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Transnational Institute (TNI)

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Political Struggles forthe Global Commons

Pluto4~ Press

Edited by

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Privatizing Nature

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Transnational Institute Series

Other titles available In the TNI series:

Short Changed:Afrlca and World Trad eMichael Botrott Brown and Pauline Tilier:

People and Power In the Pacific:The Strug gle for th e Post-Cold WiH Ord erWalden Bello

Dark Victory:The United States, Structur al Adjustm ent and Global Povert yWalden Bello

Beyond Br ct.to n Woods:Alternatives to th e Glob al Economic Ord erEdit ed by john Cavanagh, Daphhe Wysham and Marcos Arruda

Blue Geopolltks :United Nations Hcform and the Future of the Blue HelmetsVincent; Fisos ' -

Th e Debt Boomerang:How Third World Debt Harms Us AllSusan George

The Democratisation of Dlsempowerment:The Problem of Democracy in th e Third WorldEdited by jochen Nippier

The Next Threat:Weste rn Perceptions of IslamEdited by jochen Nippier and Andrea Lueg

Pax Americana?Hegemony or Declinejochen Hippler

Central Asia After the EmpireYuriy KuJchick, Andrey Fadin and Victor Scrgccv

Bonn &: the Bomb:German Politics and the Nuclear OptionMarthins Kisntze!

Palestine In Crisis:The Struggle for Peace and Politicillindependence After OsloGraham Usher

l'or lnlor matl on abo u t forth com ing liliL's in thi s series CO I I !; IC l 1'11110 I' ress.

Th e Tr01nsn illion 01ll nsl ilule is O1 n ind epe nde n t fellows h ip o f rcsen rchc rs andactlvists living in different parts o f the wo rld, who de velop ln no va tive ana lyses -o f wo rld affa irs, It serves no government, polit ical part y or i nt crcs t group ,

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political change. starting fro m deep with in th e Arn axon antiextending outwards to Rio and bc yorut .

'Tile commoners ' thrive in ma rgin .il but h iologi ca lly richeco systems, such as the Amazonian humi d forest. Thcir co m rnunalsocia l institutions have existed in many form s and places, il ntl a rccharacterized by a co mmon utili zat ion of renewable resour ces SUCllas fi sh. forest and medicinal plants, cat t!e and produc ts 01' Siliitill :~agriculture. Common appropriation regilI,c's typically exist alongside,and ben efit from, sites whe re fam ilies ' pi iva tcly' grow, raise arid/orproduce vegetab le garde ns arid dom cstica tcd an tmals. h un t il lH Igather. arid make craft products. Access to these marine an d terrestr ialresou rccs and space is depcnd cn t upon pa rtic ipa t ion in tile sociaIkin ship life through comptulrio (ki nship/goclp

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Till' recent occ upa uo n of /\Ill azo l\i;\ mus! Ill' xc cu ill till' ( Ol l ll' x t orIllouerni i'.a tion pouucs a nd caph al ,ICClIlllll!,\liOI1

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By the mid-1970s the military go vernment's strategy had changed,

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Replacing agricultural settlements of small farmers were grandiose! mining projects (Gr.mde Carajtis). large darns (Tucurui and Balbf na) ,ind ustr ial centres (5iio LUIS do Maranl1,l o and Manaus) reliant onmineral processing and free zones, and large agribusiness projects.These projects benefited not only from a number of tax incentives,but also from the pl entiful cheap labour available, cornposcd

r lnclpall y of those farmers who had abandoned their plots of land .The second ideological dimension to the recent widespread

occu pa tion is the h llacicus assu rnption tha t th e Amazon could bean instrument for solvlng overall structural problems brought about .by the failed 'Bra zlllan economic miracle' of the 1970s based onuneven capital accumulation in the southern regions . In fact, in themid-1960s, the already highly concentrated land-tenure systembecame even more unequ al as the result of the Iabou r-savirigtechnology fcalled modernization) impJantedin the south. whichforced the labour force off the field s. Many of the small farmers andtenants in the wealthy southern states were forced to sell their plotsas intensively mechanized soybean product ion expanded, whichrequired larger area s of land and less labour input. Many farmworkers, especially s.iarecroppers and other tenants, lost their solesource of income. As 1 result, 2.5 million peasants migrated from therural areas of the state of Parana alone during the 1970s. Manymigrated to Rondonia, where they began clearing the forests.

