Counterpunch DEcember 19,2006

The South American Summit of Nations and the Social Forum for the Integration of Peoples took place last week, stirring visions of continental unity. Both events-one of government leaders and one of civil society-showed there are new winds of change on the continent. (Keep reading…)

Special to Canadian Dimension, December 2006

Introduction: Escalation of Warfare

To understand US-Latin American relations this year and its likely trajectory in 2007 it is obligatory to consider three dimensions: 1) the global context of US-LA relations; 2) internal dynamics of the US and 3) the real practical political-economic consequences of the 2006 elections in Latin America. (Keep reading…)

Pinochet died today at the age of 91.

Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, Tinker Bell and General Augusto Pinochet had much in common. (Keep reading…)

December 04, 2006 - CounterPunch

In the Muslim world religious groups that are militarily effective, but politically limited dominate resistance to the American Empire. Asia is infatuated with capital. Europe lies buried deep in neo-liberal torpor, and the Left and social movements in the EU (Italy is the most recent example) are in an advanced state of decomposition. But in South America an axis of hope has emerged that challenges imperial domination on every level. Democracy, hollowed-out and offering no alternatives in the North, is being used to revive hope in the South. (Keep reading…)

from Counterpunch — November 7

Over the last few months, I had begun to doubt whether Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would indeed have the kind of political staying power that I described in my book, Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. (recently released by St. Martin’s Press). (Keep reading…)

Special to Canadian Dimension magazine
November 2006

Introduction

Numerous writers, journalists, public officials and academics on the Right and Left have noted changes in relations between the US and Latin America. Those on the Right bemoan the ‘end of US hegemony’, the growth of a ‘New Left’, the ‘revival of populism’ and the ‘loss of US influence’. Those on the Left herald the purported changes as a moment of progressive regional realignment. The Right speaks pessimistically of the threats to ‘national security and democracy’, and access to energy and other resources. One sector on the Left claims to perceive a new regional ‘axis of counter hegemony’ led by Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia sweeping the continent. While other prudent conservative observers argue that a broad ‘center-left’ alternative headed by ‘social democratic’ regimes like Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay are replacing traditional US allies and challenging both the Leftist regimes and past US policies. (Keep reading…)

Canadian Dimension Magazine, September/October 2006 Issue

For centuries, coca has been used as a medicine in the Andes to relieve hunger, fatigue and sickness. Many Bolivians chew the small green leaf or drink it in tea on a daily basis. Much of the coca produced in Bolivia goes to this legal, controlled use. But the leaf is also a key ingredient in cocaine. The U.S. government has focused on coca eradication as a way to stem the flow of cocaine to the U.S. This war on drugs in Bolivia has resulted in violence, death, torture and trauma for the poor farmers who grow coca to survive. The U.S. government has directly funded this war, often facilitating human-rights violations and acting as a roadblock to peace in Bolivia. And the billions of dollars that Washington has pumped into this conflict have not diminished the amount of cocaine on the streets in the U.S. (Keep reading…)

Originally published in HERE Magazine

After spending a week walking cobble stone streets, drinking espresso in colonial cafes and talking in broken Spanish to the people of Bogota’s historic La Candelaria neighbourhood, it’s not always obvious that Colombia has a Coke problem. (Keep reading…)

from Counterpunch June 3, ‘06

A new series of social and national polarities in the Western Hemisphere has dominated political life over the past few years. At the beginning of the new millennium the national confrontation was between Cuba and the US/EU, and the social confrontations between the rural/indian and urban/unemployed movements and a continent-wide collection of neo-liberal regimes. This polarization resulted from the previous 25 years (between 1975-2000), the “Golden Age” of imperial pillage. Immense legal and illegal transfersof property, wealth, profits, interest and royalty payments flowed from Latin America to the US and the EU. The most lucrative public enterprises, valued at more than $350 billion dollars, were privatized without any of the constitutional niceties and eventually ended up in the hands of US, Spanish and other European multi-national corporations and banks. Presidential decrees by-passed congress and the electorate and dictated privileged place for foreign capital. Protests by Congress, the electorate, and national auditors were ignored. (Keep reading…)

Canadian Dimension Magazine, May/June 2006 Issue

“All other sources of labour having been exhausted, the migrants were the last resource.” So reads the text accompanying the 1940-41 Migration series of paintings by Jacob Lawrence on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. More than 60 years later, the demand for migrant labour remains Canada’s “last resource” in efforts to maintain economic growth, although the overall context has shifted somewhat. (Keep reading…)