Upside Down World
 
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Comunalidad as the Axis of Oaxacan Thought in Mexico
Written by Jaime Martinez Luna   
Tuesday, 27 October 2015 10:45

The history of Oaxaca has been interwoven with principles and values that display its deeply rooted comunalidad. For the Oaxacan people across many centuries, this has meant integrating a process of cultural, economic, and political resistance of great importance. In Oaxaca, the vitality of comunalidad as it presents itself witnesses the integration of four basic elements: territory, governance, labor, and enjoyment (fiesta). The principles and values that articulate these elements are respect and reciprocity.

 
It's Time for Autonomy in Brazil
Written by Spensy Pimentel, translated by Addison Woolsey   
Sunday, 25 October 2015 07:58

The Workers Party (PT) has not proven its ability – and in many cases not even shown a desire – to respond to the demands of social movements and diverse groups. They have not made any clear effort to enact agrarian reform, protect indigenous lands or impose stricter norms on sectors such as agribusiness or the communication oligopoly. Yet once more, the orthodox core of the Workers Party is singing the same song: “Support us unconditionally, for we are the only alternative to the threat posed by the right.”

 
Thousands reject the extractivist logic at the World Bank-IMF meeting in Peru
Written by Michael S. Wilson   
Wednesday, 21 October 2015 15:47

The annual governors’ meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank opened on October 5 in Peru’s capital city. In the meeting, an estimated 800 representatives from 188 countries were negotiating the shape of the world’s soon-to-be renovated finance infrastructure.

 
October 2nd Tlatelolco March: A Legacy of Resistance and Remembrance
Written by Nidia Bautista   
Wednesday, 14 October 2015 05:40

Forty-seven years after the Tlatelolco student massacre, a new generation of students marched to demand an end to impunity and repression in Mexico.

 
Interconnection Without Integration in South America: 15 Years of IIRSA
Written by Raúl Zibechi   
Thursday, 08 October 2015 08:42

The biggest problem facing a project like the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) is that major investments in infrastructure without strategic definitions can lead to carrying out projects for the sake of carrying them out. This only benefits big business and the large central states of the region, not small countries or communities.

 
Ayotzinapa, Paradigm of the War on Drugs in Mexico: New Afterword to Drug War Capitalism
Written by Dawn Paley   
Monday, 05 October 2015 08:33

The impact of the forced disappearance of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa normal school cannot be underestimated. It sparked the largest crisis of legitimacy the Mexican government has faced since the war on drugs began in December 2006.

 
Mexico and the Memory of Ayotzinapa: Whose problem is it?
Written by Lawrence Maxwell   
Thursday, 01 October 2015 06:51

"Your human rights stops with us,” we were told.  That is the essence of a State that is beyond the rule of law.  The entire country is being held hostage by a diverse group of tie-wearing and non-tie-wearing gangsters, with weapons and a lot of political influence.

 
Guatemalan Court Orders Palm Company to Suspend Operations
Written by Jeff Abbott   
Thursday, 24 September 2015 13:35

Alto PalmaA Guatemalan judge has ordered the oil palm company Reforestadora Palma de Petén S.A. (REPSA), to suspend operations at their Sayaxché palm plantation, pending an investigation into the environmental disaster in the Pasión River, which led to the death of millions of fish in May and June of 2015. Sayaxché community leader Roberto Lima Choc was assassinated the day after the judicial order.

 
Our Brand is Crisis Parody Site Shows How 2002 Bolivian Election Resulted a Year Later in 68 Deaths
Written by Various Authors   
Monday, 26 October 2015 14:32

US activists have launched a parody website, Ourbrandiscrisis.org, as George Clooney’s new film, Our Brand is Crisis, opens throughout the US (Oct. 30). Modeled on the official website, the parody website tells the little-known story of the deadly consequences and grave injustice that resulted from the 2002 Bolivian elections covered in the film.

 
Guatemalan Indigenous Communities Resist Mega Cement Factory Despite Military Occupation
Written by Jeff Abbott   
Thursday, 22 October 2015 08:17

The residents of Santa Fe Ocaña, and the other Kaqchikel communities of San Juan Sacatepéquez have lived under a semi-permanent state of exception since September 2014. The order was reportedly lifted on October 31, but the police and military remained, forming permanent encampments in the towns of Pajoques and Santa Fe Ocaña.

 
U.S. and Dominican Immigration Policies: Is There a Difference?
Written by David L. Wilson   
Friday, 16 October 2015 14:38

If we look past the rhetoric, it becomes clear that both countries have the same goal: exploiting foreign workers as source of cheap labor without having to invest in their health and welfare.

 
Student Victories in Paraguay
Written by José Carlos Lezcano, Translated by Jordan Bishop   
Monday, 12 October 2015 06:27

The mobilizations under the slogan #UnaNoTeCalles (UNA don’t be silent) have led to the removal of a large part of the corrupt hierarchy of the National University of Asunción (UNA); a hierarchy of university administration, and corrupt authorities tied to the old superstructure of power.

 
Defending Afro-Indigenous Land: Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras Wins Food Sovereignty Prize
Written by Beverly Bell   
Tuesday, 06 October 2015 19:37

"Without our lands, we cease to be a people. Our lands and identities are critical to our lives, our waters, our forests, our culture, our global commons, our territories. For us, the struggle for our territories and our commons and our natural resources is of primary importance to preserve ourselves as a people." - Miriam Miranda, coordinator of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras

 
After Mexico’s Tlatelolco Massacre: Coping with Political Tragedy
Written by Ramor Ryan   
Friday, 02 October 2015 07:21

On the night of October 2, 1968, 10 days before the Olympics in Mexico, Mexican security forces opened fire on a student demonstration in Tlatelolco plaza, killing and wounding hundreds of protesters. In a state of complete impunity, nobody from the ruling administration or the military was ever held accountable. Paco Taibo’s brilliant novel Calling All Heroes is placed in the aftermath of the massacre and is about coping with political tragedy.

 
Zapatistas: Truth and Justice Will Never, Ever, Come from Above
Written by Zapatistas   
Wednesday, 30 September 2015 20:36

It is once again made clear that truth and justice will never, ever come from above. From above the only thing we can expect is pretense, deceit, impunity, and cynicism.

 
One Year Since the Crime of Ayotzinapa: On Government Lies, Human Bonfires and the Search for Truth
Written by Laura Carlsen   
Wednesday, 23 September 2015 20:07

“Tell us the truth about what you find, even though it hurts, make sure it’s the truth.” -Families of the 43 Disappeared Students of Ayotzinapa to the Group of Experts

 
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