Can Ecuador Live Well? The fictions of a live in harmony with nature within the Sumak Kawsay model

Transcription

1 1 Can Ecuador Live Well? The fictions of a live in harmony with nature within the Sumak Kawsay model Candidate Number: Word Count: 9942 words (Excluding Cover, Abstract, Table of Contents, and Bibliography) MSc in Anthropology and Development 2014/2015

2 A mi padres y Fausto, para quienes ninguno de mis sueños ha sido demasiado grande. 2

3 3 ABSTRACT Since becoming part of the Latin America s New Left, Ecuador has become widely know for establishing an alternative plan to development that rhetorically opposes the traditional neoliberal model, while seeking both social and environmental sustainability. With this purpose, and in a similar fashion to other countries professing the Socialism of the 21 st Century, Ecuador has incorporated the concept of Buen Vivir (Living Well) or Sumak Kawsay, within its new National Development Plan. Sumak Kawsay, an indigenous cosmovision held by the people in the Andean region based on the importance of human beings and Pachamama (Mother Earth) coexisting in harmony, has also become one of the biggest pillars of Rafael Correa s political project. Within the promise of Sumak Kawsay, one extremely important pillar is to be found: the rights of nature. Consequently, Ecuador has become the first country to include them in its Constitution, with the intention of preserving both the extensive biological diversity, and the home of indigenous groups in voluntary isolation to be found in the Yasuní National Park. In accordance with the recent decision of the government to drill oil in this protected area, I will argue that the intention of providing rights to the nature has created a promise that might be too difficult to sustain. It further compromises the project of shifting away from conventional models of development that has been pursuit, and highlights some of its major conceptualization flaws. In this sense, this paper will discuss the challenge that the Ecuadorian government has had to face when not being able to give equal value to conservationism and resource extraction, within the equation of development. I will argue that the Sumak Kawsay model has become highly unviable, when it comes to nature protection, as the Ecuadorian economy remains highly dependent on oil exploitation, and neo-extractivism continues to be the main promise against poverty. Additionally, by looking at the Waorani of the Amazonian region of Ecuador, I will contest the recurring essentialist assumptions of which indigenous people are subject to in this country, in relation to the relationship nature they have with nature. This, which is often simplified as rather harmonious, will be put into question by looking at different Waorani groups, who have had contact with external actors, especially oil companies, in a different extent. By so doing, I will aim to question the Sumak Kawsay model as an initiative based in indigenous values, suggesting it has widely ignore the reality of many indigenous groups, which at the same time- gives an impression on how excluded they are from national processes.

4 4 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION SUMAK KAWSAY: PLACING NATURE WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT EQUATION CONSERVATIONISM AND NEO-EXTRACTIVISM: IS COEXISTENCE POSSIBLE? BEYOND THE MYTH OF THE INDIGENOUS LIFE IN HARMONY WITH NATURE: THE WAORANI CASE CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY... 33

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6 6 1. INTRODUCTION With the triumph of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Evo Morales in Bolivia, the Andean region saw the birth of the often-called New Left. These governments found political and economic basis in strongly opposing the principles of neoliberal policy. Considering that all three were intensely affected by structural adjustment policies, this brought them electoral success and rather high popularity. The new promise was to find its origins in the Socialismo del Siglo XXI- Socialism of the 21 st Century 1 - which included seeking for a reformulation on how economic growth and development should be pursuit. Although it would be too extensive and it is not the purpose of this essay to analyze all the different aspects that constitute the aforementioned doctrine, it is worth highlighting a development paradigm shift as one of the pillars to be pursuit within the New Socialism in the Andean region. Finding theoretical bases on Thomas Kuhn s (1970) discussion on paradigm shifts, the developmental field has been rethinking what development encompasses and how it should be pursuit, in light of the critical point to which many countries had reach by following neoliberal recipes. While the debate has emerged around a wide range of proposals including: New Structural Economics (Lin 2012), Global Governance (Smith, et al. 2009), the MDG Paradigm (Gore 2010), and even a Beijing Consensus (De Haan 2011), the countries of the New Left have brought in their own proposal: the Buen Vivir (Living Well) model, or Sumak Kawsay, the name in Kichwa it has officially received in Ecuador. Seeking to defeat the capitalization of nature, in the words of Arturo Escobar (1995), this initiative has urged for an incorporation of indigenous values that promote a harmonious relation between human beings and their natural environment. Indeed, nature has been granted rights within the Ecuadorian Constitution. This dissertation aims to combine anthropological as well as development perspectives to critically analyze the possibilities the Sumak Kawsay model has in consolidating as a paradigm shift alternative capable of claiming both a higher protection of nature, as well as an indigenous character. The first chapter consists of a brief narration of the Ecuadorian shift away from neoliberalism policies, meant to allow the reader to familiarize with the political scenario in this country. Then, I will engage with the official descriptions of the model, by later briefly 1 German Professor Heinz Dieterich coined this term; nevertheless, the different governments that have adopted this doctrine as cornerstone of their policy have contributed for the creation of various versions and appliances.

