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Fighting for the Forests

Grassroots Resistance to Mining in Northern Ecuador

DePauw University

The history of a grassroots struggle against proposed mining projects in the Ecuadorian community of Junín reveals the centrality to its development of a "colono mentality" augmented by the conscientization of liberation theology. Links established between local organizers and NGOs in Ecuador and elsewhere helped the community to raise the costs of development sufficiently to drive the mining company away. A subsequent rise in the price of copper altered the comparative-advantage formula again, however, and a new mining company is seeking to win community members’ hearts and minds. While a Gramscian war of position is appropriate under present circumstances, it is highly vulnerable to capitalism’s capacity for survival.

Key Words: Ecuador • Mining • Social movements • Globalization • Environment

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