DEVELOPMENTISM, MEGAPROJECTS AND POLITICAL ECOLOGY IN THE MEXICAN COUNTRYSIDE. THE CASE OF THE POTOSINO ALTIPLANO IN MEXICO

Abstract

Since de 1990s, neoliberal capitalism has been imposed on peasant and indigenous territories in Latin America under the strategy of development. Based on the values of capitalism modernity and progress, an intense program of industrialization and urbanization has been induced through public and private investments, directed towards the export of primary goods for the international market and the construction of large-scale enterprises. This paper aims to analyze extractive activities and mega-projects as processes inherent to the logic of accumulation by appropiation of territories, addressing case studies of the Altiplano, a semi-arid region of the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The text is divided into three parts: in the first, we analyze the neoliberal policies focused on development in Latin America, and as a part of this, the extractive activities and large-scale mega-projects as strategies of spatial production for global capitalist accumulation; in the second, we address the development programs implemented in the Altiplano of San Luis Potosi; in the third part, we recover three experiences of social mobilization against the imposition of mining, toxic waste and large-scale agriculture that reveal the conflict in this specific space, but also in languajes, meanings, conceptions and relationships about the territory and life itself. The results derive from collaborative research and direct action with various peasant committees and indigenous communities in the region.