| Summary: | According to a generalized thesis prevalent during the mid-70's and still in place, the organizations of the poor owners and renters in Mexico believe in the legitimacy of the institutions of the system and, in large measure, support them. Their demands are subordinated and coop ted by the State and they reject links with the leftist parties. As far as the independent urban-popular movements are concerned, it is maintained that currently their number is declining and that they constitute collective manifestations of short duration, with a low degree of politicization and lacking the capacity for taking initiative or formulating alternative urban proposals.The autonomous popular urban movements are reviewed in this article, through a case study analyzing an organization that emerged in Durango, a medium-sized city with little industry. As of 1972, the Commitee for Popular Defense (CDP), taking into account the experiences of previous local movements, began fighting for urban as well as political and cultural changes. The committee is internally strong, it has established alliances with and lent solidarity to other independent groups in the area and it is doing important work in unifying the different independent groups that are making similar demands in the country. It has an impulse of its own and political potential, constituting one of major forces at the local level since it brings together similar or even greater elements than those that compose parallel organizations in the state of Durango. There are various explanations for this phenomenon the particular correlation of local political forces and the degree of organization and mobilization and the negotiation capacity of the movement.The case studied demonstrates that the government's hegemony in this area can be modified, that the struggles of the urban majorities do not necessarily have to be carried out through a client relationship with the state and that the independent popular urban movements are advanced in their internal structure and levels of politization.
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