The eco-class-race struggles in the Peruvian Amazon basin: An ecofeminist perspective

Capitalism, Nature, Socialism

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 21-48

  Isla, Ana ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CAPITALISM; ECOFEMINISM; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; NATURE CONSERVATION; RAINFOREST;

AMAZON BASIN; PERU; SOUTH AMERICA;

EID: 70349866704     PISSN: 10455752     EISSN: 15483290     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10455750903215720     Document Type: Article

References (107)

1. Ynestra King, "Toward an Ecological Feminism and a Feminist Ecology," in J.S. Dryzek and D. Schlosberg (eds.), Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 399-407
2. Carolyn Merchant, Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World (New York: Routledge, 2005)
3. Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labor (London: Zed Books, 1986)
4. Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen and Maria Mies, The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalized Economy (New York: Zed Books, 1999)
5. Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development (London: Zed Books, 1989)
6. H. Pietila and J. Vickers, "The UN System in the Vanguard of Advancement of Women: Equality, Development, and Peace," in C.F. Alger (ed.), The Future of the United Nations System: Potential for the Twenty-first Century (New York: United Nations University Press, 1998), pp. 248-281
7. Ariel Salleh, "From Eco-Sufficiency to Global Justice," in Ariel Salleh (ed.), Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice: Women Write Political Ecology (London and New York: Pluto Press, 2009), pp. 297-312
8. Claudia von Werlhof, "The Globalization of Neoliberalism, its Consequences, and Some of its Basic Alternatives" Capitalism Nature Socialism, Vol. 19, No. 3, September 2008, pp. 94-117
9. and Terisa Turner and Leigh Brownhill, "We Want Our Land Back: Gendered Class Analysis, the Second Contradiction of Capital and Social Movement Theory," Capitalism Nature Socialism, Vol. 15, No. 4, December 2004, pp. 21-40.
10. Maria Mies and Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen, op. cit., p. 121.
11. Vandana Shiva, op. cit.
12. The term "eco-class-race" is used here to indicate how, under the conditions of neoliberal capital's growing penetration of Amazonia, an interrelated complex of domination must be taken into account. First, given the ever-growing pressure for resource extraction (including biofuels and other energy sources), ecosystem destabilization on an expanding scale becomes a dominant feature of the social and natural landscape. Second (and tied into this), numerous kinds of labor exploitation are drawn into the picture that then disrupt ancient and stable cultural and communitarian patterns. And third, vicious racist ideologies are imposed, generally speaking along the axes of "primitive ⇔ civilized," which in turn are related to the core ecofeminist analysis that reveals patriarchal capitalist concepts of "nature ⇔ female/civilization U male." Clearly, these elements have been present since 1492; however, there comes a time when the sheer amount of ecological damage yields qualitative changes, mainly from advanced states of ecosystem decay that self-propagate and pose new threats to both cultural and physical survival. These in turn provide new phases of resistance. We are witnessing one such transformative moment in Peruvian Amazonia.
13. Concessions are a favorite imperial card trick. Historically, European, and then North American imperial and colonial powers would often first occupy their colonies by using the system of concessions. Local rulers signed concessions or "treaties" giving complete control over small areas to private parties for their use, allowing colonizers to dispossess and disenfranchise thousands to millions of people.
14. Several indigenous groups are living in voluntary isolation. They rejected "civilization," which reduced them to slavery during the rubber exploitation times. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ environment/2009/jul/04/peruamazon-rainforest-conservation, accessed on July 10, 2009.
15. Earth Rights International and Racimos de Ungurahui, published online at: http://www.achuarperu.org/en/60petroleum_problems/ block1ABand8-8x.htm?PHPSESSID=23a0efee55b87129b813438609126f.
16. R.E. Bodmer, P.E. Puertas, C. Reyes, J.E. García, and D.R. Díaz. "Animales de caza y palmeras: Integrando la socioeconomía de extracción de frutos de palmera y carne de monte con el uso sostenible," in T.G. Fang, R.E. Bodmer, R. Aquino, and M.H. Valqui (eds.), Manejo de Fauna Silvestre en la Amazonía (UNAP, University of Florida, UNDP/GEF, e Instituto de Ecología, La Paz, 1997), pp. 75-86.
