On the Road to the Emerald City

In these times, when old texts no longer serve as a proven guide to understanding the present or predicting the future, children's fables can be helpful. So it occurred to us, in thinking about a possible future for Latin America, to start with some images from L. Frank Baum's classic Wizard of Oz. As the story begins, Dorothy is hurled by the tornado (the new world order) into the new space of the future; her house lands on and kills the Wicked Witch of the East, symbolizing for our purposes the overnight collapse of the Socialist bloc of the East. There remains the Wicked Witch of the West (unbridled neoliberal capitalism), which appears at first to have survived the winds of change and has a reputation for being all-powerful.

The protagonists of the story, Dorothy and her dog Toto (progressives seeking social justice in the Americas) set out on the long and tortuous Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, to find the legendary Wizard of Oz, who is said to have miraculous powers. Along the way, they are joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion, representing the various social subjects in Latin America. The group's collective enterprise is the quest for social justice -- with a brain (a new alternate economic model), a heart (democracy in its many dimensions), and courage (the self-assurance to challenge IMF-dictated neoliberalism and reassert the principles of sovereignty and self-determination).

They arrive at the presumed utopia of the Emerald City, with the hope that the Wizard will grant their wishes outright. Yet the Wizard (like the traditional Socialist project) does not have any of the answers; instead of granting their wishes, he sends them back out to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy finally kills the Wicked Witch of the West -- not directly, but by throwing a bucket of water that dissolves her. As Immanuel Wallerstein and others have argued, neoliberal capitalism, like this Witch, may be destroyed or transformed by the logic of the new world order and the demands of its social subjects -- but more in the mode of being gradually dissolved than through outright overthrow or collapse.

When Dorothy and her friends return to the Emerald City, they face the stark reality that the Wizard never had any magical powers. They do finally gain fulfillment of their wishes -- not through the Wizard's miracles, but because of the very journey they have made together. Through the challenges of the journey, the Scarecrow has demonstrated his intelligence, the Tin Man his compassion, the Lion his bravery; and Dorothy was already wearing the silver shoes that eventually enable her to return home. Without realizing it, then, the protagonists of the fable have had the powers they were seeking all along. Perhaps Latin America's popular majorities, as well, collectively have the power to invent new solutions to achieve social justice; the process of discovering these hidden powers is their journey on the road to the Emerald City.

Latin America Faces the 21st Century

What, then, are Latin America's prospects for the 21st century, in the face of rapidly changing international conditions and growing internal social pressures? What are the economic alternatives to neoliberalism at the national and regional levels? What are the prospects for democratization of civil society as well as state institutions? In the face of resurgent U.S. interventionism, what spaces or room for maneuver will be available to locally based social movements? At a time when traditional forms of political organization -- both left and right -- are under severe challenge, what new forms are emerging, and how are they redefining "politics"? Finally, who will be the protagonists of social change in the decades to come?

Twelve eminent Latin American scholars and political activists explore their collective future in this volume. Although they deal with a wide range of issues, they share a commitment to breaking the neoliberal monopoly and defining a social justice agenda for debates about Latin America's future. The women and men writing in this issue address the necessary task of developing alternate concepts and practices of democracy, building on the grass-roots advances of recent decades as well as learning from their failures.

Their contributions -- made available here to English-language readers -- illuminate issues that are not only of direct concern to Latin Americanists, but also of considerable relevance to American progressives who are thinking about new alternatives and new agendas for the United States as it emerges from 12 years of Reagan/Bush rule. This is particularly important at a time when changes in the global economy tie the future of the U.S. to that of Latin America -- and by implication, open up new imperatives and new opportunities for increased intellectual exchange between North Americans and Latin Americans.

The volume begins with six articles by some of Latin America's most innovative and creative thinkers, who address issues facing the region as a whole. They move beyond the critiques both of ideological neoliberalism and of traditional left formulas that fail to address current world realities; collectively, they offer a host of new ideas that could serve as the basis for reconstructing a social justice agenda for the 1990s and the 21st century.

The other six articles focus on particular countries: Mexico, El Salvador, Haiti, Uruguay, and Cuba. (Our planned article on Brazil did not arrive on time, because the author was deeply involved in the tumultuous changes sweeping that country.) This is a collection that emphasizes future possibilities as well as present crises. Therefore, we deliberately chose those countries where innovative practices and ideas are being developed by progressive forces. In nearly all of these countries (Haiti, only if the constitutional government is restored), progressive/left forces are strong contenders for power in upcoming elections of the mid-1990s; and even in the opposition, they are major political players. In the case of Cuba, despite the particular circumstances of its current crisis, we believe that innovative new thinking and practices, where they exist, can be relevant to Latin America as a whole.