7 7 reviewing the 2008 Constitution and the National Development Plan, in light of how the rights of nature have been depicted within these two crucial documents. For the second chapter, I have chosen the failure of the Yasuní-ITT initiative as the starting point of my analysis. This proposal, launched at an international level, sought to preserve the Yasuni National Park considered one of the most biologically diverse places worldwide- by renouncing to all extractive activity within in. Being the Ecuadorian economy highly dependent on oil extraction, the government asked for compensation by the international community for its conservationist efforts, of an amount that would make restitution of the quantity of oil barrels left under soil. While a detailed description of the aforementioned activity will not be at the center of the discussion, I will sustain that it can be taken as a the point of inflexion where conservationism was overshadowed by a discourse where humans, and their necessity to overcome poverty, are placed at the top of all priorities. In this regard, this chapter s purpose is to evaluate how the fall back into resource exploitation in natural protected areas has given way to a subjugation of the environment to neo-extractivist interests. Accordingly, I will stress that this constitutes for one of the most relevant weaknesses for the Sumak Kawsay model to actually constitute an alternative to the kind of development it has rhetorically opposed. In the same vein, the third chapter will be dedicated to contest the indigenous character of the Sumak Kawsay model, while claiming it is based in simplistic and essentialist connotations of how indigenous people relate to the natural environment. Considering that the government has ambiguously claimed to have borrowed the indigenous values it has relied on from Andean, Afro-Ecuadorian and Amazonian peoples, I have decided to base my argument on ethnographic evidence of the Waorani, or Huoarani, that inhabit in a territory that partially overlaps with the Yasuni National Park. By looking at how different Waorani groups relate to the natural environment, depending on how much contact they have established with external actors mostly oil companies-, I will aim to dismantle the myth of the Sumak Kawsay model s indigenous character. Additionally, I will place the essentialist view taken on the Waorani within the complex social problematic that engages indigenous people within the Ecuadorian society as ignored, distant others.

8 8 2. SUMAK KAWSAY: PLACING NATURE WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT EQUATION The arrival of post-neoliberalism The failure of neoliberal policies to tackle poverty, inequality and resource dependence, to mention a few, has triggered the discussion on the alternative paths that could lead the economy of the Latin American region to a better performance. This policy turn has been present mostly in -but not limited to- the Andean region, and it has been interpreted by many as a shift towards post-neoliberalism; nevertheless, with frequency its nature, as well as its differences to neoliberalism have been questioned (Yates & Bakker 2014; Peck, Theodore and Brenner 2010; Sader 2009). Though, the discussion itself is enough evidence of the intention to reach a policy shift at a regional level. For the particular case of Ecuador, it seems right to state that moving away from the legacy of the neoliberal past became of Correa s interests both for economic and political reasons. As Christopher Krupa (2013) states, Correa s government found an strategy to gain support in his post-neoliberalism project by uncovering the myth of Ecuador as an island of peace during the extreme right-wing governance that took place between 1984 and With this purpose, he established a truth commission that would bring to light for the first time the 295 cases of torture and disappearance. By so doing, he attempted to place the existence of violence in the Ecuadorian collective memory, and consequently, created a link between it and neoliberal rationality, which gave solid bases for the necessity of a post-neoliberal transition (ibid). Understanding this context is of extreme relevance to better appreciate the developmental shift that has taken place in Ecuador since While the Constitution of 2008 and the National Development Plan , the two documents that are the cornerstone of the Socialismo del Buen Vivir will be analyzed in more detail later on this chapter, it is first necessary to engage in a more extensive way with the notion of Sumak Kawsay. The ontology of the Sumak Kawsay model Borrowing from Amartya Sen s capabilities approach (Sen 1999), the Sumak Kawsay seeks to go beyond just improving the population s quality of life; it also aims to develop their capabilities and potentials, in an atmosphere of equality promotion and redistribution of the

