Abstract, Sodré and the Dialectics of Brazil’s Social Formation

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Sodré and the Dialectics of Brazil’s Social Formation

by Marcos Del Roio

In the early 1960s, Nelson Werneck Sodré developed a complex and sophisticated theory of Brazilian reality and its historical dynamics. In the light of the criticism and distortion of his views of the intervening years, a clarifying summary of his most important work is in order. Such a summary suggests that the new absolute truths of Brazilian historiography and political sciences have elements that can be questioned and that in interpretations of Brazil one can never forget that science is also expressed as ideology and political practice.

Introduction, Brazil’s Crisis of Memory: Embracing Myths and Forgetting History

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Brazil’s Crisis of Memory: Embracing Myths and Forgetting History

by Paulo Simões

In the late evening of Sunday, September 2, 2018, shortly after closing time, a fire broke out in Brazil’s National Museum. In little more than an hour the blaze had completely engulfed the building, gutting its many galleries and storage areas holding priceless scientific and historical artifacts. Though firefighters valiantly attempted to squelch the conflagration, their job was impeded by the fact that the two closest hydrants were inoperative and water had to be pumped from a nearby lake on the property. All hope was lost when its wooden roof, covered in red terra-cotta tiles, caved in, crushing any objects that might have withstood the heat and leaving only the outer shell of the building standing. Though miraculously there were no injuries reported, because the fire took place after closing hours, the depth of the catastrophe did not fully become visible until the dawn hours of the following day, when the remains of what once had been Latin America’s largest natural history museum and, for more than 60 years, the residence of Emperors Dom Pedro I and Pedro II lay in smoldering ruins. Gone were over 20 million irreplaceable specimens of Brazilian flora and fauna and taxidermic animals (many of them the sole examples of now extinct species) collected over two centuries; Egyptian mummies, Middle Eastern clay tablets, and Greco-Roman artifacts brought over from the Old World by the second monarch; Luzia, the oldest known human skeleton found in the Americas; thousands of books, documents, notebooks, illustrations, paintings, and letters; scientific equipment; and the revered building itself, with its frescoed walls and decorated ceilings, once the symbol of the Brazilian monarchy. Senator Marina Silva, the former environment minister, likened this disaster to a “lobotomy of the Brazilian memory.” The museum’s vice director stated sadly that the destruction of the museum was “an unbearable catastrophe. It is 200 years of this country’s heritage. It is 200 years of memory. It is 200 years of science. It is 200 years of culture, of education” (Horton, 2018)

Political Report # 1395 Venezuela and the setbacks of the Latin American Left: What does it all mean?

An interview with Steve Ellner Canadian Dimension Steve Ellner is also an Associate Managing Editor for LAP

An interview with Steve Ellner by Alan Freeman Freeman: The progressive Latin American governments of the twenty-first century, the so-called Pink Tide governments, have over the recent past received heavy blows and have been replaced by conservative and right-wing governments in Brazil, Argentina and evidently Ecuador. What are people on the right saying about these setbacks for the left? Ellner: The detractors of the Pink Tide phenomenon imply or explicitly state that it will soon become a thing of the past without any long-lasting effect. The view is underpinned by the “dinosaur” narrative and the “end of history” thesis of Francis Fukuyama, along with the rights’ standard argument that socialism and the policies associated with it will end up in the dustbin of history. These writers and political activists, however, ignore that socialism has really not been put to the test because none of the Pink Tide countries have been socialist. Eighty percent of the Venezuelan economy, for instance, is owned by the private sector. Some of the same analysts use the pendulum metaphor. The implication is that politics in the region is characterized by a cyclical pattern in which nothing really changes over time, even while governments alternate between left and right leaderships. (1) The pendulum metaphor, however, goes counter to the theory of “post-hegemonic regionalism” in Latin America that views the Pink Tide as initiating a new phase that displaces U.S. hegemony based on neoliberalism. These writers add, however, that the Pink Tide has not given rise to a single well-defined model. (2) Although the theory was formulated at the peak of the Pink Tide, its defenders continue to argue for its ongoing relevance in the region.

Political Report # 1394 A New Socialist Movement Must Oppose Both Capitalism and Imperialism

By Ashley Smith, Truthout

Spurred on by the global justice movement of the late 1990s, and the U.S. invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, Marxists like David Harvey and Ellen Meiksins Wood have produced a flowering of theorization about capitalism and imperialism. Author William I. Robinson has been a key contributor to this new body of work, in particular with his books A Theory of Global Capitalism and Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity. His latest collection of essays, Into the Tempest: Essays on the New Global Capitalism, is a provocative and accessible summary of his argument that globalization - which he calls the “master process of our age” - has ushered in a new epoch of capitalism. He contends that this epoch was born out of the global recession the system underwent in the 1970s. Up until then, capitalism was a world economy divided up into hierarchically organized national economies, dominated by great imperial powers like the U.S. To overcome the recession, corporations broke out of that national framework in search of cheap labor, resources and markets. Over the subsequent decades, transnational corporations established a new global system of production, finance and services. In the process, Robinson argues, a new fraction of capital emerged: a transnational capitalist class that is not tied to any particular nation-state. Their corporations run global assembly lines, their boards are made up of executives from many different countries, and they advocate common ideologies and policies of neoliberal globalization.

Abstract, Extractive Capital, Imperialism, and the Colombian State

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Extractive Capital, Imperialism, and the Colombian State
by Kyla Sankey


Since the turn of the century, Colombia has become increasingly dependent on mining exports to drive economic growth. While the surge in mining investments in Colombia and the problems associated with this form of economic development have received much attention from scholars and policy analysts, the common explanation is that the state has been undermined or eroded by emergent global forces. However, nation-states should be seen not as victims but as authors and enforcers of new processes of capital accumulation. The Colombian state has acted as the principal guarantor of the political and territorial conditions necessary for this form of extractive capitalism by reconstituting property and contract laws, signing free-trade agreements, reconfiguring the internal state apparatus. and expanding military forces.

Political Report # 1343 The "Masterstroke" of the United States Against Venezuela

By Stella Calloni, RESUMEN

Regardless of which corporate party is in power the Pentagon continues its plans and strategies for world domination from the Middle East to the Korean Peninsula to Africa and to Latin America. Here is an analysis of an internal Pentagon document by Stella Calloni, outlining a very real scenario to be carried out by the Southern Command to overthrow the democratically elected Venezuelan government. Resumen Editorial The United States and its partners are quietly preparing a brutal "Plan to end the dictatorship of Venezuela": the "Masterstroke", which is already underway and whose first part would begin before the upcoming Venezuelan elections and, if they do not succeed in overthrowing President Nicolás Maduro with this new offensive, which will include the use of the whole propaganda and media apparatus available to them plus  violent actions in "defense of democracy", they will implement Plan B, which will bring in several countries to launch a "multilateral force" to intervene militarily. Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Guyana are all key components of the military operation, with the support of Argentina and "other friends," under Pentagon control. They already have made preparations on the bases they now occupy in the countries that border Venezuela with hospitals and centers to collect provisions for their soldiers. All this is specified in a real document, of 11 pages, which bears the signature of Admiral Kurt Walter Tidd, current commander in chief of the US Southern Command [SouthCom]. The document analyzes the current situation ratifying the war being waged against Venezuela, but also the perverse scheme of psychological warfare that justifies the persecution, harassment, discredit and criminal lies that are used to end not only the popular leaders but to subjugate the peoples of the region. Referring to the current situation in Venezuela, the Plan mentions that the "Chavista Venezuelan dictatorship is shaken as a result of its internal problems, with the great shortage of food, the exhaustion of income from external sources of money and unbridled corruption, which has diminished its international support. This had been won with petrodollars, but now the national currency is in a steady decline." They assume that this scenario, which they admit having created themselves, with a terrifying impunity, will not change. In this case they justify their actions affirming that the Venezuelan government will resort to new "populist" measures to conserve power.

Political Report # 1208 Cubans respond intelligently to new realities

Photo : Yin Yang/Getty Images/IStockphoto Political Report # 1208 Cubans respond intelligently to new realities By Salim Lamrani, Global Research

