A IIRSA como reflexo da crise estrutural do capital na América do Sul

Abstract

The history of Latin American capitalism is marked by the indigenous people bloodshed, by slavery and by overexploitation of the workers. Since Colombo’s arrival, the Latin American subcontinent has been the scene of geographic, political and economic reconfigurations that were in accordance with the needs of the reproduction of capitalism. Ironically, in 2000, the first reunion of South American Presidents, which celebrated the 500 th anniversary of America´s “discovery”, was presented with the South American Regional Integration Initiative (IIRSA). With an infrastructure-building speech to generate economic and sustainable development, this infrastructure megaproject has, once again, politically, economically and geographically reconfigured the subcontinent to meet the demands of the reproduction of capital´s social metabolism which has, since 1970, entered a continuum of crises derived from the intensification of its most intrinsic contradictions. In the search to understand radically what this megaproject is and what its consequences are for the subcontinent, especially for the native populations, peasant communities and the South American working class we aim to analyze the Initiative in an intensive way, articulating it with the local and international dynamics and the capitalist mode of production which, from 1970 onwards, enters into what Istvan Mészáros called the structural crisis of capital.