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dispute needs a BEGINNING. These talks are a beginning. They've been pissed off at each other, and not speaking, for too long. This is a breakthrough, brought about by two kindred, leftist/socialist leaders--Batchelet and Morales. The asshole fascists who have run South American countries like fiefdoms--for the benefit of global corporate predators and war profiteers--could never get this far: to be on speaking terms. Now there are more common values and kinship, which these two leaders are fostering.
Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarians are right about the direction that South America needs to go: toward cooperation and regional strength. The U.S. under the Bush junta has become a bloody menace to these countries, as of old. They need to pull together. Chavez is the most eloquent spokesman of it, in the tradition of Simon Bolivar. But we are seeing all kinds of evidences of a broad recognition among the many new Leftist governments in South America that they need each other in order to deal with this new menace from the north and its attendant global predators. Many mutual aid and cooperative projects are being initiated. These talks between Chile and Bolivia are one of them. Others include, for instance, Venezuela, with its oil wealth, helping bail Argentina out of World Bank debt, Cuba's trade of doctors for oil in Venezuela, and the formation of a South American regional trade organization.
It is most interesting what is happening in South America--a hybrid socialist/capitalist model. The New Left there is not hostile to business and trade, but is into balancing business and trade with social justice. In Venezuela, for instance, profit from the state-owned oil resource previously only benefited a tiny rich elite, and the giant oil companies in operation there were given unfair tax breaks. With the election of Chavez, fair taxation has been implemented, and a larger portion of the oil profits are going to benefit Venezuela's vast poor population, never before served by government--in the form of medical clinics in poor areas, schools, community centers, small business grants, and food supplements for the poorest of the poor. Chavez and his government are not hostile to business, but they are into justice and fairness. And the same could be said for all the new Leftist governments that have swept Latin American elections in recent years--in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia, with growing Leftist movements in Peru and even in Columbia (and, of course, similar developments to the north, as in Mexico). (In fact, some of the earliest indications of such a movement--that we northerners became aware of--were the Zapatista movement in southern Mexico, and also the amazing revolt of the third world countries at the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun in 2003, led by Brazil.)
Key to the development of this remarkable political movement has been the long hard work on TRANSPARENT elections, undertaken by the OAS, EU election monitoring groups, the Carter Center, and local civic groups.
U.S. voters, take note.
Transparent elections = good, Leftist government--of, by and for the people.
Non-transparent elections = the Bush junta.
Good, Leftist governments--of, by and for the people--seek peaceful solutions to problems, and employ diplomacy to obtain them, as Chile and Bolivia are doing. Such leaders understand that peacefulness and justice benefit the most people.
Can you imagine Michele Batchelet, a socialist--who was tortured by the U.S.-backed dictator Pinochet--or Evo Morales--also a socialist, and a 100% indigenous Andes Indian, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, who wears work shirts as president, so as not to distance himself from his poor and working class constituents (and from his own roots), and who campaigned for president with a wreath of coca leaves around his neck (sacred plant of the Andes, essential to survival in the high altitudes and cold temperatures of the mountains)--ever taking up arms against each other over Bolivia's access to the sea?
It is almost unimaginable. They have the interests of most people at heart, and they will work something out.
Contrast this with the Bush junta, which manufactures war out of nothing, and seeks every opportunity to pad the pockets of the rich.
Why do Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Venezuela have good governments, while we are stuck with this rotten crew?
Transparent, verifiable, open, honest elections.
The Mexican Left (the majority) is fighting for this principle, as I write this. It seems that the closer we get in geography to the U.S., the more putrid elections become.
Our elections in November will not be transparent. There is no hope of it. I think the only thing we can do (besides monitoring the elections closely, challenging suspicious results, and continuing to inform the public) is a massive citizen protest against the rigged electronic voting machines by means of Absentee Ballot voting. AB voting is not safe, but it IS a PROTEST against this new election theft system with its (Bushite!) corporate-controlled TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code. And it is furthermore an indigenous protest, devised by ordinary, individual citizens, in an effort to get their votes COUNTED. AB voting is up to 50% in Los Angeles. If it gets bigger, it could render the electronic voting machines obsolete. What good are all these shiny, new, election theft machines, if nobody will vote on them? As far as I can see, it's the only protest we can do that might be effective in exposing the rigged electronic voting system this year.
Bumper sticker: "Bust the Machines--Vote Absentee!"
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