Latin America: In support of regional integration and a partial delinking from the world capitalist market
By Eric Toussaint, translated by Federico Fuentes for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
[Click HERE for the Spanish version]
October 8, 2008 -- The economic and financial crisis, whose epicentre is
found in the
We need to learn the lessons of the 20th century in
order to apply them at the beginning of this century. During the decade of the
1930s that followed the crisis that exploded on Wall Street in 1929, 12
countries in Latin America suspended for a prolonged time repayment of their
foreign debt, prinicipally to North American and western European bankers. Some
of them, such as
Mexico was the one that went the furthest with its economic and social reforms. During the government of Lazaro Cardenas, the petroleum industry was completely nationalised without any compensation for the North American monopolies. Moreover, 16 million hectares of land were also nationalised and in large part handed over to the indigenous population.
During the 1930s and up until the middle of the 1960s,
various Latin American governments carried out very active public policies with
the aim of seeking a partially self-centred development, known later as the model
of industrialisation via substitution of imports. On the other hand, beginning
in 1959, the Cuban Revolution attempted to give a socialist content to the
Bolivarian[2]
project of Latin American integration. This socialist content began to appear
in the Bolivian revolution of 1952.
Brutal
With the fall of the dictatorships in the 1980s, the
neoliberal model continued in force, principally through the application of
structural adjustments programs and the Washington Consensus. The governments
of
Two projects
of integration
At the beginning of this century, the Bolivarian project
of integration of the peoples of the region has gain new momentum. If we want
this new ascending cycle to go further it is necessary to learn the lessons of
the past. What was particularly missing in
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The European construction, based on a single market
dominated by big capital, is the model that they want to follow. The Brazilian
and Argentine capitalist classes want the workers of the different countries in
the region to compete among themselves in order to obtain maximum benefit and
be competitive on the world market.
From the point of view of the left, it would be a
tragic error to fall back on a policy of stages: support a model of Latin
American integration according to the European model, dominated by big capital,
with the illusionary hope of giving it a socially emancipatory content later
on. Such support implies putting oneself at the service of capitalist interests.
We do not have to involve ourselves in the capitalist’s games, trying to be
more astute and letting them dictate the rules.
The other project of integration, that falls within
Bolivarian framework, wants a social justice content to integration. This
implies public control over natural resources in the region and over large
means of production, credit and commercialisation. The levelling from above of the
social conquests of the workers and small producers, at the same time as
reducing the differences between the economies in the region. The substantial
improvement of communication between countries of the region, rigorously
respecting the environment (for example, developing railway lines and other
means of collective transport before highways). Support for small private
producers in numerous activities, agriculture, artisan, trade, services, etc.
The process of social emancipation that the Bolivarian project of the 21st
century is pursuing aims to liberate society from capitalist domination, supporting
forms of property that have a social function: small private property, public
property, cooperative property, communal and collective property, etc. At the
same time, Latin American integration implies the creation of a common
financial, judicial and political architecture.
Losing
precious time
The current international conjuncture, favourable for
developing countries that export primary products, needs to be utilised before
the situation changes. The countries of
Unfortunately, we should not create illusions: Latin
America is losing precious time, while governments, beyond the rhetoric, pursue
a traditional policy of signing of bilateral agreements on investment,
acceptance or continuation of negotiations over certain free trade agreements,
utilisation of reserves to buy bonds from the US Treasury (that is, lending
capital to the dominant power) or credit default swaps whose markets have
collapsed with Lehman Brothers, AIG etc., advance payments to the IMF, World
Bank and the Paris Club, acceptance of the World Bank tribunal – the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
-- as a way to resolve differences with transnational corporations,
continuation of trade negotiations within the framework of the agenda of Doha,
maintenance of the military occupation of Haiti. Following a loud and promising
start in 2007, the initiatives announced in regards to Latin American
integration seem to have come to a halt in 2008.