17. R.E. Bodmer, "Strategies of Seed Dispersal and Seed Predation in Amazonian Ungulates," Biotropica, Vol. 23, 1991, pp. 255-261.
18. J. Thiollay, "Influence of Selective Logging on Bird Species Diversity in a Guianan Rainforest," Conservation Biology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1992, pp. 47-63.
19. See also: A. Quevedo, "Barreras o causas que obstaculizan la conservación y uso sostenible de la diversidad biológica en los bosques de Loreto. Informe para el Grupo Regional de Manejo de Bosques de Loreto," 2003, pp. 1-49.
20. José Álvarez, "Peru: Crisis forestal, Alguien piensa - realmente - en las comunidades amazónicas?," La Razon, February 6, 2009.
21. Harvey Rivadeneira, "Prostitución en las empresas petroleras," Shamiro Decidores, March 8, 2001.
22. Miguel Gutierrez, "El reino de los 'prostibares.' Niñas y adolescentes son reclutadas a la fuerza," La Republica, August 8, 2008, pp. 14-15.
23. Mies Maria and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism (Halifax: Fernwood Publications, and London: Zed Books, 1993).
24. Jorge Gasché Suess, Napoleon Vela Mendoza, Julio Cesar Vela Mendoza, Erma Babilonia Cáceres, "Libertad, Dependencia y Constreñimiento en las Sociedades Bosquecinas Amazonicas. Q¿ue significa para los Bosquesinos 'autonomía,' 'ciudadanía' y 'democracia?,' " unpublished final report IIAP - CONCYTEC, Iquitos, Peru, 2006, pp. 1-138.
25. See Joanna Overing and Alan Passes, The Anthropology of Love and Anger: The Aesthetics of Conviviality in Native Amazonia (London: Routledge, 2000)
26. Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, A incostância da alma selvagem - e outros ensaios de antropologia (São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 2002)
27. Janet Carsten and Stephen Hugh-Jones (eds.), About the House: Lévi-Strauss and Beyond (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
28. Peter Gow, Of Mixed Blood: Kinship and History in Peruvian Amazonia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991)
29. and Claude Marcel Hladik (ed.), Tropical Forest, People and Food: Biocultural Interactions and Application to Development (New York: UNESCO and Parthenon Publishing Group, 1993).
30. María Heise, Liliam Landeo, and Astrid Bant, Relaciones de Genero en la Amazonía Peruana (Peru: Centro Amazónico de Antropología y Aplicación Práctica, 1999).
31. Salvador Flores, E. Gomez, and R. Kalliola, "Caracteristicas Generales de la Zona de Iquitos," in R. Kalliola and S. Flores (eds.), Geoecología y Desarrollo Amazonico: Estudio Integrado en la Zona de Iquitos-Peru, Series A II. (Turun, Finland: Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, 1998), pp. 17-32.
32. Flores et. al., op. cit., p. 20.
33. Clifford Geertz, "Two Types of Ecosystems," in Andrew Vayda (ed.), Environment and Cultural Behavior: Ecological Studies in Cultural Anthropology (New York: Doubleday, 1969), pp. 3-28.
34. Antonio Brack, "Conocimientos tradicionales," in GEF/PNUD/UNOPS Amazonia Peruana, comunidades indígenas, conocimientos y tierras tituladas (Lima, Peru: Atlas y Base de Datos. Proyectos RLA/92/G31,32,33, 1997).
35. José Álvarez, "Gestión comunal y territorio: Lecciones aprendidas de la cuenca del Nanay (Amazonía NorPeruana) para el manejo de la fauna silvestre amazónica," Manejo de Fauna silvestre en Latinoamérica, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2006, pp. 1-15.
36. Cecilia Barcellos, Munainini and Manguare. Relatos de la Amazonia (Lima: Entorno a la Selva Editorial, 1987), p. 16.
37. Teddy Bendayan, Germen the Luz (Cuentos y Poemas) (Iquitos, Peru: Bufeo Colorado Editorial, 1996), p. 68.
38. Roger Rumrrill, La Anaconda del Samiria (Lima: Bruno Editorial, 1997), p. 29.
39. Among those communities are Itayacu (Achual), Nuevo Porvenir (Quichua), Nuevo Andoas (Quichua), Alianza Capalmari (Quichua), Andoas Viejo (Quichua), and Panayacu (Quichua).
