2016 Events

1. Media monopolies and political power in Latin America: The case of Argentina



(from Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca)



April 29, 2016

Media monopolies and political power in Latin America: The case of Argentina

In our first 2016 seminar we discussed the latest developments in Argentina and reflected on the role played by mass media conglomerates in these events. We showed a special video interview for Latitudes with Mr Pedro Rubén Brieger, a prestigious Argentine journalist and sociologist. Pedro Brieger holds the Chair of Sociology in the Middle East in the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and has worked in several newspapers, including Clarín, El Cronista, La Nación, Página 12, Perfil, Miami Herald; and magazines like Noticias, Tres Puntos, Revista Veintitrés and Le monde diplomatique. Mr Brieger headed the TV news program Visión 7 Internacional and was until very recently a columnist in international politics and specialist in geopolitics at the Public TV network’s daily news Visión 7 (2004-2016). He has received numerous awards for his work in journalism, including the Casa de las Américas Mention (1989); Martin Fierro awards and nominations for his journalistic investigations, TV and radio programs (1992-2014); and the Democracy and Olmedo awards (2011). In August 2013 Mr Brieger launched the news web portal Nodal.am, which covers news from the entire continent. He recently joined the Argentinian cable news channel, C5N.

Pedro Brieger interview with Latitudes (02/04/16) – part 1
 

Pedro Brieger interview with Latitudes (02/04/16) – part 2

 



May 21, 2016

Public forum: Political crisis in Brazil


In the second 2016 event, a forum focused on Brazil was organized by Latitudes, the Latin American Social Forum Sydney and the Socialist Alliance.

Dr Fernando López moderated and introduced the forum with a presentation called Media and political power in Brazil: the making of a coup.




Pedro Ivo Carneiro Teixeirense, researcher and PhD Candidate in Social History at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, sent a special presentation about the crisis in Brazil.



Pedro Ivo Carneiro Teixeirense is a researcher and PhD Candidate in Social History at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. Pedro Teixerense has a Bachelor with Honours in History and a Masters degree. His field of research covers democracy, social control and children´s rights, and prevention of violence and human rights. He has worked as a teacher, researcher and legislative consultant for the Federal Senate; has been a member of the Special Commission of History of the Senate, and worked as Associate Consultant for the Plan of Public Policies in Brazil. Pedro was also a Research Analyst offering technical advice on issues related to human rights, transitional justice, memory and truth, with the aim of providing support for the National Truth Commission (NTC). He organized data analysis that enabled the Commission to clarify facts and circumstances surrounding cases of serious human rights violations, and conducted teams of researchers in identifying files and other sources of information on the death and the forced disappearance in Brazil and abroad, during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985). He was also involved in organizing database for the Council of Children´s Rights and the Guardianship Council in the process of building democracy for children and adolescents in Brazil.

 

September 29, 2016

What’s behind the crisis in Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina?

Dr Fernando López presented for Politics in the Pub in Sydney, together with UNSW senior lecturer, Dr Peter Ross, about the recent elections, coup and attempts of coups in Latin America.




Fernando is a Doctor in History from the University of New South Wales and author of the book The Feathers of Condor: Transnational State Terrorism, Exiles and Civilian Anticommunism in South America (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, 2016). The latter determines why the military regimes of Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia agreed to formally launch Operation Condor in November 1975 and, therefore, transnationalize State terrorism. He has a Bachelor of Arts and Honours in History (BA HONS HIST) from University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.  His Honours thesis studied the origins of the Uruguayan leftist National Liberation Movement- Tupamaros (MLN-T) and its connections with the sugarcane workers’ trade union.  His areas of research focus on contemporary Latin American History and the Cold War in Latin America. He co-edited with Pablo Leighton the book 40 years are nothing: History and memory of the 1973 coups d'état in Uruguay and Chile (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK), a selection from works presented at the October 2013 conference 40 years are nothing.
 
Dr Peter Ross is an Honorary Fellow at UNSW School of Humanities and Languages. Dr Ross’s academic profile includes a BA Sydney, DipEd WBTC, and a PhD from UNSW. Dr Ross has studied matters associated to Economic Development and Growth, Historical Studies and Latin American History. His principal area of research, together with Dr James Levy, is a comparative study of investment in human development in Argentina and Australia between 1890 and 1960. Subsidiary research interests include changes in the composition and internal dynamics of families in Latin America, contemporary political developments in Latin America, and environmental effects of development in Amazonia.






October 22, 2016

Interview with Silvia Solórzano
from Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca 

Silvia Solórzano, advisor at the Central American Parliament and founder of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca as a political party in 1998, was interviewed by Pablo Leighton, Víctor Hugo Muñoz and the public at a Latin American Social Forum Sydney event. The interview, conducted in Spanish, was held at the commemoration of the 31 years of the Australian Committee for Human Rights in Guatemala and the 72 years of the October 1944 Revolution, headed by Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Árbenz, democratic presidents of Guatemala until the coup in 1954.

Pablo Leighton interviews Silvia Solórzano:
 

Víctor Hugo Muñoz interviews Silvia Solórzano:

Silvia Solórzano answers question from the audience: