Towards Permanent Ecological Conflict: Insurrectionary Political Ecology and Reflections on the Polícia Comunitaria in Gui’Xhi’ Ro/Álvaro Obregón, Mexico
Anarchist Studies - Print ISSN 0967-3393 - Online ISSN 2633-8270
Volume 34 Number 2 (2026)
Towards Permanent Ecological Conflict: Insurrectionary Political Ecology and Reflections on the Polícia Comunitaria in Gui’Xhi’ Ro/Álvaro Obregón, Mexico
Alexander Dunlap, Bitari Martínez Romero, Ana Kristel Martínez pages 93‑131
DOI: 10.3898/AS.34.2.04
Abstract
Exploring insurrectionary political ecology, this article argues that authoritarian organisation reproduces the core of colonial and statist politics that necessitate energy intensive bureaucracies. This article discusses how colonial forms of organisation are reproduced in areas of socioterritorial and autonomous struggle. Reflecting on experiences within an autonomous struggle in Álvaro Obregón, or Gui’Xhi’Ro in Zapotec, Mexico, the article explores ideas of popular ecological struggle and permanent ecological conflict. Drawing on fieldwork (2014-2017) while embedded in this conflict area, this article seeks to stimulate the imaginations and praxes of insurrectionary political ecology by critically reflecting on our experiences. Providing background to the case, and discussing anarchist organisational theories of resistance, the article attempts to challenge the common counter-hegemony and counter-power approaches. This article seeks to experiment beyond counter-power, promoting evasive, resilient and viral – or more accurately anti-viral – strategies of struggle. This purpose seeks to widen conversations on socioterritorial struggles and land defence against extractive development and statist conquest.
To cite this article
Alexander Dunlap, Bitari Martínez Romero, Ana Kristel Martínez (2026) Towards Permanent Ecological Conflict: Insurrectionary Political Ecology and Reflections on the Polícia Comunitaria in Gui’Xhi’ Ro/Álvaro Obregón, Mexico, Anarchist Studies, 34(2), 93-131 . https://doi.org/10.3898/AS.34.2.04