Latin America transformed by ethical politics vision
Latin America transformed by ethical politics vision
From Colombia to Argentina, an ethical politics driven by protest movements is shaking up the old economic order
By Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
Published: 20:00 January 26, 2014
In Latin America, as elsewhere, progressive governments of the centre and left struggle with a seemingly intractable dilemma: should the country exploit its natural resources to the fullest, no matter what the consequences or consider ethical questions such as the wellbeing of the natural environment and future generations?
Countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil hope to benefit from the commodity boom in global markets, fuelled by demand in China and elsewhere. At the same time their constitutions, as well as the manifestos of progressive political parties, pledge allegiance to a whole new variety of non- and post-human rights: rights of nature, declarations of inter-generational justice, and the recognition of Amerindian cultures.
~snip~
The British public has responded en masse to the profound spiritual and aesthetic message expressed by the gold objects displayed in the museum. But now it is time to consider the ethical and political implications of that message: not as a relic of the distant past, but because it may contain some of the answers we desperately seek to the most relevant questions of our time. A discussion organised by the Guardian and the British Museum next month aims to do just that with the help of a distinguished panel.
These big questions: Climate change, food security and equality are already being discussed in Latin America thanks to the social movements that are helping to remould politics and political discourse. In these countries both the electoral survival of progressive parties and the continuity of crucial processes of reconciliation and democratisation depend on the support of increasingly active social movements. These often include rural as well as urban campaigners, concerned about the social and environmental devastation caused by global market forces.
More:
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/latin-america-transformed-by-ethical-politics-vision-1.1282494
= new reply since forum marked as read
Wow, that is what is needed HERE very desperately. But before I comment on that part of the article, here is the gold that the paragraph above is talking about:
These cultures (Amerindian) are being celebrated in Beyond El Dorado, an exhibition at the British Museum in London. It includes hundreds of gold objects excavated in the early 20th century; and ceramics and stone necklaces from the Museo del Oro in Bogota which has one of the best collections of pre-Hispanic gold in the world and the British Museum’s unique collections.
(...then...)
The British public has responded en masse to the profound spiritual and aesthetic message expressed by the gold objects displayed in the museum. But now it is time to consider the ethical and political implications of that message: not as a relic of the distant past, but because it may contain some of the answers we desperately seek to the most relevant questions of our time. A discussion organised by the Guardian and the British Museum next month aims to do just that with the help of a distinguished panel.
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/latin-america-transformed-by-ethical-politics-vision-1.1282494
(my emphases)
Thence to the new social contract:
....social movements in the Americas display an attitude that cannot be dismissed simply as backwards or anti-business. They demonstrate a legitimate critical attitude towards the contradictions inherent in processes of globalisation. And rather than withdrawing into some fantasy zone, these movements seek to engage actively with the state and transform the relationship between the state and the people from within.
Progressive agenda
The concept that explains this interdependence between social movements and progressive parties in government goes by the name of “dual power”: the underpinning of vertical state-citizen relations by horizontal social movements, ready to criticise the decisions of the parties they elect on the basis of a commitment to a progressive agenda. This is how the protests that rocked the politics of countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Bolivia last year must be understood: as manifestations of dual power, and expressions of the terms of a new social contract (--) one that includes nature not only as a reservoir of resources but as an agent of politics and of the wellbeing of society.
As far as these movements are concerned, democracy and ethical politics go hand in hand. They discuss the big questions of our time: Climate change, food security, the role of commons, the rights of nature and equality in a political arena that until recently appeared to offer no alternative to the “one size fits all” view of globalisation and the market.
ibid
(my emphases)
Imagine an ethical politics! Imagine a politics that includes nature--our obligations to the planet that gave birth to us and to future generations.
Hard to imagine in the USA.
I agree with the article on the vital importance of the leftist democracy movement in Latin America, which has become so startlingly successful in South America. I am, in truth, continually astonished by what is happening in South America. It is truly a transformation, with leftists winning so many presidential, legislative and other elections, and dominating the continent over the last decade, starting with Chavez's election in Venezuela (in 2000), and the astonishing rescue of his presidency, by the people of Venezuela, from a U.S.-support fascist coup (in 2002).
