Latin America - A Shade of Red

The Pink Tide is the name of the leftist movement that has risen to power throughout Latin America since 1999, with the election of one progressive President after another (Painter, 2005). But is the tide of progressivism still alive a decade later?

There have certainly been many positive steps in the past ten years.

In Bolivia their charismatic President Mr Evo Morales has broken one barrier after another. From his outspoken support for the rights and interests of the indigenous peoples, such as the Cochabamba protests (Kohl & Farthing, 2006), where Mr Morales gave what has become continuing support to the coca growers; to famous sweaters and passionate speeches on the environment (Vidal, 2010), his presidency has been a progressive step for the representation of indigenous peoples in modern politics.

Meanwhile in Brazil the country has been undergoing massive regeneration programs, the jewel in the presidency of the now former President Mr 'Lula' da Silva, around the objective of 'Fome Zero'. One of the ways in which Brazil has sought to bring about these radical social programs has been through the shrewd economic policies of Mr da Silva. The state in Brazil has worked to increase it's stake in the oil industry; using the funds generated to underpin it's redistributive work (Sarmiento, 2009).

In Venezuela socialism has been backed by a very strong mandate since Mr Chavez was elected back in 1998, seeing victories in the large majority of provinces being maintained across several elections (McDermott, 2008). Once elected Mr Chavez brought in a new constitution that ensured the rights of many and has since participated in numerous elections, with even the the heated 2004 recall election process receiving the backing of independent observers for the way in which it was conducted (Carter Center, 2005).

However socialism, along with democracy, is still facing difficulties. For instance it has been observed that the 'oil nationalism' that funds a number of Brazilian regeneration policies also weakens ties with other nations. It has been suggested that this might be taken as protectionism; something that could reduce the pool of funds available for public works since foreign investment is reduced (Sarmiento, 2009).

In Bolivia, even Mr Morales has not been able to avoid the Latin America wide problems in the mining industry. As the rights and conditions for miners have hit headlines globally, so in Bolivia too there have been street protests with claims that Mr Morales has forsaken miners (Carroll & Schipani, 2010).

And incidents such as the ongoing issue of the decree powers enabled for Venezuelan President Mr Hugo Chavez (Cawthorne & Ore, 2011) have only served to weaken the world's perceptions of Latin American democracy.

The South American nations believe these issues can be challenged and all of these strengths can be supported through a strong community. An example of this cooperative spirit between the nations across Latin America is the Bank of the South. Founded by 7 nations in 2009 (MercoPress, 2009) it has sought to solidify those national friendships into a supportive community. More than that it also presents an image of solidarity for the world's perceptions.

In particular the perceptions of the United States have have been very important to how Latin America is able to prosper. It has in the past spent a lot of time and energy on ensuring that the Americas would be their unchallenged sphere of influence, essentially for self-defence; all they seemed to have achieved however is supplanting the old world powers. How the United States addresses relations with its neighbours in the long term will have a telling effect upon the outcome of this reshaping of socialism.

As Maxwell A. Cameron put it in the Guardian back in 2006:

'In light of the Chavez victory, one can only hope that Thomas Shannon, US assistant secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, is sincere when he says that "regime change" is not part of his vocabulary. The US reaction to the victory of Chavez will be a test of whether the US can live peaceably and cooperatively with a region, long seen as its backyard, that has moved sharply out of its orb of influence.'

The Latin American Libertadores fought united across South and into Central America; now those nations again stand united as they seek to achieve the independence and self-determination for 'Columbia' that they have sought for since the Republic of Haiti got the ball rolling in 1804.

For me socialism, with its history of espousing solidarity and community, is not a surprising ideology to find having new life breathed into it in South America. As previously mentioned, theorists believe that the global financial crisis provides a heavy impetus for people to back increasingly anti-capitalist politics. Discontent in Latin America with US backed free market agendas (Martinez, 2006) can only serve as a further catalyst to such movements if they accomplish long term progressive goals.

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References:
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+ James Painter's 'South America's leftward sweep'; March 2005;

+ Benjamin Kohl & Linda Farthing's 'Impasse in Bolivia: Neoliberal Hegemony and Popular Resistance'; Zed Books, 2006.

+ John Vidal's 'Bolivia's defiant leader sets radical tone at Cancun climate talks'; December 2010;

+ Salvador Sarmiento & John Feffer's 'Oil Nationalism in Latin America'; September 2009;

+ Jeremy McDermott's 'Hugo Chavez declares Venezuela polls a victory for Bolivarian socialism'; November 2008;

+ The Carter Center's Observing the Venezuela Presidential Recall Referendum: Comprehensive Report; February 2005;

+ Rory Carroll & Andres Schipani's 'Tourists brea free of Bolivian protest'; August 2010;

+ Andrew Cawthorne & Diego Ore's 'Venezuela's Chavez may cut short decree rule'; January 2011;

+ MercoPress' 'South American leaders sign agreement creating South Bank; September 2009;

+ Maxwell A. Cameron's 'Pink tide rising'; December 2006;

+Nadia Martinez's 'Bolivia: Moving to the Left'; February 2006;