t is clearly visible: an electoral Left is on the rise in South America. Hugo Chavez perseveres in Venezuela; Lula, Gutierrez and Kirchner have won the presidencies in Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina; and Evo Morales’ popularity is on the rise in Bolivia. The hopes of many for greater freedom and equality are being carried on their ability to employ State power to meet these ends. Their rise to power is made visible not only by the corporate media but also by the prominence given to them within major Left venues such as the World Social Forum.

But there is another Left on the rise in South America as well. It is a Left that seeks to change the world without taking power, a Left that is almost invisible to the gaze of the corporate media and that has been pushed to the periphery of events such as the World Social Forum: the autonomous Left.

In order to make the invisible visible we are organizing an Autonomous Social Movements Caravan. Delegates from
Argentina and Brazil will be touring through the Eastern US between October 20 and November 24 to build interest in, and
support between, autonomous social movements and activists throughout the Americas.

The caravan will also serve to instigate and support organizing against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Ministerial in Miami (Nov.17-21) and to close the School of the Americas (SOA/WHISC, Nov. 21-24, Fort Benning, GA).

Through creative presentations the caravan will highlight connections between the FTAA/capitalist globalization and US
global military domination: often called the "new face of colonialism."