Originally published at Anticonquista on November 29, 2020
On November 25, 2020, the fighting peoples of the world lost a humble legend: Diego Armando Maradona. He was 60 years old at the time of his passing.
Arguably the greatest soccer player to ever grace the pitches, the spirited striker combined unparalleled skills in his sport and an unflinching outspokenness against oppression. No other sports figureās public statements and transformation has equally captured the changing momentum across Latin America.
Maradona was for Latin Americans what Mohamed Ali was for Black people in the United States.
The Falklands War
Raised in the oppressed community of Villa Fiorito in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, āthe golden kidāsā talent from an early age fetched him million dollar contracts first in his homeland and then in Spain and Italy. No stranger to controversy, āthe soccer god,ā with his rebellious natural hair, was irreverent before elites and defiant to the core. When a Spanish player hurled racist epithets at him because of his Indigenous ancestry, Maradona head butted him, leading to a brawl that was broadcast before King Juan Carlos, hundreds of thousands of fans in the stadium and half of Spain watching on television.
The 22-year-old player was radicalized by Englandās 1982 Falklands War, which was an assault on his homeland, known in Latin America as La Guerra de las Malvinas. Causing untold agony and trauma, hundreds of soldiers died on both sides and hundreds of veterans committed suicide for years after. Former President Ronald Reagan claimed that the United States was a āmediator,ā but stayed faithful to their colonial partner led by the much-reviled Margaret Thatcher.
This was the backdrop of the 1986 semi-final showdown between the two countries without diplomatic relations at the World Cup in Mexico City. Argentina was Latin America and Latin America was Argentina.
Maradona famously scored a crafty goal where slow motion highlights showed he illegally used his hand to redirect the ball into the English net. After the game when the English team accused him of cheating with his hand, he responded: āserĆa la mano de diosā (āit must have been the hand of godā). Sports analysts applauded the āpicardiaā or Argentine cunningness behind the maneuver. The second goal was a full sprint through a minefield of English defenders that went down in history as āthe goal of the century.ā
These heroic acts sealed Maradonaās destiny as an idol of the masses combatting neo-colonialism. To beat England in Latin America was to exact revenge on the invading enemy. The soccer field was an extension of the battle field. The arrogant English were expelled. This was the symbolic recuperation of Argentine and Latin American dignity.
āPatria es humanidadā (Our Homeland is Humanity)
In 2000, an overweight and beleaguered Maradona traveled to Cuba to treat his drug addiction. Fidel Castro visited him in his worst moments and helped take care of him. The Cuban president took off his military coat and gave it to the patient. He said he adored Fidel because he was āgenuine and cared about human problems that others brushed aside.ā The down-and-out, āwretched of the earthā soccer player was not rejected in Havana. Instead, he was accepted, treated like a dignified human being and loved. This moment of healing was another of Maradonaās entry points to the tide of resistance that was flowing across the Americas.
The same year, Japan denied Maradona a visa because of strict laws barring anybody from the country who had a history with drugs. Always a ātribune of the people,ā in the Leninist sense of the word, Maradona exclaimed he would never return to Japan. He fired back: āThey will not let me into Japan because I did drugs. But they will allow gringos in who dropped two atomic bombs on them.ā
The Frontlines in the Battle of Ideas
The Argentine took great pride in the rising of Latin Americaās second independence, which began on December 6, 1998, with Hugo ChĆ”vezās electoral victory in Venezuela.
The Bolivarian Revolution was advancing across Latin America and had recently paid off Argentinaās foreign debt. ChĆ”vez traveled to Argentina in a showdown with the warmongering U.S. leader. La Plata River divides the two countries and the two sides of history. Rising to the historical occasion, with Maradona by his side donning a āStop Bushā t-shirt, the Venezuelan leader famously chanted: āEl que no brinca es yankeeā (Whoever doesnāt jump is a yankee). Maradona gave credence to Evo Moralesā catch phrase: āthe empire stands with the right wing, football stands with the left.ā
This was the battle of ideas Fidel spoke of.
āTo be attacked by the enemy is not a bad thing but a good thingā
It is difficult to appreciate Maradonaās greatness here in the U.S., where sports loyalties are divided between baseball, U.S. football and basketball. In Latin America and Europe, soccer is king. In Napoli, restaurants have alcoves reserved for hanging religious idols. There beside them is Maradona. The mayor has announced the famed Saint Paul stadium should be renamed after one of the cityās most beloved.
His tattoos of Ernesto āCheā Guevara and Fidel brought a new meaning to the phrase āhe wore his feelings on his sleeve.ā His program āDe Zurdaā on TeleSUR in 2014 with Victor Hugo Morales, the famed Uruguayan sportscaster, combined humor, sports analysis and leftest political commentary. Last year, following a coaching win in April, he stated: āI want to dedicate this victory to NicolĆ”s Maduro and all Venezuelans, who are suffering. These Yankees, the sheriffs of the world, think just because they have the worldās biggest bomb they can push us around. But no, not us.ā
Those who had the honor to meet Maradona remember him as a peopleās person who was always accessible. Though he had his own personal struggles, he never wavered in his commitments to elevating the voices of the poor and defending the underdog. In plain proletarian English, Maradona never forgot about the hood. On November 25, 2020, the fourth anniversary of Fidelās passing, one of his students and admirers joined him in eternity, having left so much for us all to savor and learn from.
The election represents a showdown between ten years of the RevoluciĆ³n Ciudadana (Citizensā Revolution, 2007-2017) and the past four disastrous years of unfettered neoliberalism. As of now, polls show Arauz, Correaās candidate, is clearly in the lead, polling at 37 percent and Lasso at 24 percent.
The Advances of La RevoluciĆ³n Ciudadana
Correaās presidential victory in 2006 was a key part of the Pink Tide and South American effort to realize SimĆ³n BolĆvarās dream of regional economic and political integration and independence from foreign domination. As Minister of Economy and Finance in 2005, Correa distinguished himself by opposing International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans, advocating for social planning and proposing a National Assembly to tap into the power of Ecuadorās diverse working sectors.
During Correaās two terms, Ecuador saw increases in the minimum wage and social security benefits, a progressive tax on the rich, and higher investments in education and social programs, all while attaining economic growth. For this reason, traditional interests and their U.S. backers opposed Alianza PaĆs and sought to sew internal divisions and solidify alliances with sections of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, CONAIE.
The Story of a Vendepatria
The leadership and rank-and-file of Alianza PaĆs understood that LenĆn Moreno, who had served as Rafael Correaās vice-president for six years, was best positioned to carry CorreĆsmo forward. Within months of winning the presidency in 2017, however, Moreno reneged on his campaign promises. In one of the great about-faces in the history of South America, Moreno betrayed the movement and embraced a neoliberal model for Ecuador. Under Moreno, Ecuador also withdrew from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in 2018 and pulled out of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in 2019, weakening two of the most important instruments of continental unity.