9 9 benefits of development (Radcliffe 2012). Recurrently making reference to indigenous values 2, especially as a call to embrace cultural diversity and harmony with the nature, this proposal has widely been interpreted as a strike against neoliberalism and a step toward opening up democratic participation (Becker 2011:59). Undoubtedly, there has been ambiguity at the time of presenting exactly what the Sumak Kawsay model encompasses, especially in practice; however, some of the masterminds behind this notion have managed to state at least how the government perceives it. In this sense, Alberto Acosta 3 sustains that what is been pursuit is a conception of Buen Vivir that would undress the mistakes and limitations of the diverse theories of the so-called development (Acosta 2010:8) towards an era of post-development. In the same token, according to Arturo Escobar, it questions the prevailing maldevelopment, highlighting the undesirability of a model based on growth and material progress as the sole guiding principles, and [displacing] the idea of development as an end in itself to one which sees development as a process of qualitative change (Escobar 2009:22). It needs to be clarified, though, that while still a project of the Socialismo del Siglo XXI, and its permanent distrust of the neoliberal model, the Buen Vivir does not oppose the modernization of society, in the sense that it looks to incorporate in its logic the importance of technological advances (Acosta 2010). On the other side, it emphasizes the necessity for a permanent dialogue between ancestral and the most advanced areas of universal knowledge, in a process of continuous decolonization of society 4 (Acosta 2010:11). René Ramírez 5, on his side and in a more radical way, suggests that the nature of the project should be understood not as a process to seek development alternatives, but alternatives to development (Ramírez 2011). According to this author, what Ecuador is after, starting from the redaction of the 2008 Constitution, is a republican bio-socialism 6 as a response to dependentism and other policies imposed by the Washington Consensus (ibid). It is trying to shift the object to which policies are 2 It is important to bear in mind that often the origins of these indigenous values are left unexplained. Although Sumak Kawsay as a cosmology has been related to Andean people, governmental documents often attribute the nature of such values to indigenous people in general, highlighting Andean, Amazonian, and Afro-Ecuadorian groups. 3 This author was also the President of the Constituent Assembly, the organ in charge of drafting the Constitution of All translations are mine 5 This academic, currently Secretary of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of Ecuador, is also considered within the key authors of the model. 6 There are various papers by the same author that elaborate on this term (Ramírez Gallegos 2012). Nevertheless, it is mainly used as a synonym for Sumak Kawsay, and constitutes an emphatic criticism of the exclusion of ecologic interests within capitalistic systems.

10 10 directed from the individual as it is supported by the liberal authoritarian model (ibid), to the community. This communality, Acosta agrees, should be also extended to the way human beings relate with the nature. In this sense, through Buen Vivir, any conceptions where development is to be achieved by forcing the destruction of nature and the deterioration of the harmony between it and human beings should be absent (Acosta 2010). Additionally, what human beings aim for should be pursuit in community, in respect with all other living beings, and without pretending to dominate nature, as there should not be a separation between it and the human race, but rather a comprehensive understanding of them in coexistence (ibid). This understanding is pivotal to break away from the model that has persisted since the colonization of the continent, which was highly motivated by the exploitation of natural resources, and caused the extermination of indigenous peoples. Therefore the urgent necessity to eliminate that dominant relationship towards nature, and the importance of granting it rights. As both Ramírez and Acosta suggest, on the contrary to the rest of ways to pursuit development, the Sumak Kawsay model does not assume a dichotomy between nature and society- and more specifically, an advanced society in terms of development. Despite the criticism that the model has faced -some of it will be discussed in the upcoming chapters- elements of the Buen Vivir model have also received strong support. For instance, according to Eduardo Gudyna s (2010) explanation, the rights of nature allow for a more biocentric way of thinking about development. In such a context, defending the rights of nature does not presuppose resuming all exploitation or any activity that depend on the use of natural resources, but rather using them in such way that the intention is not to sustain an opulent life style, but instead a more austere way of living meant to eradicate poverty and focused on the well-being of people and not in economic growth itself (ibid). Additionally, Dávalos (2014) suggests that this model separates from what he defines as the fetish of neoliberalism, through which it is believed that economic growth would solve by itself all problems; ranging from poverty and inequality, going through the lack of opportunities, to pollution and ecological degradation (ibid). This author further portrays Sumak Kawsay as the only alternative in the moment- to the neoliberal discourse of development. According to him, it functions as a notion that allows for a possibility to establish a relationship between human beings and nature that is based on respect, an opportunity to bring ethics back to human coexistence and to establish a new social contract where human beings can coexist in unity and diversity (Dávalos 2014).

11 11 A new path through a new Constitution After the new Constitution entered into force through a referendum that received a 63,9% of support of the electorate- President Rafael Correa addressed his people to congratulate them on national live television, for allowing a new period to begin; one that leaves behind the domination of the neoliberal dogmas, the entelechy of the market, the hegemony of the financial capital- that decadent speculative capital- whose power agonizes this very moment at a planetary level (Correa resaltó vigencia de la nueva Constitución 2008). From this referendum culminated with historical support on, Correa has taken strong steps in the strengthening of his Socialism of the 21 st Century project, at least at a rhetorical stand. Under previous governments, Ecuador had faced continuous episodes of unconstitutionality, making the phrase Mi Poder en la Constitución My power within the Constitution- to be found in the presidential sash just as questionable as previous Magna Cartas highly violable, and for many, irrelevant. Correa, though, had a different stand on this matter; he often suggested that the previous Constitution was indeed very influential, for it gave origin to many of the serious problems that the country had been facing, especially the financial crisis that took place between 1998 and 1999, considered by many, including himself, as the worst in the history of the country. As a consequence, its modification was considered by the new administration as urgent, as it embodied the engagement in a battle against the neoliberalism of the past. In this context, the 2008 Constitution becomes the element that guarantees the change of direction that Correa has proposed -and the people supported- that one meant to give structure to el Buen Vivir. With the purpose of presenting a cohesive policy strategy to materialize this turn, the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo was launched in 2007 for a first version of it, followed by a second and third version, each every three years. For the first time, at least in paper, a government was building a concrete strategy, based on a way of living said to derive from the worldview born in the ancient societies of the Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Ecuadorian regions, which would influence Ecuador in building its notions of human, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights on it (Senplades 2013). Furthermore, according to this official document, the Sumak Kawsay is an idea meant to as well offer alternative solutions to the contemporary problems that humanity is facing. It is said to build solidary societies, co-responsible and reciprocal that live in harmony with nature, starting from a change in power relations (ibid:23).

