NEWS |
Photo credit: Bruno Kelly
|
PANEL 1: Community, Women and Indigenous Resistance to Extractivism
Organizer: Katia Yoza-Mitsuishi (PhD candidate, Rutgers University) Chair: Diana Córdoba (Assistant Professor, Queen’s University) Panel Abstract: The Amazon has become one of the most important epicenters of the new extractivist wave promoted by States and transnational actors in Latin America. Under a colonial, patriarchal and capitalist logic, extractivism seeks accumulation through domination, often violent, of women and feminized subjects, and of indigenous communities and their territories. Faced with this critical panorama, new and old forms of articulation of various community actors and movements have become visible to counteract this policy of death and destruction imposed on their territories. This panel sponsored by LASA Amazonia seeks contributions from the Social Sciences and Humanities that reflect on the potential of community, female and/or Indigenous resistance to extractivism. Proposals that revolve around the following questions are welcome: How are resistance movements against extractivism articulated from feminine points of view in the Amazon? What is the role of women as fundamental political subjects in the fight against extractivism? And what possibilities and practices does gender-based thinking open for a political ecology that respects life—human and not human—in the Amazon? Likewise, we hope that this panel contributes ideas about what the community, feminist and/or Indigenous movements of the Amazon offer to think about the current ecological and gender challenges in Latin America. Belén Noroña, Post-doctoral Fellow, Humanities Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, [email protected] Visceral Empathy: Kichwa female dreams and storytelling and calls for solidarity across the Amazon rainforest Kichwa women living in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon resist oil extractive activities and state-sanctioned violence by producing and reproducing dreams and storytelling as survival and solidarity tools. Such ways of knowing blur the human-nature divide in ways in which women identify their bodies as extensions of their territories while recognizing multiple subjectivities and agencies in more than human subjects such as animals and rivers. Kichwa women use narratives and storytelling to denounce Indigenous elimination, state-led violence, domestic violence, and patriarchal extractivism. This paper emerges out of conversations that Kichwa women have among themselves and with rural mestizas, providing insights into grassroots methods of denunciation and solidarity across territories and space. I draw from post-colonial theory, feminist political ecology, decolonial praxis, and Indigenous thought to elaborate ‘visceral empathy;’ this is a concept and methodology that allows us to communicate in solidarity with Kichwa women. It encourages us to listen to Kichwa epistemology to inhabit the space of rupture in which the colonized subject becomes aware of colonial fractures and conflicts experienced by women in their dreams and storytelling. And from this fracture, or space of awareness, those who listen can identify how coloniality operates in their own body and surrounding territory. This exercise reveals how we are all affected by extraction and its violence, encouraging our participation in more significant resistance efforts, capable of solidarity across scale and space. Jenniffer Vargas Vega, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, [email protected] Minería ilegal de oro en la Amazonía Colombiana – Mujeres, extractivismo y resistencias Esta investigación examina las transformaciones en la vida de las mujeres indígenas Murui muina, Andoke, Muinane y Nonuya, quienes viven o vivían en Puerto Santander- área no municipalizada ubicada sobre el medio río Caquetá (Amazonas, Colombia)-. Ellas han padecido los impactos de la minería ilegal de oro y las amenazas por parte de mineros informales o grupos armados al margen de la ley que controlan su extracción. Pese a todo, las mujeres se han organizado para liderar procesos en defensa de la vida y del territorio desde su agenciamiento político. La investigación asocia los cambios en la vida de las mujeres con la lógica extractivista y neoliberal que opera en la economía global. Distingue factores que se entrecruzan como: la presencia situada del Estado colombiano; el conflicto armado; la exclusión y el empobrecimiento de la región amazónica; la cadena de comercialización que favorece a capitales extranjeros y grupos armados. Aunque otros trabajos han abordado el tema, dejan de lado la perspectiva de género frente al extractivismo, incluso desde su relación con el medioambiente, los impactos y las formas de resistir. Esta investigación busca llenar dichos vacíos a partir de una indagación bibliográfica y etnográfica basada en entrevistas a profundidad con enfoque biográfico. Andrea Sempértegui, PhD en Sociologia de la Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Visitor, Institute for Advanced Study, [email protected] Sosteniendo la lucha, tomándose el espacio: las mujeres amazónicas y el movimiento indígena en Ecuador Esta ponencia se centra en la lucha de un grupo de mujeres indígenas del centro-sur de la Amazonía ecuatoriana, quienes se han organizado contra proyectos petroleros y mega-mineros en sus territorios y que se autodenominan “Las Mujeres Amazónicas.” Examino cómo ellas se han posicionado como actoras visibles dentro del Movimiento Indígena y el movimiento anti-extractivo en el Ecuador, al mismo tiempo que han atraído la atención y el apoyo de muchxs activistas y académicxs. Si bien algunxs académicxs han descrito la organización de las Mujeres Amazónicas como parte de la tendencia latinoamericana llamada “la feminización de las luchas,” esta ponencia ofrece una perspectiva diferente. Mi análisis entiende la organización política de estas