The Primitive Accumulation of Panama's Rio Indo Dam
Recently, while walking around Boston and listening to a news podcast, I heard about a plan to construct a dam for the Panama Canal that would result in the displacement of thousands of people. I hadn’t heard about this before, but I was already beginning to think of concepts I had learned while reading “Capital Volume I” by Karl Marx. I decided to do some more research, and saw clear parallels between this potential project and Marx’s concepts of primitive accumulation, urban migration, and surplus populations (I’ll summarize these ideas here, but if you’re interested I invite you to check out this essay I wrote that explores them more in depth).
The proposed Rio Indo dam is a response to declining water levels in the Panama Canal; as a result of historic droughts exacerbated by El Niño weather cycles, rainfall hasn’t been replenishing the reservoirs required to operate the canal. This has caused delays and reductions in shipping through one of the most important routes for global trade. By constructing the Rio Indo dam, Panama would create a new reservoir to ensure that ships could continue to pass through the canal (Solís).
However, this project has been facing opposition from many of the local communities in the proposed area. Building it would flood local villages, causing over 2,200 people to be relocated from “farming villages in the Rio Indio basin [that] have thrived on subsistence agriculture and tight-knit community bonds for generations” (BreakBulk). Farmers and their representatives in these areas, such as Paulino Alabarca and Dilubino Agraje, have voiced their opposition, claiming, “We were born and raised here. If we leave, it is not because we want to, but because we'll have to” and “No farmer wants to live in a slum” (Paraga).
While reading about the potential displacement of these subsistence communities, I was reminded of what Marx called “primitive accumulation”. In his historical analysis, he explains the process that causes people to become subsumed in the capitalist economy. Say you have a community where people are producing everything they need; why would they choose to work for someone else in exchange for money to buy the food, shelter, and other goods they already have? They probably wouldn’t. However, if you strip them from their access to the land, they no longer have the means to produce the things they need to survive. Now they do have an incentive, in fact a need, to work within the capitalist economy: “farmers… will be converted into a body of [people] who earn their subsistence by working for others, and who will be under a necessity of going to market for all they want… towns and manufactures will increase, because more will be driven to them in quest of places and employment” (Marx 1976, 887). This process of dispossessing land and resources from those who depend on it is the “primitive”, or initial, accumulation that creates the necessary workforce to make all future accumulation of profit under capitalism possible.
The quote above also highlights the process of urban migration that is generated by primitive accumulation, as people are forced to relocate to places where they can find work. Marx notes how these migrations tend to create surplus populations in cities, often resulting in slums where many are left unemployed, homeless, and impoverished as the influx of people outnumbers the amount of available jobs. This actually works well for capital, as it now has a large reserve of people to draw from as new industries are created, and the more desperation there is the less bargaining power labor has to advocate for increased wages or better working conditions.
The flooding of land that hundreds of families depend on for farming, fishing, and herding; the relocation of thousands of people from subsistence communities and livelihoods; the fear of farmers ending up in slums as they are forced into the capitalist economy to search for employment; all of these echo the dynamics that Marx laid out in Capital Volume I.
I want to conclude by noting that canal authorities have a compensation program for residents that will be displaced and are making efforts to work with local villages, hoping to reach consensus even though they don’t require a public vote. Additionally, the new reservoir would provide drinking water to more than 2 million Panamanians, and many living downstream are hopeful that it will bring jobs, infrastructure, and improved education and healthcare to their communities (Alma).
As someone writing from a position of economic comfort and privilege, I am wary of being too critical towards a project that may genuinely improve the lives of many people in the area. Nonetheless, I feel it is worth exploring the dynamics and impacts that will be faced by subsistence communities, particularly with the long history of how foreign powers have exacerbated the displacement of Panamanians through agribusiness, tourism, and the construction of the Panama canal.
Works Cited
Marx, Karl. Capital Volume I. Penguin in association with New Left Review, 1990, ©1976.
“Panama’s Ambitious Rio Indio Dam Project: A Balancing Act Between Progress and Preservation”. BreakBulk News. 3 December 2024. https://breakbulk.news/panamas-ambitious-rio-indio-dam-project-a-balancing-act-between-progress-and-preservation/.
Paraga, Marianna, and Elida Moreno. “Threatened by climate change, Panama Canal has big plans to combat drought”. Reuters. 2 December 2024. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/threatened-by-climate-change-panama-canal-has-big-plans-deal-with-drought-2024-12-02/.
Solís, Alma. “Villagers are wary of plans to dam a river to ensure Panama Canal’s Water Supply”. AP News. 23 October 2024. https://apnews.com/article/panama-canal-indio-river-dam-villagers-6f10f8a297f93a93bc610efd4fc639ff.