12 12 For the purpose of this essay, I will not be entering in a comparative analysis of the new and old Constitutions, or in a critical analysis on the different versions of the National Development Plan. Rather, I will mention what I consider to be the most important elements included in both the 2008 Constitution and its complementary National Development Plan in delineating the Buen Vivir plan in relation to the rights of nature. Exploring the rights of nature In relation to the rights of nature, both the Constitution and the National Plan provide a fairly elaborated and comprehensive description. According to what is stipulated in the Constitution, two different aspects of the rights of nature are to be recognized: those rights that nature has actually been entitled to, and those that human beings have been granted in relation to it and with the purpose of achieving its protection. Although the later are still to be considered very relevant within the project, the former constitute what many have considered a revolutionary change and what has contributed for this Constitution to appear as the most radical in the world (Lalander 2014). Within these rights, Article 71 is of outmost importance, stating the following: Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and realized, has the right to have its existence fully respected and to the maintenance and regeneration of its lifecycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes. Every person, community, people or nationality will be able to demand to the public authority the accomplishment of the rights of nature [ ] (República del Ecuador 2008) In following articles 7, the right of nature to restoration and compensation for damage is discussed, as well as the responsibility of the State to both prevent and react in relation to all those activities that may threaten nature in all ways. In the same token, the conservation of biodiversity is declared of public interest, for which a better territorial system and ecological zoning is called in need. 7 Article 72 refers to the right to restoration, while Article 73 refers to precaution and restriction measures related to the destruction of ecosystems and its consequences, and Articles 400 and 404 elaborate on issues related to biodiversity.

13 13 On the other hand, and proving a rather high level of complementarity between the two documents, the National Development Plan insists on the importance of recognizing the rights of nature and its valuation. It suggests that the way in which the economy functions should minimize the environmental and social impact of its industrial activities, for which the way to go is planning in such way that the extractive activities are minimized and prioritizing an eco-efficient use of resources through the implementation of the right technologies and of bioknowledge (Senplades 2013). Conclusion The commitment to the nature, threatened by the neoliberal system that the current government has so fiercely opposed, has received great interest and evoked enthusiasm both at a national and international level. As Villalba suggests, its historical importance relates to the inspiration this proposed model receives from the beliefs and practices of indigenous peoples, who have been marginalized or subordinated throughout history in the name of development (2013:1428). Nevertheless, the feasibility of the rights and objectives stipulated in both documents presented above, and the applicability of the Sumak Kawsay model has been contested on various fronts. Aspiring for a development model that presupposes a synergy between cultural, environmental, and economic interests appears as a challenge that, so far, the Ecuadorian government does not seem to have overcome. This will, precisely, be the thrust of the analysis in the chapter to follow.

14 14 3. CONSERVATIONISM AND NEO-EXTRACTIVISM: IS COEXISTENCE POSSIBLE? Bad news for the rights of nature Five years after the Yasuní-ITT initiative was launched establishing a Trust that needed to achieve USD from the international community in exchange of not drilling oil from the Yasuní National Park 8 - considered one of the richest areas in biodiversity of the planet and home to indigenous groups in voluntary isolation- Correa approved a presidential decree calling the initiative over. Part of the arguments considered were that only a minimum share of the required amount had been received, which allowed form a justification on the side of the government to claim that: [the] rights of nature, and of the citizens to live in a healthy environment, will not be guaranteed in the case of the Initiative to continue, as a consequence of the little welcome from the international community, which has been reflected in an incipient economic collaboration (Correa Delgado 2013). Furthermore, the document highlighted that the Amazonian people -who would be part of the people immediately affected by this decision- will be co-participant of the economic benefits of a prospective oil extraction 9, and it justified the decision on the necessity of the Ecuadorian State to use those resources under soil to combat and overcome the poverty of its citizens, starting from the Amazonian ones, without neglecting the adequate protection of the peoples in voluntary isolation (ibid). From then on, the official position on the topic faced some dramatic changes; the discourses that considered the protection of this area as what is socially acceptable (Observatory on Latin America 2011) and as a way of applying the logics of justice over the logics of the market (ibid), were soon to be replaced by a compromise to fight 8 Finer, et al (2009) offer an exhaustive account on the characteristics of the Yasuní National Park and the dynamics within it, while Laura Rival (2010) engages with different perceptions on the existence of oil within the reserve, and reactions to the initiative. 9 My emphasis.

