Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements.

• Author: Rodriguez, Andres Lizcano
• Position: FURTHER READING - Book review

TERRITORIES IN RESISTANCE: A CARTOGRAPHY OF LATIN AMERICAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Raul Zibechi

(Oakland: AK Press, 2012), 363 pages.

The financial crisis and unpopular austerity measures have fueled criticism regarding how the global economy functions and the values related to it. From Chile to Europe, citizens have organized and expressed their discontent. Before Occupy Wall Street there was the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas, the Landless Worker's Movement in Brazil, and the piqueteros in Argentina. Shaped by a shared past, these movements share many features.

In Territories in Resistance, Uruguayan journalist and activist Raul Zibechi analyzes and acclaims that Latin American movements have succeeded in creating alternative economic and social models. Through a lively description of his first-hand experience, he emphasizes the autonomous character of the movements generally based on the appropriation of land. Rather than making specific demands to their governments, the "societies in movement" create their own alternative systems in urban peripheries. The movements occupy factories and implement alternative education and health models based on social ties and horizontal structures. The author concludes that the...