SOLIDARITY RESOURCES
Guatemala: The Gathering Storm is the most recent production
by GCR Media Arts which also produced slideshows on Nicara-
gua and El Salvador. This 25-minute slideshow makes use of
stunning photography and presents the sounds and scenes
from the 1982 elections and military coup. We hear the voices
of Rios Montt, Indian leader Rigoberta Menchu, U.S. busi-
nessman Fred Sherwood, U.S. Ambassador Fred Chapin and
the guerrillas. Documents current situation in light of brief
historical overview. (160 35-mm slides with casette sound-
track: $85 or $90 from abroad. Jeanne Gallo, SND, 24 Curtis
Avenue, Somerville, MA 02144.)
Dollars and Dictators is a 30-minute slideshow on the U.S. role
in Central America-agribusiness, influence in industry and
the media, military and economic aid, loan policies. The show,
narrated in English and Spanish, is designed for those with
some previous knowledge of Central America. (Purchase
price: $65 to individuals and citizen groups; $125 to institu-
tions. Rental: $25 per week. The Resource Center, Box 4726,
Albuquerque, NM 87196.)
In Pursuit of Refuge is a 25-minute slide/tape show featuring
the voices, faces and music of Guatemalan and Salvadorean
refugees. A moving account of their struggles with hunger,
disease and the fear of violence and deportation. (Prices are
same as above. The Resource Center.)
Seeds of Revolution is an award-winning documentary pro-
duced by Howard Enders with assistance from the Institute for
Food and Development Policy. Las Isletas, a successful work-
er-controlled banana cooperative, became the symbol of hope
throughout Central America. When it tried to break Castle &
Cooke’s (Dole) marketing monopoly, the cooperative became
the target of military and corporate attacks. In this film, the
actors speak: corporate and military officers, coop workers,
union leaders and the local priest. (16-mm, also on 3/4″ video
casette, 30-minutes. Purchase: $450, Rental: $50. Institute
for Food and Development Policy, 2588 Mission Street, San
Francisco, CA 94110.)
EL SALVADOR
David Samuel Kruse and Richard Swedberg, El Salvador
Bibliography and Research Guide (Central America Information
Office [CAMINO], 1982). $17 for institutions, $11 for indi-
viduals, paper, 230 pgs. An extremely comprehensive and
useful listing of 2000 bibliographical entries from Spanish and
English-language periodicals, scholarly literature, Salvador-
ean and U.S. government documents. Entries are grouped
thematically in 16 sections on such topics as U.S. policy,
agrarian reform, church, culture, women, etc. An introductory
essay offers guidance on how to do research on El Salvador.
(CAMINO, 1151 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
02138.)
50
El Parcial, El Salvador: La Intervencion Estadounidense (No. 7,
September 1982). Write for price, paper, 125 pgs. Selection of
news and analytical accounts of land reform, U.S. aid, inter-
vention, regionalization, primarily from Mexican and Latin
American press. Mostly in Spanish. (Doris Hermes, Kielortalle
4, 2000 Hamburg 13, West Germany.)
CISCAC, El Salvador: A Dossier (CISCAC, 1981). Australian
$3, paper, 72 pgs. Good, basic pamphlet on origins of revolu-
tion by an Australian solidarity group. Well illustrated.
(CISCAC Publications, GPO Box 5421CC, Melbourne 3001,
Australia.)
Laurence R. Simon, James C. Stephens Jr., 1982 supplement
by Martin Diskin, El Salvador Land Reform 1980-1981 (Oxfam
America, 1982). $5, paper, 61 pgs. Solid analysis of land
reform program, including what has happened after the 1982
elections. Best single source on subject. (Oxfam America, 115
Broadway, Boston, MA 02116.)
Antonio Alvarez-Solis and others, El Salvador: la larga marcha
del pueblo (Editorial Revolucion, 1982). Write for price, paper,
284 pgs. From Spain, basic history of origins of current strug-
gle. Good account of FMLN military strategies and actions; also
good maps. (Editorial Revolucion, Gran Via, 88, Bloque 6, 90,
puerta 3, Madrid-8, Spain.)
NICARAGUA
Tomas Borge, Women and the Nicaraguan Revolution (Path-
finder Press, 1982). $.75, paper, 30 pgs. English translation
of the first major speech on women’s status by a Nicaraguan
government leader since the 1979 triumph. More than just for
Nicaragua watchers, it is an important contribution to the gen-
eral debate for its theses that women’s oppression is rooted in
historic economic dependence on men (pre-dating class ex-
ploitation) and cannot be resolved without changing economic
structures. Thirdly, this process of change is insufficient un-
less accompanied by simultaneous ideological/cultural strug-
gle. (Pathfinder Press, 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014.)
Empar Pineda, ed., La Revolucion Nicaraguense (Editorial
Revolucion, 1980). Write for price, paper, 223 pgs. One of the
earliest in the growing library of key FSLN documents which
help explain the Sandinista struggle. Particularly valuable in
this collection is a description of the Movimiento Pueblo Unido
and its pre-victory program, unification documents of the
FSLN, and clearly enumerated socio-economic data about
Nicaragua during the last years of the Somoza regime. Illus-
trated. (Editorial Revolucion.)
Sandinistas Speak (Pathfinder Press, 1982). $4.95, paper,
160 pgs. Speeches, documents and interviews by five central
leaders of the FSLN: Tomas Borge, Daniel Ortega, Humberto
Ortega, Jaime Wheelock and Carlos Fonseca Amador. Nine
selections include the 1969 FSLN program; a 1969 political-
historical overview by Carlos Fonseca; and key post-triumph
statements on the victory strategy, human rights, religion,
economy and imperialism. The collection concludes with
Borge’s speech at the Second Anniversary and Daniel Ortega’s
1981 address to the United Nations– ‘An Appeal for Justice
and Peace.” (Pathfinder Press.)
