Latin America

Port of Veracruz in Mexico
Port of Veracruz in Mexico
A comment from MexicoThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the US entered into force on the 1st of January 1994. It is the worst tragedy that has happened in Mexico’s economic history.* Since its beginning, this Free Trade Agreement (FTA) turned out to be a spearhead for a hard offensive by the US to undermine Mexico’s national sovereignty. By being the only country in the world that has followed the Washington consensus to the letter throughout three and half decades, Mexico has ...
read more "Renegotiating NAFTA—an unprecedented reinforcement of subordination"
Report from the forum on "The Shape of Trade to Come"About ten years ago, the European Union (EU) introduced Global Europe, its most ambitious trade policy strategy to date. It was intended to open up new markets worldwide through new bilateral trade and investment agreements. After all, many countries in the South had until then successfully resisted participating in what the EU envisaged to be the new "trade policy of the 21st century". This was not least because it went way beyond simply dismantling customs duties but ...
read more "What to do about the EU’s new trade agenda in Latin America?"
Keynote Speech to the Forum on European Union-Latin America Trade Relations, Brussels"We cannot leave the field to a neoliberalism that has failed or to an extremism that has appropriated some of our analysis and married them to hideous, reactionary values. A progressive future is not guaranteed. We must work to bring it about, and we will." I would like to thank the Transnational Institute and other sponsors of the conference for inviting me to make the opening address. I am not exactly sure if I am the right person for the job, but I’m happy to be ...
read more "Four Challenges to Global Trade Activists"

ALBA – an alternative regional alliance?

Dario Azzellini, Julia Eder
An outlineVarious regional integration initiatives have emerged as a counterpoint to the advance of globalisation. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is of interest from the perspective of the European left, because cooperation and integration take a very different shape in ALBA from other regional alliances. The three basic principles of ALBA are complementarity, solidarity and cooperation. That in itself is a marked difference from the European Union (EU) with its four fundamental freedoms (the free movement of people, ...
read more "ALBA – an alternative regional alliance?"
Ecuadorian economist Alberto Acosta talks about how Ecuador dealt with its debt crisis and lessons learned from Latin America. This interview was made at the conference "Alternative Solutions to the Debt Crisis", 6-8 March 2014.
Introduction to the seminar in Vienna, 11-14 July 2012The central issue of the seminar: What does emancipatory social-ecological transformation mean concretely, and, in terms of practical policy, particularly in the area of energy resources and their production, distribution and consumption – today and in future?The goals of the Conference are (a) an analysis of the very dynamic, controversial and often contradictory developments and political experiences in Europe and in Latin America, and (b) based on that, the ...
read more "Socio-ecological Transformation and Energy Policy in Latin America and Europe"
Report on the international seminar in Vienna, 11-14 July 2012 (German)Vom 11.–14. Juli 2012 hatten die Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Brüssel, die Universität Wien (Ulrich Brand) und das Karl Renner Institut nach Wien eingeladen, um konkrete Erfahrungen, Möglichkeiten und Strategien einer sozialökologischen Transformation zu diskutieren. Der Einladung folgten 70 WissenschaftlerInnen, AktivistInnen und PolitikerInnen aus Lateinamerika und Europa, darunter Alberto Acosta aus Ecuador, Iara Pietrikovsca aus Brasilien, die ...
read more "Socioecological Transformation and Energy Policy in Latin America and Europe"

Socio-ecological Transformation and Energy Policy in Latin America and Europe

Ulrich Brand, Marlis Gensler and Alexandra Strickner, July 2012
Conference readerIn the current multiple crisis of global capitalism, which is developing differently in different regions, a variety of real and potential breaks are emerging, together with search processes for ways to handle the crisis. One major factor to be taken into account here is that of the continuities – as, in Europe, the still dominant neo-liberal social power relations, the security interests of property owners and the model of industrial competitiveness at any cost; or, in Latin America, the tendency ...
read more "Socio-ecological Transformation and Energy Policy in Latin America and Europe"
Priviledged partnerships or Free Trade Agreements?Association Agreements with Latin America are increasingly pushed by the European Union. The book “Association Agreements European Union – Latin America – Privileged partnerships or Free Trade Agreements?” gives insights into impacts of Association Agreements with the EU on specific sectors, such as agrofuels, water and energy, investments and services, analyses the negotiation processes between the European Union and the Andean Region, and explaines the political context of the (soon be ...
read more "Association Agreements Europe-Latin America"
In the paper, Edgardo Lander tackles the question to what extent the so-called leftist or "progressive" governments in Latin America, even the most radical ones, are taking steps in the construction of effective alternatives to the civilization model and its relations with "nature". Edgardo Lander is sociologist, professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, and associate researcher of the Transnational Institute (TNI).From the text:With the recognition of the deep ...
read more "Left and Progressive Governments of Latin America and the Challenges Posed by the Crisis of Civilization (English, German)"