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Proceso 1178
January 25, 2006
ISSN 0259-9864
Editorial: Schafik Jorge Handal (1930-2006). In memoriam
Politics: Reflections on the Latin American left
Economy: Lessons for El Salvador: Chile, beyond economic model
Schafik Jorge Handal (1930-2006). In memoriam
On Tuesday, January 24, Schafik Jorge Handal died. He was a member of the Assembly and the legislative leader of the FMLN. There is no doubt that the pain and mourn of his family after his death are immense, as immense should be the affective ties between his closest relatives and him, a man who was very fond of his people. The shock caused by his death inside the FMLN is, also, deep, given his indisputable leadership and the symbolism around his figure inside the party. But his farewell has not touched only those who identify themselves with his political ideals, but will touch every goodwill men and women who, inside and outside El Salvador, are committed with the building of more democratic, supportive, inclusive and fair societies.
The case is that Handal's trajectory, profound convictions, public and private
behavior, political commitments and international projection, altogether
irradiate values that transcend the two political projects which Handal was
linked to: the Communist Party of El Salvador and the FMLN. These values are
part of a new political culture. Even thought this new political culture is
still incipient, it is bound to replace the social and economic values that are
contrary to common good, solidarity, justice and equity.
The previous statements do not mean that one has to lose sight of Handal's
political and ideological militancy. If it is true that this figure irradiates a
group of values from everyone has much to learn of, this values are not ethereal
and vague. To speak out plainly, these values are proper of the left wing and
should nourish its political culture. At the same time, this political culture
should nourish those who, without being leftists, agree with them in the
struggle for a society without hurting exclusions and inequities.
There are many ways of being a leftist and none of them is exclusive at all.
Schafik Handal expresses one of these ways: the one that along the history faced
the power and its repression, threats, tortures, exiles and blackmail. Handal
was the privileged heir of this left wing. He followed its path in different
circumstances than the original ones. There is no doubt that one can be a
leftist in different ways. But in El Salvador one can not be leftist ignoring or
disdaining what Schafik Handal represents, which does not mean that one has to
be agree with everything he did or said. A left-wing culture in El Salvador
should assume and integrate the Handal's legacy, under penalty of getting
impoverished. What are the main features of that legacy?
The first of them is devotion. It can be unnoticed that Handal was devoted to
the cause of the have-nots in El Salvador. With the exception of his childhood
and adolescence, all of his life was devoted into the struggle for a society
with justice. One can say the same about very few persons in El Salvador. There
is no devotion without renouncements. Handal renounced to securities and
privileges that he could achieve for his family inheritance. Instead of it, he
chose risks and to devote to what was the most important thing for him:
struggling for building a society without the abuses and privileges of the
powerful.
In second place, there is the firmness of his convictions. Others, who claimed
that their convictions were firmer than Handal's, and proclaimed themselves as
the real revolutionaries, renounced and repented of their convictions with a
surprising easiness. Schafik Handal, instead, kept his political and ideological
convictions. This firmness made his political performance coherent. Those who
exchanged their ideals for the insignificant privileges of the powerful lacked
of Handal's firmness. It is true that Handal made many mistakes. But those
mistakes were application mistakes, not principle mistakes. Many of his former
leftist colleagues also made mistakes, but these mistakes were motivated for
their ambitions, doomed them to a political meaninglessness.
Finally, we have his commitment with the democratization of the country. It is
true that the Communist Party placed itself into the armed struggle under his
direction, through the Liberation Armed Forces (FAL, the armed wing of the
Communist Party), during the latest years of the 70's. However, before civil war
started, the Communist Party made its better efforts in order to build a
democratic society. At least, since 1950, this was the commitment of those who,
clandestinely, revived the Party that, founded in 1930, was banned under the
dictatorship of General Hernández Martínez. Communist Party accumulated a great
political and electoral experience during the decades prior to civil war. With
this experience, the FMLN carried the tortuous negotiation process that ended in
1992. In the latest stages of the negotiations, Schafik Handal not only
displayed the political experience achieved by his party during the 60's and
70's, but the political convictions forged in the past. This helped him to
overcome the resistance of those who, inside the FMLN, pretended to turn the
negotiations into another step in the rise into total power.
In short, for all these reasons and some others, Schafik Handal is a symbol for
Salvadoran left. It is a left-wing symbol for the left, but he is also a symbol
for the society as a whole. He is a symbol for El Salvador, but for Latin
America. He gained the respect and admiration of important personalities in
Latin American politics. For his trajectory, for devoting his life to the
construction of a better El Salvador, we pay respect to his memory.