Omar Cabezas Lacayo, La montana as algo mas qua una In-
mensa estepa verde (Casa de las Americas, 1982). Write for
price, paper, 255 pgs. Winner of the 1982 Casa de las
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Americas prize for testimonials, this first-person account re-
lives episodes of the anti-Somoza struggle from Comandante
Cabezas’ 1968 entry into the FSLN as an 18-year-old law
graduate. Currently head of policy planning in Nicaragua’s
Ministry of the Interior, Cabezas has written a poetic, humor-
ous, raw, powerful and personal narrative of the pre-insurrec-
tionary period. (Casa de las Americas, 3ra. y G, El Vedado,
Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba.)
Thomas W. Walker, Nicaragua, the Land of Sandino (West-
view, 1981). $20, cloth; $10.95, paper, 137 pgs. Fifth in a
series on contemporary Latin American nations by Westview
and first in an ongoing love affair with Nicaragua by Walker
(see below). Beginning with the pre-Colombian period, the
book moves into a dependency analysis of Nicaragua to help
explain the need for a revolution and the directions it might
take. Obviously impressed by what he saw in the post-victory
flush, Walker’s before and after accounts of culture, society,
economy, etc., form a concise and helpful introduction-par-
ticularly for students and political tourists. (Westview Press,
5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301.)
Thomas W. Walker, ed., Nicaragua in Revolution (Praeger
Special Studies, 1982). $32.95, cloth; $14.95, paper, 410
pgs. A more scholarly and thorough approach to the first year
and a half of Sandinista rule, the period also covered by the
above book. Includes twenty-three contributions on topics in-
cluding the insurrection; post-revolutionary interest groups
(mass organizations, armed forces, working class, women,
churches, news media); revolutionary programs and policies;
and early considerations of the international aspect. Interest-
ing but inevitably uneven, the whole is not more coherent than
the sum of its parts. (Praeger Publishers, 521 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10175.)
And Also Teach Them to Read and Five Months That Changed
a Nation are one-hour video documentaries on Nicaragua’s na-
tional literacy crusade produced by the University of Wisconsin
in cooperation with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education. Part
one examines the social and historical context in which the cru-
sade was conceived and implemented. Part two documents the
process itself. (Available in 1/2 inch VHS and 3/4 inch video
cassette formats. Write for rental or purchase cost: Center for
Latin America, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, PO.
Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201.)
Church and Revolution In Nicaragua is a special supplement
to the November’82 issue of the Canadian Central America Up-
date. This 12-page booklet compiles documents and articles on
the historic role of the Church in the Nicaraguan revolutionary
process. Written by clergy and lay people, sections address
unity and disunity within the Catholic Church, the country’s
Protestants, the Pope and Nicaragua. Useful both to those
interested in events in Nicaragua and in the Church’s role in
social change. ($2.50 single copy, 10-99 copies, 50% discount,
over 100 copies, 60% discount, Central America Update, Box
2207, Station P, Toronto, Canada M5S 2T2.)
MISCELLANEOUS
1980 Yearbook of Labour Statistics (International Labour Of-
fice, 1980). $57, cloth, 687 pgs. Labor statistics for 180 coun-
tries and territories, mostly 1970-79, are presented with
Spanish, French and English text. The 38 tables are by coun-
try and cover employment, unemployment, length of the work-
ing day, wages, consumer prices, industrial accidents and
disputes. A useful index of references and sources sends
those seeking more detail in the right direction. (International
Labour Office, Washington Branch, 1750 New York Avenue,
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, or ILO Publications, ILO,
CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland.)
Michele M. Newman, ed., Researcher’s Guide to Washington
Experts (Washington Researchers, 1982). $75, paper, 645
pgs. A useful listing of 15,000 specialists in the federal gov-
ernment-their area of expertise, location and phone number.
The book is aimed at making the wealth of free information and
analysis culled by the federal government accessible to the
public. By looking up El Salvador, one may, for example, find
the name of experts on minerals, agriculture and commerce, or
desk officers at State and the International Communications
Agency. Spot checks turned up errors in indexing and at least
one wrong telephone number. Fully indexed. (Washington
Researchers, 916 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
20006.)
Paul Wasserman and Jacqueline O’Brien, eds., Statistics
Sources-A Subject Guide to Data on Industrial, Business,
Social, Educational, Financial, and Other Topics for the United
States and Internationally (Gale Research Company, 1982).
$130, cloth-, 1388 pgs. A Selected Bibliography of Key Statis-
tical Sources is followed by 20,000 subject headings, listed
alphabetically, which cite 30,000 print or “live” sources.
Ever wonder about cheese production in Haiti? Use of mules in
Uruguay? This hefty volume can tell you where to turn. (Gale
Research Company, Book Tower, Detroit, MI 48226.)
Alan Wolfe, America’s Impasse: The Rise and Fall of the
Politics of Growth (South End Press, 1981). $8, paper, 293
pgs. U.S. politics since World War II have been based on con-
tinued economic growth, even Reaganomics. Growth, Wolfe
argues, is no longer a viable basis for political ideology and
strategy, hence, the paralysis of U.S. politics. Very stimulat-
ing history and political analysis. (South End Press, 302 Col-
umbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02116.)
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