15 15 poverty. At the Cumbre Internacional del Medio Ambiente, Correa made clear what kind of environmentalism Ecuador was now going after: [We must be] careful with some extremisms coming from childish environmentalism. We all have to be conscious about the necessity of conserving the only planet we have; we all know that the human being is not the only important thing in nature, but I do consider that it is the most important one (Correa Delgado 2013b) He also made clear that Ecuador was not giving up on an environmental-friendly path to development; as a proof of this he presented some of the major ideas that the government had been working on to present an alternative to the lack of efficiency of the Kyoto Agreement 10. In sum, it would be inaccurate to sustain that ecology and nature suddenly became irrelevant to the policies to be pursuit; on the contrary, what the country was facing was what Bebbington calls a rewriting of the political ecology (2009:14), a concept I will be returning to briefly. Dominating the nature In discussing how anthropology has come to approach the relation between nature and society and more specifically with respect to human-environmental relations-, Gísli Pálsson (1996) proposes three kinds of paradigms orientalism, paternalism, and communalism. In a context where, in the words of the author, nature has become a quantifiable universe by humans (ibid: 66) it is possible to distinguish the contrast between domination and protection of the environment when looking at environmental orientalism and paternalism. The first suggests negative reciprocity in humanenvironmental relations, as in nature appears as a resource that humans exploit and control according to their convenience; while the second suggests balanced reciprocity, based on the existence of human responsibility towards nature in terms of use and protection. Nevertheless, as the author further explains, both paradigms share a feature: humans are masters of nature, which at the same time encompasses the main difference 10 Ecuador has actively supported the idea of Herman Daly on creating a tax on oil exports of the OPEC.

16 16 between the third paradigm communalism-, which appears as a theory that fully integrates human ecology and social theory, abandoning any radical distinction between nature and society [ ] (ibid: 72). Taking this assertion as a theoretical base, we can return to observe the shift that took place in the way that conservation and the rights of nature have been approached by looking at the revalorization they have gone through. In this sense, it could be said that through the Sumak Kawsay the government was pursuing a communalist model, where nature and humans would not be considered to be immersed in the dualist relation that prevailed throughout the structuralism of Levi-Strauss; the nature and culture dichotomy that largely influenced the discipline of anthropology. Rather, they would equally coexist in a context where, as Descola suggests, our own dualistic view of the universe should not be projected as an ontological paradigm onto the many cultures where it does not apply (1996:82). Such a model would not only make sense of the rights that nature has been granted in terms of its protection, but it would also strengthen the credibility of the model as an alternative to development based on indigenous values, for as Pálsson puts forward, hunting and gathering societies just as some that inhabit the Ecuadorian Amazonian region and to which the State has made a commitment- nicely represent the principles of communalism [ ] projecting an image of the giving environment, [where] human-environmental relations may be described in terms of generalized reciprocity (1996:73-74). Similarly to the Nayaka of South India, who look on the forest as they do on a mother or a father [ ] it is not something out there that responds mechanically or passively but like a parent, it provides food unconditionally to its children (Bird-David 1990:190), tribal groups in both the Andean and Amazonian region have been associated with the notion of Pachamama - Mother Earth- in the case of the former, and the giving environment (Rival 2002; Bird-David 1990) in the case of the later. The Ecuadorian government has borrowed from these conceptions to provide the indigenous character to the Sumak Kawsay project, which as will be discussed in the third chapter of this paper, has been done in a rather ambiguous way. Continuing with the analysis based on Pálsson s theoretical proposal, it seems accurate to sustain that after the presidential decision to cancel the Yasuní-ITT initiative- a section of the Ecuadorian society from which environmental organizations,

17 17 and indigenous rights movements stand out, expressed their discontent. This served as a prelude to the one of the most significant encounters between the President and one of the most emblematic environmentalist movements, the Yasunidos 11. What this section of the civil society was claiming, could be described within the paternalistic paradigm proposed by the author, where human beings extend the responsibility they equally hold to other human beings to members of other species and the ecosystem of the globe (1996:70). This relationship between humans and environment presupposes a fetishization of nature, through which it does not coexist as a similar to the human species, but rather, the human being acts on behalf of it. This assertion can also find fundament on the fact that even when the Yasuní-ITT initiative found its highest point of acceptance within the Ecuadorian society as well as the international community, the actions in the name of conservationism have always being based on the interest of the citizenry to keep the area untouched and to sacrifice the benefits of the oil left underground mainly due to its high value in biodiversity, than as a materialization of the rights of nature per se. If we think of both the aforementioned paternalistic paradigms as one extreme of a spectrum built around the relations human-environment, it becomes feasible to think the new posture that the government has held in relation to the natural area in concern as a materialization of the orientalism paradigm, and as will be elaborated on in the following part of this chapter- as the supremacy of the neo-extractivist model over one that allows for development to coexist with a certain degree of conservationism. Although the vocabulary that the government has used to refer to the change of course 12 towards exploitation in this protected natural zone, has not been the habitual and characteristic one of this paradigm one of domestication, expansion and conquest of the environmentit has indeed adopted and motivated people to adopt a fatalistic attitude that depletion is simply an inevitable ingredient of economic progress (Pálsson 1996:69). 11 This group, mainly conformed by environmentalist young people, became the leading force against the decision of calling off the Yasuní-ITT initiative. They carried out a collection of signatures to petition for a referendum on the exploitation of the natural reserve, and although the number of signatures required was completed, the government did not accepted the petition, accusing the group of falsifying part of them. 12 It is important to take into account that extractive activity has been recorded in the Yasuní National Park since the 1970s, not to fall in a mystification of this place as an untouched area, although some territories within it remain free of oil companies, and the existence of several executive decrees indicating extraction is forbidden.

