TY  - BOOK
AU  - Velasco,Alejandro
TI  - Barrio rising: urban popular politics and the making of modern Venezuela 
SN  - 9780520283329 (pbk. : alk. paper)
AV  - F2341.C257 V45 2015
U1  - 987.063 V45 2015 23
PY  - 2015///]
CY  - Oakland, California
PB  - University of California Press
KW  - Political participation
KW  - Venezuela
KW  - Caracas
KW  - City planning
KW  - Political aspects
KW  - Squatters
KW  - Political activity
KW  - Politics and government
KW  - 20th century
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-310) and index; Introduction : a history of place and nation -- Landscapes of opportunity -- Paths to democracy -- Streets of protest -- Conclusion : revolutionary projects
N2  - "In the mid-1950s, in an effort to modernize Venezuela, the military government razed dozens of slums in the heart of the capital Caracas, replacing them with massive buildings to house the city's working poor. The project remained unfinished when the dictatorship fell on January 23, 1958, and in a matter of days city residents illegally occupied thousands of apartments, squatted on green spaces, and renamed the neighborhood to honor the emerging democracy: the 23 de Enero (January 23). Over the next thirty years, through eviction efforts, guerrilla conflict, state violence, internal strife, and official neglect, inhabitants of the barrio learned to use their strategic location and symbolic tie to the promise of democracy in order to demand a better life. Granting legitimacy to the state through the vote but protesting its failings with violent street actions when necessary, they laid the foundation for an expansive understanding of democracy--both radical and electoral--whose features still resonate today"--Provided by publisher
ER  -