EP29: Vote for Pedro (ft. Natalia Sobrevilla & Aldo Madariaga)

This week, Darts and Letters looks to Peru and the election victory of peasant school teacher and socialist Pedro Castillo. He won a close race against Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori. His campaign slogan was simple and powerful: “No more poor people in a rich country.” Of course, the right is now crying foul and seeking to invalidate the election — like Trump’s sad attempt in the United States, it won’t work. We dig into the neoliberal, right-wing populist agenda in Peru and across Latin America and explore the rising socialist alternative.

• First (@11:50) , Natalia Sobrevilla Perea is Professor of Latin American History at the University of Kent. She’s also Peruvian. She takes us through Peru’s contemporary political history and puts Castillo’s election win in context. She starts with Alberto Fujimori, former president of Peru and father of Keiko Fujimori, a presidential contender defeated by Castillo.
• Then (@39:28), Aldo Madariaga is a professor at the School of Political Science, Diego Portales University, and Associate Researcher at the centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES) in Santiago, Chile. He expands on the concept of neoliberalism and its history as an intellectual movement, and analyzes its relationship with the current surge of right-wing populism.

——————-FURTHER READING AND LISTENING——————-

• Check out Aldo Madariaga’s site and his book Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe. And have a look at his co-edited series for Palgrave on Latin American political economy.
• Plus, read Madariaga’s Jacobin piece on neoliberalism as a threat to democracy.
• Visit Natalia Sobrevilla Perea’s site and review her publications.
• Read more about Castillo, including his push to make mining companies pay their fair share, Jacobin’s run-down of the man in his own words, and Counter Punch’s story of his win and the challenges that followed.
• Watch Katie Halper interview Ollie Varga on Peru’s election: “Dictator’s Daughter vs. Teacher.”

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Darts and Letters is hosted and edited by Gordon Katic. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our managing producer is Marc Apollonio. David Moscrop provided research assistance and wrote the show notes. Our marketing assistant is Ian Snowden. Our theme song was created by Mike Barber. Our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop.

This is a production of Cited Media backed by academic grants that support mobilizing research and democratizing the concept of public intellectualism This episode received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The lead academic advisor is Allen Sens.

Darts and Letters is produced in Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. It is also produced in Vancouver, BC, which is on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.