The Local Dimension of Transnational Activity in Environmental Conflicts: Tambogrande, 1961-2004

Abstract

Based on the in-depth analysis of the Tambogrande case, the most well known case of social mobilization in Peru, I argue that the success or failure of transnational activity is closely linked to actions performed on the grassroots level by local organizations before the arrival of outsiders. Between 1999 and 2004, Tambogrande was the site of intense transnational activity. The support given by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) like Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam America was crucial to stop a Canadian mining company, Manhattan Minerals Corporation (MMC), interested in the extraction of the minerals lying underneath. The existing literature about this case of environmental conflict highlights the contributions of the INGOs neglecting a deeper account of the past trajectories of the local actors. I argue that this successful case of transnational activity was the direct result of a long series of protests that began in 1961 when hundreds of farmers from different regions of Peru arrived to colonize the desert to create what is now the San Lorenzo Valley. The reconstruction of four previous decades of protests shows that the key elements that facilitated the success of the transnational alliances established in the period 1999-2004 were domestically created long before the arrival of INGOs. Specifically, I maintain that these key elements were three. First, a social movement organization (SMO) composed of representatives of pre-existing grassroots organizations such as agricultural, labor, commercial and political guilds. Second, a porous state office (PSO) that remained at the service of social mobilization as a source of democratic and legal legitimacy for more than twenty years. Third, a domestic non-governmental bridging organization (DNGBO) that functioned as a broker between grassroots organizations, social leaders, national NGOs and international NGOs.