On 16 August 2012, South African police shot and killed 34 striking miners from the Marikana platinum mine owned by Lonmin. They were on strike for a living wage, trapped in a life of desperate poverty.

With the Marikana Commission having recently released their report into what happened, the Frontline Club hosted a two-part event on 17 July, exploring the dynamics of politics, power and platinum in South Africa.

L-r: Jason Larkin, Richard Dowden and Jack Shenker (Photo credit: Caroline Chauvet)

First to join the audience was photographer Jason Larkin and journalist Jack Shenker, presenting their publication Platinum.  Speaking of the news coverage following the massacre, chair Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, spoke of the astounding lack of voice given towards the miners in the mainstream media.

“In the press, 61% of the comments were from company people and only 3% of the comments were from mine workers. So it seemed to me not quite enough shoe leather had really been worn out in digging out that story.”

Larkin and Shenker sought to counteract this predominant account, focusing on the human stories of the miners in Marikana.

“These are desperate people in desperate times… from my perspective it’s a celebration of the people, their determination, their will. I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Larkin commented.

“There was this real attempt [in the media] to completely stigmatise the miners, to place them as something completely antithetical to the normal workings of the modern global economy. So we wanted to go there and build on what these other journalists had done to destroy that narrative,” added Shenker.

The second part of the event brought together a panel of experts to reflect on the massacre in Marikana and its consequences for South Africa.

First to speak was James Nichol, the criminal lawyer representing the families of those killed in the massacre. Discussing the findings of the Marikana Mission of Enquiry, Nichol expressed his disappointment:

“The killings occurred as a result of a collusion between the ANC government and big business in the form of Lonmin… it is tragic that [Honorable Judge] Farlam could not see what happened to the miners through the eyes of the miners. He saw it through authority.”

Nichol went on to discuss the changing socio-political landscape in the aftermath of Marikana: “The legacy of Marikana extends much more than this commission. South Africa will never be the same,” he said.

“I totally agree South Africa will never be the same again,” added Dr Desné Masie, client manager for Southern Africa at Africa Matters Limited.

“The events of Marikana were a watershed for corporate social responsibility,” she added, citing the IFC as an example. As the investment arm of the World Bank, it holds a 0.6% stake in Lonmin mine.

“Why does corporate social responsibility have to be mutually exclusive from profitability?” she asked.

“The tragedy of the young South African democracy is how quickly we adopted the tawdry norms of global politics,” said Andrew Feinstein, writer and former ANC MP.

“Of course the individuals are to blame. But what is to blame far more than the individuals is the global intersection of politics that determines the world we live in.”

L-r: James Nichol, Desné Masie, Richard Dowden, Andrew Feinstein and Jabu Sibeko

Addressing the criticisms voiced towards the ANC by the panel, Jabu Sibeko, chairman of the African National Congress in the UK, said: “I do accept it was a very, very unfortunate incident that happened… it was a tragic and embarrassing incident that happened post apartheid.”

Speaking from the audience, Shenker addressed Sibeko:

“[The strike] threatened a system in which a privilege elite in South Africa, under ANC stewardship, have amassed fabulous riches whilst others have slipped into poverty. And in this context, there’s no room for words like ‘embarrassment,’ there’s no room for words like ‘unfortunate.’ There’s room for words like ‘murder’ and ‘massacre’ and ‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’ and ‘justice.’”

Rounding off the discussion, conversation moved on to the future for South Africa. For Feinstein, he is hopeful that the vibrant, rallying force of South Africa’s community will bring about change.

“[South Africa] remains a highly politicised society. There are thousands and thousands of social protests in South Africa every day… and that gives me hope, that while it will take time, eventually the unaccountable way in which the ANC currently operates in South Africa will not be sustainable. And I hope the tragedy of Marikana can be an important stepping-stone in that process.”

On 16 August 2012, South African police opened fire on a large crowd of men who were on strike from the Marikana platinum mine. The police action resulted in 112 people being shot and 34 killed.

