Beyond Occidentalism: Towards Post-Imperial Geohistorical Categories

Also CSST Working Paper #72.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51234/1/468.pd

Estado y nación durante el golpe contra Hugo Chávez

This essay has two objetives. In the first place, it is a discussion of the development of the coup d’etat against Hugo Chávez during April 11th at 14th of 2002, focusing on the competing views of the opposition and supporters of the government in relation to three processes: the march against the violation of “meritocracia” in the oil industry (corporate criteria for selecting the managers of the state’s oil company), the massacre that took place on April 11th, and the act of proclamation of Pedro Carmona as president on April 12th. The essay examines in particular the choreography of these events and the changing conceptions of the nation and the state involved in these processes. Secondly, on the basis of this examination, the essay concludes with some theoretical observations concerning the state, its constitution, and the manner in which it exerts its hegemony.Este ensayo tiene dos objetivos. En primer lugar, es una discusión sobre el golpe de Estado contra Hugo Chávez que se desarrolló entre el 11 y el 14 de abril de 2002. Se enfoca en las contrapuestas visiones de la oposición y de los partidarios del gobierno en relación con tres procesos: la marcha en protesta contra la violación de la meritocracia petrolera, la masacre del 11 de abril y el acto de proclamación de Pedro Carmona como presidente el 12 de abril. Examina en particular la coreografia de estos eventos y la transformación de las concepciones de la nación y el Estado involucradas en estos procesos. En segundo lugar, sobre la base de esta examinación, el ensayo concluye con algunas observaciones teóricas sobre el Estado, su constitución y la forma como ejerce su hegemonía

Capitalism, Democracy, and the Degrowth Horizon

This papers seeks to contribute to a dialogue between the degrowth perspective and Marxist approaches on the sources and possible solutions to the ongoing ecological crisis of capitalism. While I agree with the general critique that the degrowth movement has raised not only against the consequences of growth but also against the idea of growth itself, I argue that the root causes of the destructive character of capitalism are not to be found in growth, but in capitalist accumulation. I present my reading of three of Marx’s most important contributions to our understanding of capitalism and argue for an understanding that puts the emphasis on the separation of the labourers from the means of production, alienated labour, the imperative and the dynamic of competition, and the limited nature of liberal democracy. I argue that growth could be greened in a post-capitalist society if the institutions and dynamics that drive capitalist accumulation were abolished and full democracy was established. The paper ends with a description of how the Zapatista movement in Chiapas and the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil managed to unevenly and contradictorily challenge and subvert some of the social institutions and dynamics that sustain capitalist accumulation

Magical History: What's Left of Chavez?

Latin American Studie

El estado de América Latina y sus Estados: siete piezas para un rompecabezas por armar en tiempos de izquierda

Incluso reconociendo los matices, es difícil no ver a América Latina teñida de rojo o, al menos, de rosado. Hoy, cada vez más Estados y movimientos sociales hacen suyas las propuestas de un orden no solo más justo, sino también más plural. Para entender el estado de América Latina y sus Estados en estos agitados tiempos, es necesario reflexionar acerca del orden capitalista neoliberal dentro del cual estos Estados han surgido y contra el cual han insurgido.Nuances apart, it is difficult not to see Latin America painted red, or at least pink. Nowadays an increasing number of States and social movements assume proposals designed to achieve a social order which is not only more just, but also more plural. In order to understand the state of Latin America and its States, we must contemplate the neoliberal capitalist order within which, and against which, these new States have emerged