Attempts to introduce land reform met fierce opposition frombig landowners. The fed eral government's modest attempt at landdistribution in 1985 was also a failure . Opposition to land reform ha salso increased deforestation in Amazonia, as many big landowners,fearing land reform, burned large tracts of forest to 'improve' the land ,as a means of escaping agrarian reform in their latifundia . Accordingto Brazilian legislation, clearing of a forest is a sign that the landowner

~. s using the land productively, and thus should not be expropriated.

The ideology of occupying Amazonia at any co sts was backed u p\ l)y a seri~s of Incel:tives. for large li vesto~k-rilising a nd ilgriCl.i1turillj ' schemes 111 the region, since latex extraction and nut harvcstrng by

rrad i tion a I popula tions were considered backward econorn ic activit lcs.. vh lch failed to effectively occupy, or sufficiently utili ze, the tcrrirory .

Since 1966, when special subsiclies and incentives were created, .'lSI

j Pro iects have been approved for agriculture and cattle raising (Oliveira1989). These project s co ver an area of ov er n ine million hecta res, theaverage area per proj ect being 16,:100 ha in Pa ra an d 31, 400 h:l inMate Grosso: A study carried out by Yokornizo (1989) concluded thatof f) 2 projects analysed, only three were pro fitable. Multinationat

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enterprises not o n ly bought laud in the re~ion, but bencfitet] [romince n tives as well and fro m the in frastructu re esta IJl is!1l:d in thereg ion . by the gove rn m e n t. On e s tudy (Eglin :llld T l1 ny J 91'12)ide n tified 19 rnult i na tiona l groups in Am azo n ia, o wni ngapproximately 7,:142,0 00 ha of land, Lise e! for logging, cau le r;1ising,agriculture and specu latio n.

Pasture for cattle is th e main use of th e dc.orestcd land in Am azo n ia \and the impact of thi s ca ttle raising on tl1(' forest enviro nme nt is \Inl1CI) more severe 111;1n th n: o f small [;1rmil1g acti vities, Accord illgto ll a ll '(19H9) less labour-in tc nstvc form '; of la nd use ha ve t h c11igllest impact on the Amazon forest , as is tile case of loggin g ;11It Iranching. Many stud ies ha ve shown till' nou-sustalna bltu y of C

Mendes, was mu rdered and h is death brought abo u t ,1 meli or natio n,l!;Ind intcr natto n ni reaction . It is likely lhat the governmenl \VJSco ncerned with the possible susp ensio n o r can ccllauon of ,1 numbero f multilatera l loans, including til e Iollow -up of th e No rth-wester nDevelopm ent Program ( POLONOI~O ESTE) , du e to pressure [ 1' 01 11en vironmental ists at home and abroad.

The Our Nature programme had a ver y nationali stic lone,rea ffirm ing nra 7.ilian sovereignt y over Amazo nia arid d eep co ncern[o r what sect o rs such as th e ar my call ed th e l!

DeforestatIon and the ExtractIvIstPopulatIons

army, whi ch believes Amazonian NGO s ar e directed by North erngovern men ts in or der to diminish the sovereign ty of I3ra zil over theAmazon region. Lobbying by these govern ors a nd members of theCongress is very strong, an d it appears that so me o f th e de struc tivein ce n tives wh ich had been eliminated are now makin g a return.

