UNAM
Revista Digital Universitaria
Revista Digital Universitaria ISSN: 1607 - 6079 | Publicación mensual | 1 de octubre de 2013 vol.14, No.10

ABSTRACT

Territory defense and sustainability: building peace with justice

Pietro Ameglio



In this article the relationship between sustainability and the construction of peace with justice and territorial defense and the academic theory is discussed based on the direct experience of the civil non-violent resistance movement.

In the actual Mexican context experiencing different war actions, the capitalist expansion has found fertile ground for the accumulation of materials and natural resources, stripping particularly indigenous-farmers villages and communities, due to the impunity and collusion that exists between authorities at all levels, owners and organized crime. There is an increasing resistance among villagers and communities to the many forms of abuse, legally disguised or supported with armed actions, (self) defending their land and culture from the deception disguised with the external imposed ideas of "progress" and "development".

We analyze some of the “epistemic obstacles” that these social movements face in order to increase their "moral force" and "material force" and as a consequence, to add "moral weapons" to their struggle. There is an increasing conflict as well as a confrontation of identities and social classes, regarding the idea of "sustainability" derived from worldviews and economic models quite antithetical: the capitalist model postulates sustainability from the immediacy of the short-term, being the primary objective to "create jobs and profits" that, in fact, favor very small minorities, and with a very partial and limited consideration to the damaged natural resources; the villagers and communities model defends "sustainability" from the consensus of the directly affected population considering the fate of their land and life style, taking into account the medium and long term, that is, the future of their town and their children.

Keywords: Construction of peace, civil nonviolent resistance, territorial defense, epistemic obstacles, moral force, sustainability for villagers and communities.