lideresas cómo caracterizada por dos elementos: primero, el de “sostener” la lucha territorial indígena; y segundo, lo que algunas lideresas denominan “el tomarse el espacio” dentro de sus organizaciones indígenas. Este análisis, entonces, parte de las auto-representaciones de las Mujeres Amazónicas y desafía interpretaciones que oscurecen cómo estas mujeres han emergido como miembros activos del Movimiento Indígena Amazónico. Esta ponencia destaca como las Mujeres Amazónicas, aunque muchas veces su liderazgo político genere tensiones dentro de sus organizaciones indígenas, están conectadas con la lucha histórica indígena en Ecuador. Es más, a través de formas únicas de movilización y articulación política, la organización de las Mujeres Amazónicas abre espacios necesarios y valiosos para desafiar y “renovar” las estructuras del Movimiento Indígena desde adentro. Victoria Del Pilar Chicmana Zapata, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, [email protected] El rol de las organizaciones de mujeres indígenas (FREMANK y OMIASEC) en la resistencia contra los extractivismos en la Selva Central La Selva Central peruana ha tenido un proceso de intensa colonización desde el s.XX, a través del cual sus habitantes originarios, pueblos indígenas, fueron despojaron de sus territorios. En los 70s se forman las primeras organizaciones indígenas para defender sus territorios y modos de vida. Actualmente, estos pueblos siguen resistiendo frente a extractivsmos, como la tala de madera, el cultivo ilegal de coca y la agricultura intensiva. Las mujeres han tenido un potente rol en la resistencia indígena en la Selva Central y se han movilizado, principalmente, a través de dos organizaciones: la FREMANK (Federación Regional de Mujeres Asháninka, Nomatsiguenga y Kakinte), que surge a finales de los 90s, frente a la ausencia de líderes masculinos por el conflicto armado y para posicionar a las mujeres en la agenda indígena. Más de una década después y tomando en cuenta la experiencia de la FREMANK, se funda la OMIASEC (Organización de Mujeres Indígenas Asháninkas de la Selva Central), para fortalecer la participación de las mujeres en el movimiento indígena regional. La ponencia busca explicar el surgimiento y mantenimiento de ambas organizaciones que, si bien se fundaron en distintos momentos históricos, hicieron un gran trabajo de base para fortalecer los liderazgos de mujeres indígenas y asegurar la seguridad territorial. A partir de ello, se reflexionará acerca de las potencialidades y debilidades que tienen estas organizaciones para proponer alternativas para los extractivismos que amenazan la Selva Central y a la Amazonía. Diana Córdoba, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, [email protected] Oil Palm in Water Territories: A Feminist political ecology reading Despite the social and ecological impacts of resource extraction, the harnessing of such resources continues to feature prominently in the economic development strategies of the Amazon. While much of the literature on extractivism in the Amazon focuses on the dynamics of the global political economy, there is limited analysis of how unequal gender relations operate on the ground in plantation-affected communities. Women and other feminized subjects are often either excluded from or hyper-exploited within the socio-natural arrangements created by plantation expansion. As has been increasingly documented, gender violence becomes routine in extractive spaces, both in terms of direct violent attacks or slow violence processes for example, the degradation of health as a result of water degradation and other effects of extractivism. Using a feminist political ecology lens, this paper seeks to develop an analysis of the gender relations of agricultural extraction in water territories to understand the complex social processes that create and perpetuate environmental injustices — both social inequality and water degradation — and to visualize feminized resistance and opportunities for transformation. Grounded in innovative methodologies that reveal the embodied experiences of large-scale plantations, I combine complementary field studies with a literature review to analyze the experiences of women and their ordinary political spaces and practices. My primary objective is to identify the relationship between the expansion of large-scale extraction and related slow and direct violence, and the transformations experienced by women who depend on aquatic ecosystems for their livelihoods. PANEL 2: Militarization of the Amazon and New Environmental Polarizations Organizers: Maria Cecilia Oliveira & Alexandra Tost, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies - Potsdam Chairs: Dr. M. Cecilia Oliveira, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies & Alexandra Tost, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, IASS Potsdam Discussant: Deborah Delgado Pugley, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Panel Abstract: The militarization of the Amazon is a reality common to all countries in the region. Since the devastating fires in 2019, countries such as Brazil, Peru and Bolivia have intensified the use of their armed forces to fight fires and other illegal extractive activities. At first sight, these drastic measures may seem justified in a seemingly ungovernable situation after decades of inaction and inefficiency in combating environmental crime. However, military management of the rainforest has been linked before to border protection policies, infrastructure programs, and migration or drug trafficking containment missions. In countries like Brazil, environmental agencies have become increasingly militarized bureaucracies. Furthermore, militaries have become an important mechanism for managing the health crisis during the current pandemic. The delegation of management authority to armed forces in areas such as the fight against deforestation not only raises doubts about their capacities