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Occupying Legality: The Subversive Use of Law in Latin American Occupation Movements
Author(s) -
BRABAZON HONOR
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/blar.12527
Subject(s) - neoliberalism (international relations) , principle of legality , praxis , latin americans , social movement , sociology , law , popularity , resistance (ecology) , movement (music) , political science , political economy , politics , aesthetics , ecology , philosophy , biology
The social movement tactic of occupying land, factories, and other workplaces has regained popularity in L atin A merica over the past decade. These occupations have garnered international attention due to the direct confrontation with neoliberalism that they embody, whilst less attention has been drawn to the particular use of law that underpins this confrontation. Through an examination of the use of law by the L andless P easants' M ovement in B olivia and by the factory occupation movement in A rgentina, this paper explores how these occupation movements have combined both an eschewal and embrace of law in what can be understood as a creative ‘radical legal praxis’. The paper sketches the contours of what a theorisation of this approach might look like and suggests that this particular engagement with law challenges traditional understandings of occupation movements and contains important possibilities for emancipatory resistance to neoliberalism.