The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia
by Benjamin Dangl
from AK Press
New social movements have emerged in Bolivia over the “price of fire”—access to basic elements of survival like water, gas, land, coca, employment, and other resources. Though these movements helped pave the way to the presidency for indigenous coca-grower Evo Morales in 2005, they have made it clear that their fight for self-determination doesn’t end at the ballot box. From the first moments of Spanish colonization to today’s headlines, The Price of Fire offers a gripping account of clashes in Bolivia between corporate and people’s power, contextualizing them regionally, culturally, and historically.
Benjamin Dangl has worked as an independent journalist throughout Latin America, writing for publications such as Z Magazine, The Nation, and The Progressive. He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, an online magazine covering activism and politics in Latin America. Benjamin won a 2007 Project Censored Award for his coverage of US military operations in Paraguay.
“Price of Fire is not yet another bleak ‘tell-all’ account of globalization, its pages are filled with stories of resistance, struggle and, above all, hope.”—Teo Ballvé, editor of the NACLA Report on the Americas and co-editor of Dispatches from Latin America
“Ben Dangl takes the reader on an unforgettable and inspiring journey through Bolivia and neighboring countries, providing a window on the revolutionary struggles of the poor and dispossessed, and particularly on the resurgence of indigenous resistance and leadership.”—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War
“Most Americans know nothing of Bolivia, an ignorance that only plays into the hands of empire. Ben Dangl’s book is both informative and inspiring, a cure for the apathy that grows from that ignorance. A must-read for those already interested in solidarity with Latin America and indigenous people.”—Tom Hayden, author of The Zapatista Reader and Street Wars
“Ben Dangl has found himself under the skin of the Bolivian freedom struggle: he accurately represents its constraints, its opportunities, and its hopes.”—Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World
“With great empathy and lucid prose, Dangl captures the exemplary courage that has put Latin America in the vanguard of the new internationalism and has made it one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal global landscape.”—Greg Grandin, author of Empire’s Workshop
"Price of Fire by Ben Dangl informs, outrages, and builds hope. People’s movements for societal betterment in South America are an inspiration for human rights activists worldwide and Dangl gives us a full serving of encouragement and hope. He documents how historical imperialism, dominated my US corporate/government capital interests, is being successfully challenged by indigenous activists. Price of Fire is the story of cultural resistance from the street to international geo-political alliances. I highly recommend this book for working people, students, and radical democrats to hear the voices of South American people and their chronicle of grassroots democratic empowerment."—Peter Phillips, Professor Sociology, Sonoma State University, Director Project Censored, and co-editor with Dennis Loo of Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney
¡Cochabamba! Water War in Bolivia
by Oscar Olivera
from South End Press
Historically a common trust, water is now bought and sold as a private commodity. With billions at the mercy of an unrestrained marketplace, it is easy to understand why this precious resource is at the center of the international movement working to turn back the rising tide of corporate globalization.
The triumphant struggle of grassroots activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia, sounded a significant opening salvo in the water wars. In 2001, water warriors there regained control of their water supply and defied all odds by driving out the transnational corporation that had stolen their water in the first place.
Cochabamba! is the story of the first great victory against corporate globalization in Latin America. Oscar Olivera, a 45-year-old machinist who helped shape and lead a movement that brought thousands of ordinary people to the streets, powerfully conveys the perspective of a committed participant in a victorious and inspirational rebellion.
The beloved and highly respected Olivera relates the selling of the city's water supply to Aguas del Tunari-a subsidiary of US-based Bechtel-the subsequent astronomical rise in water prices, and the refusal of poverty-strapped Bolivians to pay them. Olivera brings us to the front lines of a movement, chronicling how the people organized an opposition and the dramatic struggles that eventually defeated the privatizers.
With hard-won political savvy, Olivera reflects on major themes that emerged from the war over water: the fear and isolation that Cochabambinos faced with a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; the challenges of democratically administering the city's water supply; and the impact of the water wars on subsequent resistance.
Oscar Olivera is president of the Cochabamba Federation of Factory Workers and 2001 winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Tom Lewis is Latin America editor for the International Socialist Review and professor of Spanish at the University of Iowa.
