The political economy of extractivism and social struggles in Latin America

The extraction and commodification of natural resources have been incessant in capitalism’s development. However, its geopolitical distribution is uneven since nature and people’s spoliation has been more intense in the global south. The article analyses the interaction between the extension of neoliberal capitalism at the beginning of the 21st century and the renewed impetus to projects based on the intensive exploitation of nature and commons. Focusing on Latin American academic and political debate, we have highlighted the role of “state-of-the-art technologies” in the territorial expansion of extractivism, the relation between global, national and subnational scales, the hegemony of extractivism in diverse political orientations, the dispute of meanings around nature, among others. In parallel to the description of the political economy of contemporary extractivism, we analyse the proliferation of socio-environmental or territorial conflicts that have arisen from the resistance of various groups against the progress of this model. Based on the analysis of three organisations - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Brazil), Unión de Asambleas de Comunidades (Argentina), and Congreso Nacional Indígena (Mexico) - we illustrate both the redefinition of long traditions of peasant and indigenous struggles and the rise of socio-environmental conflict. The theoretical and empirical analysis remarks on several elements. Firstly, the current extractivism emerges both from long-term dynamics of nature and people’s exploitation in the global south and from the widespread use of technologies that have allowed new forms of spoliation of territories. Secondly, even though the social struggles usually emerge as a reaction to extractivism, they also become proactive in trying different ways of overcoming capitalist ties. Thirdly, while extractivism is a long-term process, the resistance combines a reappropriation of the traditions of social struggle with transgenerational replacement of their participants. Fourthly, aiming to face the global expansion of extractivism, the movements resort to various strategies at different scales.