In Amazonia a lar ge rural population reli cs o n the forest and itsproducts for survival. Approximately 1,SOO,OOOpeo ple, o r 33 pe r cen tof Ama zonian rural population, harvest for est products in .combination with subsisten ce agriculture and fishing (Allegretti1987b). In additlon, the Am erin d ia n population, of approximatel y220, 000 persons, also rely on forest products such as rubber, oils, fruit sand 'fibre. While ex t racti ve production has declined in terms of th eshare of the total doll ar-value income generat ed in Acre, Amazonasand Rondonia from 1970 to 1980, it is still of substantial econ om icim portance and its va lue continues to increase in absolute terms . InAcre, wh ile th e area occu pied for extraction decreased from 197 0 to1980, and th e ar eas o f cattle ranching and agriculture increaseddramatically, the pel h ectare value of extraction increased much morethan either meat ur cro p production . At th e sa me time, rubberexports increased a's a share of overall st at e exports. The busin ess ofex t racti o n, th erefore, lia s become an attrac tlvc de velopm enta lte rna tive to cattl e or agr lculturc for sm all producers. Wh ere asalmost half of the small producers in the Ama zon ea rn less than theminimum wage, tile average annual income for forest extractors inthe early 1990s was US$ 1,500, or twice the minimum wage (Allegrett i1987

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establishe d. In th e same area, pig-iron plants arc being developed an d,as a conseq uence , large areas of those valu able trees a rc bein g cut a nd

Jb u rn ed for cha rcoal. i\t the sa m e time, Joggin g ac tivi ties alsoresp on sib le for the destruction of Brazil nut trees, are in creasin g

\ I dramati call y (Alleg rett i 1987b) . The expan sion o f ca ttle ran ch es ando th e r la rge (us ua lly sp ecula tive) holdings is responsib le for th eexp ulsio n o f th e seringueiros from their tradition al lands and ac tivit ies.Many o f th em became wage earners On th e ranch es o r have m igrat edto th e ou tsk irts o f th e n ew tow ns of Amazo n ia. o tt en th ey beco metem por a ry worke rs, mi gra ti ng from o ne place to another, Or haveente red gold -mining ac tivit ies as garimpeiro.

No t on ly a re th e rubber-ta pping ar eas bein g red uced butdeforestatio n is also affecti ng the avai lab ility of fish in the isnm/)esa nd game from the for est, wh ich de pri ves' for est extractor s o f theirm ain so urces o f p ro te i n~vers ar e also being po llu ted by m ercuryused by th e garimpeiros (Pe trere 1989) . River fishin g is s till th e mostimpo rta n t so urce o f pr ot ein fo r th e Amazo n ian popu la tio n an d fishco nsumptio n there is highest in Braz il, ov er 35 kg pe r person per yea r.(Dieg ues 1992 a). Fisl1i n g also emp loys a large number of peop le

J\eit h er for subsist en ce o r for commercial purposes . Bu t in recentyears, la rger fa rm ers a re pu tti ng fen ces cl se to the rivers, creat ingserious co n flicts with trad itiona l fisherf~\at the sa me time, peop lecomi ng from ur ban a reas us in g preda tory fish ing gea r are dep leti ngth e fish s upplies In the a rea . As a result, riverin e fish er fol k areo rgan izing th em selves to man age the Jakes - th e bio log ica l I~ riches ta reas - o n a com m u na l basis (Hartman 1989, Lourei ro 1.99JJ

The In d ian popu la tio n in Amazon ia is th e sing le hu m an grOUf1suffe ring m ost fro m defo res ta t io n and related large deve lopme n tp rojec ts such as min ing, d ams a nd roa d cons truc tio n . Since th eEuropea n co lo n iza tion of Braz!l began 500 yea rs ago, th e nu mber oftl\ ind igeno us peo ple hasdccl ln ed from six m illion peop le to its cur ren t

