Pirates Of The Caribbean Axis Of Hope

A revolution is moving across Latin America...

Since 1998, the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chávez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal consensus and American foreign policy. While Chávez's radical social-democratic reforms have brought him worldwide acclaim among the poor, he has attracted intense hostility from Venezuelan elites and Western governments.

Drawing on first-hand experience of Venezuela and meetings with Chávez, Tariq Ali shows how Chávez's views have polarized Latin America and examines the hostility directed against his administration. Ali discusses the enormous influence of Fidel Castro on both Chávez and Evo Morales, the newly-elected President of Bolivia, and contrasts the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutionary processes. Infused with references to the culture and poetry of South America, Pirates of the Caribbean guides us through a world divided between privilege and poverty, a continent that is once again on the march.

"Fringe as Ali's views may be, they do provide a warning. And warnings, in a world as unstable as ours, deserve a second look. If we are headed toward a world increasingly indifferent to U.S. concerns, now may be the right moment to move beyond our assumptions and begin asking a few questions of our own." Alan Wise, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)

A study of the revolutionary process throughout Latin America as a challenge to the neoliberal consensus and American foreign policy focuses on the radical social democratic reforms of Venezuala's Hugo Chvez, the influence of Castro on both Chvez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, the polarization of Latin America, and the implications of the movement.

Drawing on first-hand experience of Venezuela and meetings with Hugo Chávez, the author shows how Chávez's views have polarized Latin America and examines the hostility directed against his administration.

A revolution is moving across Latin America.

Since 1998, the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chavez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal consensus and American foreign policy. While Chavez's radical social-democratic reforms have brought him worldwide acclaim among the poor, he has attracted intense hostility from Venezuelan elites and Western governments.

Drawing on first-hand experience of Venezuela and meetings with Chavez, Tariq Ali shows how Chavez's views have polarized Latin America and examines the hostility directed against his administration. Ali discusses the enormous influence of Fidel Castro on both Chavez and Evo Morales, the newly-elected President of Bolivia, and contrasts the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutionary processes.

Pirates of the Caribbean guides us through a world divided between privilege and poverty, a continent that is once again on the march.

Tariq Ali is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than a dozen books on world history and politics, as well as scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of the New Left Review and lives in London.