Let’s see if we can get the same enthusiasm for posting about Bolivian gas fields as we did about leg hair… *smirk*
I meant to write about this a few days ago, but I’ve been busy. I’ve watched recent South American politics with great interest. I’m especially intrigued to see Morales declaring the Bolivian gas fields nationalised but, importantly, not seizing the assets of the foreign corporations which are currently running them. Of course, they are aware there’s a chance that said foreign interests will simply withdraw assets under the new situation, and so Morales has made deals with Chavez in neighbouring Venezuela to provide back-up if necessary. Not military back-up, but to provide assets to keep the fields running if that’s what’s needed.
Back in the day, this sort of thing would have triggered a US-funded ‘rebel force’ to liberate the nation from the evils of communism. What is the new world version of this? How does it work now that Argentina, for example, is part of the G20? I know very little about this as yet and am planning to do some more reading shortly.
And then there was the Day without Immigrants protest in the US where the ‘illegal’ immigrants demonstrated how much the US economy relies on exploitation of the less fortunate… because, you know, late capitalism is such a *success story*, and democracy is the answer to all the world’s ills.
[Appropriately, the soundtrack to this post is an Australian piece of hip-hop I heard in raven_’s car the other day while transporting my new bean bag beans (thanks hon) to my house, entirely in Spanish, by a guy called Carlos Mora. And then thanks to the joy of the net – and yes, shh, late capitalism – I bought it on iTunes.]