International Law and Social Movements: Challenges of Theorizing Resistance

This work is part of the research project developed by the Observatory on New Social Movements and Law in Brazil at La Salle University, focusing in the city of Porto Alegre and on the occupation of the City Council on July of 2013, which is placed in the context of the protests against the increase of bus fares and for free fare, attempting to understand the relationship between the political organization of the Bloco de Lutas pelo Transporte Publico and its legal group during the eight days of City Council occupation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with members of the occupation in order to clarify the dynamics in the movement and its understanding of the relationship between law and social movements, highlighting the deferment of the eviction order and the elaboration of two Bills as fundamental moments of the relationship between the collective organization of the occupation and its legal team. Este artículo forma parte de un proyecto de investigación desarrollado por el Observatorio de Nuevos Movimientos Sociales y Derecho de la Universidad La Salle de Brasil. Nos centramos en la ciudad de Porto Alegre y en la ocupación de su ayuntamiento en julio de 2013, en el contexto de las protestas contra el aumento de las tarifas de autobús y a favor del transporte gratuito. Intentamos comprender la relación entre la organización política del Bloco de Lutas pelo Transporte Publico y su grupo jurídico durante los ocho días que duró la ocupación. Realizamos entrevistas semiestructuradas con miembros de la ocupación para aclarar las dinámicas del movimiento y cómo entendía la relación entre derecho y movimientos sociales, destacando el aplazamiento de la orden de desalojo y la elaboración de dos leyes como momentos fundamentales de la relación entre la organización colectiva de la ocupación y su equipo jurídico.

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Law and Social Movements

The Blackwell Companion to Law and Society ◽

10.1002/9780470693650.ch27 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 506-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Michael McCann

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Law And Social Movements

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Resistance through Utopia: Reflections on the Niyamgiri Anti-Mining Movement and International Law

Volume 61 · 2018 - German Yearbook of International Law ◽

10.3790/gyil.60.1.393 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 393-421

Author(s):

Radhika Jagtap

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Civil Society ◽

International Law ◽

Local Level ◽

Human Condition ◽

Global Politics ◽

Supreme Court Of India ◽

The Supreme Court ◽

Critical Approaches ◽

Theoretical Assessment

There is some significance attached to the role that local-level collective action plays in reimagining global structures like international law. A theoretical assessment of this idea could be done through a merger between the utopian analysis of international law and critical approaches to the discipline which now identify categories like social movements as contemporary modes of transformation. Social movements like the ‘Save Niyamgiri’ movement in India could be seen as a local level catalyst for rethinking, restructuring, and resisting mainstream international law. The paper intends to place the Dongria peoples’ narratives as a utopia of resistance. This utopia is a collective of epistemologies that emanate from their imagination and spirituality, making critical statements on the global politics that favour dystopian versions of domestic and international law. The paper looks into the way the Dongria peoples’ imagination was received and recognised by institutions including the Supreme Court of India and other civil society actors which led to the successful internationalisation of the movement. It develops a sense of the need for international law to look into the local mobilisations surrounding anti-mining resistance and politics of forest rights and concludes with the contention that a transformation of international law also means the redefining of the human condition.

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