Salim Lamrani is an expert in US-Cuba relations. He explains the reasons behind Fidel Castro's aura and the leader's place in the revolution in a changing society.   As a Cuba specialist you have just published a book dedicated to Fidel Castro (1). Is it possible to characterise the trajectory of this man, whose stature is recognized even by his detractors? Salim Lamrani: To my mind, three aspects characterize the personality of Fidel Castro. First and above all, he is the architect of national sovereignty who made real what the Apostle and the national hero José Martí had only dreamed about: an independent Cuba. Fidel Castro has given back the people of the island their dignity back. Next, he is a social reformer who came to grips with the social realities and plight of the underprivileged, by moulding a society that is one of the least unjust in the Third World. Finally, he is an internationalist who has lent a generous hand to people who need it and has placed solidarity and integration at the heart of Cuba's foreign policy.  How do you make sense of the aura that he enjoys in Cuba and across the world? SL: Fidel Castro is a controversial person in the West because the Western media tends to present a caricatured image of him. In contrast, he is revered by the people of Latin America and the Third World for whom he symbolizes resistance to oppression. He is also seen as someone who champions the aspirations of the people of the countries of the South : independence, sovereignty and self-determination. He is a mythic rebel, who, while still alive, entered the Pantheon of the great liberators of the American continent. The former guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra saw his prestige spread beyond the confines of the continent, making him the archetype of 20th Century anti-imperialism and the bearer of a universal message of emancipation. Western media throughout the world have failed to grasp the importance of the figure of Fidel Castro. Since Marti, there has been no other personality that has so forcefully symbolized the aspirations of the Cuban people to national sovereignty, economic independence and social justice. Fidel Castro is a symbol of pride, dignity, resistance and loyalty to principles. The historic leader of the Cuban revolution has taken up arms on behalf of the oppressed and has championed their right to a decent life. At the time of his withdrawal from political life in 2006, a number of commentators predicted the end of the Cuban revolution. They thought that following Fidel's departure the revolution would fail to survive. What has become of it ten years later?             SL: The mistake made by many observers was thinking that the Cuban revolutionary process rested on the shoulders of one man alone, Fidel Castro. In fact, the revolution has been built by several generations of Cubans. Today, Cuba's institutions are robust and a numerous cadre have taken up the challenge following the gradual retirement of the historic generation. No cataclysm has come to pass in Cuba following the retirement of Fidel Castro in 2006 because the island's people share a highly developed political conscience and are attached to their country's independence, its political system and social model. At the announcement of Fidel Castro's death, an immense sentiment of sadness entered the hearts of all Cubans, a sadness triggered by loss of their moral guide, their political compass, someone who always stood in the front line of defense of the right of his people to self-determination. Fidel Castro's legacy is a just and generous idea: it is an eternal struggle for the dignity of those bereft of privilege, a fairer division of wealth and an unyielding solidarity with any people struggling for a better life.   Following his retirement, what place did Fidel Castro play in a Cuban society undergoing rapid change?  SL : Fidel Castro  has defined himself as a "soldier of ideas".  He was a sort of spiritual father for the Cuban people, the savant that one consulted, in light of his immense experience, on strategic decisions. Up until his final breath, Fidel Castro attentively observed Cuban and world society, expressing serious concerns over climate change and the nuclear threat.  What did he think of the normalization of relations with the US?             SL :  We might well recall the historical truth. Following the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro had expressed his desire to maintain friendly and peaceful relations with the United States, both for reasons of principle as well as more pragmatic considerations. In return, Washington would be required to respect three basic non-negotiable principles: sovereign equality between states; reciprocity and non-interference in internal affairs.             Thus, while Havana held out an olive branch to its neighbour, Washington responded by imposing a openly hostile policy on Cuba. Since 1960, the United States has imposed implacable sanctions that to this day inflict intolerable suffering on the Cuban people. President Kennedy then organized the invasion of the Bay of Pigs in 1961 and threatened the island with nuclear disintegration during the missile crisis of 1962. The CIA multiplied terrorist attacks against Cuba, which have cost the lives of 3,478 persons and inflicted permanent injury on 2,099 civilians. Since 1959, the United States has led a political, diplomatic and media war against Cuba. Also, we should recall that the conflict that Washington has imposed on Havana is asymmetric because the hostility is unilateral. It is the United States that is imposing sanctions on Cuba; the US, that is illegally occupying part of Cuba's territory (Guantanamo) and funding internal opposition through which it seeks to secure regime change. Barack Obama recognized that US policy towards Cuba was obsolete and unjust and chose to establish a dialogue with Raul Castro. Fidel who has worked so hard for peace throughout the world, of course endorsed the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Washington and Havana even if he did not sugar-coat the true intentions of Cuba's Northern Neighbour.  Raul Castro has announced that he would not continue with his duties past 2018, a gesture that signifies the end of the "revolutionary generation".  How has this political change been received?             SL :  The Cubans have known for several years that Raul Castro will definitively end his political career in 2018. They will thus be required to face three considerable challenges: the generational change at the head of the country, the current reform of the economic model and the new relationship with the United States. But history has shown that the Cuban people have always responded with intelligence to new realities and that they are attached to the basic values that cement the Cuban revolution. Since 2009, the island has been engaged in a process of structural economic reforms. Do these conflict with the ideals that have prevailed till now and that Fidel Castro defended up until his death? SL : Fidel Castro lent his complete support, without reservation, to the process of updating the Cuban economic model because it was necessary to do so. As he said in his celebrated definition of the concept, enunciated on May 1, 2000, « Revolution means changing that which must be changed ». There is no rejection whatsoever of socialist ideas. The State still retains control over the means of production and the strategic sectors. While the new economic model has introduced market mechanisms, it remains based on socialist planning at all levels and the enterprise of the Socialist State still remains the principal form in the national economy.  The country is opening up to foreign investment - in order to attract capital essential to the development of the nation - through the vehicle of mixed enterprises wherein the Cuban state always maintains a majority ownership of at least 51%. Thus, the new Cuban economic model is based upon planning and a policy of central pricing. It prohibits the concentration of wealth, introduces both a minimum and maximum salary and protects all groups within the population, notably the most vulnerable, (there have not been, for example, massive layoffs). Thus, it remains undeniably socialist. But, based upon the philosophy of Jose Marti, according to whom "the first duty of man is to be a man of his epoch", it has adapted to its time. The new Cuban economic model aims to achieve greater economic efficiency, fight bureaucracy and corruption, preserve the social gains won in the Cuban revolution, reinforce the socialist Republic and improve the material and spiritual well-being of all Cubans. (1) Fidel Castro, héros des déshérités, Paris, Editions Estrella, 2016. Translated by Anoosha Boralessa Original article and sources can be found here: http://www.humanite.fr/salim-lamrani-les-cubains-repondent-avec-intelligence-aux-nouvelles-realites-627287

