Hinterland Extractive Communities, Democracy Deficit,

and Economic Diversification: A Policy Case Study for the US

State of West Virginia

Crystal Allene CookSTS, Virginia Tech

crystalacook@vt.edu

Hinterland Extractive Communities

● What are these?● Why should you care?

What are these?

; https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR3b9_2VhaihY78y3768CR3v8AmyAfntU7bupCu2bCNOu7Qg30j; http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1996/of96-092/Comp/main.gif; Leadbetter; Freudenberg

Places like Gary, WV, well outside major urban areas—big producer of coal for US Steel for most of 20th C. Stopped coal production in 1986.

Coalfield locations in the US

Why should you care?Their cheap energy and

resources enable the rest of society, especially the metropoles (society's centers), to go.

Freudenberg; Mitchell; images: http://wsa.wesleyan.edu/files/2011/11/New-York11.jpg;http://writeshootcut.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/eiffel_tour_0.jpg;http://www.shangri-la.com/uploadedImages/Shangri-la_Hotels/China_World_Summit_Wing,_Beijing_China_World_Trade_Center,_Shangri-La/CWSW-Bg-Panorama-

Night.jpg

Democracy Deficit in Hinterland Extractive Communities

● Why?● Why should you care?

Democracy in an extractive community:

civic life and work life blend with the rules of

work winning. This is Langdon Winner's discussion of the totalitarian workplace...

Democracy is what usally happens outside the workplace in the US, at least. Here no democracy outside workplace either as workplace

= home place. So, really? Democracy for all? Everywhere? Now? Currently? Even in the US?

Leadbetter; Mitchell; Winner

● The will of the community as expressed as citizens in a democracy can be at direct odds with town's function as support for a single industry

● People function as technologies. Not news in other fields (sociology, Appalachian Studies)--may be in Sci-ence and Technology in Society. A case of a = b, but b ≠ a. If people can be replaced by technologies, then people were functioning as techno-logies. Yet, technology may or may not = people.

Mitchell; Leadbetter; Scott

In his book Carbon Democracy, historian Timothy Mitchell (Columbia University) posits:

● democracy and carbon energy are tied to one another—energy policy is not some stand-

alone goal; bottom line--does energy policy enhance or hinder democratic practice,

where, and for whom? Who cares about your energy policy if it doesn't support

democracy? You might as well live in a prosperous dictatorship.

● cheap energy enables the current economic and political existence in the “leading industri-

alised countries”

● the relationship of the industrial democracies and their reliance on cheap oil to coincides with

energy extractive dictatorships

● energy extractive communities provide the fuel for the rest of society to run and also

enable democracy elsewhere. Ironically, however, they are often the least democratic.

Not a conspiracy per se, but it may not be an accident that energy extractive areas are less democratic and less economically diverse.....

They enable democracy and economic diversification elsewhere...

Unsure this can just be shifted around = potentially part of the theoretical background for my disserta-tion. Where this work-in-progress will go is examin-ing some key issues of hinterland extractive towns in several countries as well as potential policy solu-tions for town viability vis a vis continued human in-habitation.

One problematic policy =“Economic Diversification” (ED) Touted as a panacea to fix

the economic woes of extractive communities

This construct appears in a lot of policy literature and in non-profit/NGO speak

● ED = Over dependence on one industry or on resource extraction● Pushback: What? How much? Who? How? Tied to geo-

graphy? How do you diversify the economy in a place where the economy = one industry tied to the location? What counts as “diverse”?● In this brief, no discussion of democracy deficit in WV hinterland extractive communities. Aca-demics Cynthia Duncan and Rebecca Scott lay this out....This democracy deficit in many extract-ive communities is not a secret. Shouldn't active democracy also be the bottom line?

