lao
Turning Land into Capital, Turning People into Labour: Primitive Accumulation and the Arrival of Large-Scale Economic Land Concessions in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ian G. Baird University of Wisconsin-Madison ABSTRACT: In recent years the government of Laos has provided many foreign investors with large-scale economic land concessions to develop plantations. These concessions have resulted in significant alterations of landscapes and ecological processes, greatly reduced local access to resources through enclosing common areas, and have ultimately led to massive changes in the livelihoods of large numbers of mainly indigenous peoples living near these concessions. Many have lost their agricultural and forest lands, or conditions of production, making it difficult to maintain their former semi-subsistence livelihoods, and thus compelling many to take up employment on the same plantations that displaced them, despite frequently having to work for low wages and under poor conditions. Using two case studies involving large economic land concessions in southern Laos, I argue that applying the theoretical concept of primitive accumulation is useful for better understanding the political processes and motivations of government officials, including justifications for the rural dispossession that is occurring in a nominally ‘socialist’ country. Keywords: capitalism, socialism, primitive accumulation, labour, land concessions, land grabbing New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Vol. 5, No. 1 (November 2011) Pp. 10-26 Introduction I n 2007, Michael Perelman wrote an article entitled, “Primitive Accumulation from Feudalism to Neoliberalism,” in which he argued that Karl Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation1 continues to be important, but only in a partial way. Explaining that primitive accumulation involves the direct expropriation of people’s conditions of production, the purposeful forcing of people into wage labour, and the intentional manipulation of the social division of labour, Perelman wrote that “it is not likely that 1 Karl Marx described the process of forced proletarization as “primitive accumulation,” which can be translated as “previous” or “original” accumulation from the original German, ursprunglich (Grandia 2007). we will see all these conditions met very often in the contemporary economy, one ominous exception is expropriation” (Perelman 2007:59). Perelman’s view is understandable, considering that his focus was on the United States of America, where much of the population has long been highly integrated into a wage-labour economy. For Perelman, the example of the USA is best suited for considering the role of multinational corporations in taking control over resources, including water, forests, and land for mining in ways that he links to primitive accumulation. His interest is thus on the ways that privatization has facilitated expropriation of resources. TURNING LAND INTO CAPITAL, TURNING PEOPLE INTO LABOUR • 11 Perelman is certainly not alone in tending to view full-fledged primitive accumulation as something that occurred in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and is unlikely to fully manifest itself at present. Ellen Wood (2002), for example, implies that capitalism can move ahead of political authority and develop elsewhere without the particular forms of violence through state involvement that occurred as a result of the primitive accumulation in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As Liza Grandia (2007:11) puts it, “many strict Marxists treat primitive accumulation as a closed, historical accident – therefore of little theoretical interest.” In geography and related disciplines, however, this is increasingly not seen to be the case, and there has been a significant revival of interest in primitive accumulation in recent years, especially as a result of the work of David Harvey (2003), and since then by others, such as David Moore (2004), Jim Glassman (2006), Gillian Hart (2006), Chris Sneddon (2007), and Michael Webber (2008), just to name a few. Crucially, most geographers now consider that primitive accumulation is continuing to commonly occur, especially in the Global South, but also in the Global North (Harvey 2003). As Glassman puts it, Though primitive accumulation is a process that some have considered a historical phase through which societies pass on the way to more fully proletarianized social structures based on expanded reproduction, the current state of global affairs makes it evident that primitive accumulation has maintained or even increased its salience, meaning either that it is in fact central to capitalist accumulation in general or else has a much longer period of historical ‘dissolution’ than previously imagined. [2006:621-622] Here I wish to contribute to this literature by arguing that the concept of primitive accumulation is useful for understanding how the development of large-scale economic land concessions are impacting on rural peoples, and particularly ‘indigenous peoples’2 2 Here, I use the term ‘indigenous peoples’ to refer to the various groups of largely upland ethnic minorities in Laos, even though the concept is not well recognized in Laos, including amongst these people themselves. I do not see the concept of indigenous peoples as being static or easy to understand, but as being a part of a socially constructed in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR or Laos). In particular, I want to highlight that one of the main motivations of the government of Laos in granting large-scale land concessions is to remove peasants, and particularly indigenous peoples, from their conditions of production because they are seen as making unproductive use of resources and as being resistant to fully integrating into the market economy. Indeed, in Laos most indigenous peoples have, until quite recently, been heavily reliant on mixed subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture in which a large portion of the food consumed has been obtained through family farm agriculture, as well as hunting, fishing, and the gathering of a wide variety of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from the commons. Crucially, these peoples have not become embedded in the wage-labour economy like most rural populations in the USA, Western Europe or other industrialized parts of the world. This does not mean that indigenous peoples in Laos do not, at times, depend on wage labour, especially during the agricultural off-season. Moreover, as Rigg (2005) and Shoemaker et al. (2001) have pointed out, wagelabour is becoming increasingly