[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are it behooves you. This HR Reader is about some additional insights on what I have been saying for 750+ Readers. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducir/traduire los/les Readers; usar/utiliser deepl.com
A. Ideology
—Beware: A global ethic is not an ideology!
–An ideology (or cosmovision) defines itself importantly by what it accepts to sacrifice. (Albino Gomez)
1. Take the four main political ideologies claimed: Neoliberal, Reformist, Progressive and Radical. They relate to four different paradigms, i.e., Maintain, Reform, Transition and Transform, so that there actually are four different strategies to drive social change. (Vivika Kraak and Kim Niewolny) Part of the problem for the development movement is that Progressives and Radicals do not work together so well. (Haroon Akram-Lodhi) Progressives blame Reformists for seeking to smooth over the sharp edges and damage caused by neoliberalism which ultimately helps to maintain it. (Eric Holt-Giménez and Annie Shattuck)
It is essential to eliminate the individualistic ideological bias underlying human rights
–Let us notforget that human rights (HR) are universal, but originally have Eurocentric roots.
2. Abandoning this bias is key to strengthening economic, social, and cultural rights as they are currently under attack by neoliberalism. Since the 15th century, the dominant ideology in the world has been Eurocentric, and its dominance corresponds to the rise of Western colonialism, Capitalism, and imperialism.* This ideology is complex, but its fundamental pillars are a) liberalism (free trade, individualism, private property, liberal democracy and the state and the law as monopolies of legitimized violence), b) modern science as the only rigorous knowledge, c) rationalism (as pragmatic rationality), d) universalism, e) linear progress, f) human rights (purportedly…) and g) secularism.
*: Capitalism is not sustainable without colonialism. You agree?
3. It is characteristic of the dominant ideology –precisely because it is dominant– to both reveal and conceal. Above all, it conceals the practices that contradict it and, for this reason, it is often adopted by the dominated social classes and groups. For this reason also, domination is exercised both through violence and through the consent or passivity of the dominated.**
**: We all known: misery brings about more misery, but it does not (yet) embolden the miserable. (Leonardo Padura)
4. After five centuries of domination, Western colonialism-capitalism-imperialism shows signs of decline. This domination has always been partially contested (communism, the labor movement, political liberation movements of the colonies, youth uprisings…), but it has always ended up prevailing. Capitalism and imperialism are thus NOT just ‘one of several problems’! (Boaventura de Sousa Santos)
B. Politics
–Politics manifests itself as an expression of consent and/or dissent.
–Politics without ideas stimulates corruption.
5. The Left: Left-wing political parties that participate in citizen consultations and win, although capable of governing without major tensions, in reality show strong differences in how they end up governing. Unfortunately, their governing in recent years can be explained above all by their common affection for power and the privileges offered to member parties by the highest positions in government. In so-called democratic socialism (we do not know what the ‘non-democratic’ part of socialism is…), the disagreements seem even deeper at the grassroots level than among the party leadership. (Juan Pablo Cardenas)
6. The Right: We know the rhetoric of the far right is spreading due to the deterioration of living conditions among the working class resulting in a collective frustration. This is leading to a ‘liquefaction’ of popular political loyalties, causing people to abstain or cling to any proposal that comes along. Added to this is the resentment of the traditional middle class, which has been displaced from its privileges. (Alvaro Garcia Linera)
7. [Not forgetting the Greens: For the Greens it is mostly about consuming less, flying less, wasting less. Understandably, the lower classes have no ears for that. (Francine Mestrum)]
C. Politicians
–With words we govern men. (Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman,1804-1881)
–It is not the money earned that counts, but the sum of cowardice, renunciations, and betrayals committed to obtain it. (Guy Bedos, French stand-up comedian, 1934–2020)
8. Nothing new under the sun: The abundance of self-proclaimed leaders lacking ideas, principles, and ethics, whose main objective is to line their own and their cronies pockets, change nothing, and guarantee impunity for all kinds of financial crimes and HR violations, is a global phenomenon. Not facetiously, to aspire to the presidency, you no longer need a resume, but a criminal record. History shows us periods like this throughout the centuries. Ergo, until, from the depths of the people, a movement, an organization, a will, and the action necessary to turn the page and return to a certain decency emerges not much will happen. The question is… When will it? (Politika)
9. Today’s rulers, lacking a solid and unwavering ideology, end up caring little about the urgent needs of citizens, thus favoring lukewarm changes. All these leaders believe that their personal leadership will bring about the promised changes to promote justice, equity and, eventually HR. But the truth is that, with a weak democratic purpose, they end up favoring those who, like them, mock the institutional order. The tactic of recent such governments has been to bet on convenience agreements with the opposition*** to achieve their spurious government programs thus renouncing the popular mobilization that, in the past, forced legislators to approve progressive legislation –among other things, the nationalization of natural resources and an agrarian reform. [Note: There are right-wingers who prefer left-wing governments to look after their interests from positions of power that assures them social unrest is avoided]. (J. P. Cardenas)
***: Interesting: In African indigenous culture, the word for opposition is enemy.
10. On the even more facetious side, consider Brandolini’s Law (or the principle of the asymmetry of stupidity), that states that the time and energy required to refute stupidity is greater than that required to express it. Save your precious time. (Louis Casado)
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at schuftan@gmail.com