Guardian UK: The transformation of Latin America is a global advance

Nearly two centuries after it won nominal independence and Washington declared it a backyard, Latin America is standing up. The tide of progressive change that has swept the continent for the past decade has brought to power a string of social democratic and radical socialist governments that have attacked social and racial privilege, rejected neoliberal orthodoxy and challenged imperial domination of the region.

Its significance is often underestimated or trivialised in Europe and North America. But along with the rise of China, the economic crash of 2008 and the demonstration of the limits of US power in the "war on terror", the emergence of an independent Latin America is one of a handful of developments reshaping the global order. From Ecuador to Brazil, Bolivia to Argentina, elected leaders have turned away from the IMF, taken back resources from corporate control, boosted regional integration and carved out independent alliances across the world.

Both the scale of the transformation and the misrepresentation of what is taking place in the western media are driven home in Oliver Stone's new film, South of the Border, which allows six of these new wave leaders to speak for themselves. Most striking is their mutual support and common commitment – from Cristina Kirchner of Argentina to the more leftist Evo Morales – to take back ownership of their continent.

Two crucial votes in the next few weeks will put the future of this process to the test. The first are parliamentary elections in Venezuela, whose Bolivarian revolution has been at the cutting edge of Latin America's renewal since Hugo Chávez was first elected president in 1998. For all his popularity at home, Chávez has been the target for a campaign of vilification and ridicule throughout the US, European and elite-controlled Latin American media – which has little to do with his high-octane rhetoric and much more with his effectiveness in using Venezuela's oil wealth to challenge US and corporate power across the region. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/18/latin-america-venezuela-brazil-elections

this amazing leftist democracy revolution. Are we so far gone that we can't recognize our own ideals of democratic representation, fair elections, fair trade, fair wages, a "level playing field," a decent life for all, equality, universal education, independence, sovereignty, peace and government of, by and for everybody?

Our only friends in Latin America are the few remaining rightwing oligarchies and the worse they are (Colombia), the more the U.S. props them up with billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars with which to oppress their own people.

Our government continues to egregiously violate our own beliefs and desires as a people, in U.S. Latin American foreign policy, including the Pentagon's efforts to militarize the region and the State Department's efforts to bully and bludgeon obeisance to U.S. multinationals and war profiteers, while the U.S. winks at or abets the most hideous oppression, and slanders and reviles the most democratic governments in the region. The U.S. has been funding rightwing groups--including coup mongers and thugs--throughout Latin America. We might expect this from the Bush Junta, but, guess what? The Obama administration has been doing exactly the same thing. Absolutely nothing has changed. And if our government keeps this up, they are going to permanently alienate the powerhouse region of the 21st century--the most dynamic DEMOCRATIC region on earth, and the region at the leading edge of social justice, equality and world peace, not to mention a region with vast natural resources--oil (in vast abundance), gas, lithium, minerals, fresh water, forests, biological diversity--and a region that has become increasingly responsive to Indigenous wisdom about Mother Earth.

Of course, the latter--the resources--are one of the reasons that our government is SO WRONG in Latin America. Our government, which blathers about democracy, actually serves multinational corporations that want those resources at any cost in life and liberty to the people of Latin America. And if our government keeps serving these bastards, WE will become the pariah of the western hemisphere in addition to having become hated around the world for horribly unjust war, torture, the ripping up of human rights conventions and disgusting lying and hypocrisy.

U.S. policy in Latin America is a symptom of the demise of our own democracy, and a pointer to how much work we have to do HERE, to restore the ideals and objectives of a decent society. We would do well to look to Latin America as to how to do this, for they have overcome decades of horrible oppression at the hands of rightwing forces in collusion with the U.S., to reach the point where their democracies--and, in many cases, their economies--are in much better shape than our own. The lessons that I see in Latin America's democracy revolution are these:

1. Transparent elections.
2. Grass roots organization.
3. Think big.

Our elections have become completely non-transparent--run by private corporations with 'TRADE SECRET' code--not to mention filthily corrupt. Restoring transparent vote counting must be our first priority.

Our grass roots organization got dealt a severe blow with Stolen Election II (2004) and is only just recovering, and we haven't been strong on grass roots organization for a very long time. We need to become citizens again, and join together to restore our voice and our will as a people.

And if we keep "thinking small" and asking for "trickle down" and getting less than nothing from our corporate rulers and the super-rich and don't start THINKING BIG--thinking, for instance: pull their corporate charters, dismantle them and seize their assets for the common good--then we are never going to get anywhere with serious reform. We are quickly becoming these multinational corporations' latest "third world" basketcase. We are not democratic. We are not independent. The peoples' will is not done here. And the "free market"--a healthy, fair, competitive marketplace--is non-existent. What we have are monstrous monopolies with all wealth and power concentrated into a few hands. We need to think big. We need to think of, and strategize toward, throwing these destroyers of the common good off our backs.

Our oppressors hate the Chavez government and (unspoken but true) the people of Venezuela more than anybody in Latin America, because they have been the avantgarde of the above three rules. They attended to their election system and consequently elected a government that acts in their interest, and they furthermore peacefully turned back a U.S. supported rightwing coup against them. They did this with grass roots organization--not by any bogeyman "dictator."

And, by God, they have thought big. They have thought of, and done, what we can only dream of--punching Exxon Mobil in the nose, ridding their country of the failed, corrupt, murderous U.S. "war on drugs," achieving universal free medical care and free college education for the poor, and inspiring a whole continent to peacefully rebel against multinational corporate oppression and "free trade for the rich."

They have furthermore done this while fostering spectacular growth in the private sector (2003 to 2008), in Venezuela, ending up with good credit, low debt, high employment and high cash reserves with which to face the Bushwhacks' Great Depression. The countries that landed on their feet in this economic debacle are the ones that most adamantly spurned U.S. economic dictates--Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil. Venezuela and Brazil in particular have been able to help others, with innovative ideas like the Bank of the South (throwing the World Bank out of the region), and the UNASUR and ALBA trade groups (alternatives to U.S. "free trade for the rich" agreements). They are now talking about replacing the OAS with a regional organization that does not include the U.S. as a member. Why? Well, ask yourself THAT, and you will begin to understand how thoroughly the U.S. government has blown the opportunity to be PARTNERS in the creation of a peaceful, democratic, prosperous western hemisphere.

Because democracy, freedom and self-determination are just about dead here.