Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, Revised and Expanded Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Tariq Ali
Publisher: Verso
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $10.75
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 538077
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 1844672484
Dewey Decimal Number: 972
EAN: 9781844672486
ASIN: 1844672484
Publication Date: May 5, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
A fully updated edition of this fiery polemic on Latin America's challenge to US-led neoliberalism.
The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chavez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal consensus and American foreign policy. Drawing on first-hand experience of Venezuela and meetings with Chavez, Tariq Ali shows how Chavez's views have polarized Latin America and examines the hostility directed against his administration. Contrasting the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutionary processes, Ali discusses the enormous influence of Fidel Castro on Chavez, President of Bolivia Evo Morales and, in this fully updated edition, the newly-elected President of Ecuador Rafael Correa, the latest addition to the "Axis of Hope." Infused with references to the culture and poetry of South America, Pirates of the Caribbean guides us through a world divided between privilege and poverty, a continent that is once again on the march.
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| Customer Reviews:
 great book July 29, 2008
This book is great if you want the facts and truth from the actors in the show. Instead from fox news or people trying to horn swaggle the reader or viewer. Freedom isnt just for americans or western civilisation. Tariq ali lets us see inside the revolution from first person view.
This book tells and shows how america influences and their proxies, fellow capitalist pigs and lackeys will do anything. After reading this book you should get the feeling that america isnt the only country that is home to the brave, and that every country like america will fight to remain the land of the free.
Other countries have aspirations too. Dont be an obstacle.
 useful but not tremendous June 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Lemme tell you right off the bat that this book has nothing to do with those Johnny Depp movies or the Disneyland ride. If that's what you're looking for, you're totally in the wrong place.
The next thing you need to know is that the author, Tariq Ali, is a leftie. So leftie, in fact, that he was purportedly the inspiration for the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man" because of his man-the-barricades philosophy during the 60's! Since then, though, his worldview has mellowed slightly.
What I like about the author is how literate and well-educated he is. Of Pakistani descent, he frequently writes about the Middle East and the Subcontinent from a progressive angle: he is one of the editors at the "New Left Review." But he's not so left that he's unbalanced or unreadable.
This particular book is a look at the extent and the causes of the popular leftist revolutions that we have seen in Latin America in the last ten years or so, especially the doings of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, the pro-coca, pro-nationalization, pro-indigenous rights, anti-U.S. president of Bolivia. Castro, meanwhile, lurks in the background throughout.
Ali obviously approves of these developments, but not in a fawning way, I think. The book is more of a report on what's been happening rather than a tendentious call-to-arms. Nevertheless, statements bordering on the pro-Marxist are common, such as these:
"What Castro, Chavez, and Morales have understood is that strength lies in unity . . . . Evo Morales . . . won the argument and the Presidency but the elite . . . does not yet feel demoralized and crushed. . . . It is vital that the elites are skifully detached from their base by a set of inclusive measures that benefit the bulk of the population." (p. 96)
As for the fact that the neo-liberal ideas of the Chicago School ultimately lifted Chile's standard of living to the point where, as of my writing, it is now, per capita, the highest in Latin America, the author dismisses that by pointing out that that was only possible because all the troublesome people who knew better had been liquidated: i.e., Friedman's reforms were "easy" because of Pinochet's "bloody political cleansing." (p. 33)
Statements like this seem contradictory: could these "disappeared people," these Allende supporters, really have known better if it turns out that their opponents, the "Chicago Boys" were the ones with the plan that ultimately did reduce crime, corruption, and inflation, and raise standards in health care, education, and government, and restore democracy?
Presumably, Ali would respond to this that those who were crushed by the Dirty War were morally superior full stop, even if they were wrong in practical terms. But this is to venture into territory where the author doesn't really enter.
In short, this book is a serviceable but not mind-blowing treatment of the subject.
Something else you should know: the book is divided into two parts. The first part it Ali's summary of what's been happening vis-a-vis socialism in Latin America. The second half of the book are appendices related to this, such as the full text of Hugo's speech at the UN in 2005, and various letters and essays on the subject.
By the way, it's an independent publisher, and I found the binding to be rather wonky. In fact, it fell apart before I was halfway through and I had to have it rebound.
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