Juan Diego Vivanco Vieira
Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador
Faced with this evident fragmentation and ethical and moral deterioration of our society, which, from its foundations to its structural peak, is seriously contaminated; and where, as a counterpoint: honor, resilience, work morale, become more and more sporadic and scarce; It is necessary that we try, in an empirical but communal way, to find out what are the reasons, what are the sources, what are their origins, what are the effects and what are the causes of this fragmentation and deterioration; but above all, we have to try to find some answer or some possible way out of this terrible quagmire.
In the process, we will probably run into different dilemmas that will inevitably lead us to find possible culprits; but for this, we will necessarily have to look at ourselves, both as victims and as perpetrators of a system in which an indolent, devalued and unprincipled society coexists like poison.
Who to blame? The current ruler, the previous one or his predecessor? To the capitalist right, to the communist left? To Marx, to Engels, to Mao or to Adam Smith? To heavy metal or reggaeton? Is it all the fault of Elon Musk, Bill Gates or the New World Order? Could it be that we are living the beginning of the end of our times? Shall we blame our parents, our grandparents, the educational system or their teachers? Maybe we should take a retrospective look at each of ourselves? We could spend our entire lives blaming each other without being able to find a real answer to our endless misery. But what is impossible for us to deny and we can give it as a forceful fact, is that we are and belong to those countries called Third World. But, what is true in this statement and what is behind this concept?
According to the Venezuelan journalist, academic and diplomat, Carlos Rangel (1929-1988), in his book El Tercermundismo, published in 1982, the term “Third World” was born at the time of the cold war, the same one that began at the end of the Second World War. For Rangel, they are those towns that show many more divergences than similarities, both in historical, cultural, demographic, and geographical diversity, as well as in their different faculties, living standards, and degree of backwardness or modernization. They are those countries that have not yet been “Sovietized” and that continue under the domination of exploitation and the yoke of the capitalist countries, and that generally have in common, a resentment towards the most powerful and wealthy members of the society. These countries do not have a functional economy, nor civilized and stable political institutions, they have an ambivalent attitude and discomfort in relation to their own culture and have a painful feeling of inferiority, a lack of self-esteem and faith in themselves; and as a consequence of this, a lack of confidence in their possibilities of development within the capitalist system.
For Rangel, Latin America deserves special attention, since we have allowed ourselves to a great extent to be seduced by the Third World ideology and have passively and even euphorically and passionately accepted being classified within the so-called Third World; This concept gained strength mainly with the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959 and whose dictatorial regime continues to this day. It is very probable that one of the causes that communist thought has permeated so successfully in Latin American countries is due to the terrible regression towards irresponsibility on the part of the Creole class in the period of Independence, which caused widespread mediocrity and a political underdevelopment that we have been carrying throughout our history and from which, unfortunately, we have not yet managed to get out.
It is interesting to try to understand what makes us different from other countries that, despite having gone through tough tests such as wars, famines, pandemics and natural disasters, have managed to overcome themselves and achieve a development that has allowed them to be an example. of progress and well-being, as was the case of Japan, which, without having to belong to the capitalist club, had a profound attitude to overcome the postwar period. Possibly it is that it has, like Germany, Norway or Spain, the ability to react successfully to traumatic stimuli and go from being countries considered as latecomers to countries with a good rate of economic growth, good public health, education, consumption , as well as something not measurable but essential, such as their spiritual tone, their condition of being awake, alert and demanding.
How long will we recognize that our underdevelopment and weakness is not only due to the interference of an enemy capitalist imperialism, but also, due to the interference of what is happening in our own society, due to our resigned and abandoned attitude towards mediocrity and for believing that all nexus of domination and dependency are solved by “making a revolution” or “an explosion”, and that by magic we will overcome our social problems and enter a fast track towards prosperity, justice and freedom? Latin American history has shown us the opposite, otherwise, it is enough for us to take a look at the situation that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are going through, and not to go that far, the disastrous economic consequences and the terrible social upheaval caused by the protests. October 2019 and the last, after the pandemic, June 2022; both promoted by some so-called leaders, apparent representatives of movements and organizations that defend nature and of marginalized and oppressed social groups, but in reality, many of them are puppets at the service of tyranny, corruption, and organized crime. , with the sole and true intention of generating terror, instability and chaos.
Fifteen years have passed since the Citizen Revolution changed the constitutional parameters of Ecuador, and 12 years since it cunningly and deceitfully promoted a referendum that has brought disastrous consequences to the country, especially with regard to the lack of transparency in the management of public administration, the weakening of the justice system and the absence of citizen guarantees to the right to security and good living; generating a society indifferent to suffering and inequality, despotic, slave-owning and oblivious to any idea of equity and social justice.
How much longer will we continue sleeping “like lizards among the ruins” and being incapable of suspecting that the possibility of defeating social injustice and misery could be derived from ingenuity and work? Let’s hope this awakening happens much sooner rather than later.
Juan Diego Vivanco Vieira