Patterns of Protest; Deadly Consequences
Patterns of Protest: Politics and Social Movements in Bolivia
- Product information
- by John Crabtree
- Publisher
- Latin America Bureau
- Product number
- ISBN 1 899365 71 0
- Star rating
- Product link
- www.latinamericabureau.org
Deadly Consequences: The International Monetary Fund and Bolivia’s ‘Black February’
- Product information
- by Jim Shultz
- Publisher
- The Democracy Center
- Star rating
- Product link
- www.democracyctr.org
Preferably, these two little gems should be read together.
John Crabtree’s whirlwind tour of the recent history of the Bolivian people also provides an insight into their vibrant social movements – while finding space for strong individual voices as well. Among other things, the book devotes a chapter to old age and militant pensioners, who are rarely mentioned in other works of this kind. You can discover, too, that in Santa Cruz there were plans to settle members of the Hmong mountain people of Laos and Vietnam, whose devotion to the US cause led to their displacement after the war in Vietnam.
Less prominent is the more familiar Bolivian territory occupied by the IMF and World Bank. But it is covered by Jim Shultz, who explains how in 2003, with remorseless logic, ‘the IMF’s demands for deficit reduction meant not only higher taxes for the country’s poor; it also set in motion a chain of events that left 34 families burying their dead’.
Neither Crabtree nor Shultz suffers from the wishful thinking, or resorts to the cheap ridicule, that have distorted too many accounts of Latin America in English in the past. At a time when profound changes are shaking the continent, and the indigenous peoples of Bolivia are at the epicentre of them, it is notable that the legacy of Che Guevara – who was killed here in 1967 – is absent from both books.
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
