Red October: Left-Indigenous Struggles in Modern Bolivia

Historical Materialism #29

by Jeffery R. Webber

Bolivia witnessed a left-indigenous insurrectionary cycle between 2000 and 2005 that overthrew two presidents and laid the foundation for Evo Morales’ to become the country's first indigenous president. Building on the theoretical traditions of Marxism and indigenous liberation, this book provides an analytical framework for understanding the fine-grained sociological and political nuances of recent Bolivian class-struggle, state-repression, and indigenous resistance.

Genres: History, Bolivia, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Indigenous History, Politics

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dr Jeffery Webber is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary U. Previously he held an Assistant Professor position in Political Science at the University of Regina, Canada. He has also been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Quito, Ecuador, the Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Laboral y Agrario (CEDLA) and Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisicplinarios (CEBEM) in La Paz, Bolivia, and the International Institute for Research and Education in Amsterdam.

Over the last few years, he has been invited to speak on Latin American Politics, international relations, and social theory at a number of universities across Europe, North America, and Latin America. Dr Webber's PhD is from the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His dissertation was entitled “Red October: Left-Indigenous Struggles in Modern Bolivia.”

His research interests cut across the disciplines of politics, sociology, international relations, history, and anthropology, with a focus on the following themes: Latin American Political Economy; the Latin American Left (Theory, History, and Practice); Marxism; Imperialism, Hegemony, Empire and Globalisation; Colonialism and Counter-Colonial Struggles; Social Movements, Rebellion, and Revolution; Historical Sociology; and International Political Economy.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes you want to go out in the streets and protest and build grassroots institutions of dual power!

The story of Bolivia's Water and Gas Wars is inspiring for anyone who wants to build a new world from below. Interviewing dozens of participants, Webber digs deep to look at what powered these protests. He looks at what he calls the infrastructure of class struggle -- the nuts and bolts of grassroots struggle -- and what kind on society activists dreamed of.

Bolivia's social movements are powered by a coming together of Marxist / worker and indigenous traditions of resistance that reinforce and inform each other.

The sections on Evo Morales and the MAS's role in these mobilizations are eye opening. Webber shows that in the gas war, MAS's focus on winning office forced them into a middle role between the protesters and the rich. They didn't lead. They've continued this path in office, failing to make a real break with neoliberalism.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best concise history of indigenous/labor mobilization in Bolivia leading up to October 2003. Webber also does a great job situating his work among other literature and breaking down the various camps/approaches in the field. When studying Bolivia it really is very important to study class/race struggles as being more like "two sides of the same coin" and Webber always does a great job of this intersectional type of analysis.

[John Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

very interesting imo