That, really, was the seminal event of this political revolution and laid the foundation for "dual power" and "a new social contract" that is unfolding in all of these countries. The leaders OWE the People--in Chavez's case, literally owing them his life, as well as his presidency.
Also important was the election of a former steelworker and union organizer, Lula da Silva, in Brazil, later that year, and the quick formation of a Chavez/da Silva alliance, and the election of Nestor Kirchner in Argentina the following year. These three presidents and countries were the nexus of profound political change for the better. They were soon followed by the election of leftist presidents in Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and, eventually, Peru, along with a very near thing in Mexico.*
New accountability between government leaders and "we, the people."
Vast improvements in poverty reduction, income distribution, access to education and health care, and new and expanded public services.
New--and vitally important--activism by the Indigenous, by campesinos and by other environmentalists, who have sometimes come into conflict with some of the new leftist leaders-- whose first priorities are jobs and general prosperity--but who were merely killed, tortured and suppressed by U.S.-supported dictators, as they are, now, in U.S. client states such as Colombia and Honduras. With democracy, the cry of a dying planet can be heard.
A whole new attitude--a revolution--on the part of presidents and other government leaders, who actually seem to believe that government should be "of, by and for the people."
Some of us corporate/bankster victims, slave labor and cannon fodder, in the USA, can remember a time when the U.S. working class had--or thought we had--a social contract with the rich, with the barons of industry and with our elected leaders, for good wages, good working conditions and upward mobility--the legacy of the New Deal--in exchange for our hard work and loyalty. This "social contract," of course, was not "given" to us; it was forged by the blood and tears of generations of organized labor. But it was a reality, demanded by ordinary people, championed by FDR and others, and agreed to, by the rich and powerful, as long as we were useful to them, as long as they had communism threatening their ungodly profits, and as long as they didn't have China, India and other Asian and Asia-Pacific countries, Central and South America, and other places, to run to, for the cheapest labor and least regulation possible.
The rich have ripped up our social contract, and probably the communist principle has come true that labor organizing MUST BE INTERNATIONAL to be effective.
In short, the "social contract"--honest labor in exchange for a decent life and a good society--has to be forged by us all over again. South America is way ahead of us, and would be an inspiration if our people knew about it (which is why the corporate media tells such "Big Lies" about it). Democracy has been born again--in what, two decades ago, would have been considered the least likely of places--South America--an astonishing development.
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*(The U.S. and their local fascist allies took out the leftist leaders in Honduras and Paraguay; El Salvador's, Nicaragua's and Peru's leftist leaders are somewhat compromised by U.S. "free trade for the rich" agreements; the U.S. tried a coup in Bolivia but failed (a solid leftist alliance, led by Chile's Michele Bachelet, came to Bolivia's rescue); Guatemala's leftist president lost the next election to a notorious fascist; Michele Bachelet then lost to a fascist, but has now been re-elected with a more vigorous leftist platform. She will help stabilize this leftist democracy revolution in the region.
(Through all of this--the election of so many leftists, and the U.S./fascist coup attempts (failed or successful)-- a Bush Junta-supported mafia don and primo criminal ruled in Colombia--a country that was a large outlier in the leftist revolution that swept South America. Though labor leaders and other advocates of the poor are still being murdered in Colombia, and though Colombia has one of the worst rich/poor discrepancies in Latin America, Colombia is on a somewhat altered path for the better, with peace talks with the FARC guerillas now occurring in Cuba, and with Colombia's new president, Manual Santos, calling for complete legalization of drugs--a mind-boggling development, except that it is surely driven by corporate plans to gain control of the drug trade through legalization. Uruguay's leftist president oversaw the legalization of marijuana, but made it a state enterprise--a very wise move. The leftists have been otherwise slow to endorse legalization. Bolivia legalized the coca leaf--an Indigenous medicine--but not cocaine. I think they know what Santos' call for legalization is all about, and are pausing, reflectively, over the potential GMO-izing and corporate monopoly of herbal and recreational drugs. That's the true "Plan Colombia," in my opinion: drive the peasant farmers from the land (FIVE MILLION displaced campesinos in Colombia, mostly by the brutal U.S. "war on drugs"
, then take over the land, the resources and the drug trade.) 
