Before we arrived at his home on January 28, I had been warned that Emeterio was now suffering skin rashes. Last May, he was vibrant and healthy, if not angry about all that his family had lost and suffered. I was not prepared for the person we found waiting for us, in pain, too weak to get up. […]
Following decades of scientific research and environmentalist action, governments across the globe (with the frequent exception of the United States) are finally accepting the reality of human-produced climate change, and taking action to tackle this pressing issue. […]
Bolivia’s Vice Minister for Housing, Ramiro Rivera, had been on the job only two weeks last March when his office was occupied by 100 angry members of the Ponchos Rojos (Red Ponchos), a militant Aymara peasant group. Three weeks later, wheelbarrow porters from the Abastos market in Santa Cruz staged a similar protest. […]
Fog covered El Alto, Bolivia on Saturday morning as social movements from around the country marched into the city to mark the official passage of Bolivia’s new constitution. "This is the second independence, the true liberation of Bolivia," Bolivian President Evo Morales said as he signed the new constitution. […]
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Thousands of activities during the week of the forum were organized around 10 thematic objectives that were defined after a broad survey of organizations involved in the forum process. These themes included peace, anti-capitalism, sustainability, knowledge, diversity, sovereignty, fair trade, participatory democracy, and the environment. […]
Alejandra Miller Restrepo, Cauca regional coordinator of Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres, talks about this thirteen-year-old movement of Colombian women against violence. The group is famous for groundbreaking direct actions joining campesino, black, indigenous and urban women in massive mobilizations or "rutas," often held in locations controlled by armed groups who target women. […]
Five years ago, when Evo Morales was a rising political star as a congressman and coca farmer, I met him in his office in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was drinking orange juice and sifting through the morning newspapers when I asked him about a meeting he just had with Brazilian President Lula. "The main issue that we spoke about was how we can construct a political instrument of liberation and unity for Latin America," Morales told me. […]
While President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their appointees emphasize a return to diplomacy in foreign relations, so far they show little inclination to be diplomatic toward leftist governments in Latin America. In fact, comments by Clinton and other recent appointees show a continuation of an antiquated analysis and a lack of understanding of recent Latin American social movements and regional integration. […]
In late January 1984, a group of nearly a hundred "landless" farmers from across Brazil met to debate the founding of a movement for agrarian reform which would unite landless campesinos and farm workers from around the country. At last week’s 13th national meeting of the MST, 1500 MST members from across the country met to debate the direction of the movement. […]
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