Synopses & Reviews
The one indispensable resource, water is increasingly controlled and even owned by private capital. By 2012, water was a trillion-dollar industry—and as population growth, industrial production, and ecological change make scarcity ever-more common, water may well become the source of military and political conflict in the years to come.
This book looks at how we got here and what we can and should do next. Laying out the complex arguments surrounding water, its ownership and access to it, Mike Gonzalez and Marianella Yanes make the technical and scientific aspects of the discussion clear and accessible—and thereby enable themselves to make the political questions more urgent. Pushing back against the market fundamentalists, the authors argue that it is both possible and necessary that considerations of equity and social justice prevail in the debates about water. Powerful and polemical, The Last Drop will be a vital resource for water activists worldwide.
Review
“Seminal.”
Review
“Water is a resource that belongs to all of us, and in this perceptive yet accessible book Mike Gonzalez takes issue with the way global capitalism has redefined water as a commodity, and depicts the bitter harvest that has resulted from water privatization.”
Review
“Gonzalez and Yanes have produced a definitive analysis of the current world water challenge. This book details how the 'modern' world has created a shortage unprecedented in human history while separating the popular theme of domestic consumption from the true water consumers: the corporations. To understand the ‘crisis of governance’ that has changed water as a human right to a profitable commodity for financial interests, you must read The Last Drop.”
Review
“In this sobering account of hydro-politics, Gonzalez and Yanes remind us that human greed—not environmental inadequacy—lies at the heart of the global water 'crisis.' The authors call for a ‘New International Water Order,’ born out of the needs and realties of ordinary people. This book is a must-read for all those wishing to end corporate control of everyday life.”
Review
“Books like this are rare. Eloquent, poetic, enraged, committed, Marxist, environmentalist, written from the Global South, a book full of the fire and feeling of the Latin American social movements. The authors are activists, so they love the earth, hate capitalist inequality, and write in hope.”
Synopsis
When Hugo Chavez, then President of Venezuela, died in 2013, millions across the globe mourned. In an age where most politicians inspire only apathy and cynicism, Chavez's popularity, radicalism and vibrant personality were truly unique.
Released one year after Chavez's unexpected death, this dramatic and intimate biography traces Chavez's life from an impoverished rural family to the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas. Mike Gonzalez shows how Chavez's 'Bolivarian revolution' aimed to complete Simon Bolivars promise of a Latin America free from imperialism.
Gonzalez details Chavez's close connection to the masses and how he enraged wealthy elites by declaring his support for 21st century socialism. He concludes that the struggle for social justice inspired by Chavez can and must continue. This is an ideal guide to Chavez's inspiring life and legacy.
Synopsis
'Baghdad Bulletin takes us where mainstream news accounts do not go. Disrupting the easy cliches that dominate US journalism, Enders blows away the media fog of war.' Norman Soloman
About the Author
John S. Saul has been, since the 1960s, an activist in support of southern African liberation both in his native Canada and in southern Africa itself. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 by the Canadian Association of African Studies for his writing and lecturing on South Africa.
Table of Contents
Glossary
Timeline
Epigraph
Introduction: A man for difficult times
1: The plainsman
2: The dream of Simon Bolivar
3: From insurrection to election
4: Episodes in the class war
5: The Bolivarian revolution advances
6: The contradictions of 21st century socialism
7: The legacy of Hugo Chavez
Notes
Index