Throughout the ups and downs and contradictions of the Ecuadorian class struggle, the leadership of the Citizensā Revolution has maintained a self-critical posture. After the election of Moreno, Alianza PaĆs split into pro-Moreno and pro-Correa tendencies. Sections of CONAIE have sustained legitimate critiques of CorreĆsmo, including concerns over the environmental impact of resource exploitation and infrastructure projects. These are problems the Correista leadership continues to address and it shows the importance of the revolutionary formation of a new generation of Ecuadorians.
āConstruir Poder Transformador: Debate Latinoamericano,ā a book by Ricardo PatiƱo, Arauz and other Citizensā Revolution leaders, lays out the pitfalls of over reliance on Correaās charisma and indicates some of the challenges that lay ahead (PatiƱo is the Former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Correaās presidency). The grassroots leadership of UNES asserts the importance of building an entire movement that can independently defend its interests: āThe fundamental problem has been an absence of a solid and profound counter-hegemonic ideology that guides the decisions, practices and relations of the popular sectors as well as political leaders.ā
In an example of flipping reality on its head in 2017, the incoming Moreno government immediately accused the Citizensā Revolution of wanton corruption. Similar to the oligarchiesā attacks demonizing the Pink Tide in Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and across the continent, this was a classic case of lawfare. The neoliberals, fearful of the enormous popularity of CorreĆsmo, waged a war through judicial means. Jorge Glas, former vice-president under Correa, is still in jail on trumped-up charges and recently contracted the COVID-19. PatiƱo and the President of the National Assembly Gabriela Rivadeneira are still in exile in Mexico. Correa himself is banned from his homeland and faces years in jail on highly dubious charges of corruption. An Arauz victory would open the country back up to those who put human life in community before private accumulation and carry forth an agenda that targets the real culprits of corruption.
U.S. banks are fearful of CorreĆsmo. IMF loans to the region and exploited countries have long been a neocolonial tactic for extracting wealth from developing countries. As the old proverb goes: āthose who lend, command.ā Under the guise of humanitarian help with the raging pandemic, the IMF issued loans to an all too willing Moreno administration to the tune of $6.5 billion just before the close of 2020. As always, the IMF stipulated austerity, the deregulation of the Central Bank and sale of gasoline and diesel without subsidies and at world market prices. Lasso has indicated that if elected president, he would not disavow the IMF agreement. Arauz promises to defy the IMF.
One of Trumpās 11th hour actions before leaving office was to oversee a U.S. Development Corporation loan to Ecuador for 3.5 billion dollars that requires the government to privatize a major oil refinery and parts of the countryās electrical grid, and to exclude China from its telecommunications development. Washington is alarmed at the growing Chinese influence across South America and the Global South and sees Ecuador as an important beachhead to prosecute this āNew Cold Warā through the Growth in the Americas (CRECE) program.
Whatās at Stake
In October 2019, a massive protest movement rocked the country. The world watched with bated breath as a grassroots movement opposed to austerity measures occupied Quito and nearly toppled the Moreno government. The government attempted to crush the protests, leaving at least ten dead, more than 1,000 people arrested and more than 1,300 injured. When repression failed to quell the protests, Moreno rescinded on an International Monetary Fund-backed program, known as Decree 883, that raised fuel prices, proving again the power of a united, mobilized people.
The year 2020 ushered in a new tragedy for Ecuador. The Moreno government failed to respond adequately to the COVID-19 pandemic in any serious, unified way. Abandoned bodies lined the streets of Guayaquil last April putting on tragic display before the entire world, the misleadership of Ecuadorās largest city, long governed by neoliberal politicians. These dehumanizing images encapsulated what three years of Morenoās economic and political agenda has meant for everyday people. On January 29, police in Quito shut down a clinic for giving out 70,000 fake vaccines. TV presenter EfraĆn Ruales, who had reported on corruption in the current administration, was gunned down and murdered on January 27. As of now, there are 249,779 coronavirus cases in Ecuador and 14,851 deaths.
This is the backdrop for this weekās election, not just for the 17 million people of Ecuador and millions of others in the diaspora, but for the future of the Pink Tide in Latin America. Will Ecuador continue down the road of subordination to imperialism, or will it resume the Citizensā Revolution and rejoin the movement towards continental integration and independence? This decisive election will determine Ecuadorās direction for the next four years and beyond.
Este artĆculo originalmente fueĀ publicadoĀ en Anticonquista el 29 de noviembrede 2020.
El 25 de noviembre de 2020, los pueblos combatientes del mundo perdieron una humilde leyenda: Diego Armando Maradona. TenĆa 60 aƱos en el momento de su fallecimiento.
El jugador de 22 aƱos fue radicalizado por la Guerra de las Malvinas de 1982 en Inglaterra, que fue un asalto a su tierra natal. Causando una agonĆa y un trauma incalculable, cientos de soldados murieron en ambos lados y cientos de veteranos se suicidaron durante aƱos. El ex presidente Ronald Reagan afirmĆ³ que los Estados Unidos era un āmediadorā, pero se mantuvo fiel a su socio colonial liderado por la muy denostada Margaret Thatcher.
El mismo aƱo, JapĆ³n le negĆ³ una visa a Maradona debido a leyes estrictas que prohĆben a cualquier persona del paĆs que tiene antecedentes de drogas. Siempre un ātribuno del puebloā, en el sentido leninista de la palabra, Maradona exclamĆ³ que nunca volverĆa a JapĆ³n. Ćl respondiĆ³: āNo me dejarĆ”n entrar a JapĆ³n porque consumĆ drogas. Pero permitirĆ”n que entren gringos que les han arrojado dos bombas atĆ³micasā.
Sus tatuajes de Ernesto āCheā Guevara y Fidel le dieron un nuevo significado a la frase āllevaba sus sentimientos en la mangaā. Su programa āDe Zurdaā en TeleSUR en 2014 con VĆctor Hugo Morales, el afamado comentarista deportivo uruguayo, combinĆ³ humor, anĆ”lisis deportivo y comentario polĆtico mĆ”s izquierdista. El aƱo pasado, luego de una victoria de entrenador en abril, dijo: āQuiero dedicar esta victoria a NicolĆ”s Maduro y a todos los venezolanos que estĆ”n sufriendo. Estos yanquis, los alguaciles del mundo, piensan que solo porque tienen la bomba mĆ”s grande del mundo pueden empujarnos. Pero no, nosotros noā.
