Cuban Democracy and the Twenty-First Century Latin American Left

By Arnold August
Global Research, June 28, 2013

Url of this article:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/cuban-democracy-and-the-twenty-first-century-latin-american-left/5340780

Arnold August presented a paper entitled “Cuban Democracy and the Twenty-First Century Latin American Left” on the New York June 2013 Left Forum panel: The Twenty-First Century Latin American Left.

21^st century socialism is a banner that socialists in many countries of Latin American have been lifting again and in some cases have done so from positions of state power (Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia). What does this mean for socialism, looking back on the past 14 years since the start of the recent wave of leftist governments in Latin America and comparing these experiences with 20^th century socialism?

Chair, Speakers: Fred Rosen — NACLA, Steve Ellner — Universidad del Oriente, George Cicariello-Maher — Drexel University, Arnold August, author of Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion.

Credit for video: Jennifer Wager, Film Maker, USA

Left Forum is the largest annual conference of the broad Left in the United States. Each spring thousands of conference participants come together to discuss pressing local, national and global issues; to better understand commonalities and differences, and alternatives to current predicaments; or to share ideas to help build social movements to transform the world.

Arnold August, Fred Rosen and Steve Ellner

Fred Rosen has been affiliated with NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) the early 1990s, variously as editor, director, correspondent/blogger, and board member. He has worked as a writer and reporter in Mexico City and has taught economics at the Central University of Venezuela. He has been a regular correspondent and or columnist for a number of publications including NACLA Report on the Americas, El Financiero International, Mexican Labor News and Analysis, and the Mexico edition of The Miami Herald.

Steve Ellner is one of the foremost authorities on Venezuela. He began teaching at the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela in 1977. His book “Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict and the Chavez Phenomenon” is a classic reference. He also contributes regularly to www.venezuelanalysis.com

George Cicariello-Maher, Drexel University, has just published “We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution.”

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