Category Archives: Media

Interview: Mass Protests Rock Colombia

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

As mass protests in Colombia entered into their tenth day yesterday, I was interviewed by KPFA about the mobilizations that continue spreading throughout the country. Negotiations between the government and protest leaders continue. What began as a strike by peasants … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Development, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Media, Peace, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation, Violence | 4 Comments

Mapping the Global Arms Trade

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

The global trade in small arms is booming. This is particularly the case in the developing world. The developing world continues to be the primary focus of arms sales, comprising almost 84% of the dollar value of arms transfer agreements … Continue reading →

Posted in Maps, Media, Networks, Peace, Security, Violence | Comments Off

Hugo Chávez’s legacy: A more independent Latin America

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

My column on Chávez’s death published in McClatchy-Tribune newspapers: Hugo Chavez proved that Venezuela and the rest of Latin America could chart an independent path in the world. The Venezuelan leader, who died on March 5, often assumed the role … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Political Economy, Sovereignty | Comments Off

Cities in Conflict

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

The news site openDemocracy.net has launched a special series on “Cities and Conflict.” With stuff on spatial resistance, warspace, security, military urbanism, and urban uprisings, the series should be of interest to geographers, urbanists, and the spatially inclined in general. … Continue reading →

Posted in City, Media, Security, Spatiality, Violence | Comments Off

Visualizing Space and Injustice in Palestine

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

In an old post about the potential political capacities of the infographic, I wrote: “If Guy Debord was right in highlighting that social relations between people are increasingly mediated by images and representations, then can the infographic be a popular … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Boundaries, City, Critique, Everyday Life, Guy Debord, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Maps, Media, Primitive Accumulation, Scale, Security, Spatiality, Spectacle, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off

Zapatistas and Territory

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

After their silent and momentary seizure of five municipal plazas on December 21, the Zapatistas issued a new communiqué (in Spanish or English). In sum, it describes how they will continue consolidating their “other way of doing politics.” Among their … Continue reading →

Posted in Henri Lefebvre, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Marxism, Media, Networks, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Territory, The State | 1 Comment

The Solitude of Latin America

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Today marks 30 years since Gabriel García Márquez won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His Nobel speech, “The Solitude of Latin America,” is itself a masterpiece. The closing lines (spoiler!) below. Full text English translation is online, but if you read Spanish, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Dialectics, Media | Comments Off

The New Aesthetic Part III: The Network

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

This final installment on the New Aesthetic (Part I: Seeing Like a Machine; Part II: Writing Like a Drone) considers the awkward physicality of the Internet as a thing. If the New Aesthetic is that “structure of feeling” produced by … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, City, Everyday Life, Law, Media, Networks, Science & Tech., Spatiality | Comments Off

U.S. Elections: Latin America MIA

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Despite the oversized impact that the United States has beyond its borders, Barack Obama’s victory was won over wholly domestic issues. Even the so-called “foreign policy debate”—the last debate of the campaign—veered consistently back to domestic affairs. An op-ed I … Continue reading →

Posted in Drugs, Media | Comments Off

The New Aesthetic Part I: Seeing Like A Machine

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

You know how sometimes you learn about something you had never heard of before and then you start seeing it everywhere? The New Aesthetic has been one of those things for me since Derek Gregory turned me on to it (sue … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Assemblages, Boundaries, City, Everyday Life, Media, Networks, Science & Tech., Spectacle | 2 Comments