Our Neighbors to the South
The death of irony has been greatly exaggerated. The prime example of my bold assertion would have to be what is going on in Washington, DC with respect to immigration reform and what is going on (and has been going on for several years now) in Latin America.
Congress is trying to decide whether to build a concrete and steel wall along the Mexican border replete with armed guards and irritable dogs to keep out immigrants and to criminalize each and every undocumented worker already in the US and every US citizen who renders them assistance of any kind, or whether to place a small doorway in that concrete and steel wall in order to let in 450,000 workers to pick our produce, wash our dishes, care for our children, house, and yards, and to fine each and every undocumented worker already in the US, make them pay back taxes and learn English so that they can become productive citizens. Tough choice.
Meanwhile, Latin America has been busy with other issues, as pointed out in Mexico's La Jornada.
Far from having fallen into disuse, as the local neo-liberal theorists imagined, the idea of national sovereignty has resurfaced with renewed vigor, and has been central to winning back control of governments in Caracas, Brasilia, Buenos Aires and La Paz. All that remains to be seen, is how the new government of Michelle Bachelet in Chile will align her nation within the region. How events unfold also depends on the results of elections that will take place in Peru and in Mexico this year, in April and July respectively, and which could bring about changes in the foreign policies of both countries.
Current conditions in this hemisphere are without precedent. Never before has American hegemony in its backyard been so widely questioned by the subcontinent, and within full view of Washington’s own politicians. And never in the history of Latin America, have so many governments – in unison - exercised their powers in open disagreement with the White House.
And there is something else to consider … In no other moment of recent history has the United States been seen on the world stage in such a weakened condition. It is militarily and politically bogged down by a criminal war without future in Iraq. Its hegemony in Asia is lost. Its lectures on democracy are rendered moot by atrocities committed by its own military and intelligence corps in various parts of the world. Domestically, its government has been discredited by corruption, inefficiency and mendacity. Washington has lost any room to maneuver, after so many decades of being allowed to line up Latin American leaders and to have them replaced with bloody dictators.
It seems obvious, then, that an invaluable opportunity has presented itself, for the nations of Latin America to define, in a sovereign manner, the methods of their own development. It is a chance for them to dedicate themselves to reducing the abysmal poverty that divides the miserable majority from the prosperous elite, and to recuperate their plundered and privatized national resources, which will further the process of regional integration and permit them to form a united bloc; that is, under conditions far much more favorable to the global economy. [Emphasis added]
How ironic: the poor, backward folks of Latin America are heavily into nation-changing, nation-building steps forward into the 21st Century of globalisation. The superpower to their north is busy trying to figure out how to keep the pesky brown people out (except for those necessary to maintain a certain quality of life for those who can afford it) so as not to pollute the culture.
Congress is trying to decide whether to build a concrete and steel wall along the Mexican border replete with armed guards and irritable dogs to keep out immigrants and to criminalize each and every undocumented worker already in the US and every US citizen who renders them assistance of any kind, or whether to place a small doorway in that concrete and steel wall in order to let in 450,000 workers to pick our produce, wash our dishes, care for our children, house, and yards, and to fine each and every undocumented worker already in the US, make them pay back taxes and learn English so that they can become productive citizens. Tough choice.
Meanwhile, Latin America has been busy with other issues, as pointed out in Mexico's La Jornada.
Far from having fallen into disuse, as the local neo-liberal theorists imagined, the idea of national sovereignty has resurfaced with renewed vigor, and has been central to winning back control of governments in Caracas, Brasilia, Buenos Aires and La Paz. All that remains to be seen, is how the new government of Michelle Bachelet in Chile will align her nation within the region. How events unfold also depends on the results of elections that will take place in Peru and in Mexico this year, in April and July respectively, and which could bring about changes in the foreign policies of both countries.
Current conditions in this hemisphere are without precedent. Never before has American hegemony in its backyard been so widely questioned by the subcontinent, and within full view of Washington’s own politicians. And never in the history of Latin America, have so many governments – in unison - exercised their powers in open disagreement with the White House.
And there is something else to consider … In no other moment of recent history has the United States been seen on the world stage in such a weakened condition. It is militarily and politically bogged down by a criminal war without future in Iraq. Its hegemony in Asia is lost. Its lectures on democracy are rendered moot by atrocities committed by its own military and intelligence corps in various parts of the world. Domestically, its government has been discredited by corruption, inefficiency and mendacity. Washington has lost any room to maneuver, after so many decades of being allowed to line up Latin American leaders and to have them replaced with bloody dictators.
It seems obvious, then, that an invaluable opportunity has presented itself, for the nations of Latin America to define, in a sovereign manner, the methods of their own development. It is a chance for them to dedicate themselves to reducing the abysmal poverty that divides the miserable majority from the prosperous elite, and to recuperate their plundered and privatized national resources, which will further the process of regional integration and permit them to form a united bloc; that is, under conditions far much more favorable to the global economy. [Emphasis added]
How ironic: the poor, backward folks of Latin America are heavily into nation-changing, nation-building steps forward into the 21st Century of globalisation. The superpower to their north is busy trying to figure out how to keep the pesky brown people out (except for those necessary to maintain a certain quality of life for those who can afford it) so as not to pollute the culture.
posted by Diane at 12:44 PM
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