La elecciĆ³n representa un enfrentamiento entre diez aƱos de la RevoluciĆ³n Ciudadana (2007-2017) y los Ćŗltimos cuatro aƱos desastrosos de neoliberalismo desenfrenado. A partir de ahora, las encuestas muestran que Arauz, el candidato de Correa, estĆ” claramente a la cabeza, con un 37 por ciento y Lasso con un 24 por ciento.
Durante los dos mandatos de Correa, Ecuador vio aumentos en el salario mĆnimo y los beneficios de la seguridad social, un impuesto progresivo a los ricos y mayores inversiones en educaciĆ³n y programas sociales, todo mientras se lograba el crecimiento econĆ³mico. Por esta razĆ³n, los intereses tradicionales y sus patrocinadores estadounidenses se opusieron a Alianza PaĆs y buscaron coser divisiones internas y solidificar alianzas con secciones de la ConfederaciĆ³n de Nacionalidades IndĆgenas del Ecuador, CONAIE.
āConstruir Poder Transformador: Debate Latinoamericanoā, un libro de Ricardo PatiƱo, Arauz y otros lĆderes de la RevoluciĆ³n Ciudadana, expone las trampas de confiar demasiado en el carisma de Correa e indica algunos de los desafĆos que se avecinan (PatiƱo es el exministro de Relaciones Exteriores bajo la presidencia de Correa). La direcciĆ³n de base de la UNES afirma la importancia de construir todo un movimiento que pueda defender independientemente sus intereses: āEl problema fundamental ha sido la ausencia de una ideologĆa contrahegemĆ³nica sĆ³lida y profunda que oriente las decisiones, prĆ”cticas y relaciones de los sectores populares como asĆ como lĆderes polĆticosā.
En octubre de 2019, un movimiento de protesta masivo sacudiĆ³ el paĆs. El mundo observĆ³ con gran expectaciĆ³n cĆ³mo un movimiento de base opuesto a las medidas de austeridad ocupaba Quito y casi derrocaba al gobierno de Moreno. El gobierno intentĆ³ aplastar las protestas, dejando al menos diez muertos, mĆ”s de 1.000 detenidos y mĆ”s de 1.300 heridos. Cuando la represiĆ³n no logrĆ³ sofocar las protestas, Moreno rescindiĆ³ un programa respaldado por el Fondo Monetario Internacional, conocido como Decreto 883, que elevĆ³ los precios de los combustibles, demostrando nuevamente el poder de un pueblo unido y movilizado.
El aƱo 2020 marcĆ³ el comienzo de una nueva tragedia para Ecuador. El gobierno de Moreno no respondiĆ³ adecuadamente a la pandemia de COVID-19 de una manera unificada y seria. Los cadĆ”veres abandonados se alinearon en las calles de Guayaquil en abril pasado, exhibiendo ante el mundo entero el engaƱo de la ciudad mĆ”s grande de Ecuador, gobernada durante mucho tiempo por polĆticos neoliberales. Estas imĆ”genes deshumanizadoras resumen lo que han significado para la gente comĆŗn tres aƱos de la agenda econĆ³mica y polĆtica de Moreno. El 29 de enero, la policĆa de Quito cerrĆ³ una clĆnica para distribuir 70.000 vacunas falsas. El presentador de televisiĆ³n EfraĆn Ruales, quien habĆa informado sobre la corrupciĆ³n en la actual administraciĆ³n, fue baleado y asesinado el 27 de enero. A la fecha, hay 249.779 casos de coronavirus en Ecuador y 14.851 muertes.
āFamiliasā que se mantienen fuera de la atenciĆ³n de los medios internacionales, a los cuales sĆ³lo les preocupa la ācrisis que genera la violencia de las pandillasā. Los paramilitares representan al lumpenproletariado de Puerto PrĆncipe, que empuƱan armas y abrazan la violencia en un intento por controlar franjas cada vez mayores de los crecientes guetos de la capital. Aunque, sin duda, no son los peces mĆ”s gordos.
Este, sin embargo, es un error epistemolĆ³gico intencional. La mayor parte del anĆ”lisis deberĆa centrarse en las tres fuerzas principales detrĆ”s de la crisis paramilitar de HaitĆ: 1) una pequeƱa camarilla de magnates que detentan el poder econĆ³mico y polĆtico; 2) la clase polĆtica corrupta, encabezada por los funcionarios antipopulares del Partido Haitiano de los Calvos (PHTK), y 3) lo mĆ”s importante, el Estado imperial estadounidense que, durante mĆ”s de un siglo, ha definido a HaitĆ como una de sus colonias.
El Estado dentro del Estado: los seƱores de la guerra
Los Bigio, Apaid, Mev, Brandt, Boulos y un puƱado de otras familias multimillonarias, junto con sus polĆticos contratados por el gobernante Partido Haitiano de los Calvos (PHTK), como Ariel Henry, Michel Martelly y el asesinado Jovenel MoĆÆse, forman un Estado dentro de un Estado. Gran parte de lo que ocurre en la polĆtica haitiana, desde golpes polĆticos, llamados a intervenciĆ³n militar, hasta asesinatos selectivos, se remonta a la lucha de poder que ocurre entre los diferentes grupos rivales tĆteres del Core Group.
Echemos un vistazo a otras familias poderosas en HaitĆ y su historiales en materia de ādemocraciaā.
La familia Bigio: lo mƔs ricos y dueƱos de un puerto seƱalado por trƔfico de armas
El sitio web Ayibo Post informa sobre la amplia cartera econĆ³mica de la familia del multimillonario haitiano Gilbert Bigio, incluido su propio puerto privado recientemente construido de Lafito, justo al norte de la capital.
La familia Apaid: contactos con Coca-Cola, ādonacionesā de presidentes y talleres clandestinosƧ
Los Apaid, una de las familias mĆ”s ricas de HaitĆ, son propietarios de GMC Zone Franche (Zona de Libre Comercio) y Alpha Industries. Como la mayorĆa de las familias ultrarricas haitianas no viven en HaitĆ.
SegĆŗn las autoridades constitucionales de HaitĆ y de toda la regiĆ³n, el mandato presidencial de Jovenel MoĆÆse finalizĆ³ el domingo 7 de febrero de 2021, pero al dĆa siguiente, el periĆ³dico Le Moniteur publicĆ³ un decreto presidencial, en el que MoĆÆse regalaba 8.600 hectĆ”reas de las reservas de tierras agrĆcolas del paĆs y 18 millones de dĆ³lares en subvenciones, al empresario Andre Apaid. Coca Cola contratĆ³ al multimillonario haitiano para cultivar stevia en el departamento de Artibonite, 80 kilĆ³metros al norte de Puerto PrĆncipe. Esta exuberante tierra es ahora el hogar del proyecto de zona franca agroindustrial Savane-Diane, propiedad de Apaid, que paga a los haitianos salarios miserables para producir aguacates, stevia y otros cultivos de exportaciĆ³n. Los sindicatos haitianos realizaron protestas el 1 de mayo contra los Apaids, propietarios de talleres clandestinos, declarando: āDenunciamos la inestabilidad planificada y los miserables salarios de la tuberculosisā.
