In this vivid ethnography of social movements in the barrios, or
poor shantytowns, of Caracas, Sujatha Fernandes reveals a
significant dimension of political life in Venezuela since
President Hugo Chavez was elected. Fernandes traces the histories
of the barrios, from the guerrilla insurgency, movements against
displacement, and cultural resistance of the 1960s and 1970s,
through the debt crisis of the early 1980s and the neoliberal
reforms that followed, to the Chavez period. She weaves barrio
residents' life stories into her account of movements for social
and economic justice. "Who Can Stop the Drums?" demonstrates that
the transformations under way in Venezuela are shaped by
negotiations between the Chavez government and social movements
with their own forms of historical memory, local organization, and
consciousness.
Fernandes portrays everyday life and politics in the shantytowns
of Caracas through accounts of community-based radio, barrio
assemblies, and popular fiestas, and the many interviews she
conducted with activists and government officials. Most of the
barrio activists she presents are Chavez supporters. They see the
leftist president as someone who understands their precarious lives
and has made important changes to the state system to redistribute
resources. Yet they must balance receiving state resources, which
are necessary to fund their community-based projects, with their
desire to retain a sense of agency. Fernandes locates the struggles
of the urban poor within Venezuela's transition from neoliberalism
to what she calls "post-neoliberalism." She contends that in
contemporary Venezuela we find a hybrid state; while Chavez is
actively challenging neoliberalism, the state remains subject to
the constraints and logics of global capital.
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