important in rural Laos, even without the introduction of large-scale economic land concessions. The degree of importance is, however, geographically uneven, with some regions, villages and peoples engaging much more in wagelabour than others, and indigenous peoples tending to rely less on it than others. Thus, while the role of subsistence agriculture in rural Laos should not be overemphasized or romanticized; neither should we underappreciate nor deny the continued importance of subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture for large portions of the population, at least for the timebeing, and especially for upland indigenous peoples whose livelihoods are particularly linked to the land. Still, many indigenous farmers are rapidly being propelled into wage-labour markets in ways that cannot be considered voluntary, and since this is the focus here, I will not dwell on less coercive transformations of labour that are occurring simultaneously, although I do recognize their importance. I wish to demonstrate that the policy of the government of emancipatory political project designed to support disadvantaged and marginalized ethnic groups (For a fuller explanation, see Baird 2011). 12 • I. G. BAIRD Laos to ‘turn land into capital’ is crucially intertwined with another important aspect, ‘turning people into labour’ (even if it is not directly referred to as such). Thus, the system of issuing large-scale economic land concessions to foreign investors from other Asian countries such as Vietnam, China, Thailand and others, constitutes, I believe, a much more comprehensive form of primitive accumulation than what Perelman argued is occurring in the USA. It not only involves the expropriation and enclosure of land and resources – considered by many to be the key point of primitive accumulation (Moore 2004) – but also driving semi-subsistence farmers into labour markets. This transformation of semi-subsistence farmers into people highly dependent on wage-labour is sometimes – but not always – important to the investors themselves, but crucially for this article, drawing the Lao labour force into the market economy is, for many reasons, one of the key justifications amongst officials in Laos for the present land concession system. Entering into agreements that disempower indigenous peoples and even the state is frequently accepted due to the belief that such sacrifices are at worst, a necessary evil, something that is needed to propel Laos into the modern world and eventually out of poverty. Much like Marx, whose ideas were paraphrased by Glassman (2006:611), many officials believe that “primitive accumulation, however loathsome in its violence and hypocrisy, is a necessary step in the direction of fuller human development.” In this article, I start off by very briefly explaining relevant aspects of recent Lao history, including the gradual expansion of large-scale economic land concessions, in order to historicize the present circumstances. I then present two case studies, both based on research I conducted during the 1990s and 2000s in southern Laos. The first, in Paksong District, Champasak Province, is short and illustrates how the development of one of the first large land concessions in southern Laos was attempted in the 1990s, and how it led to considerable
ลาว Turning Land into Capital, Turning People into Labour: Primitive Accumulation and the Arrival of Large-Scale Economic Land Concessions in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ian G. Baird University of Wisconsin-Madison ABSTRACT: In recent years the government of Laos has provided many foreign investors with large-scale economic land concessions to develop plantations. These concessions have resulted in significant alterations of landscapes and ecological processes, greatly reduced local access to resources through enclosing common areas, and have ultimately led to massive changes in the livelihoods of large numbers of mainly indigenous peoples living near these concessions. Many have lost their agricultural and forest lands, or conditions of production, making it difficult to maintain their former semi-subsistence livelihoods, and thus compelling many to take up employment on the same plantations that displaced them, despite frequently having to work for low wages and under poor conditions. Using two case studies involving large economic land concessions in southern Laos, I argue that applying the theoretical concept of primitive accumulation is useful for better understanding the political processes and motivations of government officials, including justifications for the rural dispossession that is occurring in a nominally ‘socialist’ country. Keywords: capitalism, socialism, primitive accumulation, labour, land concessions, land grabbing New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Vol. 5, No. 1 (November 2011) Pp. 10-26 Introduction I n 2007, Michael Perelman wrote an article entitled, “Primitive Accumulation from Feudalism to Neoliberalism,” in which he argued that Karl Marx’s concept of primitive accumulation1 continues to be important, but only in a partial way. Explaining that primitive accumulation involves the direct expropriation of people’s conditions of production, the purposeful forcing of people into wage labour, and the intentional manipulation of the social division of labour, Perelman wrote that “it is not likely that 1 Karl Marx described the process of forced proletarization as “primitive accumulation,” which can be translated as “previous” or “original” accumulation from the original German, ursprunglich (Grandia 2007). we will see all these conditions met very often in the contemporary economy, one ominous exception is expropriation” (Perelman 2007:59). Perelman’s view is understandable, considering that his focus was on the United States of America, where much of the population has long been highly integrated into a wage-labour economy. For Perelman, the example of the USA is best suited for considering the role of multinational corporations in taking control over resources, including water, forests, and land for mining in ways that he links to primitive accumulation. His interest is thus on the ways that privatization has facilitated expropriation of resources. TURNING LAND INTO CAPITAL, TURNING PEOPLE INTO LABOUR • 11 Perelman is certainly not alone in tending to view full-fledged primitive accumulation as something that occurred in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and is unlikely to fully manifest itself at present. Ellen Wood (2002), for example, implies that capitalism can move ahead of political authority and develop elsewhere