Indigenous Autonomy and Defense of the Territory in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca

Abstract

In Mexico, indigenous peoples have historically fought for their right to exercise self-government as a way of preserving their existence. This claim takes on greater relevance in the face of the dynamics of dispossession adopted by the capitalist system, since a large part of the exploitable natural resources are found in those territories that indigenous communities have occupied. Based on the case of an organization in the southern highlands of Oaxaca, we will show how the autonomist demand has become a strategy for the defense of the territory, showing the main challenges and contradictions in a scenario of increasing dispossession and violence.