La familia Boulos: dueƱa de medios, cadena de supermercados, hoteles y concesionaria de autos
Reginald Boulos es otro ejemplo vivo de un oligarca sombrĆo e intocable. Nacido y formado principalmente en Estados Unidos, este inversor de 68 aƱos se convirtiĆ³ en presidente del Intercontinental Bank S.A. en 1996. En representaciĆ³n del grupo familiar Boulos Investment Group, supervisĆ³ en 1998 la fusiĆ³n de su empresa con Sogebank, uno de los bancos mĆ”s grandes de HaitĆ. El Sogebank obtuvo en 2020 las mayores ganancias de toda la banca en el Caribe. A medida que la economĆa mundial y caribeƱa se contraĆa con la crisis econĆ³mica generada por la pandemia de COVID-19, Sogebank vio cĆ³mo sus mĆ”rgenes de beneficios aumentaban en un 40%.
En cualquier conversaciĆ³n formal o informal en HaitĆ, la gente se apresura a recordar que HaitĆ no produce armas ni drogas. En un informe del pasado aƱo la ONU reconociĆ³ que las armas que llegan a las agrupaciones paramilitares en HaitĆ salen de puertos en Miami, e incluso llegan a usar puertos dominicanos para penetrarlos a HaitĆ.
El pueblo haitiano se apresura a seƱalar que la principal contradicciĆ³n no es con los ignorantes buscones que obedecen a intereses extranjeros. Los paramilitares son maestros en denunciar las masacres pero no a los culpables. No importa cuĆ”ntos dedos y cabezas corten, de algĆŗn modo se presentan como los mĆ”s inocentes de los 16.000.000 de haitianos que habitan el planeta Tierra.
Barbacue no es mĆ”s que un lacayo ruidoso en una conspiraciĆ³n mucho mĆ”s amplia contra HaitĆ. Muy por encima de Barbecue, los Gobiernos de HaitĆ, RepĆŗblica Dominicana y Estados Unidos presiden una elaborada conspiraciĆ³n que lleva siglos en marcha contra la autodeterminaciĆ³n de Haiti. Y las familias de multimillonarios en la isla, seguirĆ”n moviendo cielo y tierra para que esa conspiraciĆ³n siga en marcha por toda la eternidad.
All names are fictitious to protect the privacy of the families I work with.
Lucas is 17. His parents reached out to my agency in search of a Sober Companion because Lucas threatened them and turned violent every time they tried to limit his screen time on his phone and laptop. He was addicted to pornography, which he consumed for hours, day and night. Two weeks into working with Lucas and seeking to implement structure and top-line behaviors in his life, I confiscated both of his devices and locked them in a safe1. When I walked down from their upstairs guest bedroom where I slept and left the safe, Lucas had his 47-year-old mother in a headlock with a knife to her throat.
Francisco is a 26-year-old successful model. He has landed gigs and billboards from Tokyoās Shibuya Crossing to New York Cityās Time Square. He knew intrinsically that porn was draining, misdirecting and siphoning off his energy and affecting his work performance. An insomniac and occasional bedwetter since he was first sexually abused by a family āfriendā at nine, Franscisco scrolled through porn for hours. He told me ā embarrassed but curious ā that he was not even aroused by the merry-go-round of naked, defenseless zombies. But he was transfixed. And most importantly, numbed. No different than an anorexic or an overeater, he had found his fix.
Marty was addicted to child pornography. We did an intervention at his sisterās request because the FBI was patrolling him and closing in on him. Surely 99 percent of readers have already condemned Marty for his addiction. Marty was mildly autistic. He was bullied, sexually abused and tortured as a child. No one ever cared about āthe local retard.ā Do you hate Marty or do you hate the sexual trauma he was reenacting?
The drug matters little; the escape itself is the fix.
I work as a Sober Companion supporting other men and teenagers through one of the most simultaneously harrowing and liberating human processes ā Withdrawal. The majority of withdrawals I assist in are from benzos, alcohol, opioids and other drugs. But increasingly, the United States is waking up to an addiction that has been on the rise since the advent of the internet and social media age and has destroyed untold lives and relationships ā pornography.
Porn, in its current expression, is the exploitation of frozen images and vulnerable, dehumanized, captured, inanimate bodies. One 12-step recovery group explains pornography as participating in anotherās trauma.
How do we understand and confront this modern-day plague, arguably the most global of all?
Misogyny is Big Business
This essay is not a moralistic commentary on what we should or should not watch. Porn is not the root problem. It is a symptom. Like the suicide epidemic, ārandomā mass shootings, more that 200 just on the first day of this year, and Black Death Porn2, pornography is part and parcel of the normalization of a general societal demoralization.
Pornography is a $100 billion dollar industry. For comparison, all social media nets $231 billion in annual revenue. Sex tourism produces $20 billion in revenue for the global overlords of Thailand, The Dominican Republic and other sex tourism neocolonies. Pornography is the most profitable manifestation of the hyper-sexualization of our society and youth.
Veteran sex workers warn about the growing trend towards rape porn and other violent porn. They recounted how porn was comparatively more ālovey doveyā in the past. One BBC study indicated that 88 percent of porn videos contain physical aggression towards women. As any addict knows, addiction is progressive. I have sponsored and worked with men who started with āsoft pornā and descended into Danteās lower rungs of porn that shows illegal material, content with underage young people, children, rape scenes and seemingly endless variations of violence, humiliation and misogyny. The porn pandemic has long been out of control. Racist fetishes like āthe submissive Asianā or āspicy Latinaā dominate porn menus. For many men, this reinforces their racism and misogyny and may be their only āinteractionā with these demographics. For many women, they measure themselves according to the metrics of their abusers and oppressors, internalizing dominant ābeautyā standards and concluding that they will never measure up.
Who Cashes in on Porn?
Porn critic Amy Leather writes: āCable companies and distributors like Time Warner Cable in the U.S. make millions from adult video on demand and pay per view sales. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo make money from people accessing porn. So the porn industry has links to mainstream finance, media and communications businesses. It has powerful allies.ā
Not satisfied with the damage done to men and teenage boys, the porn industry targets ever younger audiences through the use of Artificial Intelligence, avatars and cartoons. They strategically place advertisements on movie and videogame websites to lure more vulnerable minds into their grip.
