Our Columbian correspondent Diego returns with an essay on the current situation of his country and the rest of Latin America.
Latin America: Socialism, Tantrums, and Islam
by Diego
First of all, I must say that the “system” — if we can describe the mess that the Left creates as such — managed to silence me for quite a while…
However, I am here to speak of two things: First, how the stupidity of my own government might force me to become that which I despise, and secondly about the issue of Latin America as part of the Western cultural continuum, but not of the same economic continuum.
So, first things first: my beloved homeland is passing through dire times. Although we don’t have to worry (yet) about the Mohameddan Horde invading this corner of the world, our freedoms are under an unrelenting attack from a President who would gladly sell his country and people for a Nobel Peace Prize. For example, the General Procurator — an ultra-conservative (you in Europe and the USA could use someone like him, even if I disagree with some of his ideas) — was for years a voice that created a balance and kept both the leftists and the government in check. However, his position is now in jeopardy.
Our current government is a problem that to this region is an out-of-context one. While politics were locked in a Cold War-era struggle, this post-Soviet fool, President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, had to arrive, to put Colombia in line politically with the PC regimes of Europe and the USA, as a way for them to make inroads in this region.
Admittedly, the old Soviet-style left still has a chance to gain power, thanks to the negotiations in Havana with FARC… Which would be an even worse fate than the PC regime Mr. Santos wants to implement here. If such a thing happened, I might be forced to do one thing I would hate to do: leave.
I would most likely move to Canada. Technically, due to events in my family, I could ask for political asylum there, but I’d hate to do so. Emotional reasons aside, my Arab-looking appearance would make me a target during the first phases of the Collapse, and my ideas would make me the target of either violent leftists or jihadis… While I’d have no choice (my survival chances in a Venezuela-like situation are zero), I would become the thing I despise, a foreign immigrant living off government pity…
Now, on to a less egotistical topic…
Latin America is truly the most blessed and cursed land this world can offer. We have it all in resources, but our own stupidity stops us from reaching greatness.
We are indeed really dumb. We refuse to see that we are, at least in culture, part of the same heritage as Europe or North America. Instead we chose to side with the ones who would rather burn the West (ourselves included).
It is truly a regrettable phenomena that we as Latin Americans feel a closer bond to the Arabs who are wrecking Europe than to our own “mother”, which is Spain or Portugal. We have decided to throw a childish tantrum, and now that tantrum further endangers our own mother.
South and Central America have a common culture, religion and language, and all of that was given by Spain, but now here we are throwing our tantrum, instead of siding with our brothers and sisters on the other side of the Atlantic. We keep thinking ourselves part of the Third World, a group created by disgruntled socialists who did not agree with the Soviet Union, nor like the West. A small group of people who wanted to use the peoples of the global South as a World Proletariat who would rise up against a World Bourgeoisie represented by both superpowers of the time. now this so-called Third World is a mess, and Latin America, which already had a grudge against the United States since the beginning, has taken in the narrative of the “Great Evil White Man” while thinking herself as a victim.
That is pure and unadulterated nonsense. A century ago, we saw ourselves as a culture that descended from Spain with influences from other parts of the West. We thought ourselves as part of the West. We used to see in Spain a mother, and in Europe our family. We have been brought down. The instability in the first half of the previous century kept us sidelined and impoverished. Now we don’t look up to Europe as a child looking up to an uncle, but we look at them with greed. We don’t allow ourselves to think that we are the children of the brave men who fought the Reconquista; instead we shun them as barbarians and claim to be children of the American aboriginals, wishing to shed the entire Hispanic Heritage. We are a people who tries too hard to not be seen as part of the West because we have convinced ourselves that “the West” represents the “evil white man”. And we have convinced ourselves that we are part of the “global South” in such a situation. We feel a closer kinship with the Arabs, eternal victims of their own ideology, rather than with the Spaniards, with whom we share a language, most of our culture, and, up to a while ago, a religion.
