“Galiza is (not) a mine”: rural responses to pro-extractivist policies

The struggles against extractivist developments have been a constant during the past 50 years of accelerated social transformation of the Galizan rural landscape. From the 1970s As Encrobas and Triacastela struggles against open pit coal and limestone mining to recent mass movements against the Corc...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Evans Pim, Joám
Format: Article
Status:Published version
Publication date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/141909
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/141909
https://doi.org/10.12795/araucaria.2021.i48.20
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Galiza
Extractivismo
Minería
No violencia
Resistencia Rural
Anti-extractivismo
Extractivism
mining
Nonviolence
Rural resistance
Anti-extractivism
Description
Summary:The struggles against extractivist developments have been a constant during the past 50 years of accelerated social transformation of the Galizan rural landscape. From the 1970s As Encrobas and Triacastela struggles against open pit coal and limestone mining to recent mass movements against the Corcoesto, San Finx and Touro metal mining developments, a common pattern emerges of emancipatory rural action to defend lands and livelihoods from the ruling Partido Popular slogan “Galiza is a mine”. Renewed interest for mining developments in the 2010s following growing metal prices, EU policies on ‘critical raw materials’ and corporate interest in investment alternatives after the collapse of the Spanish property bubble has fuelled levels of social contestation unseen for decades in the traditional strongholds of Galizan local power-brokers. Drawing on historical and participatory action research, this paper examines contemporary forms of nonviolen contestation and explores their capacity to build emancipatory alternatives.