Reflections on the Latin American left
The electoral triumph of the Socialist presidential candidate in Chile, Michele Bachelet, has been interpreted in a very simplistic way. For some analysts, this is a further step into the consolidation of a leftist government's bloc in South America, including the governments of Lula da Silva in Brazil, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Some rightist analysts pretend to minimize the importance of Bachelet's triumph, ranging from the most trivial focuses to those who state that the Chilean left is a modern left, that adapted itself in a successful way to the ruling Neoliberalism. This leads to make some reflections on the left-wing parties in Latin America.
Undoubtly, Bachlet's triumph —added to Evo Morales'— give hopes to the region.
The coincidences between the Chilean and Bolivian cases are restricted to the
fact that both are left-win governments. In the Chilean case, Dr. Bachelet's
triumph implies the consolidation of a wide alliance ranging from Christian
Democrats to the left. It is the will of Chilean society not returning to
rightist governments, which, on spite of them, carry the weight of Pinochet's
inheritance. In the case of Bolivia, the triumph of Morales is a real milestone:
a rupture with traditional parties.
On analyzing the "left turn" in South America, it is necessary to go beyond the
obvious. Between Chilean socialism and, say, the Movimiento Quinta República in
Venezuela, there are very important differences. Movimiento Quinta República was
born as an alternative to the traditional rule of political parties. This is the
same case of President Evo Morales. In the case of the party which Bachelet is a
prominent militant, the Chilean Socialist Party, it is necessary to say that is
a political force committed with the restoration of the constitutional order in
Chile and, thus, with the political party system.
This forces to reformulate some conceptions on the reform/revolution antinomy.
Contributing to defeat Pinochet's dictatorship and building a democratic system,
in which there have been progresses in human rights, the fight against impunity
and the moral reparation for the victims of Pinochet's repression, is a
revolutionary act.
In the other hand, this leads to rethink the importance of elections. The
leftist governments in the sub-continent took the power through elections, not
through the armed struggle. The current dilemma is not between armed struggle or
elections anymore, but the relation between elections and social movements.
Should the social movements support an electoral project? The case of Bolivia
seems to be an affirmative answer. In the case of Mexico, the discussion takes
other path. The candidate from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD,
center-left), Manuel López Obrador, has good chances to win the Presidency. So
far, his popularity seems to be shockproof, including a discredit campaign that
threatened to imprison López Obrador, by alleged acts of corruption. Most of the
left-wing forces and progressive intellectuals support the former mayor of
Mexico City.
However, the case is that the left-wing that criticizes the electoral system,
headed by the Zapatista leader Marcos, do not trust in López Obrador, neither in
elections. Their "other campaign" is noticed through the media, but it does not
seem to go beyond the goodwill statements. The left-wing electorate has to
choose between a pragmatic left with good chances to run the government, besides
it can not make all the utopias come true, and a very creative left and,
perhaps, with the ethical reason on its side, but without feasible proposals.
What could Marcos and his movement win if the support for López Obrador is
minimized? How can the Mexican society —tired of both traditional parties, the
PRI and the PAN— be favored?
Decisive factors
Well then, the factors that contributed to the triumph of the current left-wing
governments are quite complex. According to the interpretation of some analysts,
Bachelet's triumph can be interpreted as the triumph of a "rational" left that
subordinated itself to Neoliberalism. The alleged evidence is that the
governments of Concertación Democrática do not use an anti-imperialist discourse
and are not interested in promoting radical economic measures as happened in
Venezuela. It is true, but also is true that the Concertación Democrática
modified the Neoliberal tendencies that the governments maintained after
Pinochet. And if one speak about radical measures, one has to remember that
Concertación Democrática took Pinochet and other military chiefs involved in
human rights violations to the justice. Therefore, the question is not whether a
President's discourse is incendiary, or if the President wears three-pieces
suits or plain clothes, but the concrete results of the politics. Therefore, the
exhaustion of the Neoliberal model is one of the key factors in the electoral
triumphs of the left wing.
Another important factor is the leadership of the left-wing parties. This is a
very important matter in the cases of Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia, countries
in which a charismatic leader attracted the electorate. In the Chilean case,
more than a leader, the determining factor is the government's program. In
Central America, or at least in El Salvador, the left wing does not have yet
neither a charismatic candidate nor a program that could mobilize the
electorate.
A third factor is the articulation between social movements and political
parties. An emblematic example is the Workers' Party (PT) in Brazil. PT was born
strongly linked with the Landless Movement (MST) and other organizations.
