(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"I am a socialist and I know that we will reach a new society through gradual (political) conquests." This is what Frei Betto, Dominican priest and special adviser to President Lula da Silva in Brazil, says. In the autumn of 2002, the Brazilian Labor Party, NPT, won the presidential election with Lula as its candidate and with the support of several other parties. The change of power in the world's eighth largest economy, and Lula's plan "fome zero" – zero hunger – which will provide food and a better everyday life to 44 million poor Brazilians, has become a turning point for many on the left. You can see that it works: "The choice of Lula is proof that it is possible to get into the state's structures to make changes," says Frei Betto in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País.
Brazil is not alone, but is bigger and stronger than other left-wing countries. And even though NPT does not control the majority in parliament or the majority of Brazil's states, they are beginning to notice the shift in power: In Brazil, up to one million families have received help to get out of hunger and absolute poverty, according to Betto. In Latin America and North America, negotiations on the US Free Trade Agreement ALCA (FTAA with its English initials) have taken a new turn with Lula as co-president of the negotiations: Brazil and other countries have demanded changes that, if they become followed, will make the deal not the kind of home contract that George Bush senior and junior and their business-related administrations had intended. Or possibly the agreement will not become a reality at all. Globally, Brazil's new political courses, regional leadership and international self-esteem have also been felt: At the WTO Summit in Cancun, Mexico, cooperation between Brazil and South Africa was a major reason why the G20 group managed to hold together, that India was not isolated and the group actually grew and refused to accept the neoliberal demands of the rich minority.
Previous attempts stifled
Brazil is neither the first nor the last Latin American country with a left-wing government, but perhaps it is the first that can create lasting change, and that can provide support to other countries so that they also change the map so that it matches the terrain of reality. Previous attempts have been stifled: In 1954, the socialist government in Guatemala was overthrown by the military and landowners. On September 11, 1973, Salvador Allende's Marxist government in Chile was overthrown in a bloody coup inspired by international capital interests and carried out by, among others, General Augusto Pinochet. In July 1979, the left, the Sandinista party FSLN, came to power in Nicaragua on a wave of popular opposition to the Somoza family's corruption and terror. The Sandinistas launched massive campaigns for education and health, and among other things managed to reduce illiteracy from 50 to 13 percent. In 1984, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega won the presidential election with 67 percent of the vote. But Ronald Reagan's USA did not want people to get a taste of justice right in the neighborhood, and undermined the socialist dream through massive support for Contras – rebel soldiers with a background from the Somoza regime. After years of American economic boycott and civil war, the dream came true.
In 1983, a left-wing regime in Granada was deposited through direct US military intervention. And in 50 years, the United States has systematically countered Fidel Castro's Cuba through invasion attempts, boycotts, pressures and indirect support for terrorist actions, making the socialist island today a one-party regime in economic trouble and with its back against the wall, yet with one of the world's best public health systems.
Brazil will not be exposed to either bargaining or intervention, and in recent years several countries and cities in Latin America have been won by the left. The world's largest city, Mexico City, has for a number of years been ruled by the Left Socialist Party PRD. Brazilian Porto Alegre with its PT mayor has taken the globalization-critical movements under its wings and hosted the World Social Forum for three years in a row. In Uruguay, the left-wing alliance Frente Amplio controls the capital Montevideo, and is poised to win clearly in the parliamentary and presidential elections in autumn 2004. In El Salvador, in March, the FMLN won the 2003 capital of San Salvador for the third consecutive term, despite a massive campaign by the presidential party ARENA. And 26. October 2003 won the Left Alliance PDI election in Colombia's capital, the seven-millionth city of Bogota. Former union leader and ex-Communist Party member Lucho Garzon will rule the heart of the civil war army where the US military is heavily involved in the fight against leftist guerrillas.
Bolivarian circles
If it works in Bogota, it works everywhere. In the oil nation of Venezuela, the left has power with General and President Hugo Chavez in the lead and in a rare alliance with the country's army. Gradually, "Bolivarian circles" are built up to organize the country's inhabitants to build a better society for all and to strengthen democratic participation. To the outside world, it is still unclear what is really going on in Venezuela, which one can probably thank the privately owned media for; an Irish documentary (shown on NRK) has documented how the media, owned by people with strong economic interests in Venezuela not becoming socialist, actively participated in the coup attempt against Chavez in the spring of 2002, with forgery of television images and withholding information. These channels deliver their images to the rest of the world, and are in a confusing contradiction to the state channels' version.
In Ecuador, leftist Lucio Gutierrez won the 2002 presidential election, and came to power with the support of five leftist parties, including the large indigenous Pachacutik movement. Many have been disappointed that his policies have not turned in the same direction as Chavez´ in Venezuela; On the contrary, Gutierrez has continued to liberalize the country's economy and cooperates closely with US governing powers, including in his stance on the conflict in Colombia. Pachacutik withdrew its support to the government in the fall of 2003, and there is confusion among the left parties.
