Indigenous movements and (the myth of) prior consultation: demanding indigenous peoples' participation in “old” and “new” mechanisms in extractive industries

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Contemporary manifestations of the post-neoliberal era in the form of neo-extractivism in Latin America are undermining indigenous peoples’ access to land, natural resources and subsistence means as never happened before. Indigenous movements and organizations and the increasing awareness surrounding their rights among non-indigenous society sectors have played a major role in empowering indigenous responsiveness and resilience. Namely, prior consultation processes regarding extractive projects are currently among the legal mechanisms that are invoked, yet, they reveal fundamental weaknesses as to indigenous peoples' genuine influence on decision-making. As a response to such denial of rights
guarantees, indigenous peoples and civil society at large have developed new mechanisms to self-administer and use their resources.

In this frame, this interdisciplinary panel seeks to discuss and unveil the myth of the right to prior consultation and consent. As a reaction to its weaknesses, new forms of indigenous peoples’ self-management of resources are presented, such as indigenous cooperatives, movements and other novel forms of participation. Case-studies from the Andean and Mexican context exemplify such old and new indigenous responses to today’s extractivism in Latin America.

Sub Track

• Afro-Latin/Indigenous Peoples

Session Organizer

• Jessika Eichler

Chair

• Julian Burger

Individual Presentations

• New Responses to Mining Extractivism in the Bolivian Lowlands - Jessika Eichler

• Free, prior and informed consent: the challenge of applying the rights of indigenous peoples in Latin America - Julian Burger

• A composite right to political participation of indigenous peoples in the face of neo-extractivism - Alexandra Tomaselli, European Academy of Bolzano (Italy); University of Graz (Austria)

• Movimientos sociales e indígenas y Políticas Públicas en México y Colombia - Giovanna María Aldana Barahona

Discussant

• Luis Calcina