BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Session Submission Summary

Beyond Left and Right: Nicaragua's Civic Insurrection

Mon, May 27, 5:45 to 7:15pm, TBA

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

The April 18, 2018 protests against social security reform ignited a civic insurrection against the Sandinista state that will have lasting consequences in Nicaragua. Although violence has been documented on both sides of the conflict, national and international human rights organizations have attributed the vast majority of human rights abuses and deaths to the state. Nevertheless, progressive sectors in the United States remain divided on how respond to the crisis. Some are reluctant to disavow a Leftist state, even one that has become increasingly violent and authoritarian in the last decade. Others have expressed concerns about U.S. intervention and distrust of mainstream media coverage of Latin American affairs. Thus, there is little consensus on the U.S. Left about the crisis or how to respond to the violence.

This roundtable will examine the origins of the civic insurrection and the diverse interests that characterize the opposition movement, which includes representatives from the private sector, student movement, grassroots social movements, and civil society. Spanning the political spectrum, these groups give the opposition a certain ideological incoherence beyond the desire to see Ortega and Murillo step down, the restoration of democratic institutions, and an end to the repression. Roundtable participants will consider how the dynamics of the crisis upset traditional forms of ideological and political division between the Latin American Left and Right. Ultimately, we ask, what are the diverse factors on the ground—material conditions, forms of political contestation, power relations—that drive popular mobilization against the Nicaraguan state?

Sub Track

Session Organizers

Chair

Presenters