Book, Development in Theory and Practice

:::::: Book ::::::

Development in Theory and Practice
by Ronald H. Chilcote - Contributions By Haroldo Dilla Alfonso; Thomas Angotti; Ricardo Antunes; David Barkin and others...

This definitive reader brings together seminal articles on development in Latin America. Tracing the concepts and major debates surrounding the issue, the text focuses on development theory through three contrasting historical perspectives: imperialism, underdevelopment and dependency, and globalization. By offering a rich array of essays from Latin American Perspectives, the book allows students to sample all the important trends in the field. A new general introduction and conclusion, along with part introductions, contextualize each selection. One of the leading figures in development studies, Ronald Chilcote shows in this text why work on imperialism dating to the turn of the twentieth century informs the controversies on dependency and underdevelopment during the 1960s and 1970s as well as the globalization debates of the past decade. If students are to understand development in Latin America, they must not only be familiar with historical examples and recognize that various theoretical perspectives affect our interpretation of events, they must be willing to keep an open mind. Thus, rather than setting out established premises, this reader offers different points of view, raising provocative questions about Latin America that remain largely unanswered even today. Students will come away from this rewarding collection ready to pursue new understanding through critical inquiry and thinking.

Political Report # 1181 Fidel Castro: Hero of the dispossessed

By Salim Lamrani, Gramma

A controversial figure in the West, where he is heavily criticized, Fidel Castro is instead admired by the peoples of Latin America and the Third World, who consider him a symbol of resistance to oppression and a champion of the aspirations of the countries of the South to independence, sovereignty and self-determination. A mythical rebel, who has entered the pantheon of the great liberators of the Americas, the former guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra has seen his prestige surpass continental borders to become the archetype of anti-imperialism in the twentieth century and the champion of a universal message of emancipation. Western media, due to its entrenched ideological position and clear condescension toward the peoples of the South, has failed to understand the historic significance of Fidel Castro to Cuba, Latin America and the Third World. Since the times of José Martí, Cuba's national hero, no other figure has as powerfully embodied the aspirations of the Cuban people to national sovereignty, economic independence and social justice. Fidel Castro is a symbol of pride, dignity, resistance and loyalty to principles and his status has surpassed the borders of his homeland to span the entire world. The historic leader of the Cuban Revolution took up arms in favor of the oppressed and reclaimed their right to a decent life. Born into a wealthy family from the east of the country, he gave up his class privileges to defend the voiceless, ignored and abandoned to their fate by the powerful. Fidel Castro enjoys historic legitimacy. Arms in hand, he fought against the bloody dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista during the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953 and during the uprising in the Sierra Maestra from December, 1956, through December, 1958. He triumphed against a brutal military regime endowed with an impressive firepower and backed by the United States. In a context of extreme hostility, he has realized the dream of José Martí, of an independent and sovereign Cuba and has led his people on the path to complete and definitive emancipation, in steadfast resistance to the hegemonic pretensions of Washington.

