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The article states the indigenous people _did_ negotiate for themselves: "Yolanda Cruz, one of the leaders of the village of Catua, said she signed the contrac

The article states the indigenous people _did_ negotiate for themselves: "Yolanda Cruz, one of the leaders of the village of Catua, said she signed the contract with Minera Exar but now regrets it. At the time, she valued the opportunity to create jobs for her village. But she now worries “we are going to be left with nothing,” she said."

danharaj 10y ago
That's fair, it's better than the usual business that surrounds resource extraction in indigenous communities. I'll concede that. But I won't concede that "a contract was signed" => "it was ethical". The asymmetry of information, the inadequate accounting of externalities, and the duress of poverty all can make something legal unethical. In any case, I think you're wrong saying that the article is biased. One of the quotes in the article is even a remark that there is a good and bad side to mining. It's not incorrect for the article to say that "Native people are left poor as..." because resource extraction doesn't create lasting wealth. Once the lithium is gone, the communities will still be poor while the West benefits far more from the resource inputs into its industries on a long term scale. It is not hard to construct an argument that resource extraction is fundamentally unethical on grounds like this. Whether or not one agrees with it is another matter. I don't think making this argument is more biased than the presumption that companies negotiating with communities with far fewer resources than them is ethical until proven otherwise because there's plenty of historical evidence that it's rarely the case.
- aantix 10y ago
  >The asymmetry of information, the inadequate accounting of externalities, and the duress of poverty all can make something legal unethical. Under that criteria, it'd be impossible to do business with any group that has lesser legal funding. Neighborhood organizations, common families, local businesses. All probably have inadequate legal representation when interpreting and signing these agreements.
  - danharaj 10y ago
    It would only be impossible if business had to be strictly ethical. It doesn't have to be, as evidenced by how much business is done.
  - adrienne 10y ago
    No, it would only be impossible to do business ethically under those circumstances. Which, in fact, it is.

danharaj 10y ago

That's fair, it's better than the usual business that surrounds resource extraction in indigenous communities. I'll concede that. But I won't concede that "a contract was signed" => "it was ethical". The asymmetry of information, the inadequate accounting of externalities, and the duress of poverty all can make something legal unethical. In any case, I think you're wrong saying that the article is biased. One of the quotes in the article is even a remark that there is a good and bad side to mining. It's not incorrect for the article to say that "Native people are left poor as..." because resource extraction doesn't create lasting wealth. Once the lithium is gone, the communities will still be poor while the West benefits far more from the resource inputs into its industries on a long term scale. It is not hard to construct an argument that resource extraction is fundamentally unethical on grounds like this. Whether or not one agrees with it is another matter. I don't think making this argument is more biased than the presumption that companies negotiating with communities with far fewer resources than them is ethical until proven otherwise because there's plenty of historical evidence that it's rarely the case.

aantix 10y ago
>The asymmetry of information, the inadequate accounting of externalities, and the duress of poverty all can make something legal unethical. Under that criteria, it'd be impossible to do business with any group that has lesser legal funding. Neighborhood organizations, common families, local businesses. All probably have inadequate legal representation when interpreting and signing these agreements.
- danharaj 10y ago
  It would only be impossible if business had to be strictly ethical. It doesn't have to be, as evidenced by how much business is done.
- adrienne 10y ago
  No, it would only be impossible to do business ethically under those circumstances. Which, in fact, it is.