At the beginning of the 21st century, a new world disorder is emerging in which battles over resources are playing an increasingly prominent role. The importance of oil to this picture is underscored by the unilateral and militaristic foreign policy of the world's largest power in its attempt to secure access to this critical resource. In this global context, oil-rich communities of the South are being drawn into struggles to defend their sovereignty, cultural integrity, human rights and threatened ecosystems.

Crude Interventions examines the military and economic policies of the Bush administration in oil-rich regions of the world. More precisely, it examines the socio-economic and human rights consequences of these policies, as well as those of recent US administrations and multinational energy companies, for the peoples of oil producing nations in the global South. With only four percent of the world's population, the United States consumes 25 per cent of global energy production. This thirst for energy has played a significant role in determining US foreign policy in recent decades. The desire to secure access to reliable supplies of oil has played an even more prominent role in determining the foreign policy of the government of George W. Bush than previous administrations.

By focusing on the US role in Iraq, Central Asia, West Africa, Colombia and Venezuela, Crude Interventions makes evident the connections between US energy interests, the war on terror, globalization, human rights abuses and other social injustices endured by those peoples of the South cursed with an abundance of the world's most sought after resource.

A firsthand account of Colombia's turmoil from a journalist who was held captive by rebel guerrillasIndependent journalist Garry Leech has spent the last eight years working in the most remote and dangerous regions of Colombia. Unlike other Western reporters, most of whom rarely leave Bogota, Leech learns the truth about conflicts and the U.S. war on drugs directly from the source: farmers, male and female guerrillas, union organizers, indigenous communities, and many others. "Beyond Bogota" is framed around the eleven hours that Leech was held captive by the FARC, Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla group, in August 2006. Drawing on unprecedented access to soldiers, guerrillas, paramilitaries, and peasants in conflict zones and cocaine-producing areas, Leech's documentary memoir is an epic tale of a journalist's search for meaning in the midst of violence and poverty. This compelling account provides fresh insights into U.S. foreign policy, the role of the media, and the plight of everyday Colombians caught in the middle of a brutal war.

What do Cape Breton and Colombia have in common? Coal, for one thing. Coal mining was the backbone of Cape Breton's industrial economy for more than one hundred years, but the last mine was closed in 2001 when the province's utility company took advantage of neoliberal globalization by importing coal-from Colombia. Colombia and Cape Breton represent the loss of well-paid, unionized industrial jobs as a result of neoliberal globalization-the economic hegemony that allows multinational corporations in the global North, primarily North America and Europe, to exploit the natural resources and cheap labour of the global South: Latin America, Africa and Asia. But the commonalities between Cape Breton and Colombia do not end with coal, there are numerous connections directly related to the capitalist system: militant labour struggles, repression, economic insecurity, population displacement, social inequality and environmental devastation. The Failure of Global Capitalism uses the examples of Cape Breton and Colombia to illustrate the harsh realities suffered by people throughout the global North and the global South under neoliberal globalization, particularly with regard to socio-economic and environmental issues. Ultimately, it exposes the failure of industrial capitalism, and looks toward more sustainable and egalitarian alternatives.

What are the long-term psychological costs of violence and war? Journalist Garry Leech draws from his experiences as a war correspondent, his ongoing personal struggle with PTSD and the latest research on this mental illness to provide a powerful and vivid answer to this question. For thirteen years, Leech worked in Colombia's rural conflict zones where he experienced combat, witnessed massacre sites and was held captive by armed groups. This raw account of his journey from war on the battlefield to an internal, psychological war at home illustrates how those who work with traumatized populations can themselves be impacted by trauma. Leech removes some of the stigmas, fears and ignorance related to PTSD in particular, and mental illness in general, by shedding light on a largely invisible illness that mostly manifests itself behind the closed doors of our homes. Ultimately, the book uses a journalist's journey through PTSD to provide a message of hope for all those who suffer from this illness.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, and ongoing savage government cuts across the world, Garry Leech addresses a pressing and necessary topic: the nature of contemporary capitalism, and how it inherently generates inequality and structural violence. Drawing on a number of fascinating case studies from across the world - including the forced displacement of farmers in Mexico, farmer suicides in India, and deaths from preventable and treatable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the unsustainable exploitation of the planet's natural resources - Leech provocatively argues that global capitalism constitutes a form of genocide against the poor, particularly in the global South. Essential and eye-opening the book questions the legitimacy of a system that inevitably results in such large-scale human suffering, while going beyond mere critique to offer a more egalitarian, democratic and sustainable global alternative.

To many -- the Colombian, U.S. and the EU governments among them -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is no more than a terrorist organization. Moreover, they claim that the FARC is only engaged in criminal activities and no longer maintains an ideology. But does this tell the whole story? Or can terrorism be a strategy for furthering ideological objectives -- irrespective of how the terrorist actions may appear to contradict stated political and ideological beliefs? As the UN's special envoy to Colombia noted in 2003, it would be "a mistake to think that the FARC members are only drug traffickers and terrorists." Part of Zed's groundbreaking "Rebels "series, Garry Leech has written the definitive introduction to the FARC, examining the group's origins, aims and ideology, and looking at its organizational and operational structures. The book also investigates the FARC's impact on local, regional and global politics and explores its future direction. As someone who reported from the frontline in Colombia for many years and was himself kidnapped by the FARC, Leech offers an unparalled insight into one of the world's most high-profile armed revolutionary organizations.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, and ongoing savage government cuts across the world, Garry Leech addresses a pressing and necessary topic: the nature of contemporary capitalism, and how it inherently generates inequality and structural violence. Drawing on a number of fascinating case studies from across the world - including the forced displacement of farmers in Mexico, farmer suicides in India, and deaths from preventable and treatable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the unsustainable exploitation of the planet's natural resources - Leech provocatively argues that global capitalism constitutes a form of genocide against the poor, particularly in the global South. Essential and eye-opening the book questions the legitimacy of a system that inevitably results in such large-scale human suffering, while going beyond mere critique to offer a more egalitarian, democratic and sustainable global alternative.