./"V level o f about 220,000 . T h ese su rv ivo rs speak mo re than 140languages and dialec ts. Prior to the a rriva l of th e Europea ns, thein digen ous po pulation was widely d istr ibu ted ac ross Brazll , consistingprima rily o f hun ter-ga th er ers, man y of them living in the Amazonfo rest. T h ese Amazo n ia n peo ples w ere th e las t ind igeno us groups tobe d estroyed by co n tac t w ith the coloni zers, mainl y beca use theylived in iso la ted for est ed a reas . Th e pr og resstvc clisp laccmen t ofin d igen ous people resulted from ph ysical exte rmi na tion, enslavementa nd especia lly the sp read of n ew dis eases to w hich they had no

U \ resistan ce. So m e 70 per ce n t o f the rem ain in g ind igeno us populationlives in th e n or th a nd cen t ral-wes t regio ns wh ere We ste rn-sty le'civil iza tion ' has o nlyrcccn t ty a ppea red (CEDI 191-\7 ).

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1\lte r 19 10, the I\razil ial1 au tho ru ios ado pted Illlw;ures dc sigll cd topro tect n ati ve peop le from th e m oxt ex treme Iorrns of v io lence ando th er co nditions il'ading to long-term popu lati on dccl inc. Somei nst it ut io us like FUNA! (p revi ous ly SI)I) wer e crea ted 10 prnte ctInd ian co mmunlt lcs. bu t th eir act lvi t icx wer e ofte n illC' lleClive illc hecki ng con tinuous agg ressio n by ou tsiders. a ne! so metimes evenabe tted it. Du ring the first ha lf of th e twcn tic th centu ry alon e. SOI11l'1-\7 dis tinc t Ind ia n groups we re ex te rm ina ted (Fa rren 1< ) ~ 9 ).

T!lC mai n po licy 10 pro tec t Illlli,ll1 S has hcvn to l's lill> lish ' rcscr vcx'.II )' 1990, so m e 27,()( )(),()()() hectar es of la nrl ha el I>Cl'1l W I ,ls i(/ d ixpu tcx thro ugh out the regio n be twee n squ a u crs o r o the r occ upa n ts'~\W i l h prcca riou s ten ur e and lan clho ldc rs. Th ose Cl,1i llli l1 g Iq ~ :l ' lilies

to the lan d arc o fte n th e mu ch [cared sri1v io lence. how ever. is no t l im i tcd s lricl lr to l.uu i t it l is';IIl'Shut i\,,!so used I))' l.u i d lo rcts to ol i ta i n chcn p Iabour . r-- IC1\\ (1 1' till' \\,(\rkl' r\

Rebuilding the Commons through NewSocial Movements

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Th e danger of in tcrnn tio nalisation o r Amazo nia evo ked by t lieBrazilian Government is a myth, to the extent that society has longbeen part of a national/transnational wo rld . Moreo ver, it is am ytil rhnt can be used to cover up the per versit y o f the natio na lpolicy for regional occupation. It doe s not, however, exclude th erealit y of politi cal pre ssure by governments and int ernati on alcorporations brought to bear under new form . Plan et-wid eawaren ess is rea! and it is active, whic ll docs not preclude, ho wever,for ma tion of a form of ecol ogical ldco logy favo ur ing those veryforms of pressure. (Becker 1992:95)

Ily the end of the 19H05, part icularly ;\rll' r the assassill;llioll or rublxrtapper leader Chico Mendes, forest dwellers ru llicd to Iorm a n.u io u.r:coal ition to protect the ir interests . In 1')89, tile Ka yapo lndia ns,aft er expanding th eir ln tern at ional public campaigns. ho st ed a six-day First Encounter of Native Peoples, in Alta rn ira. Xingu, in whi chove r GOO in d igeno us lead ers, Braz ili an and fo reign sup por ters,1Y[our nallsts and a few celebrities partici pated. They co ndem ned th ein vasion of tile Ya nomanu Indians' 1;\11(11 1:-' new EI.FTIZOl lR/\,'; plansto build several large dams in the 1\ 111 ~ 1' () ll . 1"lcil ll\vhile , protcstrorCt'd th e World llank to withd raw IOi1J1 ,~ (0111 Ilri1 7.il '5l'J1C'rgy sectorand , ins tead, provide (very sma ll) fund s for en crgy conserva tio nwhich further enraged llrazilian auth or ities.

