Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

178 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
denunciations and petitions. This will help get your message
across, and amplify the results of any actions.
Next, if possible, ensure community activists invest in
shares in the mining company. With the aid of local support
groups it should be possible to invest in a small number
of shares. These can then be split further to allow as many
people as possible individual representation. This will allow
the community to write to the management of the company,
effectively as one of their “bosses.” It will also allow you to
attend company shareholders’ meetings, particularly the
AGM. Shareholders should also be able, subject to the rules of
the company, to ask for a complete list of the others shareholders.
(A list of the significant shareholders should be available
on the company website—or at via the relevant stock exchange
or company registrar—but a complete list will probably only
be available direct from the company.) The community can
then contact the other shareholders, in the role of concerned
shareholders.
The AGMs allow any shareholder to publicly quiz the management,
and can be used to find out more information on the
plans of the company and/or to convey community concerns.
An AGM can be the focus of a visit of community members,
which can also take in meetings with other investors, government
regulators, media and potential supporters or funders.
Even if community members cannot attend themselves, local
activists can ask questions on behalf of the community. Another
tactic is to produce reports, including alternative shareholder
reports, to share with the shareholders who attend. 11
The ultimate shareholder activity would be to table a
resolution at the AGM, seeking a vote on your concerns, or
possibly proposing your own candidate for the board of the
company. This is an ambitious tactic, as it needs a great deal
of organization and some initial support from shareholders to
reach a “quorum” to allow the proposition to be added to the
meeting agenda. It is also likely such a vote would fail at the
meeting itself, although the publicity generated is often worth
the effort regardless of the final vote.
An example of activist shareholder resolutions are at
recent AGMs of the Canadian mining company Goldcorp.