鈥淥rganized Violence: Capitalist Warfare in Latin America鈥�
Edited by Dawn Paley and Simon Granovsky-Larsen
Published by University of Regina Press
Review by Toby A. Welch
$34.95 ISBN 9780889776104
What an eye-opening book! The amount of research required to end up with Organized Violence is staggering. Besides Paley and Granovsky-Larsen, 15 additional experts contributed to this meaty tome. The result is a well-rounded, masterful expos茅 on the violence in Latin America. But it is so much more than that; it鈥檚 an in-depth catalogue of human rights, social justice, and global capitalism mixed with violence.聽
Organized Violence is so packed that it isn鈥檛 easy to give a true glimpse into the book in a brief review. The subject matter is multi-faceted, with more layers than are apparent at the outset. Add the emergence and growth of capitalism into the equation and you have a subject that is extremely complex. The war on drugs, an abundance of poverty, and people living in constant terror complicate it even further.
I was simultaneously horrified and humbled at how little I know of what is going on in other parts of the world. Take Honduras for example. One of the predominant cultures in that area - the Garifuna people - is being so threatened and displaced that UNESCO has declared the Garifuna culture one of nineteen 鈥淢asterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.鈥� One of the main threats is the tourism industry that has bulldozed their way into the area, making it nearly impossible for the Garifuna way of life to continue. And it doesn鈥檛 sit right that the majority of the tourism companies that have pushed the natives from their homes and lives are Canadian firms.聽
This book is a hidden gem, especially for anyone who wants to increase his or her knowledge of events in the world. More specifically, I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in what has been going on in Latin America from the mid-20th century to the current day.
