Latin America: The new neoliberalism and popular mobilization

Socialism and Democracy

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 1-26

  Rénique, Gerardo ^a  

^a CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 71449110070     PISSN: 08854300     EISSN: 17452635     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/08854300903290801     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Mass mobilization, general strikes, indigenous and popular rebellions toppled corrupt, repressive and pro-US governments in Peru (2000), Argentina (2000), Ecuador (1997, 2000, 2005) and Bolivia. See Gerardo Rénique, "Introduction, Latin America today: The revolt against neoliberalism", S&D no. 39 (19:3, November 2005), pp.1-11.
2. Alianza Bolivariana de los Pueblos de las Americas. For further details, see below, note 12.
3. An outstanding case is that of the once militant and innovative piquetero movement of unemployed workers in Argentina, broken by President Néstor Kirchner's dual policy of cooptation and judicial clampdown. See, Marisela Svampa, "The End of Kirchnerism," New Left Review, 53, September-October 2008.
4. The Oaxaca 2006 uprising was examined in S&D no. 44 (21:2, July 2007). Colombia's minga and Peru's indigenous uprisings are discussed later in this issue in articles by Mario Murillo and Gerardo Rénique respectively.
5. ECLAC figures from Tony Wood, "Latin America Tamed?" New Left Review, 58, July-August 2009.
6. Renaud Lambert. "Brasil: un gigante maniatado," Le Monde Diplomatique (Mexican edition), no. 10. June 2009.
7. Brazil de Fato, "Movimentos sociais promoven ações em todo pais," August 11, 2009, see http://www3.brasildefato.com.br/v01/agencia/nacional/movimentos-sociais-promovem-acoes-em-todo-pais.
8. Orlando Caputo and Graciela Galance, "Economía emblemática del neoliberalismo en América Latina, la primera en entrar en recesión," Argenpress.info, August 18, 2009, http://www.argenpress.info/2009/08/economia-emblematica-del-neoliberalismo.html.
9. Juan Balboa, "Cuba: La eterna crisis," Proceso, no. 1709, August 2, 2009.
10. For "globaloney" see David Harvey, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), 1.
11. Pablo Sandoval interviews Carlos I. Degregori, "Nuevo capítulo en la transacción entre estado, elites y sociedad," Argumentos, vol. 3, no. 3, July 2009, http://www.revistargumentos.org.pe/index.php?fp_verpub=true&idpub=271.
12. Atilio Boron, "¿Que hacer con la OEA?" Rebelión, May 30, 2009, http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=86207.
13. Alexei Barrionuevo, "At Meeting in Brazil, Washington is Scorned," New York Times, December 26, 2008.
14. Juan Francisco Rojas Penso, "Unasur en construcción," Tinku, October, 9, 2008, http://www.tinku.org/content/view/3329/96/.
15. Initially called Alternativa Bolivariana de las Americas, its name was changed by June 2009 to Alianza Bolivariana de los Pueblos de las Americas. It is popularly known by its acronym ALBA, meaning 'dawn' in Spanish. Current membership: Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
16. Shawn Hattingh. "ALBA: Creating a Regional Alternative to Neoliberalism?", July 2, 2008, MR Zine, http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hattingh070208.html.
17. John Lindsay-Poland, "New Military Base in Colombia Would Spread Pentagon Reach Throughout Latin America", May 28, 2009. Center for International Policy-Americas Program, http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6148.
18. See also, "Los Enviados del Pentagono", July 1, 2009, http://www.cambio.com.co/portadacambio/835/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_CAMBIO-5569679.html.
19. Jorge Carrasco, "'La Familia,' el cartel del sexenio," Proceso, no. 1707, July 19, 2009, 14-19.
20. See also Ginger Thompson, "Mexico Fears Its Drug Traffickers Get Help From Guatemalans," New York Times, September 30, 2005.
21. The five countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Venezuela.
22. See CISPES 2009 Election Analysis. "The Road to Victory and Beyond," March 7, 2009, http://cispes.org/09electionsblog/.
23. also Marielle Palau and Guillermo Ortega, "Paraguay: el nuevo destino de disputa de los intereses populares," Observatorio Social Latinoamericano, vol IX, no. 24, October 2008, 103-112.
24. See Raúl Zibechi, "La irresistible decadencia del progresismo," La Jornada, July 3, 2009.
25. and Heinz Dietrich, "¿Quien gobernará en América Latina en 2010?", Rebelión, July 3, 2009, http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=88017.
26. Guillermo Almeyra, "Argentina, abstención y derrota del gobierno," La Jornada (Mexico), July 5, 2009.
27. Javier Flores Olea, "Que hacer para la izquierda," La Jornada, July 20, 2009.
28. See, "PT en Brasil entre la reelección y el cáncer," La Jornada, June 23, 2009, and Data Folha - Opinião Pública - December 8, 2008, http://datafolha.folha.uol.com.br/po/ver_po.php?session=790.
29. Jason Trockman, "Independent Candidate Challenges Chilean Political Establishment," NACLA OnLine, July 21, 2009, http://nacla.org/node/6010.
30. Raúl Zibechi, "La revolución bolivariana sigue adelante," La Jornada, December 7, 2007. Certain of victory, Chavista analysts projected a win of around 60-70% in case of a high turnout, and a closer victory in case of a low turnout, around 50% or less.
31. See Gregory Wilpert, "Making Sense of Venezuela's Constitutional Reform," December 1, 2007, http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2943.
32. Edgardo Lander, "Contribución al debate sobre la propuesta de Reforma Constitucional," September 19, 2007, http://www.aporrea.org.