Nearly three years on from the massacre and as the Marikana Commission are due to publish their inquiry into what happened, we will be holding a special two-part event to explore politics, power and platinum in South Africa.

For the first part of the evening, photographer Jason Larkin and writer Jack Shenker will present Platinum. The publication examines the Marikana massacre and the physical and political context of the communities involved in South Africa’s platinum mining industry. Combining large-format posters and a wide-ranging and incisive essay in English and Xhosa, the publication breaks with traditional formats and brings new perspectives to an important and little-understood history.

The second part of the evening will see a panel of experts reflect on the events in Marikana and their consequences in South Africa, as well as what the report reveals about who should be held accountable.

Chaired by Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society and journalist with 30 years of experience covering Africa for various publications including The Independent, The Times and The Economist. He is author of Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles.

The panel:

Andrew Feinstein is a writer, campaigner and former ANC Member of Parliament. He is author of After the Party: A Personal and Political Journey Inside the ANC and The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade.

Dr Desné Masie is an analyst of geopolitical economy and the client manager for southern Africa at Africa Matters Limited. She was the corporate relationship manager of the Royal African Society and a senior editor at the Financial Mail in Johannesburg.

James Nichol is a criminal lawyer representing the families of those who were killed by police during the Marikana strike. Previously he worked closely on Bridgewater, Wallace and Rowe with investigative journalists Paul Foot and Margaret Renn. He helped represent Arthur Scargill and miners in the 1984-85 strike and had clients in the Bloody Sunday inquiry.

Jack Shenker is a journalist and author based in London and Cairo. Formerly Egypt correspondent for The Guardian, his work has also covered Gaza, Central Asia, Southern Africa, the US, the UK and the Indian subcontinent, and been published in a wide range of newspapers and magazines around the world.

Platinum is supported by the Pulitzer Centre and Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung.

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL BE FILMED AND STREAMED LIVE ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Photo: Jason Larkin. EFF supporters listening to leader Julius Malema, Freedom Park.

Discussing the legacy of Johannesburg’s gold mining. Francis Hodgson and Jason Larkin.

Larkin was last at the Frontline Club in 2011 to present a project he had worked on with Jack Shenker – Cairo Divided. His new project shows the same measured, thoughtful and thought-provoking approach – a series of beautiful, square-format images, which present a subject but do not force one conclusion.

Hodgson, photography critic for the Financial Times and professor of photography at the University of Brighton, played devil’s advocate in challenging Larkin‘s approach to his work:

“You make pictures in a very beautiful, very poised, rather slow, very steady way, which is about allowing the land to have its own say. That doesn’t sit all that easily, apparently, with a history of exploitation, a history of protest, a history of get-rich-quick. There’s a kind of shift . . . between the way you’ve chosen to express yourself and what you’ve chosen to express.”

Larkin replied:

“There are multiple stories going on with all of this. . . . The mine dumps are huge – there are 400,000 people living on them. I don’t want to get too lost on one person’s story, one person’s narrative within these pictures . . . and I don’t want to show too much of how I personally feel about it. I’m laying out the facts.”

And as such Larkin presents the images of a legacy – and encourages us to question how we will engage with that legacy today and in the future.

https://twitter.com/MMP_Photography/status/433687274879205376

As well as addressing how a photographer communicates ideas and reaches audiences, Larkin and Hodgson touched on the current culture of rapid consumption and disposal of images – the “digital soup” in which work can be lost.

Asked about his influences, Larkin mentioned Simon Norfolk‘s work in Afghanistan as being able to convey more than standard, gritty reportage in a very beautiful way.

“You don’t have to show pain and crying and all the other stuff that happens within my industry to get a message across.”

Hodgson added:

“In other cultures than photography, people know roughly the level at which the audience situates itself. . . . Photographers feel they have to reinvent the wheel and it’s nice to have a photographer who understands that the audience have a certain level of culture and that all the normal tools of cultural activity – of quotation, of reference, of allusion – are possible in photography.”