40. See http://www.contaminacionpetrolera.com/, accessed July 12, 2008.
41. Achuarti Iruntramu (ATI), La Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Río Corrientes (FECONACO), and Organizacion Achuar Chayat (ORACH).
42. Federación de la Nacionalidad Achuar del Perú (FENAP) and Coordinadora Binacional de Nacionalidad Achuar del Ecuador y Perú (COBNAEP).
43. See: http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/4731.
44. David Nugent, Modernity at the Edge of Empire: State, Individual, and Nation in the Northern Peruvian Andes, 1885-1935 (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 58-173.
45. Peruvian President Alan Garcia, speaking in a clip on "As Tensions Flare in Peruvian Amazon, Award-Winning Actor Q'orianka Kilcher Heads to Peru to Support Indigenous Rights," Democracy Now!, June 10, 2009.
46. Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1988).
47. Fernando Santos Granero and Federico Barclay, Tamed Frontiers: Economy, Society and Civil Rights in Upper Amazonian (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000).
48. In 1957, supreme decree No. 003 set aside 98,128 hectares of land for "tribus selvicolas," an average of 1,533 hectares per community. In 1964, the Agrarian Reform (Law No. 15037) promoted colonization of the rainforest, outside of the indigenous land. At the time, the reform generated the largest and most aggressive process of colonization and occupation of indigenous people's land.
49. Stefano Varese, Salt of the Mountain: Campa Ashaninka History and Resistance in the Peruvian Jungle (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002).
50. AIDESEP is a network of indigenous people whose work is to preserve and teach indigenous language. It includes several organizations such as Asociacion Regional de los Pueblos Indigenas de la Selva Central (ARPI S.C), Coordinadora Regional de Pueblos Indigenas Region San Lorenzo (CORPI San Lorenzo), Federacion Nativa de Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD), Organizacion Regional de Pueblos Indigenas del Oriente (ORPIO), Organizacion Regional AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU), Organizacion Regional de Pueblos Indigenas de la Amazonia Norte del Peru (ORPIAN P) and Consejo Machiguenga del Rio Urubamba.
51. See also: Alberto Chirif and Pedro García, "Amazonía peruana: Organizaciones indígenas: Logros y desafíos," forthcoming in Asuntos Indígenas, Grupo Internacional de Trabajo sobre Asuntos Indígenas (IWGIA).
52. José Álvarez, 2006, op. cit., p. 11.
53. Habilitadores operate a financial or food credit system that delivers wood to the financier.
54. José Álvarez, "Peru: Crisis forestal, Alguien piensa - realmente - en las comunidades amazónicas?," La Razon, February 6, 2009.
55. Miguel Gutierrez, "El Rey de la Madera," La Republica, July 22, 2008, pp. 16-17.
56. See: http://www.peruexporta.com.pe/articulo.php?ia=300, translated into English at: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u= http://www.peruexporta.com.pe/articulo.php?ia=300&ei= AuVtSrrMKJCJtge4sMy-AQ&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct= result&prev=/search?q="Drago+Bozovich"&hl=en&rls= GGGL,GGGL:2006, accessed July 27, 2009; and Soko R. Miluska, "Peru. Los Barones del Cedro y la Caoba: La Familia Bozovich y la Industria Maderera," online at: http://www.peru-amazonico.de/pam_esp/ amazgo_es.htm, accessed February 19, 2009.
57. Dan Collyns, "Indigenous Groups Force Oil Company to Cut Pollution," Guardian Weekly, December 8-14, 2006, p. 29.
58. Author interview, July 2008.
59. José Álvarez, "Gestion Comunal y Territorio: Lecciones aprendidas de la Cuenca del Nanay (Amazonia NorPeruana) para el manejo de la Fauna Silvestre Amazónica," Revista Electronica Manejo de Fauna Silvestre en Latinoamérica, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2006, pp. 1-15.
60. The PTPA was signed on April 12, 2006, though it didn't come into force until February, 1, 2009. According to the U.S. Trade Representative, the PTPA will result in "significant liberalization of trade in goods and services between the United States and Peru. Under the PTPA, Peru immediately eliminated most of its tariffs on U.S. exports, with all remaining tariffs phased out over defined time periods. The PTPA also includes important disciplines relating to: Customs administration and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, government procurement, services, investment, telecommunications, electronic commerce, intellectual property rights, and labor and environmental protection." See http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/ free-trade-agreements/peru-tpa.
