Audio of Raul Zibechi - Uruguayan activist, author and academic

Suma Qamaña (Good Living) as an Alternative to the Crisis of our Civilization The influential and respected Uruguayan activist, writer and academic - Raul Zibechi, came to Baltimore to speak on his work which covers and analyzes Latin American social movements. The talk held at Johns Hopkins University and hosted by the Program on Latin American Studies (PLAS) and the anarchist publishing collective AK Press , focused on the Aymaran concept of Suma Qamaña (Good Living) which as Zibechi describes, is an old concept and practice that is being reformulated to contemporary and new contextual paradigms. Or simply stated bringing new life to a concept in the contemporary political, social and economic contexts. The idea and practice of Suma Qamaña (Good Living) may have a variety of interpretations, but it's underlying theme is seeking an element of equilibrium on a daily basis through alter-western world views and philosophies to practice. In the case of Bolivia this is playing out in moving beyond state obstacles as well as even popular and anti-systemic movements.

"A Native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Raul Zibechi became a militant of the Frente Estudiantil Revolucionario (FER) in the 70’s. In the 80’s he began his publishing career, writing articles for newspapers and magazines. Zibechi focused his writing on social movements in Latin America. He won the Premio José Martí de Periodismo, a prestigious prize given to journalists, for his writing on the Argentine social movement following the insurrection on the 19th and 20th of December 2001. Since beginning his writing career in the mid 80’s, he has collaborated on training and outreach work with movements including urban movements in Argentina, peasants movements in Paraguay and indigenous movements in Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Colombia. All his theoretical work, aimed at understanding and defending the organizational processes of these movements, is laid out in his book Dispersing Power (Dispersando el Poder) which has recently been published in English by AK Press." - PLAS Program on Latin American Studies at Johns Hopkins