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Though pillage, profit, and plunder have been a mainstay of war since pre-colonial times, there is little contemporary focus on the role of finance and economics in today's "Drug Wars"—despite the fact that they boost US banks and fill prisons with poor people. They feed political campaigns, increase the arms trade, and function as long-term fixes to capitalism's woes, cracking open new territories to privatization and foreign direct investment.
Combining on-the-ground reporting with extensive research, Dawn Paley moves beyond the usual horror stories, beyond journalistic rubbernecking and hand-wringing, to follow the thread of the Drug War story throughout the entire region of Latin America and all the way back to US boardrooms and political offices. This unprecedented book chronicles how terror is used against the population at large in cities and rural areas, generating panic and facilitating policy changes that benefit the international private sector, particularly extractive industries like petroleum and mining. This is what is really going on. This is drug war capitalism.
Dawn Paley is a freelance journalist who has been reporting from South America, Central America, and Mexico for over ten years. Her writing has been published in the Nation, the Guardian, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, Ms. magazine, the Tyee, Georgia Straight, and NACLA, among others.
In Oakland, California on March 24, 2015 a fire destroyed the AK Press warehouse along with several other businesses. Please consider visiting the AK Press website to learn more about the fundraiser to help them and their neighbors.
Dawn Paley is a freelance journalist who has been reporting from South America, Central America and Mexico for over 10 years. Her writing has been published in magazines and newspapers in Canada, the US and elsewhere. Prior to writing Drug War Capitalism, Dawn's work focussed on the impacts of the extractive industries. She is an editor with the Media Co-op and is dedicated to supporting independent and grassroots media. Dawn has a Masters in Journalism from the University of British Columbia.
Chapter 1: Drug War Capitalism
Rethinking the War on Drugs—Why Fighting Drugs is Good for the Economy—Corporate Gains from the Drug War—Drug War and the Extractive Industries—The Drug War and Late Capitalism
Chapter 2: Drug War History
History of the War on Drugs—Empire and the Drug Trade—Controlling Substances—Taking the Long View
Chapter 3: Plan Colombia’s Precedent
A Drug War Strategy that Works for Business—Financial and Legal Reforms and Free Trade—Anti-Drugs Rhetoric and Political Intervention—Foreign Direct Investment Increases Following Plan Colombia
Chapter 4: Plan Mexico’s Reforms
Anti-Drugs Money to Improve Business Climate—Legal System Overhaul in Mexico—Privatization and US Policy in Mexico—Plan Mexico Deepens the North American Free Trade Agreement
Chapter 5: Plan Mexico and Policing
International Police Training and Counterinsurgency—Militarized police in Mexico—Police and Mexico’s Staggering Murder Rate—Police Deployed to Protect Transnational Corporations—Sights Set on Social Control—Community Police Offer Resistance
Chapter 6: Paramilitary Blowback
Drug Cartels as Paramilitary Organizations—Hired Killers Now Available—Los Zetas, Border Control and Extortion—Community Activists Under Threat—Communal Landholders Threatened—Paramilitary Activity and the Labor Market
Chapter 7: Drug War Capitalism in Guatemala
A New Pretext for US Militarism in Guatemala—Peace Time Massacres—Resource Rich Lands Militarized—The Drug War, Fear and Displacement
Chapter 8: Drug War Capitalism in Honduras
Gang Violence and Social Control in Honduras—Criminalization of Social Movements—DEA massacre of Civilians—Resource Wars.
Chapter 9: Terror and the Drug War
Social Control and Terror in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia—A new brand of imperial warfare—How Terror Works—Counterinsurgency on Crack—Media and the War on Drugs—Spillover Violence and other Propaganda—Cartel Wars Discourse
Chapter 10: Conclusion
Re-branding the Drug War—Drug War as Permanent War—Role for Anti-War Movement—Solidarity on Trial