Neoliberalism and environmental conflicts in Honduras: Four case studies: water, forest, mining and agriculture

Abstract

With the implementation of neoliberalism in Honduras since the early nineties, class conflict tended to become invisible; taking various forms of struggle in which other actors not previously involved were incorporated for the protection of areas that previously were not recognized as areas of conflict or if they were they were not noticed. This paper pretends to analyze, based on the four major social environmental conflicts that have arisen in the past two decades in Honduras, how social actors involved construct the spaces of interaction that are intended to create social change in forest protection, water, mining and agriculture.

To understand more accurately the situation, is pertinent to recall that two of the pillars of neoliberalism lies in the liberalization of trade and investment, and privatization (Friedman, 1992). Therefore, the deterioration of a relatively strong state for decades, contributed to values of change, elements that were universally accessible as water and forests. Adding the factor privatization, the State gives up all these resources to new economic who join the traditional and transnational corporations that own land and mines conforming a political-economic elite. In fact, these contexts of conflict generated spontaneous revolts that took particular organizational forms progressively in each case. That's how initiatives such as MAO, CAVS, and CNRP MUCA emerge.

In light of the theory of new social movements, this work aims to provide methodological inputs for the eclectic and more holistic analysis of these new forms of social organization seeking to develop changes, based on local experience and particular problems; under this theoretical approach is intended to identify the limits and scope of these forms of collective action.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/rct.v0i8.703

Revista Ciencia y Tecnología, No. 8, junio 2011 pp.93-106