VU Research Portal Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy Development in Oaxaca, Mexico Dunlap, A.A. 2017 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Dunlap, A. A. (2017). Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy Development in Oaxaca, Mexico. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 08. Oct. 2021 4 VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy Development in Oaxaca, Mexico ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. V. Subramaniam, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen op donderdag 1 juni 2017 om 11.45 uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Alexander Antony Dunlap geboren te Los Angeles 4 promotor: prof.dr. D. Dalakoglou copromotoren: dr. A.J. Salman 3 RENEWING DESTRUCTION: WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN OAXACA, MEXICO By Alexander Dunlap 4 5 6 Copyright reserved by Alexander Dunlap 7 This doctoral thesis is dedicated to all the communities and individuals who do not compromise, crossing into the unknown to advance their sense of autonomy and dignity in the face of immense forces and pressure to accept the political and economic orders that condition and enclose their lives. 8 DISCLAIMER THE RESEARCH CRITICAL OF WIND ENERGY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THIS DOCTORAL THESIS SHOULD IN NO WAY BE USED TO SUPPORT, HELP OR ADVANCE THE USE OR CAUSE OF NUCLEAR, COAL, HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OR OTHER FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTIVISM. On the contrary, the perspective advanced in this thesis seeks to cause deep critical reflection on the industrial system and energetic grid itself, promoting thought, imagination and experimentation to advance radical alternatives to development, progress and modernity as we know it. The intention is to promote projects in the direction of enriching the quality of soil, food and human and non-human relationships to create long-term subjective well-being (happiness), individual/communal autonomy and ecological sustainability. 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Illustrations ..................................................................................................................................... i Summary ........................................................................................................................................ ii Abbreviations and Acronyms ...................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... viii PROLOGUE .................................................................................................................................. 1 Arriving in Mexico ..................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................... 13 The Journey into the Istmo ....................................................................................................... 16 Discussing Anthropology: Militancy, Positionality and Knowledge ........................................ 24 For Anthropologists against Anthropology ........................................................................... 32 Anthropology in the Field ..................................................................................................... 38 Literature Review and Theatrical Approach ............................................................................. 41 Methodology and Research Approach ...................................................................................... 47 Structure of the Thesis .............................................................................................................. 53 CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................ 57 Welcome to the Istmo: A Brief History of Politics, Conflict and Development ..................... 57 From Conquest to Wind Turbines: Colonial Incursion, Adaptation and Resistance................. 57 The Mexican State: Insurrection and Caciquismo ................................................................ 60 The COCEI ........................................................................................................................... 67 Wind Turbines ....................................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................ 77 ‘We are surrounded:’ Living under Wind Turbines in La Ventosa ........................................ 77 Wind Parks: Construction, Environmental Impact and Finance ............................................... 78 Cost, Finance and Greening Industrial Development ........................................................... 79 The Politics of Land Access and the Arrival of Wind Energy .................................................. 84 From Resistance to Negotiations: Land Contracts................................................................ 91 Accounts of Environmental Impact .......................................................................................... 95 Impact on Human Health ........................................................................................................ 100 Benefits/No Social Benefits ................................................................................................ 107 10 Rural Gentrification, Industrialization and Migration .............................................................110 Conclusion: Gains, Losses and strangulation ..........................................................................116 CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................................... 119 Counterinsurgency for Wind Energy: The Bíi Hioxo Wind Park ......................................... 119 Counterinsurgency and Land Control: PROCEDE, PES and México Indígena ..................... 123 The Rural War Develops: Counterinsurgency .................................................................... 123 Social Property and Counterinsurgency .............................................................................. 127 From Death Squads to Arriving Wind Turbines ..................................................................... 133 Divide and Conquer: Counterinsurgency for Wind Energy .................................................... 139 Hard Techniques ................................................................................................................. 139 ‘Soft Techniques ................................................................................................................. 142 Bíi Hioxo Realized .................................................................................................................. 149 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 152 CHAPTER 4 .............................................................................................................................. 156 Insurrection for Land, Sea and Generational Integrity in Álvaro Obregón ....................... 156 Zapotec Struggle: Gui’Xhi’ Ro’ .............................................................................................. 159 Wind Company Penetration in Álvaro Obregón ..................................................................... 163 ‘We are the sea:’ Battle for the Barra, Land and Municipality ............................................... 166 The Constitutionalists—the Contra......................................................................................... 174 The Communitarian Struggle Continues ................................................................................ 177 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 183 CHAPTER 5 .............................................................................................................................. 186 Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): Legitimizing Land Acquisitions and Pacifying Resistance?................................................................................................................................