Some considerations on Hinterland Extractive Communities

and Economic Diversification

● Hinterland extractive communities maybe never were diverse (whatever that construct means exactly in terms of quantification of how much = diverse)

● Economic Diversification (ED) may not benefit dominant industries so they undermine it

● Not much reason for town/municipality to exist in capitalist economic growth model beyond the resource extraction (may be other reasons for town/community to exist—have to figure out other models not tied to endless economic growth)

● ED sounds good but no causal proof of how to sustain economic diversification, really, beyond linking economy to urban, central geographies where economic diversification goes hand in hand with a diverse population and easily accessed geography

● Is there proof that that ED is better for all communities? No.

● Is this possible, even, in a hinterland extractive community? Maybe—but the key issue here, I propose, is not economic but democratic practices. I critique the policy brief in question for also not including an examination of the democratic practices or lack thereof in extractive communities.

Freudenberg; Martinez-Fernandez; Stirling

The Case of Lindytown,WV: willfully killed by the extractive in-dustry. People also often can become superfluous technologies in an extractive “town.” Extractive companies seek to replace people-technology with machine technology. This is not news.

http://www.ohvec.org/newsletters/woc_2010_09/article_17.html; Barry; Biggers

“Lawrence and Quinnie Richmond pose in Lindytown amidst the boarded homes of their former neighbors in July. Lawrence, 85, died on August 16. Our sympathies go to Quinnie, who with her son, living next door, has not sold out. Then there is Frankie Mooney, right, of Twilight, in front of the building that used to serve as a UMWA local meeting place. Frankie was involved in that local. photos by Mark Schmerling”

Lindytown does not = an exception or anomaly.

● Do people in the centers of society (the metropoles) de-

serve democracy more than people in the peripheries?

● Do people in the centers rightfully get the benefits of

cheap energy (economic diversification & maybe democrat-

ic practice) while the people-technology of hinterland ex-

tractive areas provide this opportunity?

Implications

A shift in policy approaches could also mean a shift in

energy, democratic, and planning practices if these

two link as strongly as suggested by Mitchell in Car-

bon Democracy.

Possible policy shifts

• economic diversification in a democracy must be linked to practices of democratic fortification

(see the addendum on democratic practices from Transforming Places)

• economic diversification and economic self-determination or self-sufficiency are not the same

things. It could be and it should be in a democracy.

• Grassroots Meets Grasstops: place-based solutions + expertise = Maybe Danish model of

a consensus conference? Dumping the problem on left over local people to solve is not

enough. In this case, local solutions must be supplemented with state-level or federal level in-

terventions.

• Create a National Movement/National Level Action

US does not have a national conversation on this; other places do (like Germany)

Problem with endless growth model of economies; one solution is smart shrinkage

Shrink Smart!! Welcome to SHRINK SMART - The Governance of Shrinkage within a European Context

Over the past years shrinkage has become a “normal pathway” of urban and regional development.

All across Europe cities and regions have experienced economic downturns, out-migration and

demographic imbalances and as a consequence “urban shrinkage” has become a main challenge

for urban development.

SHRINK SMART studies how this challenge is met by policies and governance systems in different

types of shrinking urban regions. It is based on comparative case studies from seven urban regions

throughout Europe. The project aims on analyzing different trajectories of shrinkage, understanding

main challenges for urban planning and elaborating alternatives for urban governance.

In short, the endless growth economic model does not work for every community. Extractive communities do not have to flop when people become superfluous technologies. Other models are possible and imaginable like smart shrinkage.

shrink smart.eu; High; Pallagst; Wiechman

ReferencesAudirac, Ivonne. “Urban Shrinkage Amid Fast Metropolitan Growth (Two Faces of Contemporary Urbanism).” The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context, 2009, 69 – 80.

Barry, Dan. “As the Mountaintops Fall, a Coal Town Vanishes- NYTimes.com”, April 12, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/13lindytown.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print.

Biggers, Jeff. “The Coalfield Uprising.” Www.thenation.com/article/coalfield-uprising, September 30, 2009. http://www.thenation.com/article/coalfield-uprising.

http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-ConsensusConference1.html

Creating an Economic Diversification Trust Fund: Turning Nonrenewable Natural Resources into Sustainable Wealth for West Virginia. West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy. Janu-ary 2012.

