Bridge Building Between Place-Based Organizations: Lessons From Extraction Sites in the Netherlands and Guatemala

Abstract

This paper examines translocal bridge building in the context of extractivism. The authors understand translocal bridge building as the forging of coalitions across geographies and differences. The authors examine efforts to establish such connections between organizations and extraction sites in the Netherlands and Guatemala along seven analytical dimensions. The authors’ aim is to understand the dynamics and intricacies of such experiences and draw lessons for translocal coalition building. The authors’ analysis suggests that bridge building is not always the most suitable strategy for organizations working at extraction sites. Place-based realities require continuous organizational adaptation to specific territorial needs in order to avoid new dynamics of exclusion. At the same time, the authors suggest that deliberate bridge building—facilitated by continuous commitment, personal connections, and intrinsic motivations rather than institutionalized collaboration—offers an opportunity to zoom out and address shared injustices amid the global patterns of extractivism. Such connections are strengthened when there is mutual recognition of place-specific realities and differences. This paper offers grounded and applicable lessons for translocal coalition building in the context of extractivism and social and environmental contestation more broadly.