Supporters and detractors of mining both recognise the rapid economic, social and political change that mining brings can completely transform societies, which is certainly so in Indonesia, where the research for my new book Undermining Resistance: The governance of participation by multinational mining corporations took place.
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In August 2017 I travelled to Dayuma, a small town on the Ecuadorian oil frontier. I was conducting research for my recent book on fantastical materialism and post-neoliberal state utopias, which was the focus of my previous post on literary techniques for the critique of political economy. But as I entered the town, I could see a demonstration taking place outside the production facilities of a multinational oil company. And within hours of my arrival I was caught up in a labour dispute, which quickly escalated into a more serious and generalized conflict, involving the detention of the strike organizers, the kidnapping of the company manager, the blockading of the production complex, the launch of a military operation to break the blockade, and the unleashing of a rapidly evolving battle against seemingly impossible odds that was destined to achieve a remarkable victory [...]