At a time when many political forces from the Right to the Left have bowed to the hegemony of neoliberalism, three of our contributors offer bold alternatives. Franz Hinkelammert provides a path-breaking reassessment of the relationship between market, state, and civil society in promoting economic development, social justice, and democracy in Latin America. He is incisively critical of the neoliberal state and the distortions produced by the unregulated market, but also envisions the possibility of a state based on a reconstructed civil society. Lucrecia Lozano examines the social costs and the threat to democracy implied in the neoliberal adjustments being made in response to Latin America's severe economic crisis. While accepting the need for economic adjustment and a new insertion in the world economy, Lozano challenges neoliberal prescriptions and calls for strengthening the state by making it more participatory. Asa Cristina Laurell describes how neoliberal policies have undermined Mexico's public health and education systems and offers creative guidelines for a viable, alternate social policy, even in the midst of economic crisis. Her proposals are useful to progressives in the U.S. and Canada as well as to Latin Americans committed to salvaging or rebuilding the hard-won social programs that have been dismantled during recent years of global economic restructuring.

Most observers acknowledge the necessity of economic restructuring in Latin America, particularly in terms of the region's relationship with the world economy. Rather than accept the logic of subordination to transnational capital and core nations, however, two of our contributors discuss other regional options. Ruy Mauro Marini traces the history of efforts toward Latin American integration and discusses the current relevance of integration as a basis for the region's united response to what he considers a new imperialist offensive from the United States. The survival of Latin America as an autonomous, historic entity, argues Marini, "depends on our skill at constructing new political and juridical superstructures, endowed with the ability to negotiate, resist, and pressure." Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas critiques the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that "exploitation of cheap labor, energy and raw materials, technological dependency, and lax environmental protection" cannot be the basis for Mexico's links with the world economy. In its place, he offers an alternate development and trade program for the hemisphere, emphasizing the importance of harmonizing upward the standards for investment, antitrust regulations, social commitment, the environment, and intellectual property.

The rise of neoliberalism in Latin America has coincided with the transition from military regimes to formally "democratic" civilian governments. Narrowly defined electoral democracy has been designed in large part to legitimize the unpopular economic adjustment policies pursued in recent years. Three authors in this volume challenge such conceptions of democracy while exploring both the obstacles to and the prospects for genuine popular democracy. Jaime Osorio discusses the historically conflictive relationship between liberalism and democracy and explores the relevance of both to the current crises of capitalism and socialism. Out of those crises the author sees the emergence of new political actors and a new political culture in Latin America that challenge old ways of conducting politics. Mario Lungo Uclés examines the new political actors and practices that have emerged from El Salvador's long civil war and the peace process to end it; his article highlights the theoretical and practical dimensions of the new democracy being constructed there and elicits the rich lessons of the Central American revolutionary movements of the 1980s. Suzy Castor analyzes the long-term structures of domination that continue to resist democratization in Haiti, where the country's first popularly elected President was overthrown by the military. She argues that one of the main obstacles to democratization in Haiti is a fear of popular participation that is shared by the local oligarchy and much of the international community.

Implicit throughout these articles is the need for rethinking Left agendas and strategies. Two of our contributors address these issues more explicitly. Marta Harnecker analyzes the process by which the Latin American Left is reassessing experiences of the past three decades to offer a new understanding of democracy in revolutionary movements. She outlines the bases for a new Left culture that she views as essential to the success of a broader democratic project in Latin America. Luis Stolovich offers a provocative analysis of the unique theoretical and practical contributions of Uruguay's Left and the crisis it now faces. His detailed case study of the Frente Amplio is a model for leftists and progressives throughout the Americas who are rethinking the new realities that challenge old understandings and strategies.

Finally, if there is one common thread that unites this collection politically and ideologically, and distinguishes it from many other analyses, it is an unqualified commitment to the historic Left values of social justice and equality. Two of our contributors explicitly discuss the future of "socialism" in Latin America. Carlos Vilas explores the relevance of socialism for Latin America in relationship to three principal questions: national independence, development, and democratization. Writes Vilas: "Socialism is the name given, since the 19th century, to popular aspirations for a life of dignity, justice, and liberty. These aspirations have not disappeared with the Berlin Wall or the statues of Lenin." Pablo González Casanova evaluates Cuba's strengths and weaknesses in facing the current crisis and suggests the directions Fidel Castro's revolution may likely take. "I am convinced," writes this longtime observer of Cuba, "that the struggle for democratic socialism in the world will pass through Cuba."