Re: Reading NACLA critically

[Luis Quispe <lquispe@xxxxxxxxxx>]

                     A FEW WORDS ON NACLA.

To follow Louis Proyect comment below on NACLA.

1. NACLA has shifted right a while ago. Its tie with the most reactionary
Senderologists is evident. Its editor (Jo-Marie Burt) spent several
months in Peru (1995) working in the largest US funded NGO in Peru named
Desco, home of Senderologists Raul Gonzales and Degregori who are open
collaborators of the Peruvian army in psy warfare.  NACLA has been
historically reactionary with respect to Peru, it supported the fascist
regime of General Velasco in the 60's and its successor General Bermudez
during his first 2 years in power.

2. In NYC, NACLA has became a reactionary profit seeker magazine. Few years
ago, they donated its materials prior to 1992 to a college dedicated to the
Spanish youth in NYC, but in 1995 they renegued and forcefully
removed its books and pamphlets to take them to a wealthy campus.
This small example, shows the unfortunate shift of the magazine to the
right of the political spectrum in the U.S.


> The latest copy of NACLA is devoted to Peru. There is an article
> which makes the case that the PCP is finished as a fighting force.
>
> Meanwhile, today's NY Times reports that a recent offensive by the
> PCP has the government and "Senderologists" stunned. It appears that
> a new leadership has emerged in the Maoist guerrilla group to replace
> the jailed leadership around Gonzalo.
>
> Recently NACLA appears to have become politicized in a manner that
> reflects shifting trends in Latin American politics. The hostility toward
> the PCP is, of course, nothing new.
>
> Other recent developments that seem part of a consistent rightward
> shift include the following:
>
> 1) Attack on Lori Berenson:
> Lori Berenson is a young American who received a life sentence after
> being charged with supporting the MRTA in Peru, a rival to the PCP.
> Shortly after her sentencing by a military kangaroo court, NACLA
> wrote a rather smug editorial chastising the errant Berenson for
> hanging out with the wrong crowd: people with guns.
>
> 2) Defense of Cuban think-tank:
> Recently, the Cuban government cracked down on a research institute
> based in Havana but with close ties to US academia. The institute
> receives much of its funding from wealthy left-liberal sources, both
> academic and foundation, who are anxious to see the old-line planned
> economy of Cuba overturned.
>
> What I believe is happening is that the collapse of the Central
> American revolution, the accomodations of the Workers Party of
> Brazil and the Cardenas group in Mexico to neoliberalism has tended
> to shift the political landscape of Latin America, except for Peru, to
> the right. There is a lot of fuzzy thinking about "civil society", mixed
> economies, etc. which reflects nothing less than the ideological
> triumph of US imperialism in the aftermath of its military and
> economic defeat of the FSLN and FMLN.
>
> This is unfortunate since NACLA has had a reputation for
> unimpeachable honesty over the years. Its misreading of the situation
> of the PCP chips away at this credibility considerably. I am not sure
> where the Latin American left will be moving next, but I am pleased
> that the PCP is standing up to the Fujimori dicatatorship. We should
> put aside our sectarian habits of thought and applaud the audacity of
> the PCP. Their resistance, and the resistance of the Turkish and
> Indonesian people should encourage us that an alternative to
> neoliberalism exists.
>
>
> Louis Proyect
>
>
>
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>



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