BRATTLEBORO — Independent journalist and scholar Linda Farthing will share her analysis of Latin America's New Left surge with the Windham World Affairs Council on Wednesday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot.
Her talk, "The Pink Tide 2.0? A New Left Surge in Latin America," is based on the Spring 2023 issue of NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) Report on the Americas, which she edited.
In that issue, Farthing examined the past two decades of Latin American politics. With a wave of progressive leaders taking office in Latin America, many have heralded the rise of a "new pink tide," a term used to describe the rise of elected non-Communist, left-wing governments.
However, since the height of the first pink tide during the first 15 years of the 21st century, the commodity bubble has burst causing economic distress, the impacts of climate change have intensified, an emboldened far right has emerged, the Covid-19 pandemic has devastated communities, and a new wave of popular protests have broken out across the southern hemisphere.
Farthing maintains the current left-wing governments in the region are, in significant ways, different from their predecessors, and they must govern in a very different socio-political environment, with constant threats and backlash from the right.
How is this latest resurgence of the left faring, whether in the presidential palaces or on the streets? Farthing's talk will consider key issues, including Indigenous rights, environmental issues, reproductive rights, the war on drugs, the rise of the right, and a new generation of progressive Latin American leaders.
Farthing is a writer and educator with 25 years of experience in Latin America as a study abroad director, film field producer, journalist, and independent scholar.
She is co-author of four books: Impasse in Bolivia: Neoliberal Hegemony and Social Resistance (2006), From the Mines to the Streets: A Bolivian Activist's Life (2011), Evo's Bolivia: Continuity and Change (2014), and her latest, Coup: A Story of Violence and Resistance (2021). She has written for The Guardian, Ms. magazine, Jacobin, Al Jazeera, and The Nation.
This is an in-person event with a Zoom option. Suggested donation is $10 but no one is ever turned away for lack of funds. Reserve your space at bit.ly/723-farthing.