[DEBATE] : ZNet / Social Movements and Religion

[Sean Jacobs]

Down the Peninsula
Villagers unite to protest Alcoa’s plans to build smelter in Trinidad
by Sujatha Fernandes; July 26, 2006

     The southwestern peninsula of Trinidad is an area of pristine 
beauty and wilderness. Winding roads pass through small fishing 
villages, mangrove swamps, large expanses of thickly forested coconut 
plantation, herds of buffalypso, and sheltered beach coves. In February 
2006, the aluminum manufacturing company Alcoa proposed to build a 
large aluminum smelter in the Chatham/Cap-de-Ville area of the 
southwestern peninsula, prompting criticism from the local residents 
and environmentalists. The project would involve a 341,000 metric tons 
per year aluminum smelter, an anode plant, and a cast house, costing 
about $US 1.5 billion. Alcoa is promoting the project as providing 
local employment and other benefits to the community. However, local 
residents are concerned about displacement, risks to health and the 
environment from harmful emissions, occupational safety hazards, and 
the loss of bio-diversity. The smelter will affect some 15 to 20,000 
local residents in the villages of Chatham, Cap-de-Ville, Granville, 
Coromandel, Bonasse, Fullerton, Icacos, and Bamboo Village along the 
peninsula.

     In July, my husband and I accompanied local environmental activist 
Ishmael Samad down the peninsula to learn about the way of life of 
southwestern villagers and how they will be affected. Driving along the 
coast on Southern Main Road, we came to the city of San Fernando. The 
town’s population of Indo and Afro-Trinis reflects the mixed roots of 
slavery and indentureship through which Trinidad came into being. The 
main promenade contains statues of Pan-African nationalist leader 
Marcus Garvey and the Indian nationalist leader and architect of 
non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi as icons of resistance in the African and 
Indian diaspora.

     A little further south we come to the oil town of Point Fortin, 
where we stopped for roti, a filling lunch of thin bread stuffed with 
lentils and potato. Seated on the stands of the local vegetable market, 
we saw an older man across the street seated in a blue Toyota Crown 
Four car with  a soaring angel on the hood and white swirls painted on 
the sides. I approached the man to ask if I could take a photo of his 
car and he introduced himself as Akhbar Khan, a resident of 
Cap-de-Ville.

     Akhbar Khan is an Indo-Trinidadian man, with dark sunglasses and a 
long white beard knotted at the base. When we asked what he thought of 
the smelter, he shrugged, “Whatever happens to me, boy, I know that 
Jesus will take care of me.” Several years ago he had converted from 
Islam to Christianity. His eyes filled with tears as he told us that he 
was coming from the cremation of his wife of thirty-six years, who had 
died suddenly of kidney failure the day before. For the poor villagers 
of the southern peninsula, adequate health care and medicine are not 
always available. “She was the only woman for me in my life, boy,” 
Akhbar told us, “but I know she waitin’ for me in God’s Kingdom.” He 
waved to us from his car as he took off home.

     Just outside of Point Fortin, we saw an army of tractors and 
equipment waiting under twenty-four hour vigil. They are intended for 
razing the grounds of Chatham/Cap-de-Ville once the Environmental 
Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed smelter has been completed by 
the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the go-ahead is given. We 
also passed by four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants constructed 
since 2000.

     As we drove through the villages, we saw young and old, Indo and 
Afro-Trinis, men and women engaged in their everyday work of 
agriculture and fishing. These ethnically diverse but tight-knit 
communities of the peninsula are uniting to protect their environment 
and their way of life which is being threatened by Alcoa’s proposed 
smelter. Middle class political parties such as the black-led People’s 
National Movement (PNM) and the Indo-Trinidadian United National 
Congress (UNC) have traditionally attempted to mobilize and divide the 
population along ethnic lines for political gain. But the mostly poor, 
rural black and brown communities of the peninsula have united across 
ethnic divides in support of their interests. They have formed 
alliances and groups such as the Cap-de-Ville Environmental Protection 
Group and the Rights Action Group. In a strongly religious atmosphere, 
religious groups such as the Catholic Commission for Social Justice 
(CCSJ) have also joined the battle to defeat the proposal. The groups 
are planning a ten-day march from the peninsula to Port-of Spain 
beginning on August 10.