61. Javier Diez Canseco, "Colmillos del perro del hortelano," La Republica, June 7, 2007.
62. With Legislative Resolution No. 2653, Peru agreed formally to recognize the property rights and the concept of territory for indigenous land, meaning a place where indigenous communities exercise patrimonial control and socio-cultural ascendancy.
63. Law No. 22175 (Community Natives and Agrarian Development of the Upper and Lower Rainforest), and Law No. 24657 (Boundaries and Title Deeds of Campesina Communities).
64. The Agrarian Commission in April 2007 approved a selling regime to enable privatization in order to assure investment and employment. In October 2007, the Economy Commission expressed disapproval of the selling regime, instead favoring the continuation of the concession system. The Loreto Regional Government prefers the concession system, because it maintains that transferring property rights introduces incentives that could promote deforestation and put the natural rainforest at risk. The International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) also favors concessions over privatization, because it believes the resulting deforestation and replacement of the native Amazon forest with exotic species of homogenous plantations would negatively impact the biological diversity of the Amazon.
65. Author interview, August 2008.
66. See letter from César García Sandy, on behalf of the Native Communities of the Corrientes River Federation (FECONACO), the Racimos de Ungurahui Working Group (Racimos), and the Forest Peoples Programme to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), February 3, 2009, online at: http://www.forestpeoples.org/.../ peru_cerd_update_achuar_feb09_eng.pdf.
67. Down well water, also referred to as production water, is the water in an oil well that is separated and left over from oil extraction. It is heavily contaminated with hydrocarbons and heavy metals.
68. Author interview, July 2008.
69. Gobert Paredes, Sjef Kauffman and Risto Kalliola, "Suelos Aluviales Recientes de la Zona Iquitos-Nauta," in R. Kalliola and S. Flores (eds.), Geoecología y Desarrollo Amazonico: Estudio Integrado en la Zona de Iquitos-Peru, Series A II. (Turun, Finland: Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, 1998), pp. 231-251.
70. The ombudsperson is a government watchdog over the people's and community's constitutional rights.
71. Informe especial, "Quèpasa realmente en Andoas?," La Primera, July 7, 2008, pp. 12-13.
72. Legislative decrees: 1011, 1013, 1020, 1039, 1048, 1064, 1079, 1081, 1089, 1090, and several others.
73. "Paro en Madre de Dios fue violento, Campesinos incendian sede del gobierno regional. Hieren policias a flechazos," Ojo, July 10, 2008, p. 1
74. also see: "Multitudes piden cambio de rumbo. Informe especial," La Primera, July 10, 2008, p. 1.
75. Juan de la Puente, "El fracaso ausente," La Republica, July 9, 2008, p. 3.
76. Peru's Camisea Gas Project is one of the most damaging projects in the Amazon Basin. Located in the remote Lower Urubamba Basin in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon, the $1.6 billion project includes two pipelines to the Peruvian coast, cutting through an Amazon biodiversity hotspot. This is another Pluspetrol project.
77. Petro-Peru, station 5 facility in el Pongo de Manseriche (Loreto); hydro-electric Amarango in Amarango, Mayo Zone (Amazonas); nine Pluspetrol oil ferries in Echarate/Bajo Urubamba (Madre de Dios and Cuzco).
78. Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, Amazónicos y Afroperuano (INDEPA), online at: http://www.indepa.gob.pe/index.php?id=66,0,0,1,0,0, accessed on April 20, 2009.
79. These decrees related to the percentage required for their lands to be concessioned off and the requirements for the sale of indigenous land.
80. "La Mención al Presidente, (Todos los Audios de la Corrupción)," La Republica, October, 12, 2008, online at: http://www.larepublica.pe/node/167161.
81. "Según Investigación de Científicos de Organizaciones Estadounidenses y Universidad de Duke. El 72 percent de la Amazonia Peruana está cubierta de concesiones de petróleo y gas," La Republica, July 16, 2008, p. 7.
