Reclaiming Latin America

'Reclaiming Latin America' edited by Steve Ludlam & Geraldine Lievesley, is a timely introduction to the continent's politics and the wave of progressive politics sweeping the region. It is an important testament to what anti-imperialism and mass action for social justice can achieve. Ideal for students and casual readers, the book is divided into chapters examining separate countries.

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‘Reclaiming Latin America’ is a timely introduction to the continent’s politics for CSC members or students seeking to understand the previous exciting and hopeful decade. Ludlam’s and Lievesley’s handling of complex topics avoids superficial analysis and over-romanticising the ‘pink tide’, (which they recognise is not a whole continent marching leftwards), but addresses in detail the diversity of the new political landscape.

In her overview Lievesley argues, "Radical social democratic governments can support social transformation but they cannot develop, consolidate and sustain it. This can only really be done by people themselves, working in communities and forging links with other, like-minded communities within and across national borders. This does not mean that such groups should not deal with the state - this is inevitable - but that they should structure and take control of that relationship”.  Francisco Dominguez grounds that process in history stressing “it is so intensely important to build hegemonic coalitions” updating and utilising lessons and heroes to create popular movements against the neoliberal policies of recent governments, so as to create solutions for the future. This book excels in detailing the many different relationships between those social movements and left-leaning governments in the region. It covers a lot of territory with chapters on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Venezuela and the continent.  

Steve Ludlam’s  chapter on Cuba is a comprehensive and engaging overview of the changes endured since the  revolution, but especially those since the USSR collapsed and he questions whether the ‘pink tide’ will draw Cuba away from socialism. “There is no sign of this happening” he concludes by way of excellent sections on economic democracy and the political power of workers: “Change in Cuba remains a process of debate and negotiation, between partners with different roles in a collectivised society not a life and death conflict to impose, or avoid, the private consequences of neo-liberal market forces”.

Over all, whilst the contributors are all academics they do maintain a healthy balance of personal analysis, reportage and facts, and use prose that keeps the attention. There is an extensive bibliography, which is excellent for any serious researcher on the region. This book, like the past decade in Latin America, offers important lessons for all of us in organising communities and workers in political discontent. Since writing, we now know the military coup in Honduras signals that the USA has woken up to what is happening in its ‘back yard’, but this book is still an important testament to what anti-imperialism and mass action for social justice can achieve. 

Bob Oram