tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32492462.post6231999795845858923..comments2023-12-27T05:36:10.037+11:00Comments on Bolivia Rising: Introduction to The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in BoliviaBolivia Risinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07931217260294325442noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32492462.post-61055333014066233472007-03-01T16:43:00.000+11:002007-03-01T16:43:00.000+11:00Here's an interview with Ben Dangl on his new book...Here's an interview with Ben Dangl on his new book from ZNet<BR/><BR/>The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia<BR/>Published by AK Press, 240 Pages<BR/>by Benjamin Dangl and ZNet; February 28, 2007<BR/><BR/> 1-Can you tell ZNet, please, what your new book, " The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia" is about? What is it trying to communicate?<BR/><BR/> In the last six years, new struggles and protest movements have emerged in Bolivia over what I have called the "price of fire," access to basic elements of survival—gas, water, land, coca, employment, and other resources. While national and international business and political elites have worked to open Bolivian markets and sell public services to the lowest bidder, the majority of citizens have found that the price of fire has risen beyond their means. In the face of unresponsive government ministers and corporate executives, excluded sectors have often decided to take matters into their own hands. "The Price of Fire" looks at these struggles, in which everyday people have risen up against the privatization of survival.<BR/><BR/> The trajectory of the book uncovers the larger story of a region in revolt, beginning with indigenous uprisings against Spanish rule, focusing in on social movements in the last six years and ending with reports from the first year of the administration of indigenous president Evo Morales. "The Price of Fire" views Latin America through the lens of Bolivian protest movements, traveling beyond the landlocked country's borders to make comparisons between similar resource struggles. These narratives also document the recent transition of Latin American leftist movements from the streets into the political office.<BR/><BR/> Bolivia has been a longtime lab rat for neoliberalism, an economic system that promised increased freedoms, better standards of living and economic prosperity, but in many cases resulted in increased poverty and weakened public services. When the system failed and people resisted, governments applied these policies through the barrel of a gun. Popular social movements emerged in response to this economic and military violence, leading neoliberalism to dig its own grave in Latin America. "The Price of Fire" tells the story of the successful movements that developed in the wake of these failed military and economic models.<BR/><BR/> This book is a people's account of re-colonization and resistance, with dispatches from the streets, coca farms, mines, and government palaces. It is based on interviews with activists, factory workers, hip-hop artists, Evo Morales, street vendors, policemen, right-wing business owners, and community radio producers. The similarities and differences between the people, movements, and conflicts discussed here have much to teach. They present a range of creative strategies for resisting global neoliberalism in urban and rural settings. They also manifest an affirmation that these struggles are not isolated events, but part of the battle for vital resources in an ever more populated and corporate world.<BR/><BR/> This book provides a colorful introduction to Latin American social movements and resource conflicts, with a focus on Bolivia, as well as new perspectives and insights for experts and longtime observers of a region where corporate globalization has met its match.<BR/><BR/> (2) Can you tell ZNet something about writing the book? Where does the content come from? What went into making the book what it is?<BR/><BR/> It is the product of traveling and writing around South and Central America off and on for about five years. While most of the material in the book is on Bolivia, I compare occupations of factories by unemployed workers in Buenos Aires to the Bolivian landless movement. I discuss what the Venezuelan government has done with its oil wealth, and how many Bolivians would like to see their gas reserves used for national development. The research involved interviewing many people, reading through newspapers, taking bus rides, attending protests and press conferences around the region.<BR/><BR/> Though I utilized the information provided by institutional and official sources, think tanks and NGOs in Bolivia, the US and elsewhere, the majority of the book focuses on characters that were involved in these struggles and issues. For example, the story of the coca-related conflicts in Bolivia is primarily told through interviews with Leonida Zurita, a long time coca grower and union leader in the Chapare. The narrative of protests against an IMF-backed income tax increase are told through interviews with a rebel policeman. Land issues are presented through interviews with Bolivian landless movement leaders.<BR/><BR/> (3) What are your hopes for "The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia"? What do you hope it will contribute or achieve, politically? Given the effort and aspirations you have for the book, what will you deem to be a success? What would leave you happy about the whole undertaking? What would leave you wondering if it was worth all the time and effort?<BR/><BR/> My aim with "The Price of Fire" is to make complicated issues more accessible and give a human face to the looting and struggles of a continent. I hope that the accounts presented in the book will be of use to students and workers, activists and academics, travelers and homebodies, and any combination. Besides helping to counter the lack of information (in English) and ample misinformation on the region's social movements, I hope the book can contribute to a revolution in your home town.<BR/><BR/> If one day I see Spanish editions of the book sold in front of the neighborhood council offices in El Alto, Bolivia, in a street kiosk next to bags of coca leaves and pirated DVDs, I'll know I did something right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com