Land, State, and Society in Laos: Ethnographies of Land Policies
I do not intend to discriminate
between what is true or not in such de-
nunciations. I am rather interested in
the use of these “horror stories” ped-
dled as evidence against the compa-
nies, the Vietnamese presence, and the
local authorities. It would be difficult
to verify whether stones were really
thrown at mine workers, but similar
rumors according to which a villager
shot a Vietnamese worker were re-
ported regarding rubber plantations in
Bachieng District (Baird, 2010). Such
rumors are not grounded, according to
Baird, but “are created to discursive-
ly support what many villagers might
hope would happen, even if nobody
dares to take the risk” (2010, p. 27);
they are very telling examples of the
“weapons of the weak” popularized by
In downtown Attapeu City, the Scott (1985).
Despite the pervasive sense that
Laotian population felt as having be-
state
officers
and the rest of the popu-
come a minority by 2012. This led to
fierce jôm regarding the villagers’ com- lation are on opposite sides of a great
plaints about land grabbing, as locals divide, “weapons of the weak” are not
denounced the collusion of corrupt au- used only by the weak. In some con-
thorities with foreign companies and texts, state officers state similar cri-
their lack of concern for their fellow cit- tiques regarding the livelihood conse-
izens. However, new rumors also began quences of the plantations. In private
to circulate: the Vietnamese were whis- conversations, they complain about the
pered to be taking part in large-scale massive Vietnamese migrant presence
amphetamine trafficking, with the com- and express their fear that Vietnamese
plicity of the police, in order to addict will eventually own all of the province’s
Laotian plantation workers as well as land, pollute and deplete its rivers and
schoolchildren; a river was so polluted forests, and push local ethnic groups to
by the outflow of chemicals from a Chi- the most peripheral zones. Such griev-
nese-operated gold mine that villagers ances were articulated to me by two
living downstream got skin problems officers of the Provincial Agriculture
from contact with the water; infuriated, and Forestry Office of Attapeu during
they would have thrown stones at the a long car drive appropriate for discus-
sion.
Chinese workers of the mine; etc.
ers were alienated from their lands, as
in the village of Phouxay, and sharply
expressed their dismay. They declared
that they were not given a choice, that
their rights were violated, that they did
not have any more rice fields to culti-
vate, and that the Vietnamese had pol-
luted and depleted the forests and rivers
upon which they had previously relied
for their livelihoods. Two women who
lost their fields spoke with me in 2012 in
a small shop, complaining that the vil-
lage chief had been unable to preserve
the rights of his fellows; they said there
had been no real resistance (dtaan), in
contrast with how locals had bravely
fought (dtoosuu) against the French in
the past; they thus adopted the rhetoric
of patriotic resistance, which is still very
popular today in Laos (Tappe, 2013).
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