Indigenous Ecuadorian Resistance and Mobilization: Co-optation and Alliances of the Indigenous Movement

What explains the fall and rise of Ecuadorian Indigenous mobilization from 2006-2021, and how Indigenous peoples, both leaders and non-leaders, understand the dynamics of their movement? This paper specifically examines protests as modalities of resistance and power to make broader claims regarding the movement as a whole. While there are many modes of resistance, protests are a phenomenon that diverse communities and groups within the movement participate in and have frameworks on. I argue that the decrease in protest frequency is rooted, in part, in two distinct factors that Indigenous leaders propose: 1). Political and ideological co-optation; and 2). Political repression. The increase in the number of protests and participants is rooted in cross-sectoral alliances against widely unpopular neoliberal reforms that enabled the movement's resurgence. While many scholars have emphasized the role of highland movements and elites in the Indigenous movement in Ecuador, I seek to examine the perspectives of individuals outside of the Andean leadership, specifically in the Amazon. Understanding protest dynamics in Ecuador requires an analysis of non-Andean, non-leadership beliefs on why individuals protest or not and how they conceptualize the movement.