Friday, January 23
7:30 pm BOOK PARTY/FORUM
Radicals in Power: The Workers' Party & Experiments in Urban Democracy in Brazil
(Gianpaolo Baiocchi) With the recent election of Luis Ignacio da Silva (more popularly known as Lula) as President of Brazil, many in this country have become more familiar with his Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) or Workers' Party. However, as this new book illustrates, the PT has, over the past twenty years, introduced a series of innovative policies at the state level, and in big and medium-sized cities. Gianpaolo's new book provides a unique body of information and understanding of the ways in which a non- dogmatic, left-wing political movement has instituted a highly innovative set of experiments to involve ordinary citizens, especially the socially disadvantaged, in the local policy choices and fiscal allocation decisions which affect their lives, as well as a variety of other experiments to achieve both participation and social redistribution and justice.
Gianpaolo Baiocchi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Umass/Amherst. He publishes in the areas of political culture, cities, participatory democracy and social theory, and is currently part of a research project on participatory governance in Brazil, South Africa and India.
Suggested donation: $6/$8/$10
The Brecht Forum
122 West 27th St. 10th Fl.NYC (Betw. 6th & 7th Aves.)
