Let me pitch a Traveller setting for you.
An offworld megacorp has obtained a sweet deal from a planetary government -- the megacorp gets tax breaks, reimbursement for all payments to the community, 100% foreign ownership, and 100% repatriation of profits.
The industry is mining -- gold and copper.
The local people are up in arms, literally. They have guns and are shooting. The local government has no interest in representing the local people; they are eager to deploy the army to protect the foreign miners from poor local citizens.
There is an influential church with off-world ties and a populist-Communist movement -- while the church and the Communists would normally be at odds, they are united as brothers to resist the foreign menace. All the considerable community/family/tribal solidarity of the poor is led by these educated intellectuals.
Further, the mining techniques are environmentally destructive, so a fair number of offworld intellectuals oppose the mining as well.
Of course, the mining company has already prepared a huge mercenary force and will probably bring in even more mercenaries.
Where do I get all these ideas?
...the project’s critics ... fear the excavation process will have an irreparable and negative impact on the local environment.
... the Communist Party of the Philippines, on January 1 stormed the project’s forest-surrounded base camp in a remote village and torched several of its buildings valued at around US$280,000.
...
Dinualdo Gutierrez, a Catholic bishop who has jurisdiction over Tampakan town, requested the company abandon the project just days after the communist rebel attack. ...
"Previous statements from the diocese cited that the presence of large scale mining would affect our peace and order situation," said the bishop, adding: "The message is clear. In the spirit of Christian charity, we pray to the mining company: 'Please leave and our people will have peace.'"
In citing "social ills" caused by mining in the area, Gutierrez recalled a labor dispute over the use of so-called "rotational" rather than permanent labor last October, when workers padlocked several of Sagittarius’ facilities and barricaded roads leading to the base camp, which is located about a three- to four-hour drive uphill from the town proper.
...
Tribal leaders, even those previously strongly supportive of the project when it was led by Sagittarius, are now reportedly having second thoughts, ...
Tribal chieftain Neraldo Capion said villagers are disgruntled by perceived broken multinational promises to better local living standards in exchange for rights to the resources. Capion says that a school built in the local community by Sagittarius has recently ceased to function because roads have not been properly maintained.
He claimed that children are now forced to attend classes in neighboring villages, some as far as seven kilometers away. ...
...
Philippine military chief General Hermogenes Esperon has said the Armed Forces of the Philippines will work to secure foreign mining projects and protect private property rights in the country. ...
Communist party spokesperson ... said the New Year’s Day assault was in revenge for the company’s "land grabbing, plunder and environmental destruction, and also in response to a longstanding demand of the people to put a stop to the firm’s operations in the area".
Despite the military’s assurances, Xstrata Copper isn’t leaving its security to chance. The company recently hired the services of global security provider, Group 4 Securicor, which will take over security arrangements in the Tampakan project starting in March. The company also plans to hire more than 100 private guards and is setting up eight guard posts within the mine’s development site. That raises the risks of human rights abuses and international criticism, similar to that faced by US mining giant Freeport in Indonesia, which similarly deployed armed heavies to protect their operations.
There are a lot more details at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JB22Ae01.html
...but I felt Fair Use implies that I should quote only a few bits and leave most of the content unquoted...
An offworld megacorp has obtained a sweet deal from a planetary government -- the megacorp gets tax breaks, reimbursement for all payments to the community, 100% foreign ownership, and 100% repatriation of profits.
The industry is mining -- gold and copper.
The local people are up in arms, literally. They have guns and are shooting. The local government has no interest in representing the local people; they are eager to deploy the army to protect the foreign miners from poor local citizens.
There is an influential church with off-world ties and a populist-Communist movement -- while the church and the Communists would normally be at odds, they are united as brothers to resist the foreign menace. All the considerable community/family/tribal solidarity of the poor is led by these educated intellectuals.
Further, the mining techniques are environmentally destructive, so a fair number of offworld intellectuals oppose the mining as well.
Of course, the mining company has already prepared a huge mercenary force and will probably bring in even more mercenaries.
Where do I get all these ideas?
...the project’s critics ... fear the excavation process will have an irreparable and negative impact on the local environment.
... the Communist Party of the Philippines, on January 1 stormed the project’s forest-surrounded base camp in a remote village and torched several of its buildings valued at around US$280,000.
...
Dinualdo Gutierrez, a Catholic bishop who has jurisdiction over Tampakan town, requested the company abandon the project just days after the communist rebel attack. ...
"Previous statements from the diocese cited that the presence of large scale mining would affect our peace and order situation," said the bishop, adding: "The message is clear. In the spirit of Christian charity, we pray to the mining company: 'Please leave and our people will have peace.'"
In citing "social ills" caused by mining in the area, Gutierrez recalled a labor dispute over the use of so-called "rotational" rather than permanent labor last October, when workers padlocked several of Sagittarius’ facilities and barricaded roads leading to the base camp, which is located about a three- to four-hour drive uphill from the town proper.
...
Tribal leaders, even those previously strongly supportive of the project when it was led by Sagittarius, are now reportedly having second thoughts, ...
Tribal chieftain Neraldo Capion said villagers are disgruntled by perceived broken multinational promises to better local living standards in exchange for rights to the resources. Capion says that a school built in the local community by Sagittarius has recently ceased to function because roads have not been properly maintained.
He claimed that children are now forced to attend classes in neighboring villages, some as far as seven kilometers away. ...
...
Philippine military chief General Hermogenes Esperon has said the Armed Forces of the Philippines will work to secure foreign mining projects and protect private property rights in the country. ...
Communist party spokesperson ... said the New Year’s Day assault was in revenge for the company’s "land grabbing, plunder and environmental destruction, and also in response to a longstanding demand of the people to put a stop to the firm’s operations in the area".
Despite the military’s assurances, Xstrata Copper isn’t leaving its security to chance. The company recently hired the services of global security provider, Group 4 Securicor, which will take over security arrangements in the Tampakan project starting in March. The company also plans to hire more than 100 private guards and is setting up eight guard posts within the mine’s development site. That raises the risks of human rights abuses and international criticism, similar to that faced by US mining giant Freeport in Indonesia, which similarly deployed armed heavies to protect their operations.
There are a lot more details at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JB22Ae01.html
...but I felt Fair Use implies that I should quote only a few bits and leave most of the content unquoted...
