At the heart of these conflicts is a question leftist governments and social movements across Latin America are grappling with: what should this “other world that is possible” look like?
“Is it one based on constant economic growth, even if this is ‘socialist’ and would raise the real income of people in the global South?” sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein asks about today’s Latin America. “Or is it what some are calling a change in civilizational values, a world of buen vivir [living well]?” This latter philosophy includes living in harmony with others and with nature, rather than accumulating capital and material things while destroying the earth.
in the time remaining, to help us understand how the man-made system of capitalism will lead to the extinction of our human species, and so many others.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Pachamama and Progress: Conflicting Visions for Latin America’s Future
by Benjamin Dangl from Toward Freedom. Another good update on the progress being made by South American indigenous activists in relation to their left-wing governments who are slow on delivering on their promises.