our resources only and treat everyone like

animals” (Papuan man 1 you tube, Libertad (2014)

“it is noted in the UN resolution that every nation has the right to exist it is a fundamental right for

Papuan freedom we want to stop transmigration and have a peace process according to

international law” (Papuan man 2 you tube, Libertad (2014)

“we are operating to protect our people and our sacred lands from Indonesia they destroy our

environment and steal our resources like copper, gold and oil and then they send them to countries

in the West like USA, UK and Australia. Indonesia uses money it gets from Freeport to buy military

equipment which they then use to kill our people. They have no mercy. Western governments and

corporations must stop their trade deals with Indonesia. There is genocide happening here. We

must have freedom and need the west to help us” (OPM Papuan man 3 you tube, Libertad (2014).

“Please bring us Independence. We have had enough. Living with the Dutch was fine but Indonesia is

raping and killing us. Brio (mobile police unit) came and made a fire where we lived. We don’t eat we

don’t sleep well we live in the jungle and hide and move from place to place when we walk, we run,

in rains we get sick we get thorns in our feet we have no medicine” (Papuan women 1 and 2 you

tube, Libertad (2014)

“...violates human rights there are always massacres the rape of Papuan women they give us out of

date medicines. We are deported. It’s to stay on our land that we fight” (Papuan man 2 you tube,

Libertad (2014)