An Ordinary Person
Book Review of Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age
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Steven Hill, political author and Director of the Political Reform Program at the think tank New America Foundation has written a fascinating book that deserves to be read widely in the United States. Europe’s Promise is a comparison of American and European economies, societal institutions, approaches to foreign and domestic public policy, democratic practices, and economic and political structures where the author dispels misconceptions about the European economy, society and culture commonly held by Americans.
Overtaxed Europeans, inefficient and bureaucratic welfare states, a scloretic economy, high unemployment and inefficient political practices are myths that are quickly erased as Hill describes the development of the modern-day European Union countries from the post World War II period up to 2008. Hill paints a portrait of the European Union as ultra-modern, high technology savvy, and collectively, an economic powerhouse that seems to have implemented a system which distributes the rewards of a productive, capitalist economy more broadly and equitably throughout society. The result, according to Hill, are societies which are more stable, physically healthy, highly educated, has highest levels of quality of life for the vast majority of their populations, and whose people are buffered and insulated from the worst effects of the global economic downturn of the past three years.
Tags: book review, Europe, Europe's Promise, New America Foundation, Steven Hill
Philippine Youth Situation by Mong Palatino
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The following is an eye-opening article by Filipino blogger, journalist and activist Mong Palatino on the state of Filipino youth in 2005. I got his permission to reproduce his article in full over here at my blog and am doing so because I think he has a lot of very provocative and important insights regarding the effect of free-market economic policies, privatization, and neo-liberal globalization in a society. What occurred to me in reading it is that what he was saying about Filipino youth could very well be what the near future might look like for middle and working class youth here in the U.S. The Philippine educational system and economy has been molded to a great degree according to free-market principles, deregulation and privatization with minimal interference by the state. The results speak for themselves and serve as a stark reminder on what future may be in store for U.S. society if it follows the same path.
Tags: free trade, globalization, Mong Palatino, neoliberal, privatization
Chomsky vs. Llosa
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An exercise in comparing and contrasting
Alvaro Vargas Llosa writes “The Return of the Idiot” in Foreign Policy Magazine (2007)
Throughout the 20th century, Latin America’s populist leaders waved Marxist banners, railed against foreign imperialists, and promised to deliver their people from poverty. One after another, their ideologically driven policies proved to be sluggish and shortsighted. Their failures led to a temporary retreat of the strongman. But now, a new generation of self-styled revolutionaries is trying to revive the misguided methods of their predecessors.
Noam Chomsky writes in “The Empire and Ourselves” in A Solidarity Pamphlet (1986)
If you want to learn something about the nature of the Soviet Union, what kind of a government it is and what kind of a society they run, one of the best things to do is look at Eastern Europe. That tells you what they do whey they have a chance, when something is under their control.Central America and the Caribbean have been in the iron grip of the United States for a century and therefore they tell us a lot about ourselves. What you find if you look is one of the world’s worst horror chambers. There’s starvation, slave labor, torture, massacre by U.S. clients. Virtually every effort to bring about some constructive change has led to a new dose of U.S. violence.
Noam Chomsky talks about the role of the United States in the history of the Carribean and Latin America. Of propping up and openly supporting brutal dictators in Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. Of undermining leaders of legitimate popular movements for democracy, and of sponsoring death squads.
He surprisingly mentions the names of John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, iconic among American liberals, as culpable in crafting policies that led to these atrocities, along with Reagan. What Chomsky argues is that the American political and economic elite has historically maintained a façade of being supportive of the ideals of liberal democracy and a free society but have no scruples in undermining and destroying popular political movements and popularly elected governments in other countries if these movements endanger American business and political interests.
Llosa talks about Latin American leftist leaders and what he asserts are their misguided economic policies and authoritarian tendencies. He talks about Western intellectuals enamored of leftist leaders such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and Ecuador’s Evo Morales who favor policies such as nationalization of a their country’s industries, who champion the poor and indigenous people, and who are virulently anti-American in their stance towards the United States. He favors a world that is rid of these types of leaders and the ideas they subscribe to so that Latin America can follow socioeconomic policies along the lines of free and open markets, privatization, and friendly relations with the United States.
What does this have to do with American politics for ordinary folks?
I would argue that for this ordinary folk, the issue and idea of the foreign policies being enacted by my government says a lot to the world about the United States. If the United States has a history of covert and overt abuses in Latin America Llosa conveniently forgets to include these examples in his tirade against leftist leaders. The anti-Americanism of these popular and populist leftist leaders and hostility to free-market style economic reforms such as those favored by the US is a natural outgrowth and reaction to the history of US intervention in the region.
I favor a populist brand of politics such as those abhorred by Llosa within the United States. A true, grassroots, bottom-up expression of popular democracy which will support movements for liberal democracies world wide and whose popularly elected government will follow a foreign policy that supports those ideals. A foreign policy that will not follow policies such as those reported by Chomsky in his article. Does this politics have to be leftist? Not necessarily. I support true, grassroots democracy and I know that such expressions don’t necessarily equate to leftist politics.
Here is a quote from Chomsky’s article that I think is very prescient:
Now, there is no reason at all for us to allow this horror story to continue. In a country as free as this one, there is a great deal that can be done to reverse this course. It basically requires two things. The first thing is that it requires a certain amount of honesty. Enough honesty to learn who we are and what we do in the world and what we’ve been doing for a long, long time. Secondly, it requires a certain degree of courage and commitment, namely to devote ourselves to changing a world of terror and suffering that we have helped to create and now maintain.
Also check out “On Class-Based Politics“
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