Latin America should step up. I hope that when the War comes — because I think that it is too late to save Europe in a peaceful way, sadly — Central and South America will rise up and aid our brothers and sisters, at least on the Iberian Peninsula… Unfortunately, I do not see that as realistic. Unless the enemy attacks on our own soil before gaining the victory in Europe, we will not march to their aid, and even then it will be reluctantly.
I wish that this part of the world would wake up. For too long the corruption and the later socialism mixed with it have kept us impoverished. For too long we have bought the socialist narrative and agenda. It is time for Latin America to reclaim her true place as part of the West, for us to see ourselves not as victims but triumphant.
Maybe it is time to recover the old banners, not those of Bolivar and San Martin, but those of Charles V and Phillip II, to bring back the banners of a time when all of the Hispanic peoples were united by the King, the Cortes and the Church. Not to bring back this old dead empire, but to create a new kinship with the nations that gave us so much.
Maybe then we as Latin Americans will finally be able to get rid of the pains that we have suffered since our independence. Maybe then we will stop being the pariahs of the West and finally be equal to the rest, as intended.
Previous posts by Diego:
| 2015 | Mar | 19 | The Islamization of South America | |||
| 23 | On Rome, Russia and Multiculturalism | |||||
| May | 8 | Traicion a la Mejicana |
I agree with what you’re saying. It seems there are two main problems.
1) A bunch of people are acting in this narcissistic “guilty former colonialist” manner, causing them to act paternalistic.
2) Other people have adopted a “victim of colonialism” attitude.
These things reinforce each other in a bad way. Every indication that I’ve seen is that academia is doing its best to reinforce both. I suspect this happens because this stuff has political utility and so it’s being rewarded, but it’s difficult to know exactly what interests are really being served.
For example, the guilt trip thing is useful for manipulating governments into providing foreign aid money, but is this “aid” really to help or is something else going on? Maybe the real purpose is to bribe governments into keeping their nations from becoming economically competitive. There may be some sort of back handed rent seeking going on.
I wouldn’t know how to fix this. In the U.S. we were lead to believe that things like Lysinkoism and state indoctrination only happened under Stalin, but it appears that we have our own version of this here. Stalin would just throw dissident researchers in the gulag or have them shot, but here we just have organized smear campaigns and academic marginalization at least in certain fields (climate science is the most obvious, but some others are affected). Even if people are not shot, the effect is similar since ideas are suppressed.
Opposing the silly guilt/victim cycle probably interferes with someone’s “economic rent” which then causes them to go after the opponent.
For example, in Seattle recently someone proposed that “single family homes are racist.” This is absolutely absurd, but it’s a story that facilitates coercive rent seeking behavior in the local government. Anyone who points out that this is a ridiculous ploy to facilitate coercive rent seeking will undoubtedly be called a “racist”. I didn’t know coercive rent seeking was a race, but according to some people it is a very specially victimized race that must never be criticized or opposed by anyone. It’s like saying a real estate investment company is a “race” and so anyone who opposes the company is “racist”.
This anti-Western, pro-Arab and ultra-Socialist attitude in Latin America has also left me puzzled. I had visited Brazil for some time, a few years ago. Travelling around, I saw a country with amazing food, music, culture, women and everything else. Yes, there were massive differences between rich and poor, but the poor were also fully a part of this culture. Maybe even more so than the rich. Yet whenever the subject of the West, Britain or the US came up, the usual grudges appeared – about the Iraq war, racism, stupid Gringos etc. (that last bit perhaps is often true… but it can be used by Latin Americans to their advantage – through overpriced hotels, tours, restaurants etc. As indeed it was.)
Because of my Eastern European background, I was asked several times about life under communism (a topical subject at the time, due to the antics of Mr Chavez not too far away) – so I mentioned the queues, shortages, poverty, unhappiness, etc. Sometimes, they seemed quite surprised by my answer. As was I, by the question… I can understand Socialism and Communism being a draw in 1910. But in 2010 – after all that’s happened in the century in between? The purges, genocides, mass murders and, as should have been clear after 1989, shortages and mass economic failure? And such failure continues following Communism around – from the USSR and Eastern Europe, to North Korea and China (now spreading its wings, only thanks to adopting an economic system closer to rampant capitalism), to Zimbabwe, to Cuba and Venezuela.