18 18 This process of change, through which the materialization of the rights of nature seem every time harder, captures the process that Bebbington has proposed, suggesting that a rewriting of the political ecology has taken place. This, I would argue, reflects what Laura Rival (2010) refers to as the new and old values that the oil in the Yasuní National Park has received by the different parts in concern. Whereas oil is still at the center of the debate, Rival s ethnographic account proves the emergence of different narratives. For instance, environmental activist have determined the value of this natural area by calculating the share of the oil reserves in terms of oil consumption, suggesting, the crude contained in the ITT fields represents only ten days of world oil consumption (Rival 2010:361). This position has emerged as an attempt to provide an example of the futility of our addiction to oil, which drives the destruction of a treasure of biological diversity like the Yasuní (ibid). Furthermore, in a context where a different model of natural resources management is proposed, as for instance the Buen Vivir, new values of nature have been taken into account, not only in terms of the biodiversity it hosts, but also because of the presence of groups in voluntary isolation. They, as Rival accurately suggest, add to the exceptional value of the region, not so much in numbers this time (they are comparatively few), but in terms of their unique qualities as extreme refugees from another era; they too deserve protection from extinction (ibid: 360). The inclusion of groups in voluntary isolation within the valorization of natural protected areas as the Yasuní has simultaneously influenced for a revalorization of the ways in which they relate to the environment and perceive it, just as the Sumak Kawsay has pretended to do at a national scale. This new valorization comes hand in hand with the fact that a growing number of Ecuadorians consider urgent to cease the dependency that the national economy holds on oil, and the perception- especially present within Amazonian townsthat the oil to be found within the Yasuní Park will not be any more successful in taking the country out of poverty than other reserves have before (Rival 2010). Therefore, although drilling oil in the Yasuní National Park, did not appeared as the optimal scenario for many, the change that the political ecology suffered has caused for the emergence of different perceptions of and valorizations on nature not to consummate as a paradigm shift. As a matter of fact, through the implementation of the rights of nature within the national policy strategy, the government opened the possibility

19 19 for the existence of a scenario where both the protection of nature and development would be two sides of a same coin. However, the turn away from convervationism made the materialization of the rights of nature unlikely and perpetuated the superiority that the value of oil has over anything else to be found in the Amazonian region. It is important to bear in mind, as Rival (2010) suggests, that talking about the quantity of oil that would be extracted has allowed the government to present calculations in terms of building schools and hospitals, reminding the people development is still the priority. The (re-) birth of (neo) extractivism Whether the lack of support that the Yasuní-ITT initiative received at the international level, or that it was based on unrealistic objectives were to be identified as the reason of its failure will not be discussed in this essay. This topic has been elegantly treated by Bucaram and Fernández (2013), who present a discussion on the viability of this initiative from an economic perspective. What is relevant for current purposes is to engage with how the decision to drill oil in the Yasuní-ITT area created a major obstacle for the materialization of the rights of nature, and at the same time- put into question the attempt of the government to pursuit development by different means to those characteristic of the neoliberal era. In other words, the inability to conserve the oil reserve under ground put the Gobierno de la Revolución Ciudadana at crossroads: with no further alternative than to pursuit what Eduardo Gudynas has referred to as progressive neo-extractivism (2011). As Gudynas has accurately stated, extractivism is in good health, even under the so called progressive or new left governments (ibid: 76), in contexts where most of them have not replaced, but only modified their strategies towards non-renewable resources exploitation. This author, who has coined the term progressive neo-extractivism, highlights as a main difference between this model of exploitation and its predecessor the more active role that the State plays through their national companies and other institutions- in the extraction of this resources, with the purpose of financing programs to fight poverty, but maintaining high impacts on the social and environmental fronts (ibid). In a similar token, Bebbington appears critical of the fruitless attempts of various governments to escape the resource course (2009:14), through shifts in policies that

