Uruguayan journalist and commentator Raúl Zibechi on Latin American politics, visiting the United States to promote his first English-language book, DISPERSING POWER: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS ANTI-STATE FORCES (AK Press 2010).
Autonomy, the State, and Latin American Movements 12 November 2010 Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Place, Culture, Politics, and The Militant Research Group @ CUNY NYC
Uruguayan journalist and commentator Raúl Zibechi on Latin American politics, visiting the United States to promote his first English-language book, DISPERSING POWER: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS ANTI-STATE FORCES (AK Press 2010).
ZIBECHI, who is a frequent contributor to such progressive publications as The Guardian, Z Magazine, CounterPunch, as well as an array of Spanish-language publications (including La Brecha), is one of the leading analysts of social movements in Latin America, and a highly-respected advocate for movements throughout the region.
DISPERSING POWER is his first book to be translated into English. In it, he offers an in-depth exploration and analysis of the many possibilities of movement building that exist outside of leftist organizing oriented towards taking state power, focusing specifically on Bolivia (and cutting through the frequently uncritical praise of Evo Morales), but widening his gaze to encompass social movements throughout Latin America.
MORE INFORMATION ON RAUL ZIBECHI & DISPERSING POWER
Raul Zibechi is a life long militant, journalist and writer. His works deal primarily with social movements in Latin America, and those movements in particular who are creating alternatives and dignity through the horizontal construction of new territories and with the creation of other powers. In 2003 he won the Jose Marti Award for his writing on Argentina, including the book, Genealogy of a Rebellion: Argentina, A Society in Movement. Zibechi is the author of six additional books, including Territories in Resistance: Political Cartography on the Urban Latin American Periphery (2008); Autonomies and Emancipations (2008); A Horizontal View: Social Movements and Emancipation (1999), The Youth Rebellion of the 1990s, Social Networks and the Creation of an Alternative Culture (1997) and The Streams When They Run Low, the Challenges of Zapatismo (1995). His writing addresses questions of power, the creation of other territories, and reconceptualization of social movements as more creative relationships, and less oppositional forces. Zibechi's writing has appeared in journals throughout the world, from Pagina 12 and MU in Argentina to Socialism and Democracy, Monthly Review, and Counterpunch in the US, The Guardian in the UK and La Jornada in Mexico. He is the editor of the weekly Brecha, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Dispersing Power (2006/2010) is his first book translated into English: Dispersing Power, like the movements it describes, explores new ways of doing politics beyond the state, gracefully mapping the how of revolution, offering valuable lessons to activists and new theoretical frameworks for understanding how social movements can and do operate independently of state-centered models for social change.
Interview with Zibechi: http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=671
Recent articles by Raul Zibechi in English: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/29/brazil-lula-dilma-rousseff http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/chile-coup-anniversary-pinochet http://www.fpif.org/articles/ie_taxing_wealth_for_the_common_good
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