Cunningham-Sabot, Emmanuele. “Shrinking Cities in France and Great Britain: A Silent Process?” The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Tranforma-tion in a Global Context, 2009, 17 – 28

Duncan, Cynthia. Worlds Apart. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.

Fischer, Frank. Reframing Public Policy: Discursive Practices and Deliberative Practices. New York: Oxford, 2003.

Fischer, Stephen L. and Smith, Barbara Ellen. Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2012.

Freudenburg, William. “Addictive Economies: Extractive Industries and Vulnerable Localities in a Changing World Economy. Rural Sociology 57(5), 1991, pp. 305-332.

Hendryx M., Ahern, M. “Mortality in Appalachian coal mining regions: the value of statistical life lost.” Public Health Reports, 2009, 124, 541-550.

High, Steven. "Capital and Community Reconsidered: The Politics and Meaning of Deindustrialization," Labour/Le Travail, 55 (Spring 2005), 187-96.

Hulme, Mike. Why We Disagree about Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

http://uwire.com/2010/10/04/report-shows-west-virginia-residents-have-lowest-percentage-of-college-graduates-in-the-nation

Leadbetter, David. “Single-Industry Resource Communities: 'Shrinking,' and the New Crisis of Hinterland Economic Development.” The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context, 2009, 89 – 100.

Martinez-Fernandez, C. and Wu, Chung-Tong. “Shrinking Cities: A Global Overview and Concerns about Australian Mining Cases.” The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context, 2009, 17 – 28.

Mitchell, Timothy. Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. New York: Verso, 2011.

Pallagst, K. “Shrinking Cities in the United States of America: Three Cases, Three Planning Stories.” The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Trans-formation in a Global Context, 2009, 81 – 90.

Scott, Rebecca. Removing Mountains: Extracting Nature and Identity in the Appalachian Coalfields.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Stirling, Andrew. “On the Economics and Analysis of Diversity” (Brighton, UK: University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit, 1998), http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/spru/publications/imprint/sewps/sewp28/sewp28.pdf

Wiechman, Thomas. “Conversion Strategies under Uncertainty in Post-Socialist Shrinking Cities: The Example of Dresden in Eastern Germany.” The Future of Shrinking Cities: Prob-lems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context, 2009, 5 – 16.

Winner, Langdon. The Whale and the Reactor: a search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 19-39.

The World Bank, Europe and Central Asia Unit. Monotowns:paths to resilience: A brief review of international experiences with urban regeneration, 2010

Addendum on democratic practicesThe following list demonstrates democracy as the ability to shape society and resist its erosion or attacks upon it rather than as an abstract or idealized goal. I drew the list from the lessons learned in the text Transforming Places:Lessons from Appalachia. Chicago. The list can be viewed as a how-to for active democratic participation beyond the electoral process.

Build bridges with allies. Show up at the events of allies.Share limited resources: money, time, and the spotlight.Advertise.“Get serious about racism and oppres-sion.” (27)Attend public hearings.Write fund-raising appeal letters.Hold mass demonstrations and rallies.Lobby in Washington, DC.Conduct civil disobedience.Conduct a series of action campaigns.Hold vigils.Use the creative arts.Create puppet shows.Do street theater.Create art together in public around the issue.Do activism as a second job in addition to the job that pays the bills.Write letters to the editor.Create a “free” newspaper and print folks from your side in it. Distribute it widely.Get some local experts involved.Involve faith communities.Involve students.Involve young people.Build bridges among religious folks around key issues.Host events when the students are still in school.Use social media.