82. See: http://www.aidesep.org.pe/editor/documentos/648.jpg, accessed April 12, 2009.
83. FORMABIAP, April 24, 2009, personal communication.
84. FORMABIAP, May 12, 2009, personal communication.
85. FORMABIAP, May 16, 2009, personal communication.
86. "Abya Yala" means "Continent of Life" in the language of the Kuna peoples of Panama and Colombia. See: http://abyayala.nativeweb.org.
87. Pachakutik is a Quechua word that signifies change, rebirth, transformation, and the coming of a new era.
88. Ayllu is a word in both the Quechua and Aymara languages referring to a network of families in a given area.
89. See: http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/12228.
90. Decree No. 1090, Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre, Article 6 reads "there would not be change in land use of any category in the forestry inheritance, unless projects are declared of national interest, in that case the Environment Ministry in coordination with the correspondent Public Entity Sector will proceed to the change in land use."
91. A. Marco and P. Huaco, "Testimonio: Pueblos guerreros provocados hasta el genocidio," online at: http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/ 12902-more-12902>Leído.
92. According to Huaco, in December 2008, thirteen indigenous community patrols that included hundreds of people walked seven days to examine the environmental damage in an area Dorato was mining. They discovered 4 hectares of deforested area and two underground mines inside two military camps, Tambo and Ciro Alegria. They also encountered narrow paths that crossed the military bases as well as their communal-titled land located in Cerro Sagrado Kumpanan (1,250 meters above sea level) and Cordillera del Condor. Hortez Baitue, an exsoldier, alleges that lieutenant Marco Antonio Bravo had been receiving $250 a week plus food and prostitutes, courtesy of the corporation. See: "Peru: Mineras se asientan en Cordillera del Condor," online at: http://www.servindi.org/actualidad/14171-more-14171>leído. On December 14, 2008, Awajun indigenous people wrote a letter to Dorato Resources, Inc. giving it 48 hours to abandon their ancestral territories. Since the corporation ignored the demand, on January 12, 2009, ODECOFROC, a local indigenous organization, requested a meeting with the Prime Minister's Office and other ministries to discuss revoking the mining contract, but they, too, were ignored. On January 21, 2009, the Prime Minister's Office indicated the government might be willing to talk, but no meeting was scheduled. Tired of waiting, that month 300 indigenous people in Huampami, Cenepa district siezed and held an executive of Dorato Resources Inc. and five security agents for seven days.
93. FORMABIAP, April 9, 2009, personal communication.
94. Fernando Rospigliosi, "Negligencia Criminal," La Republica, June 13, 2009, online at: http://www.larepublica.pe/controversias/14/06/2009/negligencia-criminal.
95. See: http://catapa.be/en/north-peru-killings.
96. Nelida Calvo, Press Conference at AIDESEP, Canal N, June 7, 2009, online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWCDwH_yTMA.
97. See: http://www.aprodeh.org.pe/.
98. See: http://www.betoortiz.com/index.php?option= com↘yret&Itemid=80&task=videodirectlink&id=366. Also see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiILsx9fSn8&NR=1.
99. See: http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ingles/ifinal/index.php.
100. Genaro Alvarado, "Nativos toman lotes petroleros y un aeropuerto de Pluspetrol," La Republica, June 8, 2009, online at: http://www.larepublica.pe/bagua-masacre/08/06/2009/ nativos-toman-lotes-petroleros-y-unaeropuerto-de-pluspetrol.
101. Radio Programas del Peru, afternoon coverage on "Preparaciones para el levantamiento en Loreto," June 9, 2009.
102. The PNP has 24 MPs in the Peruvian Parliament. See: http://www.partidonacionalistaperuano.com/.
103. See: http://www.larepublica.pe/bagua-masacre/12/06/2009/ suspenden-7-congresistas-nacionalistas.
104. See: http://www.larepublica.pe/bagua-masacre/12/06/2009/ unidos-por-la-amazonia.
105. "TLC: Europeos Piden Suspender Negociaciones," La Republica, June 12, 2009, available online at: http://www.larepublica.pe/economia/ 12/06/2009/tlc-europeos-piden-suspender-negociaciones-0.
106. Rainforest pirates are expanding. Among them is "Cool Earth," See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article664544.ece, accessed on January 10, 2009.
107. The Global Commons' rhetoric of universality of the industrial world makes the claim that private property is acting in the general interest of "human kind."