Pirates of the Caribbean : Axis of Hope

Contents: Update for the Indian edition. Preface. 1. The age of disinformation. 2. Imperial vapours. 3. The fierce bull and the cunning donkeys. 4. Bolivia again. 5. The old man and the revolution: notes from a Havana Diary. 6. The past as epilogue: the lives of Simon Bolivar. Appendices. Index.

"Since 1998, the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chavez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal consensus and American Foreign Policy. While Chavez's radical social-democratic reforms have brought him worldwide acclaim among the poor, he has attracted intense hostility from Venezuelan elites and Western Governments.

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. Ali discusses the enormous influence of Fidel Castro on both Chavez and Evo Morales, the newly elected President of Bolivia, and, reflecting on a recent trip of Havana, contrasts the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutionary process.

Pirates of the Caribbean guides us through a world divided between privilege and poverty, a continent that is once again on the march." (jacket)