Train volunteers to fundraise.Build upon each small success (43).Provide background at meetings in order to welcome newcomers. (44)Have courage. (44)Multi-issue groups often garner more support yet single-issue groups often have a lot of energy (44).Form a non-profit organization. (50)Highlight issues of livelihood and health.Be prepared to counter the messages than you are loony. Don’t let them get you down. (52)Form citizen groups. (54)Get folks envisioning the future they want. (55)Utilize local opinion and action.Show local groups how joining a larger ef-fort “will advance their own agenda.” (56)Give people “principled reasons” to form alliances. (56)Welcome newcomers in the area to parti-cipate in civic life. (56)Reflect on whether joining larger net-works would work to your advantage. It may not. (57)Create movements or actions based on values rather than interests—values last longer. Envision together the world/the community you want—this reflects values rather than issues. (57)Use the principles of the ‘solidarity eco-nomy’: “reciprocity, democracy, sustainab-ility, and equity.” (59)Help people know who they are and have a sense of identity (65).Start a festival. (69)

Conduct solid research.Hold fundraisers such as turkey shoots, cakewalks.Relate your mission to religion. Use Bible verses.Create a listserv.Write resolutions and bring them to city and town councils.Ask allies for email addresses.Be dogged.Call people directly on the phone when social media or email does not get the re-sponse you need.“Choose an initial fight you can win.” (36)Structure your group to be able to “quickly absorb newcomers.” (37)Create a steering committee to govern.Create bylaws.Reach across party lines.Believe that “it does not matter if you have no chance of winning. It does not matter than no foundation will fund you. You fight viscerally because it is right to oppose something so awful.” (38)“Usually only a few respond with deep commitment, but often that is enough.” (38)Embrace democratic statements.Table at local events.Create a petition.Offer cheaper and better environmental solutions.Advocate a positive vision, but also attack the negative. (40)Use volunteer labor.Get a volunteer to do the website.Hire a part-time person when you can af-ford it.

Start a festival. (69)Celebrate what folks can do. (69)Get the mayor on board. (68)Women should organize folks also around issues that affect them disproportinately. (71)Challenge preconceived notions of race, class, gender (73-74).Make media.Train youth to run media themselves.Train youth to focus on community issues. (82)Try organizing around experimentation rather than around a single issue. (93)Teach your students to write grants. (94)Teach students to ask the community at large for feedback on issues. (94)Build grassroots organizations with local people at the helm. (94)Create a community play that derives from community stories. (95)Do a Listening Project. (96)Do no harm. (112)Start a caravan and go from community to community. (113)Hold workshop. (115)Build a range of capable leaders. (131)Organize trainings regularly (131).Build “the skills, capacities, and critical analysis of people who belong to grass-roots groups.” (134)Explore various kinds of organizational structure, not just hierarchical. (136)Believe in people. (136)Practice reciprocity. (136)Don't come with a preconceived agenda. (137)Get technical support (138).Create a self-development fund.Create means of analysis. (141)

Engage mainstream systems and institu-tions. (142)Spark new groups and projects. (143)Create multilingual spaces. (145)If a community group, support organizing rather than organizing (145).You don't always have to form a non-profit. Other structures are possible. (145)Develop a “year-round relationship with the religious community.” (152)Create opportunities for workers to tell their stories (169) .Support unions.Run a campaign. Support pioneering individuals. (174)File legal actions. (174)Develop an “appropriate organizational scale.” (184)Develop strategies to “bridge the urban-rural” divide. (184)Build “a diverse organizational structure that will allow diverse people different entry points into the organization's work and a variety of ways to stay involved over the long haul.” (184)Work first with the least included, then move toward the most included. (185)Ask the question, “How does our present campaign push for long-term structural changes?”Build sufficient capacity to attack the job at hand first. (188)Do not pretend you are making a differ-ence if you are not. (189)Fight the stereotypes and the blame the victims rhetoric. (203)

Don't get intimidated by people. (208)Create councils of folks affected. (214)Scale up when bridging divides. (222)Create viable alternatives. (223)Condemn the ones bankrolling the prob-lem. (232)Organize a conference. (233)Hold a summer camp (231 – 233)Hold an “alternative spring break.” (234)Create events. (233)Become a civic professional. (244)Know your audience and speak their lan-guage. (245)Be prepared with facts and to protect wit-nesses. (247)Support and create opportunities for citizen science. (248)Challenge experts and entrenched “expert-ise.” (248)Do ethnographic research. (248)Connect Global North and Global South. (261)