Africa Is a Country

The oil complex

The oil complex

By
Sean Jacobs

Video of a worthwhile lecture (recorded in February this year) by Berkeley geographer Michael Watts breaking down the workings of the oil industry.

Oil spill at Goi Creek, Nigeria, August 2010. Image credit Friends of the Earth Netherlands on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzX58sYSA1E&w=560&h=349

Video of a worthwhile lecture (recorded in February this year) by Berkeley geographer Michael Watts breaking down the workings of the oil industry. In the lecture—titled “Dispossession and Oil Violence”—Watts riffs off David Harvey’s explanation of the workings of neoliberalism, challenges the “the resource curse” theory, makes fun of Paul Collier’s ideas, and gives his assessment on why the popular support for armed militant groups in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, among other things. The whole thing is about 50 minutes; Watts speaks for 30 minutes and then takes questions. Stay till the end. Watts is well qualified to speak on the subject. He has done extensive research on oil production in Nigeria. He collaborated with American photographer Ed Kashi for a book about the Niger Delta, Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta, published in 2008. In 2007 while traveling in the Niger Delta, Watts was shot and wounded by unknown gunmen.

Via Naijablog.

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