Water Grabbing, Capitalist Accumulation and Resistance: Conceptualising the Multiple Dimensions of Class Struggle

Bieler, Andreas; Moore, Madelaine

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reflect on how we can conceptualise the multiple types of struggles over water. Through a historical materialist engagement with social reproduction theorists, post-colonial interventions and eco-socialism, we argue that capitalist reproduction not only depends on the exploitation of wage labour but also the expropriation of natures and people along different forms of oppression. By focussing on historical processes and the intertwined dynamics necessary for capitalist reproduction, we reveal the internal relations of these struggles to each other and global capitalism. Moreover, by putting forward a conceptual and methodological guide for how to approach water struggles relationally, we can point to the anti-systemic potential of these struggles. We argue that the diversity of protesters apparent in struggles against water grabbing captures internally related and mediated forms of class struggle, where the terrain of class struggle is inclusive of the whole social factory.

Citation

Bieler, A., & Moore, M. (2023). Water Grabbing, Capitalist Accumulation and Resistance: Conceptualising the Multiple Dimensions of Class Struggle. Global Labour Journal, 14(1), 2-20. https://doi.org/10.15173/glj.v14i1.5074

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 6, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jan 31, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 31, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 22, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2023
• Journal: Global Labour Journal
• Publisher: McMaster University
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 2-20
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.15173/glj.v14i1.5074
• Keywords: Class struggle; exploitation; expropriation; primitive accumulation; water grabbing; incorporated comparison
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/17659587
• Publisher URL: https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/article/view/5074