The Age of Resistance against Extractivism

Abstract

Many of the environmental conflicts that have taken place in Colombia are linked to the extraction of natural assets such as oil, gold and coal. Although the outlook might appear gloomy, the social responses that emerge in this country, and that spread out to all the territories under threat from this model, provide new horizons of meaning. In this article, we attempt to set out how the various communities affected by mining projects, by oil licensing rounds, by hydroelectric or agrofuel projects, are rising up against this policy. This can be seen in Boyacá, Santander, Guajira, Casanare, Meta, Putumayo, Caqueta, Cauca, Antioquia and Caldas, and many other departments where poverty and environmental decay have increased while mining or oil projects have expanded. The coming together of different social sectors, of national ethnic and campesino organisations, rallying around a unified set of demands to be negotiated with the government, above all for the comprehensive defence of the territory, encourages us to join in with the construction of a dignified country, for the dignified life of all those who inhabit it.