Olle govern men t strategy to control de rc 1l'es ta tion in the I\ IJ1; 17.0\'} \is t ile esta blishm ent of prote cted areas, Stich :l S nnt ioua ! P; lrKS and I."ecol ogical s tnrio ns. Th ese a rc.rs ar e ;11, 0 n l' il !t'd to I11 Cl'l ti ll'

I

tile Envir onmental Defen se Fund a nd til e Na tio uat Wildli reFederation started lobbying til e US COll gr(' o~ s to pressure tile Wo rldIlau k and the InterArncrlcan Development llallk to stop rlll1llillglarge projects that were carving lip the forest, particularly in Rondoniaarid Acre (POLONOllO ESTE).

Due to these pressures, the World Bank Ilalted disbu rscui cn ; o f thePOLONOnOESTE loan , pendin g corn pltancc by th e gove rn mentwith new loan conditi onalities tllat supcrtlci nlly, at least , coveredforest and ind igeno us peo ple' s protecti on issues. Th ese politi ca lp rcssu rcs provoked sur pr ise and rcsen t mcn t ;llllo ngst llr:li', ili

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requirements of international institutions, such as the World Bank,when large development programmes such as the 1'0LONOIlOESTEarc funded. One of the contradictions in this process is that suchprotected areas follow the North American model of creatingwilderness in which no dweller is allowed to stay (Diegues 1996).Brazilian legislation on protected areas unequivocally states thatrubber tappers, riverine groups and ar tisanal f ishcrfolk are notallowed onto their own territories in order that certain places can be' p rese rved ' . This environmental policy has sparked nuru cr ousconflicts as local populations have refused to leave their land,

By the late 19805, resistance to jand eviction became so strong thata new form of protected area was proposed, commonly called'extractive reserves'. The creation of this new category of protected 'area - in which locals can actually continue to live and work - wasa direct result of sustained protest movements by 'commoners',especially rubber tappers and artlsanal fishcrfolk, often with NGOassistance. Today, there are nine extractive reserves covering twomillion hectares on which more than 28,000 people live (CNPT1994). The economic activities in these reserves include small-scalefishing, babassu and Brazll ian nut-tree harvesting and rubber tapping .The most remarkable aspect of these reserves, however, is that theyrepresent a resurgence of locally managed common property regimes.That is, social and political confrontations over the past two decadesbetween traditional populat ions and both large landowners and thestate have led to innovative, practical and democratic reconstructionof threatened common property regimes as well as the creation ofIll'I" c~T

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co nsider sacred . Some old resident s were expelled three times fromtheir homes, by three d llfcrcnt cnt itics - Mincra

72 Pri votiz ing Nature

with local populations, inclusion of social scientists in researchteams arid more flexibility in planning. It places more value on theprocess of decision making than on the establishment of rigidconservation objectives. The experience of this project hasdemonstrated, however, that once a decision is taken by the localpopulation, it ha s a much greater chance of being followed . Thi s isdemonstrated, for example, in the consensus that was reached by thelocal population In regards to the conservation ari d sus talna b le uscof la kes, wh ich ha d ex treme biological arid socio-econom icimportance.

