Tag Archives: Latin America
Ch. 10 – Landless Workers Movement: The Difficult Construction of a New World
The agrovila groups together fifteen to twenty families with the land divided into triangles with the vertex of each coming together in a central area. What do you think of this design? They have used their organic rice to supply … Continue reading
Ch. 9 – Chile: The Long Mapuche March
“In Chile, small landowners only own 7.5% of timberland, while 66% belongs to large owners with at least 2,500 acres.” In How the Other Half Dies, Susan George writes, “The most pressing cause of the abject poverty which millions of … Continue reading
Ch. 8 – Another World is Possible: Zanon Ceramics
What did you think about the Zanon story? What struck you as hopeful or realistic or interesting? Do you think that the “factory without owner” model can last or even spread through Argentina or Latin Am.? Could this model be … Continue reading
Ch. 7 – Recuperated Factories: From Survival to Self-Management
Zibechi cites that 71% of worker-run factories distribute income in an egalitarian manner where janitors earn the same as more highly-skilled workers. Would you design a school the same way? Would you differentiate between levels of experience but not what … Continue reading
Ch. 6 – Subterranean Echoes: Political Resistance from Below
In the US the left associates itself with the unions and citizenship movement. Latin America, when capital flight left devastation in its wake, abandoned these interests and pursued a path of independence. Do you think the same thing could happen … Continue reading
Ch. 5 – Collective De-alienations
Zibechi writes that “Emancipation is not an objective but a way of life.” He also states that “Understanding is a creative act” and one only understands what one lives. Do you agree with this? The emancipatory climate is made up … Continue reading
Ch. 4 – Recreating the Social Tie: The Revolution of Our Days
Zibechi emphasizes the importance of non-capitalist forms of relation with no division between intellectual and manual work or between those who give and those who obey orders. Compare our social relations to these characteristics of the movements: They have become … Continue reading
Ch. 3 – The Healing Power of the Community
Indigenous peoples are combining ancestral knowledge with modern medicine. Their first step in community healthcare is constructing a local dispensary for emergencies that cause the highest mortality rates. Could we do the same here at a fraction of medicare costs? … Continue reading
Ch. 2 – Social Movements as Spaces of Learning
In Latin America schools are often the only state presence, teaching the individualistic values of neo-liberalism. The landless movement in Brazil has started 2000 self-managed schools in which families are involved in planning and administration. Movement education has three goals: … Continue reading
Ch. 1 – Latin American Social Movements: Trends and Challenges
There are seven common trends in the modern Latin American social movement listed below. What would a parallel trend look like for social movements in the U.S.? Are the challenges different here? Do we have these same problems or their … Continue reading