The Bolivian Diary: The Authorized Edition (Che Guevara Publishing Project)
by Ernesto Che Guevara
from Ocean Press
This is Che Guevara's last diary, compiled from the notebooks found in his knapsack when he was captured by the Bolivian army in October 1967 and subsequently executed. It is the basis of a new biopic directed by Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean's Eleven) starring Benicio del Toro as Che.
Now revised by Che's widow (who originally transcribed the diary), this is the definitive account of the attempt to spark a continent-wide revolution in Latin America.
The story of the publication of The Bolivian Diary is itself a remarkable saga. Initially published as extracts by the CIA in order to discredit Che's guerrilla movement and to justify mass arrests in Bolivia and elsewhere, it was also used in the trial of Regis Debray and to suggest a romance between Che and Tania (the subject of Ulises Estrada's book Tania: Undercover with Che Guevara in Bolivia, published by Ocean Press in spring 2005), who will be portrayed by Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, The Bourne Supremacy) in Soderbergh's movie.
Features of this new edition include an insightful preface by Che's eldest son Camilo Guevara; a range of new materials such as photos, maps, documents, and a glossary prepared in collaboration with the Che Guevara Studies Center (Havana); as well as memoirs by guerrillas who fought with Che in Bolivia.
The Soderbergh movie about Che Guevara will be based on two new Ocean Press fall 2005 titles: The Bolivian Diary and Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War.
Social Movements and State Power: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador
by James Petras
from Pluto Press
In Bolivia, Evo Morales similarly came within an electoral whisker of achieving state power in 2002, and in 2003 Nestor Kirchner became President of Argentina. Many journalists, academics and politicians speak of a 'left turn' in Latin America, characterizing these regimes as 'center-left'. They came to power on the promise of delivering a fundamental change of direction that would steer their countries away from neo-liberal economic policies, and towards greater social equity. Their success awakened major hopes on the Left for a new dawn in Latin American politics.
This book challenges these assumptions. It critically examines their agreements with the IMF, their social and economic policies, and the economic ties of leading policy makers, as well as the beneficiaries and losers under these regimes.
Latin America is unique in that it has experienced two decades of popular resistance to neo-liberal policies: each of the four countries examined here has a rich history of diverse indigenous and working-class movements coming together to promote radical political change.
The authors examine the political dynamics between the state and its agenda, and the strategy of mass mobilization taken by the mass movements. They explore the intensifying conflicts between the movements and their former allies in the state.
Dr. James Petras is Professor Emeritus in Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of numerous works on Latin America and global development, including Globaloney: el lenguaje imperial, los intelectuales y la izquierda (2000), Hegemonia dos Estados Unidos no Nova Milênio (2001) and Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century (2001). He is also the co-author, with Henry Veltmeyer, of The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), Unmasking Globalisation (2001) and System in Crisis (2003).
A Concise History of Bolivia (Cambridge Concise Histories)
by Herbert S. Klein
from Cambridge University Press
A comprehensive survey of Bolivia's economic, social, cultural, and political evolution from the arrival of early man in the Andes to the present, A Concise History of Bolivia highlights fundamental changes since the National Revolution of 1952 and the return of democracy in 1982 and its present day consequences. These changes include the introduction of universal education and the rise of the mestizos and Indian populations to political power for the first time in the nation's history. Herbert S. Klein is Professor of Latin American History at Columbia University and has recently co-authored Slave and Economy in São Paolo, Brazil, 1750-1850 (Stanford, 2002). He is the author of The Atlantic Slave Trade (Cambridge, 1999) and Haciendas and Ayllus: Rural Society in the Bolivian Andes (Stanford, 1992). Professor Klein's other titles include African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (Oxford, 1988) and Parties and Political Change in Bolivia, 1880-1952 (Cambridge, 1962).
Surveying Bolivia's economic, social, cultural, and political evolution from the arrival of early man in the Andes to the present, A History of Bolivia brings the history of this society up to the present day, covering the fundamental changes which have occurred since the National Revolution of 1952 and the return of democracy in 1982. These changes have included the introduction of universal education and the rise of the mestizos and Indian populations to political power for the first time in national history.
Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics
by Forrest Hylton
from Verso
A comprehensive study of insurrection in Bolivia, from the late eighteenth century to the present day.
In an age of military neoliberalism, social movements and center-Left coalition governments have advanced across South America, sparking hope for radical change in a period otherwise characterized by regressive imperial and anti-imperial politics. Nowhere do the limits and possibilities of popular advance stand out as they do in Bolivia, the most heavily indigenous country in the Americas. Revolutionary Horizons traces the rise to power of Evo Morales's new administration, whose announced goals are to end imperial domination and internal colonialism through nationalization of the country's oil and gas reserves, and to forge a new system of political representation. In doing so, Hylton and Thomson provide an anatomy of the popular insurgency that transformed state and society from below, and chart the history of Bolivia's struggle from the late-colonial period onwards. Revolutionary Horizons offers a unique and timely window onto the challenges faced by Morales's government and by the South American continent alike.
Trials of Nation Making: Liberalism, Race, and Ethnicity in the Andes, 1810-1910
by Brooke Larson
from Cambridge University Press
Brooke Larson's interpretive analysis of the history of Andean peasants reveals the challenges of nation making in the republics of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia during the volatile nineteenth century. Nowhere in Latin America were postcolonial transitions more turbulent than in the Andes, where communal indigenous roots grew deep and where the "Indian problem" seemed so discouraging to liberalizing states. The analysis raises broader issues about the interplay of liberalism, racism, and ethnicity in the formation of exclusionary "republics without citizens" over the nineteenth century.
This book offers the first interpretive synthesis of the history of Andean peasants and the challenges of nation making in the four republics of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia during the turbulent nineteenth century. Nowhere in Latin America were postcolonial transitions more vexed or violent than in the Andes, where communal indigenous roots grew deep and where the 'Indian problem' seemed so daunting to liberalizing states. At the level of synthesis, this book raises broader issues about the interplay of liberalism, racism, and ethnicity in the formation of exclusionary "republics without citizens" over the nineteenth century.
I Am Rich Potosi: The Mountain That Eats Men
by Stephen Ferry
from Monacelli
The magnificent mountain of Potosà in Bolivia yielded more silver than any other mountain or region of the world. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this wealth flowed through Spain into Europe and played an important role in the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and trade with Asia. Yet the grueling work of extracting the silver was left to the indigenous population of the Andes, who were enslaved by the Spanish and died by the thousands on the mountain.
Today, Potosà maintains this unique culture, based on its epic history. Approximately eighteen thousand miners still work in or around the mountain, searching for trace amounts of silver and tin. Inside the mountain, miners worship their devil, who is represented as a sexually potent Spaniard, lord of the mineral realm. Photographer Stephen Ferry has made many trips to Potosà to document this ongoing drama. His color images describe this world, which echoes back to the birth of modern Europe yet is one of the poorest places in the Americas.
The text by Eduardo Galeano illuminates the complexity of the intersection of ancient rituals and the grandeur of the mountain and complements Ferry's powerful portrait of this fascinating area. Ferry's photographs are divided into four sections: the miners' carnival; work that still takes place in and around the rich mountain; major institutions of civic life in the city of PotosÃ; and the festival of Esprit?, in which miners sacrifice llamas to the devil within the mountain to appease his thirst for blood so that he will not take their lives with accidents or illness.
Travel Diary: Bolivia
by Michael Hilburn
from Trafford
Travel Diary: Bolivia provides all the information you can find from an internet travelogue and puts it into a convenient paperback book. Culture, customs, personal experiences and more.
The Secret of the Incas: Myth, Astronomy and the War Against Time
by William Sullivan
from Crown
Step by step, Sullivan pieces together the hidden esoteric tradition of the Andes to uncover the tragic secret of the Incas, a tribe who believed that, if events in the heavens could influence those on earth, perhaps the reverse could be true. Anyone who reads this book will never look at the ruins of the Incas, or at the night sky, the same way again. Illustrations.
+++
