Dignity and Defiance Stories from Bolivia&39s Challenge to Globalization [Paperback]

Dignity and Defianceis a powerful, eyewitness account of Bolivia's decade-long rebellion against globalization imposed from abroad. Based on extensive interviews, this story comes alive with first-person accounts of a massive Enron/Shell oil spill from an elderly woman whose livelihood it threatens, of the young people who stood down a former dictator to take back control of their water, and of Bolivia's dramatic and successful challenge to the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Featuring a substantial introduction, a conclusion, and introductions to each of the chapters, this well-crafted mix of storytelling and analysis is a rich portrait of people calling for global integration to be different than it has been: more fair and more just.

Jim Shultzis Executive Director andMelissa Crane Draperis Assistant Director of the Democracy Center.

Dignity and Defianceforces the abstract and sanitized theory of globalization to get down and dirty in the real world: in the oil spills, the coca fields, the border crossings, the political massacres. This is the little-known story of a people that has dared to fight back against the most powerful economic forces on the planet, told by writers with the courage to dig relentlessly for the truth and the humility to stand back and let their subjects speak for themselves. Enraging, unsparing, inspiring. Naomi Klein, author ofThe Shock Doctrine

These essays illuminate, with consistently careful attention to detail and nuance, just how badly the neoliberal economic regime has served one poor Andean nation. They also suggest, some explicitly, some by implication, what more democratic and humane development might look like. Bill Finnegan, correspondent,Leasing the Rain

Shultz and Draper have done what they do best: with a soul like a Bolivian, they not only feel and live the Bolivian world, they use their writing to tlÃ0