Moreover – going around the beaches of Copacabana, both the dress sense and attitudes towards the opposite sex seemed just about the opposite of the Middle East (or East London/Luton/Bradford, for that matter) as you could get… so, for the life of me, I cannot understand why the attraction to Socialism, why the kinship with Islamic countries, why the hatred of the Gringos and the West?
I remember some years ago watching a news item from New Mexico about attitudes towards Muslims in the Latino community. Responses were rational for the time. Only one young male in his early twenties responded to the question as to why he was ‘pro’ Muslim by saying, “Because they look like us.” It could have just as easily been “Because George is a total half man” or any number of reasons. My point is that, like the rest of the non Muslim world population, I don’t see the Latin population voting for an ideology that in its heartless, merciless, judgemental ticker harbors a sick dream of slavery and subjugation of the taxpayer everywhere – free of charge.
I know why, I just don’t know what anyone can do about it on a large scale. Basically, economic “class” envy is taking precedence over considerations about cultural similarity. Socialism appeals to people because it promises to solve class differences even though it both fails to do so and makes them worse.
If class envy were diminished then people would get more concerned about cultural similarity.
Class envy seems to get diminished through developmental economics. The problem with that is that there isn’t a simple “ism” to it. (Capitalism isn’t a good term because it can still be degenerate, particularly if all the players are rent seeking instead of profit seeking.)
“Class envy” – I think you might be on to something there… a hatred of people, based on what they have. Even if the “hater” has a sizeable amount of worldly goods themselves…
They say “jealousy is the root of all evil”, and it certainly has a lot to answer for in today’s world.
South America was conquered by the Spaniards and the Portuguse. Both that nations suffered earlier occupation by the moors. Maybe those mixed genes survived and got transported to South America?
If that’s correct? Maybe that’s the reason why the South Americans seem to make some bad choices. Socialism, Anti Westernism and pro- Arab stuff comes to mind.
Maybe the South Americans carry the muslim gene of ” El Andalus”..!
Based on their behaviour and choices? It sure looks like the South Americans do suffer from their “El Andalus heritage”.
Nah, the problem is more recent… I guess we can blame that idiotic hothead of Ferdinand VII of Spain for not recognizing the Juntas… but more at fault are the people who ruled over the continent on the 19th C….
Then again, many of the people who came to the New World (most of those who weren’t Jews and Converted Jews) were from Andalusia…
I sympathise with you. I would have thought (a long time ago, in my youth) that South America would be a natural friend with North America. Together, both America’s could have saved the world from the evil and danger of today.
Unfortunately that did not happen, and I do not know enough history to know why.
But today the Western civilization of which South America is a part, is in great danger from the re-emergent Muslim hordes, who have no compunctions about beheading young women (I refer to Ms. Mueller) and have no compunction about beheading anyone at all — witness France, England, and perhaps Germany as well.
When will the West wake up and realize that it is another repeat from previous history and it is the Gates of Vienna all over again? This site has the name, but it is based on the history that only when the Muslims attacked the gates of Vienna and Jan Hus, if I have his name correctly, but let’s say the Polish army came to rescue.
Who will rescue us now? It won’t be our president, trust me on that. He is a wuss and possibly an undercover Muslim himself, but I don’t know that so I won’t say it. Suffice it to say that he is a sympathizer to the Muslims, and that is taken from his own words, which can be found anywhere on the internet.
God help us and I do mean that.
Nobody will ‘rescue’ us because we do not need rescuing. The wretched Muslim usurpers and victims may however find themselves in a spot as they go safe havening and refuging anew.
Mariabee, I thank God that, even though our disgrace of a POTUS is a sympathizer with every anti-Western force from Marx to Muhammad, he happens to be a wuss and basically a nonentity. Were he a brave man, the USA and the West in general would be finished.
