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Latin America moves left
By Erik Wiesner
ewiesner@mscd.edu

The political landscape of the world has often seemed bleak. That the country we live in represents a shamefully inhumane economic system is one thing; that it and its allies have been able to prop up this capitalist system across the world is a larger issue.

We on the left no longer have the dubious example of the Soviet Union as a sample of the economic possibility of cooperative work toward economic equality. Though the USSR had its own shameful hegemonic tendencies, millions were empowered by its aid and inspiration to cast off the shackles of colonialism, enabling them to experiment with economic models rooted in cooperation instead of exploitation.

For the last fifteen years, even that flicker of hope has been absent from this capitalist dystopia called Earth. Does this mean those with the courage and imagination to dream of a world without the waste of profiteering must now be hopeless? Should we just accept that, as Francis Fukuyama claims, we are at the end of history?

I, for one, know this is not the case. Capitalism has expanded to every corner of the globe, but that doesn’t mean it is victorious. And just because many think that this is a good system does not make it eternal. After all, there was a time when the majority could imagine no system better than agrarian feudalism.

It isn’t enough, however, to possess the vision to see beyond the status quo. If we can envision a better world than this one, we have a moral obligation to try to make that world manifest. This is where the bleakness of modern life sets in: Sometimes this system of hunger, wages, bosses, classes, et al. appears so firmly entrenched that to change it seems futile.

Yes, global capitalism seems to have a vice-like grip on power, but that grip is weakening enormously. The world as we know it is changing, and within our lifetimes we will see the beginning of the end of the system that has defined those lifetimes. Where is this change coming from? This country’s so-called backyard: Latin America.

Over the last decade, enormous changes have occurred in the political reality of Latin America. Men such as Hugo Chavez and Evo Moralez have been elected. Just recently Daniel Ortega was voted back into office in Nicaragua, and now a leftist economist named Rafael Correa is poised to win the presidency of Ecuador. These men and many more people like them are pushing through reforms to feed and house the poor, provide free health care, fight corruption and much more.
This new tendency in Latin America is the direct result of U.S. behavior in a region it once considered a loyal sphere of influence. The people of this hemisphere have tasted “free trade” globalization, and it tastes a lot better than the repressive, imperialistic economic systems imposed on them in the past. In short, they know the system that the United States has tried to push on them stinks, and they have taken it upon themselves to make sure they don’t have to deal with it anymore.

This growing movement of social change throughout Latin America is a ray of hope for those who see the moral corruption of the profit system and its advocates. I have no illusions that the leaders being elected are perfect men or even that they are motivated by anything more than self-interest, but the people of these countries have made their minds up, and anyone in power in Latin America had better do what the people want. It is this movement that will make the way for a better world.

This growing trend in Latin America is exactly what the world needs. We need to question the system in which we live and to examine the reasons people in Latin America have for rejecting it. Let this new movement shine as a beacon to those who know better than to blindly accept the status quo. Capitalism is all about competition, right? Well, now the capitalist concept itself is going to have to compete for its very existence.