Thais Rubio Silva

We live in a globalized era that has brought with it both positive and negative impacts. In this text we will focus on the positive, starting from the idea of ​​being connected to different causes. This makes us feel identified with each other to act together as a way to resist nonviolently. The sense of community is something that should be highlighted when doing activism because it invites us to collaborate in the same fight. Constant action is essential and new initiatives will always emerge to achieve a shared objective.

One of the problems that affects all of humanity is the current climate crisis that has impacted various populations, communities and ecosystems. Initiatives to preserve the environment range from opposition to extractive practices to resistance against the neoliberal policies of governments and transnational corporations. These manifestations of civil resistance are directed at various actors who, in one way or another, perpetuate practices that have exacerbated and even accelerated the crisis we currently face. In this adverse scenario, collective action is needed.

Why? Because we are immersed in the aforementioned problem and action is required from civil resistance and various activisms in the spaces affected by the environmental crisis.

The oceans, seas and marine ecosystems have suffered the greatest consequences of this crisis. They are a crucial element for nature and the beings that live there, but also for any living being. Water is an element that represents life. For this reason I want to share the case of the Mingas por el Mar collective, as a nonviolent collective experience.

From its name we can identify its main actions. Mingas are basically a collaborative work activity, voluntary in nature and have a social utility. In that sense, Mingas por el Mar is dedicated to cleaning not only beaches, but also mangroves, forests, waterfalls, islands and even urban areas and their parks. It is done with the aim of highlighting plastic pollution, despite the fact that Ecuador has a law on single-use plastics.

This work not only includes cleaning. The classification and analysis of waste is also carried out: the components it has, the company to which it belongs and the commercial activity to which it is linked. These types of activities also allow us to influence public policy because a report is prepared with all this data annually. Thus, it can be determined that the single-use plastics law is not one hundred percent effective and that there are still issues to improve so that national and international companies comply with the regulations.

Among the many activities of Mingas por el Mar are workshops on the waste most found in mingas: fishing ropes. The purpose is to reduce its use and implement it in a less polluting way, creatively educating fishermen. For example, in 2022, Mingas por el Mar held the La Nueva Pesca championship where the community of Playa Villamil, located in the province of Guayas, collected 2,385 kg. of garbage. In this way, environmental awareness was generated and the impact that garbage generates was evident.

Another activity they carry out as a collective is brand audits. This strategy, in conjunction with the report and its data, shows which companies generate the most plastic waste pollution each year. The Mingas por el Mar collective has also joined global initiatives such as World Clean Up Day. In this activity, several organizations are involved in the collection of waste in marine ecosystems. All of these actions involve volunteers, experts, people from the community, companies and organizations, in order to generate a message that little by little penetrates Ecuadorian society. The idea is to achieve a change in the ways of consumption, production and treatment of the different products that cause pollution.

As mentioned, the group not only concentrates its actions in environments with water, but also extends to urban areas. This geographical participation is dispersed and makes it easier for several people from different places to join the cause, regardless of their location. This provides greater visibility to Ecuadorian society that is not familiar with these activities and even contributes to other environmental struggles in different countries.

In other words, it mobilizes the population and involves them from their surroundings in climate action, becoming a transnational resistance. In Latin America, the environmental problems we face are similar due to geographical location: crimes committed against environmentalists or the insertion of international corporations of a consumerist and extractivist nature. This cross-border resistance provides more strength to negotiate and/or reinforce policies that protect the environment and spread climate justice.

Regarding cooperation with other organizations, we can perceive that they have achieved synergy thanks to the good communication they maintain, since by sharing the fight against the climate crisis they manage to identify each other as pillars of support. They are also allies because they strengthen the Ecuadorian environmental movement. The fusion of the aforementioned actions has allowed them to have contacts with educational institutions and international organizations that, in one way or another, have enabled them to influence decision-making spaces.

Altogether, we can call that there is a pluralistic power. The Mingas por el Mar collective is in constant cooperation on issues of education, promulgation and development of policies and advocacy so that the single-use plastics law is complied with and materialized. The power is in each of the people and organizations that are involved in the activities, from a non-hierarchical and more collaborative sense.

Currently, action against climate change is a form of civil resistance because we are facing a production model that is extremely destructive of nature and its resources, which also affects communities and societies by encouraging mass consumption and invading their territories. An extractivist system that leaves serious consequences. The main people responsible have demonstrated their lack of commitment to the environment from their production methods. It is necessary to bring new worldviews to the system. Being able to sustain ourselves as a community is the most important thing in the fight. In community, several of the strategies work, adding the commitment and discipline that sustain the power that is in the people, which can generate real changes to achieve climate justice.

It’s a long road. From initiatives like Mingas por el Mar, we are all welcome to resist, collaborate and learn. The first steps and bases are there, so that in the future as a society and individuals we can question ourselves and take action and identify those mainly responsible for the environmental crisis and its acceleration. It is a fight that resists actors such as the State and international corporations with their polluting and extractivist activities, which involve various monetary interests.

The fight for environmental recovery is done from the beaches because they perpetuate the meaning of teamwork through the minga.

Text published on December 9, 2023

About the author

She has a multilingual degree in Business and International Relations. Currently, he is part of the Change.org organization team in Ecuador and is studying a diploma on energy transitions. He is interested in topics related to conflict resolution and human rights.

Translated by Damian Vasquez