Bashing ‘the Chinese’: contextualizing Zambia's Collum Coal Mine shooting
2014; Routledge; Volume: 23; Issue: 90 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/10670564.2014.898897
ISSN1469-9400
Autores Tópico(s)International Development and Aid
ResumoAbstractThe 2010 shooting of 13 miners at Zambia's small, privately-owned 'Chinese' Collum Coal Mine (CCM) has been represented by Western and Zambian politicians and media as exemplifying the 'neo-colonial' and 'amoral' practices of 'China' and 'the Chinese' in Africa. CCM has been used to provide a sharp contrast to the supposed ways of the Western firms that own most of Zambia's mines. Embedded in racial hierarchy and notions of strategic competition between the West and China, the discourse of the CCM shootings further shapes conceptions of global China and Chinese overseas. While examining all the oppressive conditions that have given rise to protest at the mine, we contextualize the shooting and subsequent conflicts. In analyzing CCM's marginal and troubled development, we discuss aspects of the 2010 shooting incident known to miners and union leaders, but ignored by politicians and media. We look at the shooting's political fallout, focus also on the epilogue that was the 2012 CCM riot—in which one Chinese person was murdered and several others seriously injured—and trace the sometimes violent discontent manifested at other foreign-owned mines in Zambia since their privatization in the late 1990s. The empirical data for this detailed study derive from hundreds of documentary sources and interviews with union leaders, workers, officials and others in Zambia from 2011 to 2013. Notes 1. Bivan Saluseki, 'The dark side of coal', The Post, Zambia, (15 November 2010). 2. Jon Miller, 'Nkandabwe Coal Mine', Zambia Magazine, (April 1966), pp. 24–26. 3. 'Chinese, African leaders gather in Beijing for talks', Voice of America, (18 July 2012). 4. Suisheng Zhao, 'A neo-colonialist predator or development partner? China's engagement and rebalance in Africa', Journal of Contemporary China 23(90), (2014), doi: 10.1080/10670564.2014.898893. 5. Interview, Pan Wenxiu, Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Zambia head, Lusaka, 11 August 2012. 6. Chen Zhu and Zhang Boling, 'Zanbiya Kelan Meikuang qiangji shijian' ['The Zambia Collum Coal Mine shooting incident'], Xin Shiji Zhoukan no. 42, (27 October 2010). 7.Ibid.; Interview, Ambassador Zhou Yuxiao, Lusaka, 9 August 2011. 8. Interview, Mooya Lumamba, Director, Mine Safety Department, Kitwe, 19 August 2011. 9. Neo Simutanyi, Copper Mining in Zambia: the Development of Privatization, ISS Paper no. 165 [Institute for Security Studies (S. Africa), July 2008], p. 9, available at: www.iss.co.za/uploads/PAPER165.PDF. 10. Interview, Charles Mukuka, President Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ), Lusaka, 15 August 2011; Saluseki, 'The dark side of coal'. 11. Zhang Boling and He Xin, 'The killing of a miner in Zambia', Caixin, (20 August 2012), available at: http://english.caixin.com/2012-08-20/100426275.html. 12. See also 'ZCCM IH to appoint evaluator for Collum Coal Mine', Zambian Mining Magazine, (15 January 2014) ('500 workers'), available at: http://www.miningnewszambia.com/zccm-ih-to-appoint-evaluator-over-collum-coal-mine/. The approximately 90 percent share of locals in CCM's workforce indicates that it is not only in Chinese state-owned enterprises in Africa, but even in some family-owned ones, that there is a modicum of localization. Antoine Kernen and Katy Nganting Lam, 'Workforce localization among Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Ghana', Journal of Contemporary China 23(90), (2014), doi: 10.1080/10670564.2014.898894. 13. Interview, Chinese CCM workers, Nkandabwe, 23 August 2011. 14. Interview, President Nyumbu, Lusaka, 12 July 2013. 15. Interview, Sifuniso Nyumbu, President, Gemstone & Allied Workers Union of Zambia, Lusaka, 22 August 2011. 16. Interview, CCM worker and GAWUZ branch secretary Moddy Chigonke, Nkandabwe, 23 August 2011. 17. Lumamba interview. 18. Interview, GAWUZ President Sifuniso Nyumbu, Lusaka, 23 August 2011. 19. Letter from Nyumbu to Inspector General of Police, 4 March 2008; letter from Nyumbu to managing director, CCM, re 'Post-mortem of labor withdrawal which took place 28 February to 4 March, 2008 and unlawful detention of employees', 13 March 2008 (letters in GAWUZ office). 20. 'Chinese mine operates with no safety measures', Lusaka Times, (28 February 2008). 21. Chen and Zhang, 'Zanbiya Kelan Meikuang qiangji shijian'; Nyumbu interview, 22 August 2011. 22. 'Chinese coal mine employees down tools', Lusaka Times, (2 December 2009). 23. Chinese CCM workers interview. 24. Interview with Assistant Commission of Labor Venus Seti, Ministry of Labor, Lusaka, 12 August 2011. 25. Chen and Zhang, 'Zanbiya Kelan Meikuang qiangji shijian'. 26. 'Local people are key to firms' success in Africa', China Daily, (9 December 2011). 27. 'Investors keen to run Collum Coal Mine', Daily Mail, Zambia, (2 April 2013). 28. 'State suspects sabotage in Collum Mine fire', Daily Mail, Zambia, (22 July 2013); Interview with Ambassador Zhou Yuxiao, Lusaka, 10 July 2013; 'State to reassess Collum Mine', Times of Zambia, (4 December 2013). 29. Interview with CCM Shaft 3 foreman, Nkandabwe, 23 August 2011. 30. Daily Parliamentary Debates, Zambia, 20 October 2011. 31. 'Opposition politicians lambast the Lusaka government's timidity after Chinese managers shoot local mine workers', Africa–Asia Confidential, (25 October 2010). 32. 'Zambians riot after miners are shot', Wall Street Journal, (18 October 2010). 33. Chigonke interview. A Chinese source stated that wounded miner Bowas Syapwaya said supervisors shot after miners threw stones. 'Zambia police to charge Chinese mine managers with attempted murder', Global Times, (18 October 2010). 34. 'Chinese mine managers face arrest', Daily Mail, Zambia, (18 October 2010); '11 Miners injured at Chinese run Collum Mine in Southern Zambia', Steel Guru, (18 October 2010). 35. Barry Bearak, 'Zambia Uneasily Balances Chinese Investment and Workers' Resentment', New York Times, (20 November, 2010). 36. There is also a larger context of violence against Chinese in Africa, of which most Chinese there are aware. Shaio H. Zerba, 'China's Libya evacuation operation: a new diplomatic imperative—overseas citizen protection', Journal of Contemporary China 23(90), (2014), doi: 10.1080/10670564.2014.898900. 37. Interview with Rayford Mbulu, President, MUZ, 26 August 2008. 38. Interview, Mr Wang, Shandong Zhengyuan Geology & Resource Exploration Co., Lusaka, 1 August 2012. 39. 'Maamba Collieries director survives lynching from miners', The Post, Zambia, 22 January 2010. 40. Interview with Ambassador Zhang Yuxiao, Lusaka, 9 August 2011. 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