{"product_id":"echoes-of-the-water-wars-legacies-of-cochabamba-bolivia-9781945335297","title":"Echoes of the Water Wars: Legacies of Cochabamba, Bolivia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLessons from the greatest people's victory against corporate neoliberal capture in Latin America.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWater is life! From the frontlines of the greatest popular rebellion against the privatization of water comes the triumphant grassroots story of ordinary people in Cochabamba, Bolivia who became water warriors. As \u003ci\u003eEchoes of Cochabamba\u003c\/i\u003e shows in vivid detail, the 2001 \"water wars\" was an explosion of democracy and human rights regained by the masses, which won popular control of water supply and defied all odds by driving out the transnational corporation that had stolen their water in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOscar Olivera, a trade union machinist who helped shape and lead a movement that brought thousands of ordinary people to the streets, powerfully conveys the perspective of a committed participant in a victorious and inspirational rebellion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOlivera relates the selling of the city's water supply to Aguas del Tunari--a subsidiary of US-based Bechtel--the subsequent astronomical rise in water prices, and the refusal of poverty-strapped Bolivians to pay them. Olivera brings us to the front lines of a movement, chronicling how the people organized an opposition and the dramatic struggles that eventually defeated the privatizers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith hard-won political savvy, Olivera reflects on major themes that emerged from the war over water: the fear and isolation that Cochabambinos faced with a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; the challenges of democratically administering the city's water supply; and the impact of the water wars on subsequent resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwenty-five years later, Cochabamba teaches us that the real issue is not the capture of state power, but the creation of new pathways from the grassroots up.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOscar Olivera\u003c\/b\u003e, then Executive Secretary of the Federation of Factory Workers of Cochabamba, Bolivia (1999), actively participated in creating the Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida, a key organization in the movement against water privatization in Bolivia and Cochabamba in 2000. He is recipient of the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award (2000), the Goldman Environmental Prize (2001), the James Lawson Award for nonviolent activism (2013) as well as numerous recognitions from rural and urban organizations in Bolivia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRaquel Gutiérrez Aguilar\u003c\/b\u003e is an organizer who has participated in numerous struggles and uprisings in Latin America over the last four decades. From the civil wars in Central America in the 1980s to Indigenous-led uprisings in the Bolivian altiplano, she has contributed to struggles both as an active participant and as a theorist of movement strategies, horizons, and possibilities. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eIn Defense of Common Life\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eStefano Archidiacono\u003c\/b\u003e is an Italian activist, researcher, and development practitioner. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlexander Dwinell\u003c\/b\u003e is an organizer, editor, designer, and artist. He is a former member of the South End Press collective and founding bookseller of The Word Is Change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarcela Olivera\u003c\/b\u003e is a water commons organizer based in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Since 2004 she has been helping to develop and consolidate an inter-American citizens' network on water justice named Red VIDA. She is also member of the Platform for Public and Community Partnerships of The Americas (PAPC), an organization that promotes knowledge exchange among water utilities based on solidarity and horizontal cooperation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNelly Perez\u003c\/b\u003e has a degree in Social Communication and Journalism, pro- duces multimedia reports with a social and environmental focus, and she is also an activist that focuses on the revalorization of knowledge and wisdom of the Quechua nation in Bolivia. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMassimiliano Tomba\u003c\/b\u003e's work focuses on time and temporalities, Marxism, critical theory (especially the first generation of the Frankfurt School), and modern and contemporary political thought. He is author of \u003ci\u003eInsurgent Universality: An Alternative Legacy of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRaul Zibechi\u003c\/b\u003e is a radio and print journalist, writer, militant and political theorist. He has contributed to the weekly newspaper Brecha. He is author of \u003ci\u003eConstructing Worlds Otherwise\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Common Notions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51500380717330,"sku":"9781945335297","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b8cd6616-c098-4445-bfbd-aef1afd70092.jpg?v=1753190682","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/echoes-of-the-water-wars-legacies-of-cochabamba-bolivia-9781945335297","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}