‘Eventually the mine will come’: women anti-mining activists’ everyday resilience in opposing resource extraction in the Andes

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of women anti-mining activists in rural communities in Andean Peru and Ecuador. The article analyses women activists’ experience of negotiating conflicts with large-scale mining companies, as well as within their communities, using the concept of resilience to understand their continued commitment to this work in a context of conflict, intimidation, and violence. Women activists’ resilience is demonstrated in their determination to fight the arrival of mining, despite being among an increasingly small minority of their communities who continue to oppose the mining companies; their commitment to collective action and to occupying their lands; and their tenacity in campaigning against resource extraction while simultaneously recognising that ‘eventually the mine will come’.

El presente artículo examina las vivencias experimentadas por mujeres activistas antimineras en comunidades rurales de los Andes peruanos y ecuatorianos. Empleando el concepto de resiliencia para comprender su empeño de largo plazo en un contexto de conflicto, amedrentamiento y violencia, el artículo analiza su vivencia tanto a la hora de negociar conflictos con grandes empresas mineras como al interior de sus propias comunidades. A pesar de que las mujeres activistas actualmente conforman una minoría cada vez más reducida en sus comunidades, siguen oponiéndose a las mineras. Su resiliencia se hace visible debido a su determinación de luchar contra la llegada de empresas mineras; a su compromiso de luchar colectivamente y de ocupar sus tierras; y a su tenacidad para hacer campañas contra la extracción de recursos, aunque reconocen que “con el tiempo vendrá la empresa minera”.

Cet article examine les expériences de femmes activistes anti-mines dans les communautés rurales du Pérou et de l’Équateur andins. Il analyse l'expérience des femmes activistes au moment de négocier les conflits avec les grandes sociétés d'exploitation minière, ainsi qu'au sein de leurs communautés respectives, en utilisant le concept de la résilience pour comprendre pourquoi elles continuent de se consacrer à ce travail dans un contexte de conflit, d'intimidation et de violence. La résilience des femmes activistes est prouvée par leur détermination à lutter contre l'arrivée des sociétés minières, même si elles font partie d'une minorité de plus en plus réduite de leurs communautés qui continuent de s'opposer aux sociétés minières ; par leur engagement à mener une action collective et à occuper leurs terres et par leur ténacité dans l'organisation de campagnes contre l'extraction des ressources tout en reconnaissant que « la mine finira par arriver ».

Key words:

• gender
• activism
• extractive industries
• resilience
• Latin America

Notes

1 For more information on LAMMP, visit www.lammp.org (last checked by the authors 9 September 2015).

2 The term ‘Human Rights Defender’ is used to describe people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights. Human Rights Defenders are identified above all by what they do, and it is through a description of their actions and of some of the context in which they work that the term can be best explained (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, www.ohchr.org/EN/issues/SRHRDefenders/page/Defender.aspx (last checked by the authors 9 September 2015).

3 As stated earlier, all quotations in the article were collected in 2012 from life-history interviews conducted by Katy Jenkins in Peru and Ecuador.

4 There are obviously connections here to the broader literature on resilience, and the ability of communities to adapt in the face of environmental change, but this is beyond the scope of this paper.

5 For a more detailed account of the women's motivations and activism, see Jenkins (2015).