Latin America at the Crossroads: Domination, Crisis, Popular Movements, & Political Alternatives

This work has two main parts. The first part takes a look at the history of capitalist development and the socialist movement in the west, from the perspective of US imperialist intent and hegemony. At the end of this part, the author examines the development of ‘social democracy’ and the left, as exemplified by Tony Blair and Anthony Giddens on one hand and Felipe Gonzalez of the Global Progress Foundation on the other; and he finds that while both emphasize the extreme and inhumane aspects of neoliberalism, they still fundamentally accept the trend of transnational concentration of wealth and political power. In this sense, they are not truly ‘reformist’ and in the debate over ‘reform or revolution’ the author finds that the concepts of revolution and socialism are finding renewed validity. At this point the author turns to Latin America, providing a brief history of US imperialism in the region and examination of collective efforts of Latin American countries to reject and limit US influence. The Sao Paolo Forum (FSP) arose in July 1990, providing a forum for the entire Latin American left to exchange ideas and take common positions. In spite of socialism being discredited in general after the collapse of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall, the left in various countries regained electoral space for struggling, sometimes after long armed struggles. The author also looks closely at the recent successes of left groups in Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela and analyzes the relationship between popular struggles and the achievements of these left governments now in power.