but also about conflicts of interests. Particularly in countries where environmental defenders, often indigenous, face repression and largely unprosecuted murder. At this panel researchers will analyze the militarization process in the Amazon and its effects. Our interest is to explore a critical and contemporary view of the dynamics and effects of militarization on environmental, territorial and population management in the Amazon. Which interests have supported the use of military forces for environmental management? What are the borders between national security and international security in the Amazon? How does militarization effect and display the state of the environmental crisis, indigeneity and indigenous rights, public health, activism, politics and cultural sovereignty? Bernardo Jurema, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam) Ecopolitics vs geopolitics: The U.S. National Security Global Strategic Objectives and Environmental Governmentality in The Amazon Basin The National Security Institutional Complex (NSIC) was formed in the critical juncture of World War II and became the focal point of the emergence and maintenance of the U.S. global role and of the formulation of U.S. foreign and national security policy. The significant persistence of the pursuit of the postwar strategic goals, despite the successive changes of administrations indicates path-dependent effects that propelled these policy choices into the future and constrained the action of international politics practitioners. By looking at the internal communications of the NSIC over the course of the last decades, , available in the collections contained in WikiLeaks’ Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD) database, this paper will show how the NSIC’s four long-term global strategic objectives – namely, to preserve American military supremacy; to safeguard the U.S.’s economic dominance and to challenge and undercut any sort of non-capitalist competing economic system; to contain and ultimately defeat mass-based, nationalist, non-capitalist movements; and to build a world order undisputedly centered around U.S. values and interests – have predominated in the Amazon Basin region and have determined environmental governmentality in this part of the world. The paper will show the interplay of nationalists values, the protection of borders, the effects of the War on Drugs campaigns in the Amazon Basin and how these components are partly byproducts of the U.S.’s military influence. Piero Leirner, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brasil Amazônia Militar, Entre Ideologia e Dispositivo Sociopolítico Esta apresentação tem como objetivo ver a chamada questão amazônica a partir do ponto de vista dos militares brasileiros, em especial dos do Exército. O principal eixo que pretendo dar para conectar uma série de elementos que estão associados a ela é o ideológico, ou seja, aquele em que as mais diversas ordens de problemas estão conectadas visando produzir um senso comum entre os próprios militares a fim de estruturar um campo de ação que é fundamentalmente político. Com isto estarei observando aspectos que transcendem os que poderíamos conceber como mais próximos aos "puramente militares”, isto é, que visam questões sobre táticas e estratégias militares relativas à Amazônia brasileira. Sem menosprezar estes elementos, a ideia aqui é desenvolver um argumento mostrando como tais aspectos estão subordinados a uma ação que visa a política civil, antes mesmo da geopolítica ou mesmo da política militar, compreendendo esta como aquilo que os próprios militares chamam de “expressão militar do poder nacional”. De maneira sintética, poderia dizer que a “expressão militar” encontrou na Amazônia uma via de acesso para começar uma infiltração em múltiplas dimensões da vida social no Brasil, daí seu caráter ideológico, totalizante. Leandro Siqueira (co-author with M. Cecilia Oliveira), Universidade Metropolitana de Santos (UNIMES)/ M. Cecilia Oliveira (IASS Potsdam) Hipertransparência e a militarização do monitoramento da Amazônia A chegada de Jair Bolsonaro à presidência marca uma guinada autoritária e conservadora do Brasil com sérias implicações para o meio ambiente: Enquanto a digitalização da floresta avança, teoricamente ampliando as possibilidades de participação política e a efetividade da proteção ambiental, o atual governo desarticula o agenciamento sociotécnico que permitiu a gestões anteriores reduzirem a destruição da Amazônia com a aplicação de sistemas de monitoramento por satélite e fiscalização do desmatamento da floresta. Embora a prática de Bolsonaro seja comumente rotulada como “desgoverno”, encontramos no governo federal uma atuação fortemente orientada para transpor, ou mesmo para privilegiar, as forças armadas na execução de políticas ambientais que anteriormente eram efetuadas por órgãos e instituições civis. O recente processo de sucateamento do IBAMA e a sua possível “substituição” pelas Forças Armadas na fiscalização ambiental é um exemplo da militarização da gestão ambiental, que pode ser inserida entre as práticas de contra-ativismo ambiental promovidas pelo governo Bolsonaro. Nesta apresentação, buscamos colaborar para o debate sobre a militarização da Amazônia enfocando a gradativa ampliação do papel das forças armadas no monitoramento da floresta por meio do Centro Gestor e Operacional do Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia (CENSIPAN), que coleta dados por meio de sensoriamento orbital, e radares meteorológicos para apoiar as forças armadas na proteção da Amazônia e no combate a crimes ambientais na região. Acreditamos que a análise da militarização do monitoramento da Amazônia seja profícua para problematizar a questão da transparência nas democracias, seus ativismos e o embate com tecnologias de governo do meio ambiente, enfatizando os efeitos de práticas autoritárias sobre relações sociotécnicas. Comments are closed.
|