Oil, the State and Environmental Struggles in Amazonia
On June 5, 2009, after several months of protest against a law favoring the extraction of natural resources, clashes broke out between police and Indian demonstrators in northern Peru. Several dozen people were killed. In the aftermath of this violent episode, this groundbreaking investigation into the exploitation of nature in Amazonia explores the relationship between the oil industry, indigenous communities and Peruvian authorities.
It invites us to break with romantic readings celebrating the heroism of Indian resistance, as well as with the disillusioned view of those who deplore the inability of a people to take control of its own destiny. The man who marches for the Quechua Federation, armed with a spear and his face covered in war paint, may well reappear a few days later as a worker on the oil site, wearing a uniform similar to that of the workers from Lima.
To capture this complexity, the book highlights the deployment of the state and capitalism « from below ». Long-term observation reveals the variety of interactions between indigenous villages and the oil industry, and sheds light on how the political and economic order is both produced and contested on a daily basis.
