Tommaso Gravante

Analyzing Resistance from below: A Proposal of Analysis Based on Three Struggles against Dams in Spain and Mexico

Resistance in defense of territory comprises a variety of local experiences of struggle, very common all around the world, which have intensified over the last decades as a result of infrastructural development needed to satisfy the global economy’s perpetual expansion. Among the many environmental conflicts, instances of resistance against the construction of dams are particularly interesting because, as Patrick McCully (2004) puts it, dams are “concrete, rock and earth expressions of the dominant ideology in the technological age: icons of economic development and scientific progress” (3). Resistances against dams thus become a struggle between the affected villages (usually peripheral and marginal ones in relation to centers of economic and political power) and the State. In fact, national governments, boasting legitimacy to act on behalf of general interest, unilaterally and authoritatively make themselves the promoters of these infrastructures, which threaten the existence of villages and communities. This allows us to understand how, as Martínez Alier (2004) has written, “the resistance against big dams is frequently a resistance against the State” (168).

Digital media practices and social movements. A theoretical framework from Latin America

Starting with the alternative digital media experiences that have taken place in the last two decades in Latin America, this chapter proposes a theoretical and methodological framework inspired by the critical tradition of participatory communication for social change as it developed in Latin America. The chapter is structured as follows. Firstly, we underline the latest framework of collective action that has characterized the new cycle of struggles in Latin America. Secondly, we delineate our proposal, which will consider three pivotal aspects of the process of appropriating and using digital media. Afterwards, we explore how the bonds that are formed between the media and the protagonists reflect a “new” community of reference distinguished by horizontal processes. Finally, we analyse how the net activism practice leads the participating people to experience a process of empowerment.

Environmental self-organized activism: emotion, organization and collective identity in Mexico

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer an analysis of Mexican self-organized grassroots environmental groups’ activism. Design/methodology/approach Based on fieldwork in the State of Jalisco (Mexico), where the authors have carried out in-depth interviews with members of four self-organized collectives which are defending their territories, and following the sociological framework on emotions and protest. Findings The authors will show: how and where activism begins; the role of the emotions in various steps of mobilization (growth and decline) and in the construction of collective identity; as well as the role of emotions in the organizational and strategical choices. Originality/value The proposal aims to highlight the organizational forms of activism of self-organized grassroots environmental groups in Mexico through a sociological lens in which the emotional dimension of the protest matters to a great extent.