Twentieth century: an era of plurality? – week 8
With the turn of the twentieth century in Mexico, social forces that had long been oppressed by Porfirio Diaz’s regime saw in his promise for fair elections in 1910, an opportunity to act. What becomes clear, however, is that those emerging social movements are not as homogenous, hierarchically organized nor as experienced in governance as the existing regime. Though these various actors in the Mexican Revolution could agree that something should change, what, and how things should change was far from consensus. Does an increasing political consciousness among peasant and working classes (its de-monopolization by upper-classes) signal a new era of pluralism into the twentieth century?
What also emerges out of this increasingly globalizing world is a consciousness of international affairs, and an increased interconnectedness and networking between peoples separated by oceans. The threat or inspiration (depending on one’s perspective) of the Bolshevik Revolution had important effects in how Argentinian workers reacted first to increased prices and stagnant wages by striking, and second in how the government responded to the Argentine Regional Worker’s Association (FORA) during the semana tragica. Together with a rising Soviet influence, the USA, a close neighbor to many Latin American countries, begins to exert increased political and economic pressures over the region. The writings of Ruben Dario and Jose Vasconselo both explore this Latin American-USA relationship.
I often wonder how good globalization actually was for Latin America as t seems like everything to have mixed emotions about it. I know that in some respects to be interconnected and modern was the only way to be seen as superior but at what cost this this come at