“Letter from Jamaica” Reflection
After reading an excerpt from Simon Bolívar’s “Letter From Jamaica”, the main idea that stuck to me was the fact that his fight for freedom was something along the lines of a struggle. He criticizes the Spanish consistently, accusing them of abusing them, and using several different analogies to different circumstances when oppressed peoples were forced to go through the same struggle he’s going through now. But at the same time, I can’t help but think his views are highly limited to the socioeconomic elite.
The reason I believe that to be the case is precisely because he makes so many references to Enlightenment philosophers, such as Montesquieu, and historical events. This showed me that he is in fact, highly educated, a privilege only the elites were able to obtain back then, leading to the exclusion of lower classes, such as slaves and their descendants, natives, and people from lower social classes.
In addition, I see a parallel between Bolívar’s case, and Brazil’s independence. Since we have seen that Bolívar wasn’t really a “man of the people”, it becomes clear that despite several Latin American countries went through a “Liberation” movement, not many saw actual change happen within the country. Similarly, in Brazil, when Pedro I of Brazil gloriously declared “Independence or death!” by the waters of the Ipiranga, although it may sound like he was proposing a revolutionary war, in reality, there was no war to fight, nor was there any change to come in leadership. Brazil was the only former colony in Latin America that was ruled by a monarch after its independence, clearly an example of how power was never given to the people, but in reality, maintained by a limited number of elites.
Hi, going as well on the letter to Jamaica something that I still question till now is the way in which he asks for the British help, when they themselves also had colonies in the Americas, and Jamaica being one of them. In the letter he never implicitly says he stand or opinion on this matter, which is interesting. However I also question if he had any other option to ask for help at those times.
Your blog gave me a new perspective on the letter as I did not know anything about Bolivar before reading it. After discussing with my group during class, we came up with the idea that his letter’s aim to create a society without poor seem to be too idealistic to be true, and it seem to be just to impress the receiver to agree to fund the movement. After reading your blog, it really made me rethink if what he said is actually true or just a hollow promise. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!