This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Susie Weisman.

On today's show, we present a talk with the Chilean writer and activist Pablo Abu Foam

that took place on February 23rd at UCLA

sponsored by the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History in Collaboration

with the Political Sociology of the Global South Working Group.

Pablo Abufoam was a participant in the social protest movement of October 2019

and has been on this program many times to discuss and analyze those events in

Chile and everything that followed. In this talk Pablo attempts to explain

larger political and social phenomena on a global scale from the Latin American

experience considering the wave revolts between 2018 and 20 and then he looks at

the rise of neo-fascism everywhere, with Argentina as the most recent case.

Pablo asks, what can we learn from these revolts that took place in Latin America in the last five years?

And he admits it's a tragic question

because we ask it after being defeated,

or at least after the revolts were paralyzed

by the power of the ruling elites of our countries, he says, amid the acute pandemic crisis of COVID-19.

My extended comments on Pablo's talk follow his analysis of what moved people into the streets to struggle for a

dignified life with all of its social meaning and how that worldwide movement against

neoliberal austerity failed to go further and I ask for Pablo's view

on what it would take for the kind of organization to emerge that could take root and

succeed. Okay, it's a great pleasure today to be able to introduce Pablo Abufoam, philosopher,

translator, writer, activist, all those things, and member of the Mavimiento Saladard in Chile, and director of

...