A Radical Activist Network conference, supported by War on Want.

1pm-7pm, Saturday 15th July (3rd Floor, University of London Union, Malet Street, London WC1). Featuring Oscar Olivera, Spokesperson for the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Plus Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper
Andy Higginbottom, Frontline Latin America
Sue Branford, chair of the Latin America Bureau
Nick Buxton, Fundacion Solon, Bolivia
Paul Chatterton, Kiptik (Zapatista solidarity network)
and others to be confirmed

Whether it be indigenous rights movements, people fighting neoliberal economic policies or US domination of the continent, or the struggle for land and work rights, social movements are now embedded in the political landscape across Latin America. In Bolivia, popular mobilisation over the last six years has seen its electoral expression in the victory for Evo Morales and the Movement towards Socialism (MAS in its Spanish initials). This conference aims to examine how social movements in Latin America are organised, what they've won and their different relationships with the growing number of left leaning governments in the continent.

Oscar Olivera is spokesperson for the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life, ('La Coordinadora'), which was at the forefront of a popular uprising in Cochabamba in 2000 against US multinational Bechtel who had taken over their water systems as an IMF-imposed condition for Bolivian debt relief.

GSN should be there too- watch this space for more information.