@OnlyFans presents yet another modern form of sexual exploitation and an artificial form of human connection. The $2.5 billion dollar British startup delivers cheap parasocial dopamine hits for mostly male clients and an abundance of risks for the sex workers seeking to put food on the table. Younger women or girls look up to their more-experienced peers and are forced to compete in the free market of sexual exploitation. Such videos can be leaked and later used to discriminate against women workers. The need for immediate gain and survival stares down the reality of systemic sexism and permanent consequences.
Pharmaceutical companies also cash in on the hyper-sexualization trends. Barceloneta is a small town in PR that twenty years ago produced pineapples. Today the pueblo is Americaās top viagra producer. On March 27, 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizerās miracle drug for limp pensises, raking in how many tens of billions of dollars in profits in the past quarter century plus? There are natural cures for Erectile Dysfunction but doctors encouraging people to study nutrition and exercise is not profitable. Dependency and addiction are.
Survival in Hostile Neoliberal Economic Terrain
Sex workers did not create the plague of unemployment, the gigification of the economy and inflation. No Brazilian or Filipino woman determined that their currency would be worth a fraction of an American or Europeanās money. No Honduran or Haitian woman decided that sex work could pay much more than vanishing sweatshop jobs making clothes for Western fashion behemoths like Victory Secret or Nike. Victim-blaming and victim-shaming is the capitalist art of deflecting blame from the origins of these myriad manifestations of violence against women and children.
A pathological society can only produce pathological people.
The research questions before us are not a matter of when a woman in New York City will be harassed or a child in Oakland will be traumatized. These two phenomena are inevitable under the prevailing social relations we inhabit. The relevant research questions are at what rates is this transpiring? Only the Marxist researchers will go deeper and dare to ask how we can transcend this insidious chapter of human prehistory.
Take Back Your Dopamine
What happens when the dark web and other murky corners of the internet become your sex education? There is a competitive campaign of shock and awe to get likes, with necrophilia, gore porn, bestiality and beyond at the center of the new soul harvesting. 50 percent of videos on Pornhub contain incestuous content. Like the 3-headed cerberus, the beasts of desensitization offer infinite dopamine hits, stealing any sense of self-respect and sexualizing children. All obnoxiousness is a cry for help. Our children are warning us in 1,000 ways. Spikes in autism, school shootings and other forms of addiction are our sons and daughters wailing āenough!ā
Will we heed the warnings contained within their screams?
The United States of Porn promotes further isolation. It is a centerpiece of Incel culture.
The Hollywood blockbuster āDon Jonā starring Scarlett Johansson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks at a relationship interrupted by the protagonistās addiction to porn. In the 2013 movie āHer,ā Joaquin Phoenixās character āTheodoreā falls in love with a woman created from artificial intelligence on his computer. Porn is but one part of a much larger pandemic, Sex Addiction. Strip clubs, the dark web, massage parlors, sex work, sex tourism and child trafficking belong under the same umbrella of sexual exploitation and sexually acting out. Capitalism and patriarchy have taught us men to sexualize our rage, isolation, sadness, low self-esteem and trauma. Perhaps the most common male character defect and socially-sanctioned emotion, since we are not allowed to grieve and be vulnerable, is rage. Anger is the superficial facade hiding our deep-seated sadness, pain and trauma. The Old Norse word for anger is āangra,ā meaning grief. Porn, in its addictive form, is but one soother we use to repress what often needs to come up from our childhoods.
Located somewhere between coffee and cocaine on the dopamine scale, a sexual release floods the brain with this bewildering chemical. According to Dopamine Nation author Dr. Anna Lembke, coffee increases dopamine flow by 50 percent, sex by 100 percent and crystal meth by 1000 percent. From the outside, colleagues, family members and friends can objectively observe addictsā compulsive need to continue to chew on shiny razor blades, but from the skewed viewpoint of the addict, they are trapped in the quest for the next hit. Dr. Lembkeās book, well-known in recovery circles, takes up big, necessary questions related to dopamine fasting, self-binding and healthy sources of substitute dopamine for the addict experiencing āloss.ā
How many of us could benefit on the life journey from dopa-mean to dopa-serene3?
Withdrawal: The War to End All Wars
Men are 543 percent more likely to be addicted to porn than women. Just in one year, there were 109,012,068,000 videos watched on Pornhub, that is enough for every human being to have watched 4 porn videos. āPorn addictsā collectively consumed over 5,824,699,200 hours of porn just on Pornhub in that same year. These were 6 billion hours that were not spent studying different cultures, languages and peace. 4 out of 5 Americans only speak English, but how many are fluent in the language and cruelty that characterizes the porn industry. We are what we eat. We are both enveloped by and devoured by the insidiousness.
Has any pandemic ever been so global? Pornhub, XVideos, and XNXX alone receive 134,491 visits per minute. Porn is miswiring humanity.
This crisis will not heal itself. What is the way forward?
Withdrawal is the Way
The withdrawal symptoms from pornography mirror what any of us addicts who have tried to quit know all too well ā anxiety, insomnia, depression, stomach issues, haunting, ruminating obsessions. Young men talk about how when they donāt get their P&M fix (porn and masturbation), they āget the jitters.ā
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense explained, struggled and died to establish that Capitalism + Dope = Genocide. Similarly today, Capitalism + Social Alienation = A Porn Plague. The Porn Plague ā like āmass shootings,ā sexual violence and addiction in general ā are reflections of a sick society. The largest economy in the history of the world ā with an unprecedented Gross Domestic Product of $25.46 Trillion ā specializes in producing alienation. We are disconnected from the work we do, estranged from the products of our labor, one another and from ourselves. In a society based on hyper-profits, materialism, individualism and conquest, are we really surprised as the social pandemics that surround us? As Malcolm X accurately told us in 1964, āthe chickens are coming home to roost.ā The multiple plagues we are living through, unprecedented in human history, are easily explained through the social sciences4. The only logical conclusion the social sciences can draw is that at this rate, our days are numbered. Capitalism is the end of life. Our choice, as Rosa Luxembourg told us, is between Socialism and Barbarism.
From Shame to Grace: The Revolution within the Revolution
We have dwelled on the problem long enough; recovery teaches us we must live in the solution.
There are many anonymous 12-step programs that speak directly to this particular addiction from different angles ā Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Sexual Recovery Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Codependents Anonymous and Sexual Compulsives Anonymous. There are online and in-person meetings for different communities across the country. Fusing recovery and Marxist language, top line behaviors are the only solution for empty negation. As every addict letās go, letās g-o-d5 and letās good, they dive into new activities, hobbies, travels, languages and beyond. Recovery cannot be experienced as loss. We are only as dark as our secrets. Porn use is often wrapped up in a web of lies and secrecy. Open up to a friend, spiritual leader, therapist or fellow.