20 20 leave the social and environmental cost of extractive activity very much untouched. In a relevant manner, the author highlights the similarities with which the government of Correa and those from the right as for instance that of Alan García in Peru- approach the domestic political economy of extraction following a remarkably similar logic: Resources belong to the nation, not to local or indigenous populations. They will be developed, consultation will be a managed process, and dissent will not be brooked (ibid: 19). Bebbington s contribution is very valuable for the Ecuadorian case, as it points out how questionable it is to assume that the ideological position taken by a government may actually have an effect on how resource extraction, environmental protection and territorial issues are managed. By highlighting how likely a country of the New Left is to place the national priorities of exploitation above the protection of natural zones, Bebbington allows us to see some of the strongest weaknesses that governments like the one in Ecuador face in actually accomplishing a paradigm shift in terms of development. The limitations to safeguard conservationist interests beyond discourse and documents, has not taken the governments of the New Socialism any further than their counterparts that openly promote extraction. As the author suggests they are just as willing to place the national priorities of exploitation above the protection of natural zones and the causes pursuit by activists in the area, as they are willing to convince the indigenous inhabitants of those areas of the benefits of extraction (ibid). In this process, binding documents as executive decrees are ignored, attacks on environmentalists become more intense -Correa has often referred to them as extortionists, terrorists, and infantile leftists and romantic ecologists (ibid: 18)- and the interaction between extractive actors and indigenous populations more problematic, as will be analyzed in the following chapter. The approval of the 2008 Constitution, as well as the launching of the Yasuni-ITT initiative gave place for a debate to happen, as Bebbington suggests, on the relationships between the environment, economy, plurinationality, and social democracy (ibid: 19). Nevertheless, what is still necessary, and I will agree with Bebbington in his assertion, is for this debate to consider in practical, and not merely discursive, terms what other models of development might feasibly better serve Latin American societies [ ] regardless of how relatively progressive their platforms may be (ibid). In this sense, it

21 21 should not be assumed that Ecuador has given up on placing the environment as a variable of the equation that has development as its result. On the contrary, considering the correlation between environment and development is very much present, though in a contrasting fashion to the environmentalism that the government committed to at first. Taking the path of resource-nationalist environmentalism (Bebbington 2009:19), the government has sought to increase its benefits from extraction by controlling it, instead of letting private and foreign actors do it. In this process, infringing some rights even those of nature- is justifiable in the name of benefiting the nation as a whole (ibid); to give the people the opportunity to reach Buen Vivir. Conclusion As a consequence to the failure of the Yasuni-ITT initiative, the Ecuadorian government has lead a change of direction in relation to how the rights of nature in the interest of conservationism are approached. Although they are a critical pillar of the Sumak Kawsay model, in practice, they have been threatened by the turn of strategy towards neo-extractivism. This overall macro-developmentalist orientation, in the word of Escobar (2009:22), has marked the one of the strongest weaknesses to this alternative proposal of developmental model, as conservationist interests have been largely overcome by economic growth. As a consequence of this, the ideal of living in harmony with nature that the Sumak Kawsay model has so extensively relied on has proven to be rather unreachable. This, as I will assert in the following chapter, is not the only aspect in with the fragility of the Sumak Kawsay model has been demonstrated.

22 22 4. BEYOND THE MYTH OF THE INDIGENOUS LIFE IN HARMONY WITH NATURE: THE WAORANI CASE. Who are we talking about? As it was discussed in the first section of this paper, the Sumak Kawsay model promoted by the government is said to borrow from indigenous cultures the values of living in harmony with both human beings and the environment. Despite analysis has been carried out in search of the epistemological and symbolic meanings of Sumak Kawsay as the core of the Andean indigenous cosmovision, from which the work of Josef Estermann (1998) is worth highlighting, the government has incorporated this concept in a rather ambiguous way. Too frequently, there has been an assumption of harmony within the human and environment spheres that gives the model a touch of romanticism. In reaction to this, I have chosen to present ethnographic evidence on the Waorani, as an example that clarifies the extremely simple assumptions that indigenous life has been subject to within this governmental strategy. As Rival (1994) states, at a national level, the representations that the Waorani have been subject to are rather contradictory; on the one side as fierce and savage creatures, and as innocent victims of development on the other. This has contributed to the construction of a distant other ; one whose particular processes and issues are often not treated as relevant by the State, if not framed within modern parameters (Rivas and Lara 2001). This categorization of the indigenous people of the Amazonian region, as Rival continues, has helped in building a national identity in relation to this other, and at the same time, constitutes the essence of the ethnic issue in Ecuador. In this context, it could be said that through the Sumak Kawsay, there was an attempt to increase the inclusiveness of indigenous people -through a consideration of their values- at least at a rhetorical level. For the first time, the values of these stranger people were to be taken as everyone's own, something to be identified with at a national level. In spite of this intention, the promoted indigenous values remain very much unknown. The Civilized Waorani