     While they do not hold much faith in the ability of the law to 
deliver them justice, the local residents have decided to seek redress 
by legal means. In 1984, under the National Physical Development Plan 
passed in parliament, the area of the proposed smelter was designated 
as agricultural and forest land. In order to be used for the smelter, 
the land must be deemed as industrial land. This change was made by 
cabinet fiat, but according to the lawyer on the case, the appropriate 
parliamentary body must file a judicial review to change the use of the 
land. The illegal change of the 1984 law is one of the main grounds on 
which the lawyer is fighting the case. Most feel that the local courts 
will side with the government and Alcoa. Some such as Ishmael feel that 
they may have a chance if the case reaches the final court of appeal, 
which is the Privy Council in London.

     Alcoa has been trying to counter the protests and criticisms by 
taking out full page ads in local newspapers. They tried to promote the 
smelter by saying that employment would be available to local 
residents. In March they produced an ad which read, “750 to 800 
long-term jobs to Trinidad.” They tried to sell the smelter as an act 
of “community partnerships” and working with the community. In April, 
an ad in the Trinidad Express read, “Alcoa’s smelter in the Park. 
Progress…in harmony with Community and Culture” and another claimed, 
“Alcoa…investing in communities. Our social investment policies are 
followed by social action.” They even tried to claim that the project 
would support preservation of the environment, as the ad in Sunday 
Express in May, “Alcoa…Longtime steward of the environment.” However, 
residents were not convinced.

     After all-night vigils outside the Prime Minister’s office, protest 
marches, and rallies, Alcoa agreed to a public consultation and on July 
14 they held a meeting at the Chatham Community Center. Several 
technical engineers who had been hired by Alcoa to do preliminary 
drilling were there to answer questions. The meeting was attended by 
important leaders of the community, such as Goomtie Singh, Fitzroy 
Beache, and Yvonne Ashby. The mood was one of anger and distrust. One 
man demanded to know how much compensation he would receive for his 
land. He currently depends on cultivation of his land for his 
livelihood and he knows that he will not receive much for it. Others 
raised health issues and environmental issues.

     The engineers said that they were unable to answer the questions. 
People were furious and they demanded an audience with ministers such 
as Lenny Saith, the Minister of Energy and Petroleum. According to the 
residents, the government should be accountable for what they plan to 
do with the land and they should be the ones consulting with the 
people. Several villagers made clear their intentions to stand in front 
of the tractors if the project was to go ahead. As one man said, “I 
prefer to give my life if Alcoa comes, because if it does I won’t have 
a life anymore.”

     That Alcoa should be searching for site locations in non-European 
countries with low environmental regulations is not surprising, given 
its expansion through the military industry. On July 22, Alcoa chose 
Bechtel as its primary partner in conducting feasibility studies for 
the proposed smelter. Bechtel, a private company with close ties to the 
Bush administration and the Republican party, was awarded a $680 
million contract in Iraq through a process of secretive biddings in 
April 2003, with the possibility of contracts worth billions of 
dollars. Alcoa has been the recipient of numerous contracts from the US 
military. Following a contract of $1.2 million in 2004, in December 
2005 Alcoa was awarded $12.5 million from the US Army Tank-Automotive 
and Armaments Command for the making of ground combat and tactical 
vehicles. Military profits take precedence over the rights to a clean 
and safe environment for villagers in the southwestern peninsula. The 
violence and destruction being caused by the US war machine extends far 
beyond the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

     Driving back to Port of Spain, we stopped off in Chatham at the 
house of Goomtie Singh, a small, Indo-Trinidadian woman who is one of 
the leaders of the campaign. “The issue is preserving ourselves,” she 
told us. “We are aware of the health problems, the cancer, the asthma. 
We’ve seen the destruction of our coastlines with LNG. People don’t 
catch fish here now, you know? People don’t get chip-chip or 
catch-e-come anymore.”

     “They want to convert the entire southwest peninsula into an 
industrial belt. If we don’t move as a result of Alcoa, it will happen 
with some other industry,” she said. “I have two little daughters. What 
is their future? The air they are breathing will be polluted. As a 
mother and as a parent, how am I supposed to deal with this? Alcoa will 
break all the rules to see that this proposed smelter goes ahead, but 
what do we have to benefit? Some temporary employment at minimum wage, 
but who gains all the profit? The people have nothing to gain from 
this.”