Again, this is not an attack on pornography and a human beingās right to participate in what could under a different societal power arrangement, arguably, reflect art. For example, there are women directing porn to prioritize womenās pleasure. The new forms of human and sexual interactions that will be ushered in by a system of egalitarianism are mere fantasies at this point on the human timeline. The German documentary āDo Communists Have Better Sexā makes the argument that emancipation in the economic realm reverberates to all areas of social life, even the bedroom. Professor of Russian and Eastern European Studies, Kristen R. Ghodsee argues in her book Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism that collective creches and state support freed up human beings from economic duress so they could at last stop surviving, and begin livingā¦
Withdrawal from porn, as with withdrawal from all addictions, represents a journey from Shame to Graceā¦
What can one say in 2025 of a South American president who attacks Caracas more than Washington, D.C., and Havana more than Tel Aviv? What social class and foreign forces does such a president serve when he hides behind āprogressiveā and āleftistā rhetoric and frequently beckons his credentials as a former āstudent leaderā?
Gabriel Boric Font, Chilean president since 2022, is no friend of the working-class causes he has claimed to champion. With one year left in his presidential term, he has proven to be a loyal, āleftistā mouthpiece for the Chilean military and economic brass and their foreign backers.
Similar to the Democrats, Boric claims to represent an alternative. Similar to the Democrats, he presents the far right, and not the capitalist system, as the problem. After a social upheaval in 2019 that left dozens of Chileans dead and maimed, similar to the Democrats, Boric represents a safe, acceptable escape valve for the Chilean establishment and foreign capital.
The Boric lesson is that imperialism is quite willing to pivot toward a ānew leftistā where it is convenient, especially given that by definition they prioritize identity politics over class politics. This offers cover for a neo-liberalism that continues to favor the ten richest families in Chile who are unsurprisingly the most connected to international finance.
Boric: The Backstabber and Betrayer
A look at the Chilean presidentās relationship to the state reveals even more about his class loyalties.
The Boric administration boasts of 60 new āanti-terroristā laws. Grassroots movements, such as Radio Plaza de la Dignidad, consider the new legislation an attack on their rights to organize and mobilize:
āThe āimprovementā of the previous repressive law now allows the arbitrary criminalization of popular fighters, imposing a much more aggressive and arbitrary category of āterrorist.ā Not even the Pinochet dictatorship dared to do so much. Such laws include the trigger-happy law, the critical infrastructure law and the anti-occupation/anti-poor law. With the excuse being the fight against crime, the legal-repressive framework has been strengthened, unleashing a brutal threat against the entire Popular Movement in Struggle.ā
Boric has put teeth behind this legislation, training 1,300 new carabineros (militarized police). Amnesty International has critiqued the absolute impunity for the police force after the massive clampdown on the 2019 rebellion.
Chileās patagonia continues to function as a refuge for Zionist war criminals with areas that cater to them in modern-day Hebrew, the official language of the occupiers of historic Palestine.
The 39-year-old, 37th president of Chile brazenly claims that the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are not leftists. No different than Milei, Noboa, Trump and other reactionaries in the hemisphere, he pushes unfounded claims blaming Venezuelaās leadership for insecurity, crime and traffic of arms and drugs in the region. Why would a āleftistā promote a right-wing view of the countries most in the crosshairs of imperialism? However, Boric did not hesitate to recognize āthe victoryā of āpresidentā Daniel Naboa and the Ecuadorian narco-state last weekend, on April 14.
Here in the United States, we know such leftists well. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders and their ilk have long functioned as the sheepdogs of the Democratic Party to lasso in the more radical elements.
The Borics of U.S. politics with Obama and others. [Source: nytimes.com]
In the summer of 2024, Boric and Minister of Defense Maya FernĆ”ndez Allende and Chief of the Chilean Military Joint Staff Vice Admiral Pablo Niemann hosted the U.S. Southern Command cooperation joint meetings. General Laura Richardson warned of āauthoritarian, communist governments attempting to seize all they can here in the Western Hemisphere.ā The neoliberal military and economic partners touted themselves as āTeam Democracyā for the region.
U.S. Air Force General C.Q. Brown, Jr., former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Army General Laura Richardson, commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and U.S. Ambassador to Chile Bernadette Meehan, meet with Chilean Minister of Defense Maya FernĆ”ndez Allende in Santiago on August 28, 2024, to discuss ābilateral security cooperation.ā [Source: southcom.mil]
To his credit, Boric has condemned the Zionist genocide but has attempted to find a half-way point between the Palestinians and the genocidal Zionist entity. He has also not hesitated to give full support to the U.S.-NATO proxy war on Russia and Ukraine. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier just wrapped up a visit to Chile, condemning the legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship, as the West cheers on and funds their seven decades old, so far impregnable military base in the Middle East, known as āIsrael.ā
While China continues to be Chileās top trading partner. The Boric administration has turned its back on and undermined Bolivarian and BRICS initiatives to build a more multipolar world. While Chile remains strongly in the Western imperialist sphere, the second-longest country in the world depends on strong trading partnerships with Brazil, South Africa and Russia.
The global astronomical community is condemning U.S. energy behemoth AES Corporation for polluting some of the clearest skies in the world above Chileās northern desert region.
Venezuelan Ambassador Sergio RodrĆguez Gelfenstein discusses Boricās opportunism and quotes President Allende in his final words: āOther men will overcome this gray and bitter moment in which betrayal tries to prevail.ā
Chile Ablaze
Wallmapu is the Mapuche name for their historical homeland which stretches across the Andes between modern-day Chile and Argentina. Currently, there are 22 forest fires burning through Wallmapu, where two million Mapuches live on the Chilean side of the Andes. Licarayen of the local Temuco Mapuche leadership explained that Spanish colonizers used similar tactics to push her ancestors off their lands and set up their cash crops, like wheat.
A group of her colleagues showed the author the prehistoric Araucania trees that were around during the epoch of the dinosaurs and are now at risk of extinction. Boricās Minister of the Interior, Carolina TohĆ”, accused the ancient, local communities of being behind the blazes. The Coordinator of Wallmapu Territories rejected the customary vilification from state power, āblaming the crisis on capitalist logging interestsā and characterizing as āridiculous the political classesā claims.ā
Chile is South Americaās California. Hundreds of thousands of acres of forests are burning as Chile faces some of the worst droughts in its history due to climate change. Licarayen explained that the spiritual toll the fires are taking on the community is leading to more despair, alcoholism and suicides. She compared the dire social indices and resistance of the Mapuche to the historical struggles of native communities in the U.S. and across the hemisphere.