In these discu ssions, the communities decided to define sixcategories of lakes , including totall y preserved areas, such as lakes forreproduction of fish (untouchable, with the shoreline included in the

~. ~"reil of rota) pre servation), 'subsis te nce l akes' (for exclusi ve use of the

community for subsistence fishing), ' rn a rkc t-o rtc n tcd lakes: (forexc lus ive LIse o f th e community, with the fish to be so ld), and 'l ake sor usc of the nearby urban centres' (where fishing is permitted to.atlsfy th e needs of municipalities). The communities, in an assem bly,rlso d ecided on the typ es of sanctions to be applied to those.orn munlty members who, di sobeyed the deci sions. Thedrn inistrators of EEM concluded:

With the defin ition of the limited areas for professional fishing,it is hoped to create some kind of 'social responsibility' be tweenthe fish ermen, of the urban centres and local fishermen th at leadstJH~ community m embers to defend, alm ost in uni son, thepreserv ation of lakes and non-predatory fishing . . . Th e consensusreached m eans that there is a good chance that the decisionstak en will be carried ou t, thereb y reducing the requirem ent forad ditio nal effort in implementing these decisi ons, and was jud gedby the Mam lrauf Proj ect Team as being very sntlsfacto ry fromthe bi ological, geographi c and con servati oni st po int o f view.(Ayres and Ayres 1993:10)

The third type of loc al mov eme nts co nc erni ng t he co m mo ns istypified by the rubber-tappers' ext ractive reserves -Tocn lly initiatedand recently supported by natt onal and internat ional coaliti ons.Creat ed in the 1970s, during th e hei ght o f confl ict over 1;\n (1 inAcre, thi s m ovem ent o rgan ized the first blockade (empatc) in whichrubber tappers co nfro n te d the mach ines that wer e cutting downthe forest and threat ening their way o f life . In 1975, when the firstrur al un ion was creal-eel In Ilasile ia in Acre, in o ne o f th e centres o fhigh dens ity of rubber trees , the reactio n of the landown ers was

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vio len t, and in many G1 SeS the hou ses of th e rubber t;lppe rs wereblll"f1l' d .m cl thc leaders assassuiatcd. TI ll' Na tinnal Couuri l of Rubbe rTap pe rs, estab lish ed ill 1985 , res p on d ed with il st rat egy o f pursui ngthe creation of ' extractive reserv es'.

Th e extrac tive reserves a re ad mi nis te red communall y. Allhough110t alloca ted in ind ivid ua l lot s, famili es ha ve the right to explo it theresources al orn ; the ir t raditl ona l cxt ract ivisr t;lppin g ro utes (the( o /O(IICiiC'S ) wit h in till' rese rves . The land ca n no t he so ld o r ,tran sformed into n on-fo rest use s, except for sm all area s th :lt Me

rallo we d to be cleare d fo r subsis tence ag ricul ture (no t more tl1;\l l fivehect ares per fam ily, o r a p p ro x ima te ly 1- 2 per ce n t o f th e a rea o f til l.:reserve) . Th e creation of th ese reserves is also based o n the localor ga niza tio n of rubber tapp ers and on progr amm es o f cduc.n io n,henl th, coope ra t iv ism, mar ket ing ane! resea rch in to alternauv csys tems of forest rnauaucmcnt.

The communit y mem bers of cx tracrivist reserves arc awa re, lllr lHlgilt licl r rcprcscntn tlvc o rga n iza tio ns, tha t a legal guarantee ;q ~ ;1i11S1aggr ess io n by large econ omic in tcr cs ts is not enoug h . Il isfundam en tal tha t th eir extract ivist p rodu ctio n has econo m ic viahi l i ty,sin ce th ey currently dep end pr i mar il y on o nly a flow produ cts. such,IS rubber, nuts o r babassu palm-trees. Rub be r productio n is prcc;Jr i ou ~because of the high co st of pr oduc tion an d an cxt ernn l m a rkctun favourable to primary p rod uct s, an d also because o r- the lo wer priceo f latex produced by m oriocul tu rc pl an tat ions in the so ut h of t ileCOUll try. The rub ber-tappers so licit governl11ent sub sidi es to malntain

., p rices for rubber o n the intern al mar ket, while t hcy look foralternat ive mar kets for products o f Al11a7.0ni ;1 on till' in tern a tio na lma rkct. To this end, a few co operatives arc org;1 l1 i7.e li to cli mln utc th em iddlem cn (Schw artz ma n 198R) and f;1c ilit a[c ruar kctlnu.

