The changing Amazonian civic space: Where soy meets resistance.

This chapter tells the story of how communities in the Amazon are being affected and are resisting the soy Global Value Chain in recent years. By analyzing how different sets of groups (indigenous, ribeirinho, quilombolas, fisherman) are affected by capital and state in the regions of the Lower Tapajós and the Lower Tocantins, this chapter investigates the role of Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization in their resistance. The framework in which capital and state advances in traditional territories is the Arco Norte, a mega infrastructure of road, railroad and ports being built for the outflow of soy. Despite the huge imbalance of power in each context, to the detriment of traditional communities, this chapter shows that building overarching (international) coalitions and having rights internationally recognized can help the struggles of traditional communities to guarantee their lands, their identities and their rights.