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

In this penetrating volume, Jeffery Webber explains the political dynamics and conflicts underpinning the contradictory evolution of left-wing governments and social movements in Latin America in the last two decades. 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 is the governments' relationship 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? Webber grounds his study in an analysis of trends in capitalist accumulation from 1990 to 2015, in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela. He 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. He also discusses indigenous and peasant resistance to the expansion of private mining, agro-industry and natural gas and oil activities. The book concludes with chapters on 'passive revolution' in Bolivia under Evo Morales and debates around dual power and class composition during the era of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.