Re: Latin American Marxist writers

[Julio Pino <jpino@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris: You make some good points about the problems of translation, and the
class background of most American tourists to Latin America, yet I do not
believe these are the principal reasons why Latin American Marxism, a la
Rodney Dangerfield, "don't get no respect." I think even leftists(and even
some bilingual ones at that) have a difficult time seeing class struggles
in Latin America as somehow politically relevant to El Norte. Case in
point: Colombia today.To my amazement, and sadness, the academic left
(NACLA, for instance) have taken a kind of "Third Position" on the war
there, condemning "violence by all sides" and de facto equating the FARC
and ELN with the Colombian army and the paramilitaries(which are the same
thing).I expect this sort of sludge from Ana Guillermoprieto writing for
the New York Review of Books, but not from ostensible leftists.Likewise,
when it come to Cuba, a not insignificant sector of the Cuba solidarity
movement, featured say in The Progressive, takes  the position that
"hardliners on both sides" are responsible for the continuation of the
embargo. As if Cuba were out to destroy the economy of the United States!
(Side Story: much as I hate his guts, Wayne Smith, the one-time head of the
US Interests section in Cuba, correctly stated to an audience in Miami back
in March that "short of surrendering, I don't see what the Cubans could do
to make Washington change its Cuba policy.")
   I'd say there is a certain minde-set, not unlike what Edward Said dubbed
Orientalism, that still clogs the brains of even some leftists when it
comes to immersing themselves in the struggles of "Our America".
La lucha continua
A luta continua
Julio Cesar

At 12:05 AM 5/14/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Ola/Aloha&Hello:
>
>I am back. Finally got on line again so I can reply to Nestor y Julio
>about what you )pl.) said a while back about Latin American Marxists
>being slighted by North Americans.  I strongly agree. I see two big factors.
>
>