Boric is all bark and no bite. Currently there is a struggle to prevent a statue of PiƱera from being built. Boric visited Antarctica to discourage the further exploitation of Chileās neighbor to the south. Yet, as Wallmapu burns, it is clear how powerless the president himself is to stop the ongoing repression of the historic Mapuche community.
There are over one hundred political prisoners denied their constitutional rights because they have stood up in defense of their land and way of life.
Boric is all bark and no bite when it comes to meeting his promises of redressing the deep grievances of Chileās Mapuche people. [Source: las2orillas.co]
Pinochetās Constitution: Boricās Great Failure
There is a basic leftist consensus on why Boric and the left failed to overturn the Constitution in 2023.
Working-class districts wanted economic and social rights, but were arguably turned off by the greater emphasis in the Constitutional Convention on feminism, environmentalism, or plurinationalism. These same woke politics with no economic teeth are one of the key reasons why the Democrats have lost twice to the MAGA movement.
Light liberal left identity politics over class politics combined with a vicious right-wing media campaign to defeat the constitutional plebiscite. There was intense red-baiting and fear-mongering of Chile becoming āChilezuela,ā complete with the right-wing media promoting sensationalist images of Venezuelans forced to eat stray dogs to survive. The true power brokers resorted to Trump and Musk-esque rhetoric exclaiming āAbortion will be allowed at whatever stage of pregnancyā; āAll border controls will be liftedā; and āThe law will protect criminals over victims.ā
The barrage of propaganda harkened back to the 1970sā anti-communism of the CIA-backed Pinochet regime which convinced many Chileans that the return of socialism in Chile would mean the end of all freedoms, including the right to be Christian.
The failure to pass an updated constitution transcending the 1980 Pinochet-era one is arguably the greatest setback of the āNew Left.ā The right wing continues to win the war of narratives. Mega and ChilevisiĆ³n convinced more than 60% of voters that the new constitution would mean Mapuche supremacy over Chileās majority European-descendent population.
Javiera Manzi, a leader of La Coordinadora Feminista 8M, denounced the Pinochet continuity, highlighting the 2011 student mobilization, Apruebo Dignidad movement and āradical tendernessā as the way forward. Valparaiso-born journalist Pablo Vivanco summed up the collective disappointment: āBoric has not delivered on his main promises. There has been no new constitution. There is no pension, education or tax reform. He told us: āChile was the cradle of neoliberalism and it will be its tomb,ā but that is not the case.ā
Resistencia: Another Way Forward for Chile
In contrast to Boric, political prisoner and Communist Party leader Daniel Jadue represents another vision for Chile and la patria grande. Jadue is the former mayor of Recoleta, the northern area of Santiago and home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East. A spokesperson for the mass rebellion, he was the potential next president of Chile. In this interview with #AVosPatria (To You Homeland) and Radio con Aguante (Radio with a Punch), he, explains why the bourgeoisie got behind the feckless Boric.
Currently, there is a lawfare campaign against the former mayor of Recoleta. Jadue is a political prisoner because he carried out socialism on a local level, implementing programs such as the Popular Pharmacy, the Popular Optician, Open Schools, Salud en tu Barrio, Popular Real Estate, the Open University of Recoleta, the Popular bookstore āRecoletrasā (a word play on the historic Palestinian neighborhood of Santiago), the āEnergĆa Popular,ā the popular dentist, the Common Pots, the Communal Public Security Plan with a focus on Human Security, among many others.
The ruling class recognizes that Jadue and the Chilean Communist Party are the real threat, whereas they are willing to work with Boric beyond the liberal-conservative divide over secondary issues. Political analyst Leonel Poblete Codutti predicts that his āalliance and agreements with the class enemy will clear the way for the extreme right to win the elections next year, similar to what happened to the Democrats in the U.S.ā
Despite the attacks, the popular leader asserts there can be no change āwithout a people, without mobilization, without a transformative spirit that is felt.ā Boric is a key part of the campaign against the true left, the inheritors of Miguel Enriquez, the Revolutionary Leftist Movement (MIR) and Victor Jara.
Inequality with a āProgressiveā Mask
Labor leader Luis Mesina is the founder of the āNo + AFPā (No More AFP) movement to defend pensions. He explained: āIn the end, [Boric has] been subjugated to the power of financial markets.ā He explains how such privatization schemes of social security and other benefits for the people have been siphoned off to foreign capital to the tune of $90 billion, characterizing Chile as āthe most neoliberal country in the world.ā
Hugo Fazio, Chilean economist and former vice president of the Central Bank under Salvador Allende, denounced the new pension laws as a further bamboozling of workers. Fazio argues that the pact reflects further collaboration between anti-worker sectors and the left of pacotillas (cheap sellouts) and farĆ”ndula (show business). The cold reality for many retirees is that they have to continue to look for other jobs because they cannot survive. Jadue explained: āWe are gifting them [foreign investors] five to seven billion more dollars every year in capital markets. That is who is most celebrating this law.ā
Private mining interests that control 70% of the surplus, or profits, recently announced their largest investments in Chileās copper and lithium resources in the past decade because their taxes have been so low. The president had promised progressive taxes on the countryās elite but has again cowered before his historyās strong demands. Iris Fontbona, of the Luksic mining dynasty, is worth $26 billion. Julio Ponce Lerou, president of the Chemical and Mining Society of Chile (SQM) and son-in-law of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, is another billionaire.
Julio Ponce Lerou, Pinochetās son-in-law, and a billionaire. Boric promised to raise taxes on him and his class but has failed to deliver. [Source: theclinic.cl]
As absurd as it sounds, social spending under the āleft-wingā Boric is lower even than under Chileās last president, the reactionary billionaire Sebastian PiƱera.
Boric: The Impotent Tip of the Iceberg
While there were big expectations in 2022, and Boricās victory was heralded as a historic win, Boric is not Allende. His moderate positions were never a real threat. He is a deterrent to regional solidarity, echoing imperial policy on the Bolivarian-bloc countries. While it is easy to wail about Boricās lack of class instincts and anti-imperialist fight, he is merely an Obama, the most convenient puppet for the moment.
The Chilean power structure with its media and banking arms is the same one that overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973.
Now-deceased media baron AgustĆn Edwards Eastman and his heirs received covert payments from the Nixon government to plot the coup against President Allende. The National Security Archive recently published declassified documents showing Edwardsā secret meetings with Henry Kissinger, Attorney General John Mitchell and CIA Director Richard Helms in Washington, D.C. To this day, the Edwards heirs are the owners of Chileās largest newspapers El Mercurio and La Segunda, Radio CorazĆ³n and an endless array of other mouthpieces for the rich.