Nevertheless, some of these organizations separated themselves from PT. They
accuse PT of coming into agreements with the right-wing, instead of launching
radical reforms. They forget Lula da Silva's social politics. They also forget
that Brazil is one of the main promoters of the resistance against the hegemonic
forces of world trade. Finally, they forget that, instead of a political
program, one has to be devoted and committed with reality.
In a few words, the triumph of these left-wing movements indicates that the
ruling social and economic movement is in crisis. Instead of giving advice to
the left wing on democratic behavior, the right wing should recognize that its
politics smoothed the way for its adversaries. In the other hand, the left wing
should work in coherent and realistic strategies. This gives the electorate
confidence to change society with their votes.
Lessons for El Salvador: Chile, beyond economic model
In order to lessen the critics to the current economic model, the ruling party members show the alleged good results of the free market model in Chile. They argue that if this model was successful in that country, sooner or later it will succeed in El Salvador. From this scope, they defend the privatization of the banks, trade opening, tax reform and the privatization of the enterprises owned by the government. For them, one has to be patient in order to expect the good results.
This argument is used specially when population feels that the benefits of free
market never arrive to the country. Fearing that most of the people choose
another alternative than the ruling party, the free market ideologues argue that
the development achieved in Chile will be achieved in El Salvador. This will
happen, they say, if the ruling party keeps ruling the country.
This is a biased interpretation on Chilean history. It is necessary to
understand that even though the free market model in El Salvador was a copy of
the Chilean model, in the South American country there was a strong legal order
in order to regulate the activities of private enterprise. In second place, the
Chilean experience involved the creation of an efficient social politic, based
on the acknowledgement of the social costs that came from the economic
adjustment. And, finally, the left wing governments made efforts toward the
consolidation of democracy —their main achievement is the National Committee on
Political Prison and Torture, created by the former President Ricardo Lagos, in
order to investigate human right violations during the Pinochet's dictatorship.
Economic model and social politics
During the 70's, there was a structural reform in Chile. Like those reforms
applied in El Salvador, they diminished the public sector and its influence on
economy. These reforms launched economic growth on the basis of private
investment. In the first stage of the reforms, economic policy was centered in
the tax system, international trade and in reforming both labor and financial
system. In a second stage, reforms were targeted on social services. They
changed the retirement system, as well as public health, education and the
housing expense.
During the reforms, Chile suffered economic recessions during a period that
started in the middle 70`s and finished in the first years of the 80's. A high
level of unemployment characterized these recessions. For this reason, during
the second recession, the government strengthened its social politics. For those
who leaded the economic politics, it was clear that the country was suffering
the social costs of economic adjustment. In order to face the social problems,
the government focused its social investment in the poorest people of the
country. This happened due to a reduction in public health, education and
housing.
The lesson that can be learnt from Chilean experience is that, during
recessions, it seems that the only measure that can be taken in order to
minimize crisis is eliminating the superfluous expenses of the government and
focusing in the poorest groups of the population.
The strengthen of democracy
Finally, after the economic reforms, one of the main achievements of the left
wing governments in Chile is the "Reparation Law". This law pretends to
compensate victims whose human rights were violated by the Chilean government
during the Pinochet era. This law pays allowances to the victims or their
relatives, and gives them a special access to education, health and housing.
Under this law, Chilean government provides free education, free access to
physical rehabilitation programs for the tortured people and privileges to
access to housing. All of this, as former President Lagos said, "takes into
account all the obligations that the government has with society, in particular,
with the poorest families of our homeland".
According with this, the success of the free market model depends of the social
politics that made income redistribution possible. The government supervised
businesses and in some moment demanded the entrepreneurs for moderated prices
for consumers.
In El Salvador, the government does not do the same, because entrepreneurs rule
it. It is the opposite of Chilean experience: public expenses are devoted to
superfluous activities as propaganda, as many secretaries of the State use to
do. After privatization, there was not a serious commitment in order to minimize
the social costs of economic adjustment in the country. The economic and social
studies in the 90's proofed that the country lacked of a real social politic.
Free market was not established either: in the present, there is not free
competition, because those who lead the governmental are the same entrepreneurs.
It is necessary to emphasize that, in a country were "free market" is praised,
fifteen years passed before the government established laws to protect consumers
and to provide free competition, when these laws should regulate markets since
the beginning. The government is not willing to accept its responsibility in the
human rights violation during the war, neither to compensate victims. In this
situation, the Chilean government's achievements are not only due to economic
model, but to an active social politic and to the strengthen of democracy.
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