The anger and opposition to the United States’ interventionism that is expressed in Rubén Darío’s poem “To Roosevelt” still is an ongoing struggle in Latin America. Darío criticizes the U.S. model of progress which is based on the invasion of America. He characterizes the U.S. as “strong”,”cultured”, and “able”. This portrayal of the U.S. reminded me of a discussion I had with a close friend . We were discussing how in English people born in the U.S. are called Americans and how we think there should be another term because after all Latin Americans are also Americans. In Portuguese, we have the term estadounidense which directly refers to the country’s name, however, we usually just say americano. It takes conscious effort for us to change the way we speak and to challenge the power dynamics present in our language. I think that Darío is similarly challenging the power dynamics in his poem by highlighting Latin American resistance, “O men of Saxon eyes and barbarous souls, our America lives. And dreams. And loves. And it is the daughter of the Sun. Be careful.” Darío reverses the power dynamics by defining “men of Saxon”, Americans, as having “barbarous souls” and claims that despite the U.S. interventionist project, Spanish America resists and its humanity, its ability to dream and love, does not diminish.
Moreover, the interventionism of the United States pointed out by Darío and other Latin American intellectuals like Martí continues to be a reality. The United States has imposed economic, financial, and commercial sanctions to several countries in Latin America including Venezuela and Cuba. Likewise the U.S. has backed-up the military in countries like Chile, where under the Pinochet dictatorship around 40,018 Chileans died. When thinking about U.S. imperialism in Latin America, we also have to think about corporations and the environment. It is not surprising that Latin America has been considered the deadliest region for environmental activism. Berta Cáceres, an Indigenous environmentalist from Honduras, was one of the victims. Her murder was ordered by the executives of the Agua Zarca Dam company, because of the delays and financial loses linked to the protests she led. The government of Honduras was backed up by the U.S which did not offer the support necessary to deal with the violence in Honduras. Given such scenario of interventionism, the victory of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in Bolívia, which opposes U.S. imperialism in the region is extremely important.
I think it also interesting to think of the role that artists and intellectual have in shaping discourse and providing different alternatives. The same friend I mentioned before introduced me to Joaquín Torres- García, an Uruguayan artist who in 1935 in The School of the South Manifesto articulated his ideas about the direction that Uruguayan and Latin American art should take. Torres-García proposed that the art of South America should be defined by its own terms and not in relation to the North. He used pre-Columbia symbols in his work such as the sun in order to affirm the autonomy of Latin American modern art. His work América Invertida (Inverted America) repositions the South as the North.
Discussion questions: What role do you consider art to have in challenging traditional narratives? Why do you think it is so dangerous to be an environmental activist in Latin America?
Here is Torres-García’s drawing and a video of Berta Cáceres 🙂 :
“He dicho Escuela del Sur porque en realidad nuestro Norte es el Sur. No debe haber Norte, para nosotros, sino por oposición a nuestro Sur. Por eso ahora ponemos el mapa al revés, y entonces ya tenemos justa idea de nuestra posición, y no como quieren en el resto del mundo. La punta de América, desde ahora, prolongándose, señala, insistentemente el Sur, nuestro Norte” — Joaquin Torres-García.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-death-of-berta-caceres
mirella reichenbach livoti
October 24, 2020 — 8:31 pm
Here is my attempt at translating Torres-García’s quote:
“I have said School of the South because in reality our North is the South. There shouldn’t be a North, for ourselves, if only as an opposition to our South. Because of this now we reverse the map, and so we have the true notion of our position, and not how the rest of the world wants it. The tip of America, from now on, extending itself, signals, insistently the South, our North.”
Maiya
October 25, 2020 — 10:09 pm
Hi!
Thank you for this insightful post 🙂
I definitely have had similar conversation with friends and family about the term “American” and how it’s egocentric. I enjoyed the art you posted. The flipped map of South America is interesting. It’s only “upside down” because the Earth has been mapped with the Northern countries at the top. There is no real scientific reason to place the north on top, its just a symptom of this same egocentricity.
cynthia lightbody
October 26, 2020 — 10:45 am
Great post!! Thanks so much for sharing the video and the piece of art. Wow, the video was just full of emotion. One part that specifically stood out to me was when Berta says “without joy, enthusiasm and hope, we’re not fully alive”.
Jon
October 28, 2020 — 11:05 am
I love Torres-García, though as always things are more complex (perhaps messy)… he spent a lot of time in Spain (the Catalans actually regard him as Catalan) and the USA before he returned to Uruguay, bringing with him some of the energy and aesthetic principles of European and North American modernism, even as he put it to work in the cause of a vindication of Latin Americanism.
Emilia
October 29, 2020 — 4:11 am
Hey!
I really enjoy your ability to connect these readings into a larger context! I find it very insightful 🙂
Regarding to your question about environmental activism, as you briefly described, capitalism and the desire to extract resources from the area creates resistance among, for example, the indigenous people. Sadly, money is often perceived as more precious than the lives of the people or the condition of the environment, which leads into unnecessary losses of lives. However, I see this as a global issue, although I am not sure if it has as deadly consequences elsewhere. Perhaps the power dynamic and the perception of the inferiority of the
Emilia
October 29, 2020 — 4:12 am
Hey!
I really enjoy your ability to connect these readings into a larger context! I find it very insightful 🙂
Regarding to your question about environmental activism, as you briefly described, capitalism and the desire to extract resources from the area creates resistance among, for example, the indigenous people. Sadly, money is often perceived as more precious than the lives of the people or the condition of the environment, which leads into unnecessary losses of lives. However, I see this as a global issue, although I am not sure if it has as deadly consequences elsewhere.