mexico – Latin American Studies

Much like last week, this week’s chapter has also not failed to shock me with the thought of how recent these events occurred, however, this week’s shock was far greater. ‘Speaking Truth to Power’ focused on how the truth, perpetuated by the increased use of social media, and increased accessibility to news worldwide through technology, has placed pressure on governments to be more ethical, showing the power the truth has in creating change. Unfortunately, the true power it has is limited as we see that corruption continues throughout Latin America, and many parts of the world.

Reading about the “Madres de la Plaza de Mayo” in Argentina made me sad, especially thinking about my own parents. Growing up, they always told us that there is nothing worse for a parent than to lose a child, and the fear of losing a child is greater than anything that we could imagine, and I believe that the “Madres” video on Youtube conveys their anxieties and sadness. While I understood their words, I couldn’t understand their pain, as in, I don’t think anyone who hasn’t lost a child could ever truly understand. And to think that hundreds of mothers throughout Latin America had their children taken away from them is a truly disturbing and saddening thought. It is clear that corruption ran rampant in Latin America, and as I began to watch Doc. 10.3, “Matanza de Aguas Blancas”, I was overwhelmed with a lot of emotion thinking about how this took place slightly over 20 years ago, a few years before I was born. I read the comments in Spanish, and I felt even more sad as I read one of the comments: “nothing has changed.”

This week, the readings also discussed the War on Drugs, another problem that truly troubles my home country of Mexico and many other countries, if not all, in Latin America. This war continues to this day, and it seems more and more difficult to win this war due to the economic state of the countries in Latin America. I hear people around me talking about drugs. I’ve seen documentaries about people in prison who were there due to their drug addiction. I’ve heard talks about the damage that drugs can cause to an individual. But only now do I truly see the drastic effects it has had on Latin America. This brings me to think about some of the corrupt policemen or soldiers who have worked with or as drug traffickers, and I think to myself: many of these people do it because it is a more profitable alternative. Most likely, it is not because these civilians are greedy for money in order to buy material goods; it is because they are looking for ways to survive and to feed their families, especially in suburban areas. When the economy is, quite frankly, so shit that they have to work 60 hours week and even then it is still not enough to put food on the table on a daily basis, part of me can see why they would turn to helping the distribution of drugs to support their families. Which brings me to my question of discussion: Are you able to sympathize with them? If you were in their position, what would you do? Honestly, I would feel like I’d have no other choice.

This week’s readings were hard, and I honestly had a hard time keeping up with everything that the documents were saying (and that’s only if I actually managed to understand what they were saying…) So, I’m not going to go into much detail with regards to all the documents + the video, and rather, I’m going to talk about what stood out for me the most. “The Problem of the Indian” from Seven Interpretive Essays on the Peruvian Reality by José Carlos Mariátegui will be my topic of discussion today.,

As I mentioned earlier, the readings were hard. As I read this document, I was confused about what point he was trying to get across. However, after reading it over again, I understood a little bit more. Here, Mariátegui expresses what he believes is the root of the problems which Latin America, and more specifically, Peru, faces. He argues that the problems do not come from racism, nor religion, nor the lack of education, but rather, due to the land tenure system. He states that “the servitude oppressing the indigenous race cannot be abolished unless the latifundium is abolished”. I thought this was an extremely interesting point, and I found it very different to what I had originally thought, as it seems that the oppression Indians faced was largely due to factors such as greed, hunger for power, and corruption. Nevertheless, I also don’t fully agree with Mariátegui, because I believe that any problem a nation/village/anyone faces is actually a chain of events or a dynamic relationship between different factors, and in this case, a dynamic relationship between education, religion, education and the way that land is owned.

Mariátegui does bring up another very good point – “The colonial regime disrupted and demolished the Inca agrarian economy without replacing it with an economy of higher yields.” One could say that the Inca was an extremely organized civilization prior to the colonial period, especially if one considers that over 10 million people lived in the nation prior to colonial rule. This success, Mariátegui believes, is due to the concepts of agrarianism which the Inca adopted which “combines communal ownership of land and the universal religion of the sun.” This system lead to an efficient ruling over the large territory. Post independence, about 300 years later, there was no more sign of this system, leaving the Peruvians to start over again, and hence, the arising problems of the land tenure system, with so many opposing views on how land should be used, divided, or owned. It is saddening to think that a nation of 10 million was reduced to 1 million, especially when the 1 million nationals are treated like inferior beings.

Which leaves me with my question for today – Considering that the Peruvian national population was decreased from 10 million to 1 million, how do you think the Inca would have developed if Spain had never arrived? Do you think that the Inca Empire would’ve been able to extend to the extremes of South/Central America? If so, do you think that their agrarian ideologies would’ve been enough to keep their territory under control?

Tag: mexico

Week 12: Speaking Truth to Power

Week 8: Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age