without the particular forms of violence through state involvement that occurred as a result of the primitive accumulation in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As Liza Grandia (2007:11) puts it, “many strict Marxists treat primitive accumulation as a closed, historical accident – therefore of little theoretical interest.” In geography and related disciplines, however, this is increasingly not seen to be the case, and there has been a significant revival of interest in primitive accumulation in recent years, especially as a result of the work of David Harvey (2003), and since then by others, such as David Moore (2004), Jim Glassman (2006), Gillian Hart (2006), Chris Sneddon (2007), and Michael Webber (2008), just to name a few. Crucially, most geographers now consider that primitive accumulation is continuing to commonly occur, especially in the Global South, but also in the Global North (Harvey 2003). As Glassman puts it, Though primitive accumulation is a process that some have considered a historical phase through which societies pass on the way to more fully proletarianized social structures based on expanded reproduction, the current state of global affairs makes it evident that primitive accumulation has maintained or even increased its salience, meaning either that it is in fact central to capitalist accumulation in general or else has a much longer period of historical ‘dissolution’ than previously imagined. [2006:621-622] Here I wish to contribute to this literature by arguing that the concept of primitive accumulation is useful for understanding how the development of large-scale economic land concessions are impacting on rural peoples, and particularly ‘indigenous peoples’2 2 Here, I use the term ‘indigenous peoples’ to refer to the various groups of largely upland ethnic minorities in Laos, even though the concept is not well recognized in Laos, including amongst these people themselves. I do not see the concept of indigenous peoples as being static or easy to understand, but as being a part of a socially constructed in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR or Laos). In particular, I want to highlight that one of the main motivations of the government of Laos in granting large-scale land concessions is to remove peasants, and particularly indigenous peoples, from their conditions of production because they are seen as making unproductive use of resources and as being resistant to fully integrating into the market economy. Indeed, in Laos most indigenous peoples have, until quite recently, been heavily reliant on mixed subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture in which a large portion of the food consumed has been obtained through family farm agriculture, as well as hunting, fishing, and the gathering of a wide variety of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from the commons. Crucially, these peoples have not become embedded in the wage-labour economy like most rural populations in the USA, Western Europe or other industrialized parts of the world. This does not mean that indigenous peoples in Laos do not, at times, depend on wage labour, especially during the agricultural off-season. Moreover, as Rigg (2005) and Shoemaker et al. (2001) have pointed out, wagelabour is becoming increasingly important in rural Laos, even without the introduction of large-scale economic land concessions. The degree of importance is, however, geographically uneven, with some regions, villages and peoples engaging much more in wagelabour than others, and indigenous peoples tending to rely less on it than others. Thus, while the role of subsistence agriculture in rural Laos should not be overemphasized or romanticized; neither should we underappreciate nor deny the continued importance of subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture for large portions of the population, at least for the timebeing, and especially for upland indigenous peoples whose livelihoods are particularly linked to the land. Still, many indigenous farmers are rapidly being propelled into wage-labour markets in ways that cannot be considered voluntary, and since this is the focus here, I will not dwell on less coercive transformations of labour that are occurring simultaneously, although I do recognize their importance. I wish to demonstrate that the policy of the government of emancipatory political project designed to support disadvantaged and marginalized ethnic groups (For a fuller explanation, see Baird 2011). 12 • I. G. BAIRD Laos to ‘turn land into capital’ is crucially intertwined with another important aspect, ‘turning people into labour’ (even if it is not directly referred to as such). Thus, the system of issuing large-scale economic land concessions to foreign investors from other Asian countries such as Vietnam, China, Thailand and others, constitutes, I believe, a much more comprehensive form of primitive accumulation than what Perelman argued is occurring in the USA. It not only involves the expropriation and enclosure of land and resources – considered by many to be the key point of primitive accumulation (Moore 2004) – but also driving semi-subsistence farmers into labour markets. This transformation of semi-subsistence farmers into people highly dependent on wage-labour is sometimes – but not always – important to the investors themselves, but crucially for this article, drawing the Lao labour force into the market economy is, for many reasons, one of the key justifications amongst officials in Laos for the present land concession system. Entering into agreements that disempower indigenous peoples and even the state is frequently accepted due to the belief that such sacrifices are at worst, a necessary evil, something that is needed to propel Laos into the modern world and eventually out of poverty. Much like Marx, whose ideas were paraphrased by Glassman (2006:611), many officials believe that “primitive accumulation, however loathsome in its violence and hypocrisy, is a necessary step in the direction of fuller human development.” In this article, I start off by very briefly explaining relevant aspects of recent Lao history, including the gradual expansion of large-scale economic land concessions, in order to historicize the present circumstances. I then present two case studies, both based on research I conducted during the 1990s and 2000s in southern Laos. The first, in Paksong District, Champasak Province, is short and illustrates how the development of one of the first large land concessions in southern Laos was attempted in the 1990s, and how it led to considerable
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