#notes/south-america #notes/north-america #books

Open Veins of Latin America : Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

by Eduardo Galeano

Summary

In this book, the author's analysis of the effects and causes of capitalist underdevelopment in Latin America present an account of ... Latin American history. The author shows how foreign companies reaped huge profits through their operations in Latin America. He explains the politics of the Latin American bourgeoisies and their subservience to foreign powers, and how they interacted to create increasingly unequal capitalist societies in Latin America.

Notes and questions while reading

• Latin Americans using gold and silver in art, white people coming and wiping it out for $
• perhaps ancient white men visited (some myths described gods this way) so when they returned the LAs thought they were gods!
• reading this alongside people's history is brutal but also enlightening given similar time frames and wholly separate European countries doing the same awful shit to the natives either way
• read more about the violent history of many crops vs how they're working out today
• "Americanization of" something - really understand this better, deep dive
• zine idea - white people history (tales of robbing others)
• read more about textiles and the real costs...
• What are each country's major exports, what do they import and from where
• How many countries can refine their own minerals (and do they)
• When were plastics and synthetic fabrics introduced
• What is Latin America?
• Genocides in history, what the conflict and resolution was, and how long it took to call it a genocide. what tactics does a gov/country take to keep people from thinking it's genocide?
• What impact has each oligarchy had on the countries where there was one? any benefits?
• What is causing US debt (and how has it grown over the years)? could the fed govt function without unlimited borrowing?

My review

In short this was dense, difficult, educational, insightful, and amazingly well constructed to dive deeply into the centuries-long relationship between the US/Europe and Latin American exports.

Few countries refine their own minerals, even fewer at scale, inviting multinational corps to control processing plants and effectively dominate the economies of these countries. No crops are "harmless" and industries were rooted in slavery, forced relocation, and destroyed ecosystems.

The framing makes modern hypocrisy clear: The US, with rising national debt sustained by unlimited borrowing, demands “fiscal discipline” from Latin American nations while exploiting them economically. Mass deportations of Hispanic immigrants are grotesquely ironic.

It's not an easy read but still well written and lyrical. You leave angry and informed, thirsting for history you were never taught.

Quotes