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29866: Arthur (news) Latin America (and the Caribbean?) Longing for Another World (fwd)
From: Charles Arthur <charlesarthur@hotmail.com>
Note: this article mentions René Préval's victory in the presidential elections
in early 2006, and situates it in the context of the election of an array of
centre-left governments in the hemisphere.
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:
Latin America Longing for Another World
Gustavo González
SANTIAGO, Jan 16 (IPS) - The presidential swearing-in ceremonies of former
guerrilla Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and left-winger Rafael Correa in Ecuador
in the run-up to the 7th World Social Forum (WSF) are a graphic illustration of
profound political changes in a Latin America that longs to see another world.
Today, Latin America is the region closest to fulfilling the emblematic slogan
of the WSF, "Another World Is Possible", in the light of the wave of electoral
speeches that put neoliberal globalisation and U.S. hegemony in the dock in
2006.
However, when the time comes for these changes to find expression in terms of
more political power for social movements, analysts offer a wide range of
opinions, and both sceptics and enthusiasts often have their own axe to grind.
Latin American delegations will probably be the smallest among the 150,000
activists from over 100 countries expected to arrive in Nairobi for the first
WSF to be held in Africa from Jan. 20 to 25.
The distance and cost of reaching the Kenyan capital will prevent
non-governmental organisations and other groups representing Latin American
civil society from sending large numbers of delegates to this 7th Forum,
created as an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an
annual meeting of powerful business and political élites.
However, Latin America will no doubt be frequently cited in Nairobi as a
concrete example of popular resistance to the unipolar world and its dominant
economic model since the early 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, based on
free trade at any cost, and fiscal balance as a magic economic management
formula.
Among the political events of 2006, the reelection of right-winger Álvaro Uribe
in Colombia and the controversial victory of conservative Felipe Calderón in
Mexico were victories for candidates friendly to the U.S. George W. Bush
administration.
Washington could also be glad of the defeat of nationalist Ollanta Humala in
Perú by social democrat Alan García, who nevertheless can claim a place in the
broad regional map of the centre-left.
Correa and Ortega were the last left-wing leaders to be elected in a year that
also saw the reelections of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva in Brazil, the victory of socialist Michelle Bachelet over rightwing
business owner Sebastián Pińera, and the inauguration of indigenous leader Evo
Morales's government in Bolivia.
In Haiti, the region's poorest country, René Préval's victory in the
presidential elections in early 2006 was another setback for Bush, whose
government backed a coup against democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in February 2004.
Heavily weighted to the centre-left, the South American political map has
included the Tabaré Vázquez administration in Uruguay since 2005 and that of
Néstor Kirchner in Argentina since 2004, while in Paraguay former bishop
Fernando Lugo, an admirer of Chávez, looks like a possible winner of the
presidential elections in 2008.
The Venezuelan president leads a movement towards "21st-century socialism", and
Ortega and Correa have joined his proposal for a Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas (ALBA), a response to the Initiative for the Americas launched in 1990
by then U.S. president George Bush, father of the current president.
ALBA is also supported by Presidents Fidel Castro of Cuba and Morales of
Bolivia, while members of the so-called "pragmatic left", like Lula da Silva,
helped to sink the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the flagship of
Washington's policy towards the region since the 1990s.
Over and beyond categorisations that would label Lula, Bachelet and Vázquez as
the "pragmatic left", as against the "radical left" personified by Chávez,
Morales and now Correa, nearly all these governments are at odds with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), as demonstrated by the presidents of Brazil
and Argentina.
Chávez, Morales and Kirchner are frequently depicted as the standard-bearers of
"neo-populism", but according to French political scientist and historian Eric
Toussaint, Lula, with his aid programmes for the poor, is more populist than
Chávez.
The increasingly marked turn to the left in Latin America has made it once
again a laboratory for social and political experiments, where expert analysts,
especially European ones, produce a wide range of opinions but have not
clarified the role being played by civil society movements.
Chávez is a typical example of these different assessments. Some call him an
"egalitarian strongman" and praise the pro-government April 13 Movement as the
catalyst of popular participation initiatives through community activities such
as checking drinking water quality, self-built housing, provision of basic
services and promoting agrarian reform.
But at the same time the Venezuelan leader is seen as a "personalist
strongman", who, while radicalising the Bolivarian revolution by nationalising
strategic industries, cannot withstand the temptation of "indefinite
reelection" and a single party system, which places him closer to the failed
bureaucracy of "20th century communism" than to "21st century socialism."
Shortly before Lula's reelection, Toni Negri and Giuseppe Cocco, Italian
theorists of "alternative social movements", criticised the "exaggeratedly
nationalist" character of the governments of Chávez and Morales in an interview
published by Argentine newspaper Página 12.
In contrast, they praised the governments of Brazil and Argentina for their
responsible attitude in confronting the IMF and the Paris Club (which reviews
and coordinates foreign debt), and for promoting the development of social
movements such as trade unions and human rights organisations.
Negri and Cocco believed it would be desirable for the two largest South
American countries, and especially Brazil, to move closer to ALBA, so that Lula
"may learn from Bolivarian initiatives", while the overly nationalistic aspects
of the experiences of Chávez, and perhaps Evo Morales, might be watered down.
Dialogue between the new left-wing governments and social movements is not
easy, as shown by the conflicts Morales faces in Bolivia, or the persistent
movement for democratising education which is a permanent challenge to Bachelet
in Chile.
For now, it can be concluded that neoliberal globalisation is facing determined
opposition in Latin America on macroeconomic issues, and that this opposition
includes demands made by the "Another World" movement, such as criticism of
free trade and the need to review foreign debt.
As Correa rightly said in his inaugural speech as the new president of Ecuador
on Monday, "the night of neoliberalism is passing". The challenge now is for
social movements to claim the dawn. (END/2007)
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