Went to the @frontlineclub to see @mrjasonlarkin talk about his photo/journalism project on mining in Johannesburg. Honest and inspiring.

— Kana (@KanahayaAlam) February 13, 2014

An exhibition of the work will be held at Flowers, 82 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DP, 20 February – 20 March 2014.

You can listen to or watch the full discussion below:

Johannesburg is a city built on gold. It was founded in 1886 when settlers and immigrants began mining the largest reef of precious metal ever discovered. What had been a small farming community rapidly transformed into a mining mecca and within 50 years, over 300,000 people were working in mines across the city. The mining may have come to an end, but its environmental and social impact is still visible.

Jason Larkin lived in Johannesburg for two years, photographing a landscape of vast tailing dams – mountains of dumped toxic waste.

In his new book, Tales From The City Of Gold, Larkin combines his observations of the ordinary and extraordinary nature of life alongside the dumps. Its focus on the coexistence of the past and the present provides a unique perspective on the actions of previous generations and reveals their impact on today’s society and environment. Through this project, Larkin has worked on multiple formats for the final output, reaching different audiences both in Africa & Europe.

In a talk chaired by Francis Hodgson, they will discuss the challenges of communicating ideas and reaching audiences, as well as the various methods of output and distribution available to photographers today.

Hodgson is the professor in the Culture of Photography at the University of Brighton, photography critic of the Financial Times and a former head of the photographs department at Sotheby’s.

An exhibition of the work will be held at Flowers, 82 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DP, 20 February – 20 March 2014.

All images © Jason Larkin, courtesy Flowers, London.

But this is modern day Peru. Protests in the country’s indigenous-majority north-eastern region were put down by armed police late last week. At least 22 police and nine protesters have died, the BBC reports. Indigenous leaders say closer to 30 protestors were killed and around 150 injured, many with bullets.

It’s not the first time this remote area has witnessed bloodshed. Fuel and transport blockades have disrupted Peru’s Amazon region for almost two months. The indigenous groups want lawmakers to repeal laws that encourage mining in jungle regions. Critics say that over two-thirds of the Peruvian Amazon territory is now leased for oil and gas exploration.

The case is not an isolated one. For a decade or more, local inhabitants have run an international campaign against US-based mining firm Newmont for alleged environmental destruction at its mine in nearby Cajamarca. Neighbouring Ecuador has faced similar protests by indigenous groups who oppose natural resource extraction in their native lands.

The Achuar people of the north-western Amazon demonstrate a new tack in indigenous campaigning. A warrior tribe by tradition, they have chosen to fight their battle in an environment that their corporate adversaries understand: the law courts. In 2007, the Achuar filed a class action lawsuit against oil giant Occidental Petroleum in Los Angeles. Their lawsuit alleges that the US company dumped around nine billion barrels of toxic waste water into streams and rivers over a three-decade period. The judge is still deliberating to to whether the case can proceed.

An increasing number of affected communities are seeking legal redress in the US. Last month, for example, members of Nigeria’s Ogoni people brought Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell before a US federal court in New York. They accuse the oil major of colluding with the Nigeria military junta in the 1990s and, by extension, for aiding and abetting human rights violations.

Two mains reasons explain this shift towards international cases of this kind. Firstly, the plaintiffs lack confidence that their national courts will provide them with a fair hearing. In corrupt corners of Latin America and Africa, their fears are well-founded. Secondly, thanks to some clever lawyering, such communities now have access to the US justice system for the first time. Litigators have unearthed a statute that has lain dormant for almost two centuries. Under the Alien Tort Claims Act, anybody can theoretically bring a case against a US-domiciled individual, government agency or company for gross human rights violations.

The Shell case promises to be a landmark. If the company is found guilty, a flood of similar cases against large companies can be expected to follow. Then the indigenous of the Peruvian jungle will have an alternative recourse to fighting it out with heavily armed police.