February 16: The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same

February 16, 2017 at 6.00pm – 8.00pm

Remarque Institute

Throughout the 2000s, Latin America transformed itself into the leading edge of anti-neoliberal resistance in the world. What is left of the Pink Tide today? What are the governments' relationships to the explosive social movements that propelled them to power? As China's demand slackens for Latin American commodities, will they continue to rely on natural resource extraction?

This talk, based on Jeffery R. Webber's new book, is grounded in an analysis of trends in capitalist accumulation from 1990 to 2015, in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela. It explains inequality there today through a decolonial Marxist framework, rooted in a new understanding of class and its complex associations with racial and gender oppression. The talk will also cover indigenous and peasant resistance to the expansion of private mining, agro-industry and natural gas and oil activities. Finally, the presentation will conclude with remarks on "passive revolution" in Bolivia under Evo Morales and debates around dual power and class composition during the era of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

Jeffery R. Webber is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same, and, with Todd Gordon, Blood of Extraction: Canadian Imperialism in Latin America

Hosted by the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)

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Books

The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same

by Jeffery R. Webber

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