33. For a summary of the proposed constitutional reforms and analysis of their relevance from a state perspective see, Gregory Wilpert, "Venezuela's Constitutional Reform: An Article-by-Article Summary," November 23, 2007, http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2889.
34. Heinz Dietrich, "Chávez-Baduel, y el 'falso remedio' de H. Dietrich," Kaos en la Red, November 20, 2007, http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/chavez-baduel-falso-remedio-heinz-dieterich.
35. Heinz Dietrich, "La ruptura Chávez-Baudel: impedir el colapso del proyecto popular," Rebelión, November 8, 2007, http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=58708.
36. Dietrich, "Chávez-Baduel, y el 'falso remedio' de H. Dietrich."
37. E. Lander, "Contribución al debate".
38. H. Dietrich, "La ruptura Chávez-Baudel".
39. and R. Zibechi, "La revolución bolivariana sigue adelante." (note 23).
40. See also Margarita López Maya interview, "La reforma se traducirá en inestabilidad," November 25, 2007, http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_noticia.php?q=nodo/3602.
41. Marc Saint-Upéry interview, "Chávez, en fuga hacia adelante," November 12, 2007, La Insignia, http://www.lainsignia.org/2007/noviembre/ibe_005.htm.
42. Narciso Isa Conde, "Venezuela: posibles causas del revés del SÍ," http://www.aporrea.org.
43. Polls quoted in Luis Hernández Navarro, "Venezuela: Remar contra la corriente," La Jornada, December 4, 2007.
44. David Harvey, The New Imperialism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
45. Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1, Chapter XXXI.
46. "Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist," in K. Marx and F. Engels, Collected Works, vol. 35 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2005), 738.
47. WSF participant, political analyst and anti-capitalist activist Eric Toussaint called Lula's stance closer to the liberal social model of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Spain's Rodriguez Zapatero than to the democratic anti-neoliberal model favored by social movements. Pauline Imbach, "An Interview with Eric Toussaint: A New Start with the 2009 World Social Forum," ALAI, February 3, 2009, http://alainet.org/active/29226.
48. "Lula genera malestar," La Jornada, December 14, 2006.
49. An elite academic organization supporting this approach is the so-called Latin American Alternative group. Led by New York University professor Jorge Castañeda, a former Mexican political adviser to the center-left PRD and later Foreign Secretary for right-wing president Vicente Fox (2000-06), it also includes the Brazilian progressive social theorist and Harvard Law School professor Roberto Mangabeira, who is currently Minister of Strategic Affairs for Lula and responsible for policies turning Amazonia into a fiefdom of multinational interests.
50. Walden Bello, "The Post-Washington Dissensus," Foreign Policy in Focus, September 24, 2007.
51. and "The Coming Capitalist Consensus," Foreign Policy in Focus, December 27, 2008.
52. Correa quoted in Rachel Godfrey Wood, "Colombia and Ecuador: Two Different Countries, Two Mining Futures," Council of Hemispheric Affairs, August 10, 2009, http://www.coha.org/2009/08/colombia-and-ecuador-two-different-countries-two-mining-futures.
53. Raúl Zibechi, "Ecuador: The Logic of Development Clashes with the Movements," Center for International Policy - Americas Program, March 17, 2009, http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5965.
54. Milton Cáceres, "Ecuador: La Constituyente y los derechos de la naturaleza," La Jornada del Campo, July 21, 2009.
55. See also, Mario Melo, "Los derechos de la naturalezaen lanueva Constitucion ecutoriana," ALAI, March 17, 2008, http://alainet.org/active/22870&lang=es.
56. "Indígenas defienden la Amazonia y enojan a Evo," Econoticias de Bolivia, July 13, 2009, http://www.econoticiasbolivia.com.
57. See also, Godfrey Wood, "Colombia and Ecuador: Two Different Countries, Two Mining Futures," (note 36).
58. 'Abya Yala' is the term the Kuna people of Panama use to describe the Americas. Indigenous activists have increasingly embraced it as an alternative to Eurocentric language.
59. Quoted by Marc Becker, "Moving Forward: The Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples," NACLA, June 12, 2009, http://nacla.org/node/5891.
60. see also "Alternativa de Buen Vivir. Ofrecimiento de la IV Cumbre Indígena," La Jornada del Campo, no. 22, July 22, 2009.
61. See the Declaration at http://www.ivcumbrecontinentalindigena.org/?p=239.
62. See the Zapatista VI Declaration at http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/especiales/2. Both movements share a similar conceptualization of politics and power informed by the principles of self-determination and self-government, communitarian organization, and direct forms of representation without mediation of political parties. Informed by indigenous communal democratic traditions and attitudes this conceptualization entails a political praxis and the construction of forms power in which organized society takes command over politics and the state - in the manner of Chiapas indigenous zapatista rebel communities' principle of "leading by obeying" (mandar obedeciendo).
63. For an examination and assessment of the form of power built in Zapatista-held territories in Chiapas. see Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, "The Zapatista 'Caracoles': Networks of Resistance and Autonomy," S&D no. 39 (19:3, November 2005), pp.79-92.
64. For a discussion of the relevance of indigenous struggle to Latin America's fin-de-siecle crisis see, Aníbal Quijano, "The Challenge of the 'Indigenous Movement' in Latin America," S&D no. 39 (19:3, November 2005), pp.55-78.