SOUTH AMERICA IS THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT! PART 1

So the administration has lately been trying to stoke fear about Iran, in a rather inept fashion, (remember the days when they could stoke fear with the best of them?). But if I had to guess, I’m betting what’s really making the neo-cons antsy is a nation much closer to home. Venezuela. Well, add Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Nicaragua, Uruguay. Nation after nation in South America is casting out oppressive governments and the entrenched elites which have dominated for hundreds of years. They are rejecting the neo-liberal, free-market (for some) ideologies which have bankrupted their countries and thrown millions into poverty. They are electing men and women of humble origins, and instituting policies actually supported by the people (one day America). And for the first time in recent American history, there’s absolutely nothing the U.S. can do about it.

For the last hundred years, South America has mostly followed the same general pattern. Business interests in the States have worked with the mostly hereditary upper classes in these nations at the expense of the working classes. In exchange for the military and political support of the U.S., these leaders generally followed the geopolitical directives of our country, and provided U.S. businesses with numerous tax breaks and incentives, promising not to interfere with their desire to exploit the cheap labor of their nation with any “red tape.”

This process accelerated in the 1970s and 80s, as western nations began to push “neo-liberal” economic principles. The label neo-liberal is misleading and refers to what we think of as conservative “classically liberal (yeah it makes no sense)” economics, including free-trade, deregulation, privatization, etc. Multinational corporations, along with the International Monetary Fund, pressured Latin American leaders to drastically cut public expenditures on health care, transportation, and education, among other things, and create a deregulated business environment for the benefit of global businesses. So while much of the population plunged into poverty, and was denied any access to social services, multinationals rushed in to take advantage of rock-bottom labor prices, low taxes and no oversight. Since regulations concerning capital flight had also been eliminated (those cumbersome regulations!) corporations were then allowed to leave the country when other opportunities presented themselves, taking the nations assets with them and leaving behind a brutally raped and pillaged economy. These corporations could also play countries against each other, making it impossible for unions to from and resist.

But unlike the U.S. where the wrath of the working classes has been easily diverted toward homosexuals, Muslims and Mexicans, South America decided to resist. In 1998 Venezuelans elected Hugo Chavez, the son of two school-teachers born in the poor rural regions of the country. In nine years, Chavez has altered the country, taking the oil wealth and investing in neighborhoods and towns which had been ignored for decades. He nationalized the oil company, and profits now go to schools, rural doctors and housing.

And while U.S. media has largely portrayed this spending as Chavez buying the support of the poor while consolidating power, Chavez has actually put power in the hands of the people themselves. One of the first actions of the government was a campaign to battle illiteracy, which has now been largely eliminated. A new constitution was written with input coming from the people themselves. The illiterate were taught how to read the constitution and people across the nation were informed of their rights versus the government. Community organizations were formed and grants from the government were given directly to local communities, which prevented corruption and allowed the people in a given neighborhood to decide what their most pressing needs were. Poverty has been severely reduced, and Chavez is now working with other nations around the area. For example, the country sends oil to Cuba in exchange for doctors, who are opening free clinics in the Venezuelan countryside (can you really imagine the U.S. using its oil profits in this way?) The military was sent across the country to help with infrastructure problems, such as construction or the repair of a fishing vessel. Here are some summaries of what’s happening.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=368302323300507208 No Volveran documentary, clearly from a certain point of view, but does a good job explaining the

programs instituted

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144

http://thetake.org/index.cfm?page_name=synopsis

Of course naturally, the U.S. quickly began to take notice…