Bank of the
South
In regards to the launching of the Bank of the South,
this has already been delayed quite a bit. Discussions have not progressed. We
have to get rid off any confusion and give a clearly progressive content to
this new institution, whose creation was decided upon in December 2007 by seven
countries in
Cancel the debt
Contrary to what many think, the problem of the public
debt has not been resolved. It is true that the external public debt has been
reduced, but it has been replaced by an internal public debt that, in certain
countries, has acquired totally huge proportions (
It is very worthwhile following the example of
Nationalise
the banks without compensation
Private banks need to audited and strictly controlled,
because they run the risk of being dragged down with the international
financial crisis. We have to avoid a situation where the state ends up nationalising
the losses of the banks, as has happened many times before (Chile under
Pinochet, Mexico in 1995, Ecuador in 1999-2000, etc.). If some banks on the
brink of bankruptcy have to be nationalised, this should be done without paying
compensation.
Moreover, numerous litigation cases have emerged in
the last few years between the states of the region and multinationals, from
the North and the South. Rather that taking them to the ICSID, which is part of
the World Bank dominated by a handful of industrialised countries, the
countries of the region should follow the example of
It is worthwhile establishing strict control over
capital movements and exchange rates, with the goal of avoiding capital flight
and speculative attacks against currencies in the region. For the states that
want to make the Bolivarian project of Latin American integration for greater
social justice a reality, it is necessary to advance towards a common currency.
Integration
has a political dimension
Naturally, integration has to have a political
dimension: a Latin American parliament elected by universal suffrage in each
one of the member countries, equipped with a real legislative power. Within the
framework of political construction, we have to avoid repeating the bad example
of
We also have to avoid reproducing the anti-democratic
procedure followed by the European Commission that attempts to impose a
constitutional treaty elaborated without the active participation of citizens
and without submitting it to a referendum in each member country. On the
contrary, we have to follow the example of the constituent assemblies of
Likewise, it is necessary to strengthen the powers of
the Latin American Court of Justice, particularly in matters regarding the guaranteeing
for the respect of inalienable human rights.
Until now, various processes of integration coexist:
the Community of Andean Nations, Mercosur, Unasur, Caricom, Alba. It is
important to avoid dispersion and adopt a integration process with a
social-political definition based on social justice. This Bolivarian process
should bring together all the countries in
Partial
delinking from the world capitalist market
Bolivarian integration should be accompanied with a
partial delinking from the world capitalist market. We are dealing with trying
to progressively erase the borders that separate the states that participate in
the project, reducing the asymmetries between the member countries, especially
thanks to a mechanism of transfer of wealth from the ``richer’’ states to the
``poorer’’.
This will allow for the considerable expansion of the
internal market and will favour the development of local producers under
different forms of property. It will allow for the putting into action of a
process of development (not only industrialisation) with substitution of
imports. Of course, this implies the development, for example, of a policy of
food sovereignty. At the same time, the Bolivarian project made up of various
member countries will partially delink itself from the world capitalist market.
This means, in particular, the repealing of bilateral treaties in areas of
investment and trade. The member countries of the Bolivarian group should also
pull out of institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade
Orgaisation (WTO), at the same time as promoting new democratic global
institutions that respect inalienable human rights.
As was mentioned before, the member states of the new Bolivarian
group would equip themselves with new regional institutions, such as the Bank
of the South, which would develop collaborative relations with other similar
institutions created by states from other regions in the world.
The member states of the new Bolivarian group will act
with the maximum number of third states in favour of a radical democratic
reform of the United Nations, with the objective of ensuring compliance with
the United Nations Charter and the numerous international instruments that
defend human rights, such as the international pact on economic, social and
cultural rights (1996), the charter on the rights and responsibilities of
states (1974), the declaration on the right to development (1986), the
resolution on the rights of indigenous people (2007). Equally, it would lend
support to the activities of the International Criminal Court and the
International Court of Justice in
[Eric Toussaint is from the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt. Translated from the Spanish version by Federic Fuentes for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal.]
[1] Paper presented in Caracas on October 8, 2008, presented during the international Responses from the
South to the World Economic Crisis seminar, held at the Venezuelan School of
Planning. The other
speakers on the panel were: Hugo Chavez, president of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela, Haiman El Troudi, minister of planning
(Venezuela), Claudio Katz, Economist of
the Left (Argentina) and Pedro Paez, minister of economic
coordination (Ecuador). The entire
conference was broadcast live by Venezuelan state television.
[2]
Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) was one of the first to try and unify the countries
of



