World Food Policy Volume 3, No. 2/Volume 4, No. 1, Fall16/Spring17 | Page 92

World Food Policy
Let us now turn to a very dif-
ferent case, namely the rubber planta-
tions in Attapeu mentioned earlier. In
some villages, this project was given no
publicity, and the inhabitants alienated
from their land were neither consulted
nor given information. This does not
mean that state mediators were absent
from the process. After Vietnamese
workers began to cut down the for-
est (Fig. 6), relations with the villagers
soured and the district head eventual-
ly had to invite the chiefs of all affect-
ed villages to a meeting. He explained
that the plantation company aimed to
develop (pattanaa) the region as well
as the whole country and made it clear
that the decision was not his own nor
even the governor’s: it had been taken at
the central government level and could
not be changed. A few weeks later, the
village chiefs received a letter from the
governor asking them to comply with
the order and allow the company to
proceed.
the meeting; outreach teams were com-
posed of district officers and members
of Party-affiliated mass organizations
such as the Women’s Union and the
Youth Union. Despite the participatory
rhetoric and the conspicuous presence
of international staff, the whole process
revealed how the Lao state managed the
mobility of the “target” population.
The practicalities of land pol-
icies also include public events and
artifacts—seminars, reports, glossy
publications, TV broadcasts and the
like—depicting win–win situations,
empowerment of the poor, smiling
children confident about their future,
natural resource protection, and gender
mainstreaming. All these elements were
most conspicuous in the case of Nam
Theun 2. Such public outputs, which
also include official pictures showing
decisions being endorsed by those in
the circles of power, display the political
legitimacy of such projects.
Figure 6. The Border of the HAGL Plantation (200 m. from Phouxay village).
The place beyond the trench used to be a forest a few months before.
© P. Petit 2012
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