Latin America: Social movements fight back
A Radical Activist Network conference, supported by War on Want
1pm-7pm, Saturday 15th July
3rd Floor, University of London Union, Malet Street, London WC1
Featuring Oscar Olivera
Spokesperson for the Coalition in Defence of Water and Life in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Plus
Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper
Andy Higginbottom, Frontline Latin America
Sue Branford, Latin America Bureau and War on Want
Nick Buxton, trade activist based in La Paz, Bolivia
Paul Chatterton, Kiptik (Zapatista solidarity network)
Lies Craeynest, War on Want
Read more on the speakers 
Whether it be indigenous rights movements, people fighting neoliberal economic policies or US domination of the continent, or the struggle for land and work rights, social movements are now embedded in the political landscape across Latin America. In Bolivia, popular mobilisation over the last six years has seen its electoral expression in the victory for Evo Morales and the Movement towards Socialism (MAS in its Spanish initials). This conference aims to examine how social movements in Latin America are organised, what they've won and their different relationships with the growing number of left leaning governments in the continent.
Oscar Olivera is spokesperson for the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life, ('La Coordinadora'), which was at the forefront of a popular uprising in Cochabamba in 2000 against US multinational Bechtel who had taken over their water systems as an IMF-imposed condition for Bolivian debt relief. He will be joined by a group of speakers who both write on and organise in solidarity with Latin American social movements.
Sessions and workshops will include:
- Social Movements and Left Governments
- Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution
- Social movements in Bolivia
- Brazil's Landless movement
- The continuing Zapatista revolt in Mexico
Download the Conference Programme (pdf, 35kb)
Entry by donation (£2 suggested)
Organised by the Radical Activist Network, co-sponsored by War on Want