Globalisation, environmental protest, locality and modernity

The national identity of citizens and economic growth are given primacy by the state over the claims of the local communities to their natural resources. The only exception is when local claims are articulated in terms of a 'moral economy'. It is when local communities articulate their rights to local resource exploitation as being subsistence-based that they are able to catapult a local issue into a national issue. The article deals with the case of an amusement park and related social protest. In this instance, the strategy of articulating a local issue in environmental terms through the mass media proved to be a partially successful strategy. It achieved three things. First, the community was effectively able to resist the domination of the promoters of the amusement park. Second, they were able to force the higher-level bureaucracy, in this instance a central government ministry, to address their issues. Finally, the local bureaucracy had to back the community demand for a short while at least. The community could not, however; succeed in meeting all its demands in the long run.