"WITH THE UNITYOF THE PEOPLE IN ACTIVE RESISTANCE"
THE IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE OF ECUADOR'S INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT

In October 2019, the Ecuadorian capital Quito experienced twelve days of social unrest - as it had not seen in over a decade. The mobilization against the cut of fuel subsidies and other fiscal measures introduced by president Lenín Moreno was led by the CONAIE, the confederation of indigenous people. Ecuador’s indigenous movement has been a well-recognized social movement actor in the struggle against neoliberal policies and for the recognition of the country’s plurinationality since the 1990s. The presented paper examines how Ecuador’s indigenous movement used its organizational structures during the protests of 2019 to defend its position as a leading actor in the struggle against neoliberal policies.

Within the area of social movement studies, the importance of discourse and framing is well-known. However, the relation of discourse and ideology has not yet been sufficiently examined. Using a pluralist approach, mixing elements of discourse and framing studies, this paper aims to explore how the movement’s central terms and topics form the foundation of its ideology and vice versa. The combination of Van Dijk’s ideological schema with a framing analysis and the application of Castell’s theory of identity allows for the development of a detailed understanding of the fundamental ideas and shared beliefs of Ecuador’s indigenous movement. The first level of analysis applies Van Dijk’s schema of ideology to one of the CONAIE’s foundational texts. The second level of analysis follows the mobilization of October 2019, through a series of press releases. The results of the analysis show that more than just creating an ideology that stands in opposition to neoliberalism, the fundamental objective of Ecuador’s indigenous movement is the transformation of society as a whole and the construction of a plurinational state. While basing the October protests on anti-neoliberal rhetoric that rejects any form of cooperation with the IMF, the CONAIE is also using its public platform to mobilize against extractivist activities and for the construction of a plurinational state. The identification of Ecuador’s indigenous people around their territorial belonging and the representation of this identification in their social movement’s strategies build a solid argument for the creation of a project identity.

More than just restoring their role as a leading social movement actor by appealing to the popular sectors in the face of new austerity measures, the CONAIE is using its public platform to promote the transformation of society as a whole and to demand the construction of a plurinational state that respects indigenous territories, ends extractivist activities and uses the principle of international solidarity to enable equal participation of all social sectors in the political decision-making process.