You are getting your Jans mixed up. Jan III Sobieski was the Polish king and cavalry general who defeated Kara Mustafa’s Turks at the Battle Of Vienna. Jan Hus was a Bohemian Czech religious reformer of the 1400’s. A forerunner of the Protestant reformation who was burned at the stake as a heretic and whose death led to the Hussite wars in Bohemia, in which hand held firearms were used for the first time, called pistalá “pipe” in Czech, from whence the word pistol comes.
What Diego said it is true. We Latinos are suffering with socialism since the end of the Cold War, and we are not free, we remain stuck in old maxims that should not exist on this continent, we remain stuck and no progress at all. Socialism here on our continent is not an adherence by fad for novelty, a craving any of a capricious people, socialism is a culture, a culture that is brainwashed for years on this continent. I am Brazilian and certify everything he wrote in his article.
Juan Manuel Santos, in its negotiations with the FARC is following the orders of the Sao Paulo Forum, founded by Fidel Castro: a communist organization that houses all the communist parties of the continent, and also terrorist groups of the highest hazard as: M-19 , FARC, Chilean MIR among others. The love of dictators and Islamic countries is longstanding, and not only his country Colombia, but my country Brazil also has such links with Muslim dictators. In my country you do not have a large Muslim tradition, the Islamic faith can not overcome Catholicism and Protestantism, near the Christianity Islam is a mere sect. However the socialist sect is the worst and most disgraceful destructive sect of our country, and therefore of our continent.
I also do not expect to migrate from my own country, let alone as a parasite. Although, I do not think I am able to migrate with the resources they currently have, anyway, I do not want to migrate my country because of a bunch of traitors who prefer to transform the lives of the people of that continent in a communist hell . I will do what I can to fight it, and will not give up. Soon, there will be no where to migrate, for all countries, even European countries are being besieged by Muslims, while their stupid progressive leaders are filling their capital Muslims and holding criminals. It is quite capable of the world face an abrupt immigration crisis because of idiotic policies of such leaders.
I also think in our Spanish and Portuguese Latin brothers as brothers, as they have many things to us. I worry that in Spain the communist disgrace is re-emerging in the form of parties, and that these parties are gaining young minds. I hope they can overcome these bastards, I hope not resurrect this evil called communism. My solidarity with you Diego, I hope we got out of this well.
Speaking as a foreigner who has lived in Colombia for over 20 years, as well as remembered conversations with Latins who lived in the States, etc. I think that a good part of Socialism’s appeal is based on the terrific gap between the rich and the poor in these countries. Colombia before “la Violencia”, which kicked off officially with the “Bogotazo” on April 9, 1948, was a feudal society. The Bogotazo was essentially a Jacquerie, the near suicidal desperation of that style of uprising. The people that I have talked to who were old enough to remember it are all agreed that the savagery was unbelievable, whole sections of the city were destroyed. One Jewish man told how his father, a holocaust concentration camp survivor came to Bogota on April 1, 1948 having been invited by an aunt who lived there and was his sole remaining relative. He had seen plenty of savagery in Europe, but he thought that what he saw in Bogota was a whole new level. He wanted to go back to Europe but couldn’t because he didn’t have the money.
The old feudal oligarchy is still pretty much in control in spite of a general rise in the standard of living that has included the poor, largely due to a limited introduction of free enterprise, and generally democratic looking institutions. Santos (who is the great grandson of a former Colombian president) seems to have grasped that the essence of Socialism is nearly complete control by a relatively small group of “superior” people of “the masses”, essentially the same set-up as feudalism with its aristocracy, but with a much deeper and more modern level of control. Therefore, his apparent goal is to shift Colombia into socialism with the same old oligarchy still in control. His dealings with FARC could be part of the package, but also could backfire big time.
The trouble with trying to go against the Communists or leftists in general in South America, as one missionary put it in 1964, is that their more conservative opponents “don’t even pretend to be concerned about the plight of the very poor”.
The big trouble is that socialism only pretends to defend or help the poor.