Grammars of Struggles Against Extractivism: Learning from Italy and Serbia

This paper explores the evolving grammars and vocabularies of resistance against extractivist policies, focusing on the No TAV movement against the Turin-Lyon high-speed railway in Italy and the Movement against Rio Tinto lithium mining in Serbia. These two cases exemplify how communities resist dispossession and environmental degradation, challenging state and corporate power. In examining these movements, we focus on three critical aspects: the forms of extractivism, infrastructures of resistance, and the criminalization of dissent. First, we analyze how extractivism manifests beyond the traditional focus on natural resources, extending into the imposition of infrastructural mega-projects such as high-speed railways and lithium mining for green transition. Both movements illustrate the ways in which land, communities, and livelihoods are threatened by extractivist policies that prioritize profit over local needs and ecological sustainability. Second, we delve into the infrastructures of resistance, understanding how communities build networks of solidarity and mobilize against these projects. The No TAV movement and the anti-Rio Tinto campaign demonstrate the importance of grassroots organizing, and combative uses of space—whether occupying land or creating alternative spaces for political education and community building. Finally, we explore the increasing criminalization of resistance, as both movements have faced repression through legal measures, media stigmatization, and state violence. This section discusses how criminalizing dissent serves to delegitimize struggles and silence noncomplying voices. This paper is part of an ongoing dialogue between two authors, seeking to better understand how to resist extractivist attacks and imagine new ways of living beyond extractivist logics. By examining the intersections of political economy of exctractivism, infrastructure of activism, and strategies of repression, we aim to contribute to the broader discourse on counter-practices of dispossession.