Indigenous Participation in Times of Anarcho-Capitalism and the New Right: The Repeal of the Indigenous Territorial Emergency Law in Argentina

Abstract

Based on previous research, in this article we address the idea-practice of indigenous participation within the framework of the Territorial Emergency Law 26160, passed in 2006 and recently repealed by presidential decree, focusing on the implementation of the territorial survey. Within this framework, we seek to contribute to the debate around the possibilities, potentialities and/or limitations of this “indigenous participation” in a context of underfunding and regressive social policies which effectively restricts the very possibility of participation. For that purpose, we first take a brief historical overview to show how Law 26160 was drafted and passed. Then, we review the concept of “participation” within the framework of indigenous policies, paying attention to how this participation took shape(s) in the design, implementation and evaluation of the survey. Finally we analyse the decree that repeals the Law, to close the writing by reflecting on the challenges involved in thinking about indigenous participation, interculturality and plurinationality amid the context of anarchocapitalism and the rise of new right-wing movements.