Green Social Thought

Produce less. Distribute it fairly. Create a greener world for all.

Subscribe
Donate

Tag: Latin America

  • A letter to intellectuals who deride revolutions in the name of purity

    —

    by

    mesrod

    Revolutions do not happen suddenly, nor do they immediately transform a society. A revolution is a process, which moves at different speeds whose tempo can change rapidly if the motor of history is accelerated by intensified class conflict. But, most of the time, the building of the revolutionary momentum is glacial, and the attempt to…

  • Criminalizing environmental activism

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    As threats to the environment increase across Latin America, new laws and police practices take aim against the front line activists defending their land and resources. Berta Cáceres, assassinated in her home on March 3, 2016, was just one of hundreds of Latin American environmental activists attacked in recent years. At least 577 environmental human…

  • A Constitution Corrupted

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    It is easy to understand scholarly and progressive interest in this year’s centennial of the Russian revolution, but harder to explain why there is little apparent enthusiasm for an anniversary that is arguably more important – that of Mexico’s 1917 constitution, signed on February 5, 1917. In fact, Mexico’s constitution provided the model for the…

  • How TIAA Funds Environmental Disaster in Latin America

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    If you are in U.S. academic, research, medical, or cultural fields, your assets are likely managed by pension fund giant TIAA(formerly TIAA-CREF). Though frequently neglected, pension funds constitute the largest sector of the financial industry. TIAA is among the 100 largest corporations in the United States, serving over five million active and retired employees from…

  • Some thoughts, self-criticisms and proposals concerning the process of change in Bolivia

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    What has happened? How did we come to this? What occurred in the process of change that more than 15 years ago won its first victory with the water war? Why is it that a conglomeration of movements that wanted to change Bolivia ended up trapped in a referendum to allow two persons to be…

  • What Happened to the Pink Tide?

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    When the “pink tide” of left-leaning governments first rose to power on the back of anti-neoliberal protests across Latin America in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the initial reaction from the Left was euphoric. Striving to move beyond the “there is no alternative” mantra, many pinned their hopes on what seemed to be a…

  • Review of Atilio Borón’s “Twenty-First Century Socialism: Is There Life after Neoliberalism?”

    —

    by

    mesrod

    Borón determines that present-day Marxism has to prove that alternatives to neoliberal capitalism exist, and that these alternatives can be useful as ‘guides to action’. Borón wittingly uses a prison break analogy demonstrating that in order to escape capitalism one must imagine a strategy and exit point for escape. Borón adamantly doubles down that in…

  • Water is More Valuable than Gold

    —

    by

    fitzdon

    The hill overlooking the tailings pond—a vast, dammed tub of liquid residue—was littered with bones.  Residents from the area said the goats and cattle that once grazed the land had died since mining operations began a few years ago.  They held our hands as we crossed a river, directing us to jump from rock to…

  • For Those Who Know Little or Nothing about Labor: Building Global Labor Solidarity Today

    —

    by

    kimscipes
    in

    Earlier this year, a collection of papers was published under the title of Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization (Scipes, ed., 2016).  It was a strong effort by seven labor activists and scholars from different parts of the world to think out how workers today can support each other globally; initially…