The Nati onal Co u ncil o f Rubber tn ppers

. life, the rubber tappers began to count on the support ofenvironmental groups arid national and international non-governmental organi zations . Also, in 1986 tile Alliance of tile Peopleof the Forest, which a.so included the indigenous populations, wascreated. Tile joint effort of the indigen ous leadership, the rubbertappers, and those adversel y affected by dams, supported byenvironmental organizations both within and outside Brazil, madepossible, for example, the creation of the Encounter of the People ofthe Forest, in Al tarni ra in 1989, to protest against the constructionof hydro-electric darn s on the Xingu Ri ver, wh ere many indigenousreserves are located (CEDI 1989). This joint effort was responsible forthe suspension of plans to create large dams along th e Xingu River.

The rubber-tappers ' movement, despite the o rgan ized reaction o flarge landowners throu gh UDI~ (Democratic Rural Union), expandednot only into Acre, where 60 per cent o f til e municipalities hadrubber-tapper organizat ions, but also into other states such as Arnapa,Ronrlonia and Amazon as. including ten extractivist settl ements andIou i cxtrnctivtst reserves cov ering three million hectares aridbenefiting around 9,000 families (CIMA 1991). In 1992, lIlAMAcre ated CNPT (Nat ional Council of Traditional Populations), for thepurpose of technical support for the reser ves in Ama zonia an dexpanding the idea [0 o th er regions oft h e country. Currently thereare other extractivist rese rves outsid e of thls reg ion, based onextractivism of bubassu, a natural resource o f tile cetrado (savannahvegetation in semi -arid area s), and on Iish lng resources in SantaCatarina State. The establishment and reinforcement of extractivereserves continues in tile Ama zonian region and in other areas of thecountry, not only in the tropical forests, but also along tile coastline,as is the ca se of Pirajurubae in the State of Santa Catarina aridMan d ira in Sao Paulo.

The movement to establish extractlvlst reserves is an exam ple ofdefending, reinforcing and recreatin g threatened ways of life.Furthermore, in Amazonia it is an alt ernative that can enable thesusta inable use of natural resources, which respects both biologicaldiversity and the trad.ttonal way of life of populations. As Silberlingstilted (1990), offIcia I .lI1d publ ic rccogn ilion of these rese rvcs wasonly made posslble by the strong so cial m ov ement that workedtogether with the Nanonal Council of Rubber Tappers, looking forn a tiona l as well as internati onal legitimacy, especially in t he irstruggle against other forms of ownersh ip, in particular the largelandholdings. They managed, through social mobili zation, to raisethe levels of consciousness and ed uca tio n of th eir members, creatlngand re-creating valu es o f group sohdarl ry fund amental to the ---

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Conclusion

co n tin uity of the creati ve process. Tile lrcqucut Illeetin gs o f t hclead ers o f the Nat ional Cou nc il wit h the rubbe r tappers i n 11 10111 yreg io ns of Amazo nia helped th em to organ ize assoc iatio ns t l1 ;lt wi llpropose new reserves. Th ei r ideol ogical \1nL symbo lic role has bee nbas ed o n the creat ion of solidarity in volvin g th e sup po rt of otherg roups, socia l forces and pol icies wi th in an d ou tside the cou n try, a ndo n o b ta ini n g Ii naric ia l and technical resour ces, al on g w it hco n t rlbut i n g deci sively to th e growth o: til e powe r o f locllassociati ons of rubber rappers, who feel link ed 10 a I:lrger m o veme ntthat tran scen ds Amazo nia .

I\s th is chap ter illustr.ucs. communal

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