The Struggle for Life

• Date: 01 September 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X15588104
• Author: Víctor M. Toledo,David Garrido,Narciso Barrera-Bassols
• Published date: 01 September 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 204, Vol. 42 No. 5, September 2015, 133–147

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X15588104

© 2015 Latin American Perspectives

133

The Struggle for Life

Socio-environmental Conflicts in Mexico

by

Víctor M. Toledo, David Garrido, and Narciso Barrera-Bassols

Translated by

Mariana Ortega Breña

The global expansion of the neoliberal model is most forcefully expressed in the pro-

cesses of social, cultural, and environmental predation undertaken by corporations in the

so-called Global South. Three pertinent processes are taking place in Mexico: (1) an

increase in socio-environmental conflicts, mainly in rural areas and in predominantly

indigenous territories; (2) the proliferation of citizen resistance of an essentially commu-

nal, municipal, or micro-regional nature; and (3) increased violence against these resis-

tance movements by the government across its three levels (federal, state, and municipal)

in complicity (or not) with companies and corporations that are trying to implement

projects that damage natural resources, affect the quality of the environment, and destroy

cultures and the social fabric.

La expansión mundial del modelo neoliberal se expresa con mayor fuerza en los pro-

cesos de depredación ecológica, social y cultural que las corporaciones realizan en el lla-

mado Sur Global. Tres procesos de la realidad mexicana ilustran lo anterior: (1) el creciente

aumento de los conflictos socio-ambientales, principalmente en las áreas rurales y pre-

dominantemente en los territorios indígenas; (2) la multiplicación de las resistencias ciu-

dadanas, esencialmente de carácter comunitario, municipal o micro-regional; y (3) el

aumento de la violencia contra esos movimientos de resistencia, llevados a cabo por gobi-

ernos en sus tres niveles (federal, estatal y municipal) en complicidad (o no) con las empre-

sas y corporaciones que intentan implementar proyectos que dilapidan los recursos

naturales y/o la calidad del ambiente y que provocan destrucción de culturas y tejido

social.

Keywords: Socio-environmental conflicts, Political ecology, Indigenous peoples,

Neoliberalism, Mexico

Mexico is experiencing a significant increase in socio-environmental con-

flicts across the length and breadth of its territory, a result of the deploy-

ment of a renewed global economic model (neoliberalism) that is expanding

Víctor M. Toledo has been a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for four

decades and works on topics such as ethno-ecology, political ecology, and sustainability in Mexico

and Latin America. David Garrido holds a degree in environmental sciences from the UNAM.

Narciso Barrera-Bassols is a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro and focuses on

ethno-ecology, environmental history, and peasant resistance movements. Mariana Ortega Breña

is a freelance translator based in Canberra, Australia.

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