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AMLO’s populism in Mexico and the framing of the extractivist agenda: The construction of the hegemony of the people without the indigenous voices

AMLOs Populismus in Mexiko und das Framing der extraktivistischen Agenda: Die hegemoniale Konstruktion des ‚Volkes‘ ohne die Stimmen der Indigenen

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Abstract

In Latin America, the relationship between populism and environmentalism is intrinsically linked to extractivism. The commodities boom that the region experienced during the early 2000s was accompanied by the resurgence of populism in the region and the emergence of socio-environmental conflicts led by indigenous environmental movements. Despite the fact that Latin American populism supposedly represents unprotected groups, there has been a general failure on the part of these governments to incorporate the visions and demands of the indigenous peoples. Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) assumed Mexico’s presidency in 2018. In this context, his reliance on extractive industries as a lever for socioeconomic development and criticism towards neoliberalism has led many analysts to place him under the populist umbrella. AMLO has developed a discursive strategy consisting of dividing the political field into two antagonistic parts: ‘the people’, whose demands and interests are supposedly defended by his popular project and ‘the conservatives’, the corrupt elite. This article explores the way in which AMLO has reacted to the indigenous environmental movements and his discursive strategies to face the contradiction of constructing the hegemony of the people without incorporating indigenous voices. The article develops a frame analysis applied to AMLO’s discourse on a large-scale energy project: Proyecto Integral Morelos (PIM). It concludes that, as with other populists in the region, AMLO has been shown to be incapable of articulating the indigenous environmental opposition into his national project.

Zusammenfassung

Die Beziehung zwischen Populismus und Umweltbewegung ist in Lateinamerika untrennbar mit dem Extraktivismus verbunden. Der Rohstoffboom, den die Region in den frühen 2000er Jahren erlebte, ging einher mit dem Wiederaufleben des Populismus in der Region und dem Aufkommen von sozio-ökologischen Konflikten, die von indigenen Umweltbewegungen angeführt wurden. Trotz des Anspruchs lateinamerikanischer populistischer Regierungen diese Gruppen zu vertreten, haben diese versäumt, indigene Forderungen zu berücksichtigen. Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) hat 2018 die Präsidentschaft in Mexiko übernommen. Seine Benutzung von extraktiven Industrien als Hebel für die sozioökonomische Entwicklung sowie seine Kritik am Neoliberalismus hat viele Analysten dazu veranlasst, seinen Regierungsstil als populistisch zu kennzeichnen. AMLO verwendet eine diskursive Strategie welche das politische Feld in zwei antagonistische Teile gliedert: „das Volk“, dessen Forderungen und Interessen angeblich von seinem volksnahen Projekt verteidigt werden, und „die Konservativen“, die korrupte Elite. Dieser Artikel untersucht AMLOs’ Reaktion auf indigene Umweltbewegungen und seine diskursiven Strategien, um dem Widerspruch zu begegnen, die Hegemonie des Volkes zu konstruieren, ohne indigene Stimmen einzubeziehen. Dabei analysiert er AMLOs Diskurs über Proyecto Integral Morelos (PIM), ein großangelegtes Energieprojekt. Die Studie zeigt, dass AMLO, wie auch andere Populisten in der Region, sich als unfähig erwiesen hat, die indigene Umweltopposition in sein nationales Projekt einzubinden.

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Notes

  1. According to journalistic reports (Muñoz 2020), activists against the PIM have suffered repression in different forms, including imprisonment, torture, menaces and even murder.

  2. The EZLN is an indigenous-based political organization established in Chiapas, Mexico, which appeared publicly in 1994. The CNI emerged in 1996 as a result of the EZLN’s call for a national fight to guarantee the rights of indigenous communities.

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Acknowledgements

This article is result of the PAPIIT research grant IA302721 ‘AMLO’s populist frame: a transversal study of the policy of the 4T (POPUL4T), funded by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

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Correspondence to Israel Solorio.

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I. Solorio, J. Ortega, R. Romero, and J. Guzmán declare that they have no competing interests.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Sources of the statements

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Solorio, I., Ortega, J., Romero, R. et al. AMLO’s populism in Mexico and the framing of the extractivist agenda: The construction of the hegemony of the people without the indigenous voices. Z Vgl Polit Wiss 15, 249–273 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-021-00486-5

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