Political Report # 1145 Puerto Rico: The Crisis Is About Colonialism, Not Debt

By Linda Backiel, Monthly Review

Tourists are fascinated by the heavy blue cobblestones that pave the streets of Old San Juan. Why they are there is as good an explanation as any for Puerto Rico's current crisis. In the days of Spanish colonialism, they were ballast to keep the ships crossing the Atlantic from tossing about and blowing over. The ships came empty, and left for Spain full of gold, silver, and other riches stolen from the indigenous Taínos. The ballast left behind was used to pave the streets. Puerto Rico has been sacked by colonial powers for half a millennium. Is it any wonder it is in dire straits? Today, it is $73 billion in debt. As a point of comparison: Greece recently asked for about $82 billion from the European Union. The German finance minister thought it was funny when he proposed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that the Eurozone exchange Greece for Puerto Rico. This is not funny; it is not even a good analogy. Neither the Germans nor the Eurozone have the power to "trade Greece" to anyone; its citizens can tell their prime minister what they think about EU debt proposals. Of course, they have to weigh their choice against the threat of being kicked out of the Eurozone.1

Book, "Past and Prospects of Imperial Geopolitics" by Francisco López Segrera

"Past and Prospects of Imperial Geopolitics" 
by Francisco López Segrera

Book Review of:
América Latina en la geopolítica imperial
by Atilio Borón
LUXEMBURG 2012
ISBN: 978-987-1709-19-9

Political Report # 1126 Responding to Clinton Barb, Sanders Blasts US Imperialism in Latin America By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Wednesday's debate raised questions about the Democratic candidates' records in Latin America. (Photo: YouTube) By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Hillary Clinton's interventionist record in Latin America is being called into question after Wednesday night's Democratic presidential debate saw her and rival Bernie Sanders sparring over the U.S.'s role in the region.   "Is Hillary Clinton a credible voice for condemning support for despots and human rights abusers?" -Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept   When asked about his past support for Latin American leaders Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Fidel Castro in Cuba, and to explain "the difference between the socialism that you profess and the socialism in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela," Sanders declared:   What that was about was saying that the United States was wrong to try to invade Cuba, that the United States was wrong trying to support people to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, that the United States was wrong trying to overthrow in 1954, the government -- democratically elected government of Guatemala.

Political Report # 1118 The American Empire: Murder Inc. By Chris Hedges

As Indonesia's former President Suharto lay ill in 2008, a supporter displayed a portrait of him outside the Jakarta hospital where the military dictator died two weeks later. It was in Suharto's brutal three-decade reign that Indonesia invaded East Timor, where investigative journalist Allan Nairn covered atrocities the general's troops committed. (Vincent Thian / AP) By Chris Hedges

Terror, intimidation and violence are the glue that holds empire together. Aerial bombardment, drone and missile attacks, artillery and mortar strikes, targeted assassinations, massacres, the detention of tens of thousands, death squad killings, torture, wholesale surveillance, extraordinary renditions, curfews, propaganda, a loss of civil liberties and pliant political puppets are the grist of our wars and proxy wars. Countries we seek to dominate, from Indonesia and Guatemala to Iraq and Afghanistan, are intimately familiar with these brutal mechanisms of control. But the reality of empire rarely reaches the American public. The few atrocities that come to light are dismissed as isolated aberrations. The public is assured what has been uncovered will be investigated and will not take place again. The goals of empire, we are told by a subservient media and our ruling elites, are virtuous and noble. And the vast killing machine grinds forward, feeding, as it has always done, the swollen bank accounts of defense contractors and corporations that exploit natural resources and cheap labor around the globe.

Book, "Past and Prospects of Imperial Geopolitics" by Francisco López Segrera

"Past and Prospects of Imperial Geopolitics" 
by Francisco López Segrera

Book Review of:
América Latina en la geopolítica imperial
by Atilio Borón
LUXEMBURG 2012
ISBN: 978-987-1709-19-9