In Bolivia, the socialist party MAS and the movements of coca farmers and indigenous peoples came into the media for the first time before the presidential and parliamentary elections on June 30, 2002. The leader of MAS, Evo Morales, and the indigenous leader Felipe Quispe mobilized a massive protest against the established parties. By then, the people of Cochabamba had already won the battle against the privatization of Bolivian waters. Morales and Quispe together received greater support than "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada, who was elected president by the parliamentary right-wing majority in a second round of elections; if no one gets a clear majority in the first round, Bolivia's parliament elects the president. Morales is seen as a threat to the world's establishment, and was denied entry to the WTO summit in Cancun in September 2003.
Shortly afterwards, the popular uprising in Bolivia began, targeting the government's plans to cheaply export gas to Chile. Coincidentally, Bolivia's president had interests in the energy-intensive mining industry in both Bolivia and Chile… Following protests by miners, trade unions and Indians, and after the massacres of about 100 protesters, the president was forced to resign. It does not in itself mean major political changes in the country but is a warning of something new: The popular movements have become so strong and so determined that they can no longer be suppressed, or eaten away with silver money. They can overthrow governments, and thus they must be taken into account.
Will decide for yourself
In South America, a new form of socialism is taking shape: Its most important characteristic is autonomy – the right to self-determination. It is based much more on the right of Latin American countries to decide for themselves and to secure the needs of their citizens, than in traditional Marxist analysis. Venezuela is at the forefront of this: The Bolivarianism that President Chavez has developed is inspired by the liberation from Spain that Simon Bolivar achieved during the first two decades of the 1800th century for the countries of the Andes, and which Venezuela today demands to get from the United States and US equity interests.
Chavez and his party, V. Republica, are developing alternatives to the US proposed free trade agreement ALCA. The Bolivarian alternative focuses on the countries' right to self-determination, the right to defend their unique interests against, among others, multinational companies, and the right to "food sovereignty" – a concept that is about to replace "food security" in international debate. Among the Venezuelan proposals is the creation of a Latin American oil company, which will work for the Latin American countries' common interests in refining and selling oil, including from Venezuela and Colombia, and which will be a serious threat to today's American companies such as Texaco; Venezuela's petroleum is currently exported mainly to the United States, and re-exported at a higher price as fuel to the countries of Central and South America… ..
Venezuela's constitution, passed by referendum, also sets the direction for new South American socialism: The common right of the population to basic resources is constitutional, it is not possible to privatize water resources, and the state has the right to a strong control over the extraction and sale of oil resources. Indigenous peoples' rights have been strengthened and education is being invested heavily.
Others follow suit
Other South American countries follow Venezuela and Brazil (and with a carefully expressed respect for Cuba), but not with a publicly declared left-wing socialism. Their focus is precisely the right of self-determination, and to find alternatives to neoliberalism. Argentina is the foremost example of a country that was almost bankrupted overnight by market liberalism. The country's new president Nestor Kirchner has developed a close relationship with Brazil's Lula, and the countries' trade cooperation is growing. Paraguay's new president, the journalist and lawyer Nicanor Duarte, has taken similar steps and warned against the consequences of neoliberalism. In his inaugural ceremony in the summer of 2003, nine Latin American heads of state, including Lula, Kirchner, Chavez and Fidel Castro, were present. The President of the United States glittered with his absence, perhaps he was not invited?
The countries in the south are now aiming for a long-established, but so far forgotten, trade cooperation: Mercosur, which allows countries in the region (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) to expand trade between themselves without going via the US. There is talk of expanding Mercosur to the Andes region (Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela), and Cuba has signed a number of special agreements with both Brazil and Argentina to give them better access to this particular market.
And now remains Central America. Several choices in the years to come will show which way this strip of land under the wings of the American eagle will choose. In March 2003, the FMLN won the El Salvador parliamentary and local elections. In March 2004, they can win the presidential power with their historic leader Schafik Handal in the lead. In November 2006, Nicaragua can stand in line, with a strong FSLN (the Sandinists) and with a fragmented and corruption-ridden right regime whose godfather, former President Arnoldo Aleman, is in custody on charges of manslaughter. In the meanwhile, elections will also be held in Panama (May 2004). There lies a center-left candidate to win the presidential election.
Neighboring Costa Rica has already joined those who criticize neoliberalism, through its membership of the G20 + during and after the WTO summit. In Guatemala, the leftist parties ANN and URNG have some time left to go, just seven years after the URNG was transformed from armed guerrillas to political parties. But through the country's uniquely comprehensive peace treaties, the Mayan people have for the first time been recognized the right to use and further develop their language and culture, and a large number of rights were established that the social movements must now fight to achieve.
For those on the left in Europe who had doubted that it was possible, just say: Look at Latin America. Here is a new socialism, step by step! It is fragile, and strong forces are doing everything they can to prevent it, but people have had enough of the worst excesses of globalized capitalism, giving Latin American socialism a chance. Here everyone is welcome to join!