23 23 Although indigenous people have always been perceived as distant strangers by the society, mestiza in its majority, there is an inexorable difference in perception between those groups that have has limited contact, those in voluntary isolation and those that we will refer to as the civilized Waorani (Rival 2002; High 2013; Tassi 1992; Cabodevilla, Smith, and Rivas 2004). Rivas and Lara have rightly stated that it is a continuum in Latin America for indigenous minorities to be involved in processes that are alien to their own historical heritage: market economies, natural resources extraction, biodiversity conservation, evangelization, land-use planning, among many others (2001:15). This, I would argue, is an accurate starting point for analyzing the modern history of the Waorani fraction that in the middle of the past century came in contact with the civilization. This group has being exposed to a strong process of acculturation through which they were expected to evolve from the savage to the civilized Waorani. This accounts for what the authors call ethnic transfiguration, through which they replace their particular characteristics with those that turn them into generic Indians, who to an extent are accepted by the society, but as second class citizens still labeled as indios (2001:18). This cultural change, as it is the case of many other Amazonian groups, has being influenced by two main actors: religious missionaries and oil companies. The first is extremely relevant to understand, as Laura Rival affirms, the contemporary Waorani, as with the arrival of the Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (ILV), Linguistic Summer Institute, this indigenous group became known for the first time, and the religious practices that this American religious mission introduced to them constitute for the most influential force in the change of their social structure (Rival, 1994). This, among others, included a hunting-gathering lifestyle, multi-marriage family structure, and as a consequence, living in longhouse. Most relevant ethnographic accounts coincide in that great part of the Waorani social life is constituted by their engagement in cycles of war and destruction followed by periods of peace and prosperity. Similarly to the Yanomami studied by Napoleon Chagnon (1988), or the Ilongot observed by Michelle and Renato Rosaldo (1993), the Waorani have been widely included in Western narratives as a remarkable example of a violent group (Beckerman, et al. 2009). The war is meant to destroy family clans, and

24 24 those that escape the spears attacks, mostly women and children according to Rival (1994), have to hide for months to later find refuge in other groups. Peace is reestablished when the different matrilineal groups living in proximity exchange their children for marriage (ibid). While the Waorani were living in Tihueno- the community where they were placed by the ILV- they were prohibited to make use of their spears, nor were they allowed to have polygamous marriages anymore or live in multi-family homes. As the testimony of a Waorani indicates: while living in Tihueno, we learned the new rules: no more killings, one woman only, and the food of the foreigners (Kimerling 1996:178). At the same time, they were instructed the main Christian rites, especially the reading of the Bible, as part of the labor of the ILV was to translate it into indigenous languages. All of these contributed for the ILV, and one could say part of the civilized society, to stop considering them auca, meaning savages, but rather see them as real human beings, meaning civilized and Christian (Rival, 1994). It is important to take into account that the activities of the ILV, and other missionary groups as for instance the Catholic Capuchin Mission, assumed a role of mediation between the Waorani and various oil companies, by the 1970s, when the country was experiencing an oil boom (Rivas and Lara 2001; Cabodevilla 2004; Vera 2007; Kimmerling 1996). In this context, it could be argued that the history of the Waorani has been shaped by what Rivas and Lara have called cultural change for the benefit of others (Rivas and Lara 2001:31); therefore, having the State allowing and sponsoring the ILV to enter Waorani territory with its Waorani Pacification Plan as a consequence of Shell leaving the country after many of their workers were attacked by Waorani people-. Back to tradition So far, it seems to not be enough trace of the real Indian, in the words of Alcida R. Ramos (1994); one that fulfills the romantic expectations often associated with the people inhabiting those remote areas of the Amazon. But what happened after the Tihueno protectorate was dissolved, the missionaries left and the Waorani returned to their territory? Many of them also returned to their lifestyle as hunter-gatherers. The Waorani Rival describes do not want to have a static lifestyle based on cropping; they

25 25 perceive themselves as omere gomonahuaorani, which literally means people trekking ; therefore, do not have to cultivate, for they find useful plants and cultigens (2002:88). This conception they have of natural abundance, Rival explains, is not expressed through a specific term in the Wao language, but only through wordless exclamations and gestures of amazement (ibid). Additionally, this group does not seek to obtain a constant source of foodstuff, for it is associated with fast growth and easy dispersion; and consequently, they are unreliable (Rival 2002:89). Rival accurately summarizes the consumption philosophy of the Waorani group she has studied: People should not subsist on food created by themselves in the present. There should be a time lag between nature s generative fructification and its use by humans (2002:90). In light of the generalizing interpretation that has dominated the national understanding of the Waorani lifestyle, and that has been reflected in the way the Sumak Kawsay model has understood Amazonian life, it is worth evaluating Rival s proposition on what is the role of the natural environment within their system. In this sense, the author suggests that the natural environment is thought of as the result of direct manifestations and concrete objectifications of past human work (2002:90). As she continues: When an old person dies, it is not the work of death nor the spirits and forces being detached from the body that are the source of life and nurturance for the living. Rather, it is the activities that were carried out as part of the business of living that have a continuous and generative effect and that are the origin of the natural resources eventually used in the future (Rival 2002:90). It is worth mentioning, that it would not be accurate to equate this element of the Waorani cosmovision with modern conceptions of sustainable resource usage for the benefit of future generations as, for instance doctrines of development claim (Sachs 2015); the conceptions of past, present and future that this group holds are rather different to those of Western understanding (Rival 2002; Rival 1999). Neither should it be assumed to respond to a Maussian gift demanding reciprocity (Mauss 2002) as the living owe nothing to the death (Rival 2002:90). In other words, what allows for nature to be