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Political Economy of World-Systems 2002 Conference Riverside, California |
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Abstract Indigenous Peoples and Hegemonic Change: Opportunities for Resistance or Dangerous Times? Thomas D. Hall James Fenelon We argue that there several types, or preferably a continuum or range of anti-systemic movements. Counter-hegemonic movements may, or may not, be counter-systemic or anti-systemic. If the goal of a movement is to eliminate hegemony it would be anti-systemic, if however, its goal is either to replace a specific hegemon or speed up the hegemonic cycle, then it is not anti-systemic, but "reformist.” We further argue that the timing, and relative density of such movements, and especially their potential for success or failure is limited by hegemonic cycles. For most indigenous movements, even those that are highly self-conscious and theoretically driven as the EZLN, the immediate goal is not to destroy or replace the system, but to carve out social space where they can continue to exist. This is because the capitalist world-system cannot undergo fundamental reform or evolution or revolution and still be capitalist. Thus, to "allow" or "be forced," to allow indigenist movements social space for alternative forms of social organization would entail a fundamental change in system organization. Although, the system can allow "tokens" that are so small that they do not make an appreciable impact on the overall system. To put it far too crudely, the distinction would be between movements that want a fairer slice of the pie, or want to tinker with the recipe for the pie vs. those that do not want the pie in any form, whether it is because they want something else, or they just don't like pie. |
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27th Annual Conference of the Political Economy of World-Systems Spring Hosted by the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside |