Voices of Latin America: Social Movements and the New Activism
Edited by Tom Gatehouse
(Latin American Bureau, £21.95)

BETWEEN 2002 and 2012, Latin America experienced the political and social phenomenon dubbed “the pink tide” that helped at least 10 million on the continent to join the middle class every year, while the proportion living on less than U$24 a day shrank from 45 to 25 per cent.

This progressive development in countries such as Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina challenged the neoliberalism of previous decades in reducing extreme poverty and it ushered in the introduction of more unorthodox economic policies and the development of social policies aimed at the most marginalised sectors of society.

Sadly, that pink tide of politically and socially progressive governments is now in retreat after experiencing a series of political setbacks since 2016. The initial redistributive phase that had started at the start of the millennium came to a sudden end, coinciding with the fall on the prices of commodities, a reduction in available resources and the advancement of the extreme right.