The spatiality of the social response to water privatisation: the case study of the Cochabamba water conflict (1999-2000)

Matilda Prandini

Abstract

This article is a critical discussion on the case study of the Cochabamba Water Conflict in 1999-2000. The focus is on the spatiality of the popular opposition which led various local organisations to join forces in order to oppose the privatisation, and the result was the creation of a social movement called “La Coordinadora”, composed by both urban and rural associations. This movement was able to bring together protesters from all classes, ages, occupations, and ethnicities; it was capable of creating a sense of “us” and of belonging between the people, as well as the perception that their society was at risk. And, through this organisation, protesters sought to take and make place in a different way compared to the dominant one. The paper points out how social relations are spatially constructed and shape local people’s decisions and how spatial relations are central in the dynamics of movements such as the Coordinadora. It relies mainly on secondary sources, backed by academic studies that investigated the theoretical debates surrounding social movements and the role of spatiality in social conflicts.