Our researcher Dušica Ristivojević will be giving a speech at University of Turku on Thursday 6 April. This event is organized by the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku.Speaker: Dušica Ristivojević (Senior Researcher at the University of Helsinki)
Topic: Global China on the Ground: A Civil Society Perspective
Summary: Serbia Zijin Copper, a subsidiary of the Zijin Mining Group, one of the leading mining companies in China, became the owner of 63 percent of shares of a former socialist giant Mining and Smelting Complex Bor in December 2018. Serbia Zijin Mining, another subsidiary of the Zijin Mining Group acquired the world-class Čukaru Peki Gold and Copper mine in the same region of Eastern Serbia a year later. The operations of Zijin companies have been creating a win-win situation for both parties in the deal: they are a central part of China’s BRI investments and profits in the region, and of the narratives on China-Serbia “iron-clad” friendship which perpetually increase the power of the Serbian ruling regime. Yet, numerous controversies which accompany the well-matched interests of the Serbian government and its Chinese partners are mobilizing local activists and their nation-wide allies, especially those concerned with the lack of transparency, land-related issues and environmental damage and danger.
This talk will look at the towns of Majdanpek and Bor and the villages in their vicinity and address the following questions: How does a warmly welcomed China’s global advancement looks on the ground? How does the dynamic of ever-increasing profits and benefits for both managing parties looks like for the local inhabitants? What are the national and international venues available and blocked for the grassroot activist groups and civil society organizations?
About the Speaker
Dušica Ristivojević is a Senior Researcher at the Department of
Cultures, University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on a longue
durée China’s global interactions and international politics, media, and
social organizing in and out of China. She is finalizing her book
manuscript on transnational connections of Chinese socio-political
movements and follows China’s presence in Europe’s Eastern
peripheries, especially its investments in dirty industries and digital
technologies.