Ćlvaro Saiehāwho Forbeshas listed as the 729th wealthiest person in the world and 4th wealthiest in Chileāis the chairman of CorpGroup, a conglomerate with investments in finance, retail, real estate, hotel and media businesses. Saieh owns Publimetro, Diario La Hora, Revista Paula, Radio Carolina and a web of other media outlets. Saieh, a Chilean Colombian of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian roots, also owns the banking conglomerate ItaĆŗ CorpBanca, Banco CĆ³ndel, Unimarc supermarkets, 60 strip malls, three power plants, Hyatt Hotels and seemingly infinite other businesses.
Here we have but two of the managers and molders of Chilean public opinion.
Chileāno different from any other capitalist country, whether shrouded in social-democratic or hard-right camouflageāis run by a tiny clique of families connected to international finance. Similar to us here in the U.S., arguing over who is worse, Republicans or Democrats, the Chilean bourgeoisie presents a fake contest between two contenders, confident under their Neoliberal ādemocracyā paradigm their interests are untouchable. Chile continues to be the society of the cuicos and flaites (local slang for rich and poor). Boric knows who his masters are and dares to question them only so much.
Boric and Obama: Two Pseudo-Progressive Peas in a Pod
Malcolm X presciently explained how the ruling class swings the political pendulum in front of us:
āThe white conservatives arenāt friends of the Negro either, but they at least donāt try to hide it. They are like wolves; they show their teeth in a snarl that keeps the Negro always aware of where he stands with them. But the white liberals are foxes, who also show their teeth to the Negro but pretend that they are smiling. The white liberals are more dangerous than the conservatives; they lure the Negro, and as the Negro runs from the growling wolf, he flees into the open jaws of the āsmilingā fox.ā
Gabriel Boric delivering a speech as a student leader in 2012. [Source: time.com]
The right wing recognizes that Boric represents a break from Bolivarian politics and true class struggle. Libertad y Desarrollo (LYD), a conservative think tank charts Boricās meteoric rise through politics precisely because he condemned the historic left focused on class struggle. His pivot toward the ānew leftā and identity politics ensured that he was not a threat to the entrenched political and economic establishment.
The Chilean eliteās āBoric strategyā is reminiscent of the āObama phenomenon.ā Both faux āprogressivesā were touted as representing āchangeā and were elevated to the summits of bourgeois power almost overnight. Both are phonies. High finance uses such lapdogs at times as mouthpieces, or at other times as distractions, and at all times as faux āresistance.ā
For Chile, it was the 2019 social explosion (el estallido social). For the United States, it was the deep-held anger against the unpopular, Bush-era wars on Iraqi and Afghani sovereignty. The aging PiƱera and Bush were seen as the personification of āthe old way.ā
A significant wing of capitalist power succeeded in presenting the youthful Boric and Obama as proof that the system can be changed from within.
The memories of the militant social rebellion in Chile and U.S. anti-war, left-liberal protest movement in the U.S. 2001-2008 were buried in what has long been the institutional graveyard of social movementsācapitalist elections.
Este artĆculo originalmente fue publicado en ListĆn Diario el 16 e octubre de 2022.
El analista polĆtico estadounidense Danny Shaw ofreciĆ³ su perspectiva sobre la crisis en la que se encuentra estancado HaitĆ desde hace mĆ”s de un aƱo y sobre lo susceptible que se encuentra la vecina naciĆ³n a una intervenciĆ³n militar extranjera.
Partiendo del reciente llamado realizado por el primer ministro haitiano, Ariel Henry, a la comunidad internacional donde pidiĆ³ apoyo de tropas extranjeras para su paĆs, mismo que puso sobre tapete la posibilidad de que ese territorio sea intervenido, Shaw opinĆ³ que la medida serĆa exagerada.
El catedrĆ”tico agregĆ³ que āpara entender a HaitĆ hay que retrotraerse a la historia y entender que esa naciĆ³n nunca ha sido pobre, sino un paĆs explotado, oprimido y mal entendidoā.
Shaw asegurĆ³ que el pueblo haitiano, desde su perspectiva, no necesita injerencia extranjera. āEllos solo necesitan una cosa sencilla: que los dejen en paz, porque ellos mismos pueden determinar su futuroā, agregĆ³.
Asimismo, expresĆ³ que la comunidad internacional ha tratado anteriormente de ālavarse las manosā con la situaciĆ³n de HaitĆ, pero que realmente sus economĆas y su capital extranjero estĆ”n fuertemente vinculados a esta naciĆ³n y es por esta razĆ³n que ānada pasa desapercibido en HaitĆ para ellosā.
Al ser cuestionado sobre si realmente considera que ese paĆs pueda sobreponerse por sĆ solos a la escasez de combustible, la crisis sanitaria, las bandas criminales y al estallido social, Shaw manifestĆ³ que sĆ y que las movilizaciones son una seƱal de que el pueblo quiere cambios positivos para su naciĆ³n.
āLo que estamos viendo ahora mismo es una continuaciĆ³n de las protestas que comenzaron hace aƱos, el pueblo tiene el derecho de protestar, de movilizarseā, explicĆ³.
Shaw indicĆ³ que su planteamiento no sugiere que el camino hacia la recuperaciĆ³n de la paz social en HaitĆ sea fĆ”cil. No obstante, dijo estar convencido de que ese paĆs āno necesita muros, sino puentesā.
āLos pueblos colombianos, peruanos, chilenos, argentinos, mexicanos, se cansaron de tanta explotaciĆ³n, esa coyuntura ha dado espacio a que esos presidentes suban al poderā, dijo.
Shaw expuso que los gobiernos latinos se estĆ”n evocando en crear su propio sueƱo, en fortalecer su propio niƱo. āEse deberĆa ser el camino, que ningĆŗn joven latino tenga que salir de su paĆs para ver cumplir sus sueƱosā, seƱalĆ³.
Sobre esto, Shaw considerĆ³ que se puede hablar de que el poder econĆ³mico de Estados Unidos sobre la regiĆ³n latinoamericana estĆ” en declive, no obstante el poder militar se mantiene.
āRepĆŗblica Dominicana va a ser la Ćŗltima neocolonia de Estados Unidos, yo creo que este paĆs basa el 50% de su economĆa en el intercambio comercial con Estados Unidos y dudo que el presidente quiera cambiar eso para asociarse con otra potencia, por ejemplo, Chinaā, aƱadiĆ³.
Sin embargo, acotĆ³ que la perspectiva a seguir deberĆa ser que se pueda acabar con esa dependencia histĆ³rica, que haya mĆ”s integraciĆ³n unidad e iniciativas multilaterales.
āHistĆ³ricamente hemos planteado que las movilizaciones son la antesala de algo mayor, de un cambio real, un pueblo movilizado es un pueblo conscienteā, sostuvo el catedrĆ”tico.
