The New War on the Poor:
The Production of Insecurity in Latin America
by John Gledhill
(Zed Press, £18.99)

THE so-called wars on drug trafficking have attracted much media attention but what lies behind them, and the impact they are having on the lives of ordinary citizens in Latin America, is less well-known.

In this book academic John Gledhill, an acknowledged expert on Latin America who has carried out extensive fieldwork there, seeks to reveal the realities behind the headlines. Although concentrating on Mexico and Brazil, his findings and arguments could be extrapolated throughout the continent.

Demonstrating how the drugs war and the “securitisation” of the state are being used as a means of attacking and terrorising “inconvenient” populations, he uncovers the relationship between securitisation, neoliberal concepts of development and repressive intervention.

He argues that these “wars” against drug traffickers conceal a more insidious war against the poor and compellingly spells out how the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism and securitisation affect the livelihoods and politics of ordinary people struggling to create spaces of popular sovereignty and dignity in violence-ridden Brazil and Mexico.

And he reveals how contemporary news stories about Latin America —violent drug trafficking, electoral battles and the excitement of emerging markets among them — are better understood as intrinsic aspects of a rapacious predation.

It is a bitter irony that so-called security policies are tending to undermine the genuine security of most Latin Americans, especially the most vulnerable.

Gledhill’s book, though, is not simply a critique or exposé but also a call to action.

He suggests that educational programmes and community action designed to turn young people away from crime are essential if we are to see real progress in Latin America.

Packed with facts and footnotes that bolster the author’s powerful arguments, this isn’t an easy read but it is a very useful reference work.

Review by John Green