Ecuador is in revolt. Ever since he was elected, President Lenin (oh, historical irony) Moreno has moved to the right, embracing neoliberalism & IMF loan. Investors are ecstatic; Ecuadorians have been in the streets for a week. 1/ theguardian.com/world/2019/oct…
The latest measures- elimination of fuel subsidies, pension privatization, labor "flexibilization"- were the last straw. In response, we see the re-articulation of a popular coalition reminiscent of 1990s-era uprisings: indigenous, labor unions, youth, urban neighborhood 2/
A note on fuel subsidies: they're complicated! Obvi to avert climate crisis, they need to go. And they're regressive: rich people use more fuel. BUT, in petrostates, they are a form of social welfare, subsidizing transit & cooking fuel. And at the margins, they help poor most. 3/
This is why we need *just transitions* that aren't shouldered by the least well-off. You can't slash fuel subsidies w/o, e.g., boosting mass transit budget or increasing the incomes of the majority. I wrote abt these dilemmas for @DissentMag dissentmagazine.org/article/what-c… 4/
