GEOG 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Income Distribution, Social Democracy, North American Free Trade Agreement
6 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
GEOG 1000
January 24, 2018
New Inequalities, New Politics, Agrarian to Urban
Part 1: Re-emergence of Agrarian movements today: land invasions
● Today the goals of most land movements aren’t as radical, very limited
● Want land, don’t want to take over the state and institute communism
● Today in Brazil and Elsewhere: Landless workers movement
● Columbia has had a long insurgency: FARC
○ Peace agreement last year
○ Revolutionary Armed Resistance of Columbia
○ Took up arms to have access to the land, land was being taken away
○ Financed by drugs
● Zapatistas in Mexico (primarily Indigenous peoples)
● Group in 1994, day of NAFTA trade agreement, they launched small revolution
○ Main reason: they wanted to occupy the land of large landowners
○ Macho latin american heros
○ Took over land and local government
○ Small revolutionary government in Mexico
Part 2: The Pink Wave: 1980
● Right wing dictators ruled much of latin America, reached their end in 1980s
● Elected left governments, promising more redistribution of wealth to poor (not so
much redistribution of land)
● Not having a revolution (pink not red)
● Not as socially liberal, but social-democratic in nature
● Brazil has since switched to right government
● 2009 US role in the Honduras coup and subsequent violence
○ Elected government overthrown by military
● Brazil 2016 President ‘impeached’
○ New president associated with past dictatorships, tortures and murders
○ Something similar happened in Paraguay
● Left Government becomes authoritarian, Political Right blames socialism for
economic collapse
○ Until 1998, former colonel, Hugo Chavez was elected
○ Huge charismatic guy, poor people loved him
○ Took oil money for social programs and lowered the price of food
○ Seized land for poor
○ Keeping the prices of food low, you’re not making it productive for farmers to
produce food
○ These guys are just really bad at running economies
Part 3: Urbanization
● 70-80% of people in Latin America now live in Urban Areas, not Agrarian anymore
● Among the most urbanized in the world
● Mexico City, Sao Paulo
Document Summary
Part 1: re-emergence of agrarian movements today: land invasions. Today the goals of most land movements aren"t as radical, very limited. Want land, don"t want to take over the state and institute communism. Today in brazil and elsewhere: landless workers movement. Columbia has had a long insurgency: farc. Took up arms to have access to the land, land was being taken away. Group in 1994, day of nafta trade agreement, they launched small revolution. Main reason: they wanted to occupy the land of large landowners. Right wing dictators ruled much of latin america, reached their end in 1980s. Elected left governments, promising more redistribution of wealth to poor (not so much redistribution of land) Not having a revolution (pink not red) Not as socially liberal, but social-democratic in nature. Brazil has since switched to right government. 2009 us role in the honduras coup and subsequent violence. New president associated with past dictatorships, tortures and murders.
