On the last Day of WSF 2011, there was an activity held by the São Paulo Forum (FSP) with left-wing parties from South Africa and Senegal. Besides sharing the experience of the Latin American initiative, the seminar established the intention of connection between the left-wing parties of the two continents.
Por la gran pátria
Valter Pomar, member of the Workers’ Party (PT – Partido dos Trabalhadores) and Executive Secretary of the FSP, summarized the history of the Forum. He believes that its activities, considering the Latin American circumstances, can be divided into three periods. From 1990 (when FSP was founded) to 1998, it was a period of neoliberal hegemony – the social movements resisted the attempts of homogenization and suppression of social struggles in the continent.
From 1998 on, the scenario changed: left-wing parties started to win presidential elections in Latin America. The first one was Hugo Chávez, in Venezuela, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
“These governments, along with Cuba, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras and Dominican Republic, created a completely new situation in Latin America,” says Pomar, who also reminded that important countries like Mexico, Colombia and Peru kept right-wing governments. According to him, this political change has improved the standards of living in the countries ruled by the left, as well as democratization, strengthening of national sovereignty and improvements in regional integration.
The third period begins around 2009. Since that year, the left has not formed any new government. On the contrary, it has lost some to the right-wing, which is the case of Honduras, where there was a coup d’état, and Chile, through elections. According to him “It’s possible to identify a counter attack of the right in the continent, which has the support of the conservative governments of Europe and the United States.” He believes that, in the scenario of international crisis, the USA is trying to regain their influence in the region.
At present, the FSP has three objectives: maintain the space it has conquered, speed up the process of regional integration and obtain more victories. However, Pomar states that “it has been difficult to move on because the crisis and the militarization have created great instability.”
The strategy is to keep the left in power in those Latin American countries already ruled by progressive powers and promote exchanges between the FSP and the African, Asian and European left. “It’s an exchange because the reality is very different,” says the Secretary. By doing this, it is possible to reach another objective: to guarantee plurality, a characteristic which, according to Pomar, explains the success of the Forum in Latin America.
Africa united
Chris Matlhako shared the ALEF experience.
In 1958, Ghana’s Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah, summoned representatives from 20 African states to meet in his country. He believed that the independence of his nation was useless whilst other African countries remained colonies. In August 2010, for the second time in history, all African nations were represented to debate their integration. The meeting was summoned by the South African Communist Party (SACP) and held in Johannesburg with 17 African nations.
“The objective of the meeting was to discuss the experiences and challenges of the African left-wing to implement participatory democracy, besides strengthening ALNEF (Africa Left Network Forum),” explained Chris Matlhako, member of SACP. He is also one of the coordinators of ALNEF.
As Nkrumah, Matlhako states that these changes must occur all over the continent, otherwise they will not last. “ALNEF was created to gather not only the plurality of left-wing parties in the continent but also the social movements and organizations. It is the new power.”
At the Johannesburg meeting, it was agreed that the Forum will meet once a year. A Secretary was installed and the first activity settled to February: a conference on “Women in Africa”. Matlhako points out that ALNEF wants to keep contact with the FSP to strengthen mutual support and to bring the struggles of both continents closer.
Research source: Revista Uhuru Spirit – www.uhuruspirit.org
Translated by Elisete Paes e Lima
Translator and Interpreter – Santos – São Paulo – Brazil