As the country prepares for a new political era, all signs indicate that extractivism will continue to occupy a prominent place on the national agenda. The signs are clear. In recent years, laws have been passed that weaken environmental institutions, restrict citizen participation, and criminalize protests against the harm communities suffer from heavy metals and environmental pollution.
By: Lilian Oscco, Executive Secretary of Red Muqui
The latest regulations favor the expansion of extractive activities at the expense of communities’ rights. Added to this is a political landscape in which large-scale mining is emerging as one of the main pillars of the next government. Fujimorism has been one of the main drivers behind regulations that lower environmental standards and have gradually eroded the framework of citizens’ rights, consolidating a development model that prioritizes resource extraction over human rights, the protection of ecosystems, and the self-determination of peoples.
However, this story does not begin today. Nor does it end with a change in government. In these territories, there is a living memory, built by peasant communities, indigenous peoples, peasant patrols, social organizations, workers, and human rights defenders who, for decades, have upheld the defense of water, land, ecosystems, and collective rights. That memory constitutes one of the social movement’s greatest strengths in the face of an increasingly adverse context.
The Other Voices
Between June 24 and 26, while Lima hosted the World Mining Congress, those who are rarely invited to the forums where the sector’s future is decided also gathered. Affected communities, social organizations, indigenous peoples, mining workers, and human rights defenders reminded everyone that there can be no genuine debate on mining when the voices of the territories remain sidelined from decision-making. That was the essence of the “Other Voices” Social Forum, a space that asserted the need to place democracy, rights, and the protection of territories at the center.
The concerns expressed at that gathering are not new. Socio-environmental conflicts persist, pressure on water sources continues, and environmental and labor protection mechanisms are being weakened, while informal and illegal mining continues to expand under the cover of a weak state presence. At the same time, extractive activities are encroaching on watershed headwaters, Indigenous territories, glaciers, agricultural valleys, and strategic ecosystems, without the country having established a land-use planning framework that would allow for a collective determination of which activities are compatible with life and which are not.
Which demands will be heard in a climate of political polarization?
In this context, a fundamental question arises. Will there be room for communities’ demands to be heard in a climate marked by political polarization and the growing influence of extractive interests? Will there be a willingness to discuss a new approach to mining governance when various sectors of power insist on reducing the debate to economic growth and investment?
These questions do not express resignation. They express the need to maintain constant vigilance and to strengthen social organization as an indispensable condition for the defense of rights. Experience shows that the major advances in environmental, territorial, and human rights issues have not emerged as spontaneous concessions from political or economic powers, but rather as a result of mobilization, coordination among organizations, and the persistence of communities.
Environmental justice will continue to be a collective endeavor that can only be achieved through organization and solidarity.
For this reason, the current moment demands that we strengthen the capacities of social organizations, renew spaces for dialogue, and build broader alliances among communities, Indigenous peoples, workers, youth groups, environmental organizations, academia, and sectors committed to defending democracy and the commons. In times of fragmentation, coordination becomes an indispensable political strategy. No single organization can stand alone against the advance of an extractive model backed by legislative reforms, corporate interests, and government decisions that are increasingly aligned.
It will also be necessary to keep alive the memory of the struggles that have shaped the country’s recent history. Remembering those who defended their territories does not mean remaining stuck in the past. It means recognizing that the demands for environmental justice, effective participation, water protection, respect for labor rights, and the guarantee of collective rights remain relevant today. Memory strengthens the identity of social movements and prevents the same violations from being repeated under new rhetoric.
Democracy is also built from the ground up
At Red Muqui, we maintain that the country’s future cannot be built by silencing those who live in the territories where minerals are mined. There will be no trust as long as decisions are made without effective participation. There will be no transformation if it deepens existing inequalities. Nor will technological innovation be enough if the structural causes of conflicts, pollution, precarious working conditions, and the exclusion of communities from decisions affecting their present and future are not addressed.
The proposals put forward by organizations during the Social Forum constitute a roadmap for advancing toward democratic mining governance. The effective participation of communities, the protection of ecosystems and water, the guarantee of human rights, a fairer distribution of benefits, a comprehensive response to illegal mining, and the strengthening of labor rights are not abstract demands: they address concrete problems and urgent needs in the country.
The coming years will likely be marked by a new extractive offensive. Precisely for this reason, it will be even more important to strengthen our organization, expand our alliances, sustain our advocacy efforts, and keep open the possibilities for building alternatives to the current development model.
Resistance is not merely about opposition. It also involves organizing, imagining, and building a country where democracy is exercised at the local level, where collective well-being takes precedence over individual interests, and where other voices cease to be considered marginal and instead become key players in the decisions that will shape Peru’s future.
