Month: August 2012

Outer Darkness in Coatzacoalcos: The Plight of Migrants in Mexico

August 30, 2012 John Washington 0

This personal narrative offers testimony from one of the four Mexican cities in which 55% of migrant kidnappings take place. That’s more than half of the United Nation’s estimated 18,000 migrants who are annually kidnapped in Mexico. Scarcity or security on train lines, a plethora of Western Unions used to process ransoms, and the overwhelming involvement of drug cartels make these cities a center for the human trafficking and the direct reaping of corporate profit from the migrant markets in Mexico and the United States.

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Brazil: Supreme Court Judge Overturns Suspension of Belo Monte Dam

August 29, 2012 Amazon Watch and International Rivers 0

The Brazilian Supreme Court has overturned the suspension of the Belo Monte Dam, caving to pressure from President Dilma Rousseff’s administration without giving appropriate consideration to indigenous rights implications of the case, human rights groups said today. The case illustrates the Brazilian judiciary’s alarming lack of independence, when powerful interests are at stake.

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Before Occupy Wall Street, there was La Victoria

August 28, 2012 Dawn Paley 0

Forward from: Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements by Raúl Zibechi

Raúl Zibechi, a writer whose work on social movements is widely read in Spanish, suggests that La Victoria may have been the first mass organized land occupation in Latin America. “In this new kind of movement, self-construction and self-determination take the place of demands and representation,” writes Zibechi, reflecting on the occupation of La Victoria. “This pressure from below transformed the course of social struggles and the cities.”

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Water and Sanitation Socialism in Caracas: Interview with Victor Díaz

August 26, 2012 Rebecca McMillan and Susan Spronk 0

The mesas técnicas del agua (Technical Water Forum, MTAs) are a unique experiment in radical urban planning, whereby beneficiary communities map their own water and sanitation needs and help to plan infrastructure development, which is financed by the state. In this interview, Victor Díaz, Community Coordinator of HIDROCAPITAL, talks about the accomplishments in the water and sanitation sector, including the meaning of socialism, the importance of popular power and political support, as well as the challenges that remain.

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