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Notes on Chile
| Article
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12976 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1987 |
2,271 Words |
| Author
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Thomas Molnar
Thomas Molnar is professor of religion at Yale. He is the
author of The Pagan Temptation; The Decline of the
Intellectual; Sartre: Ideologue of Our Time; and God and
Knowledge of Reality. |
Stagnation best describes the southern cone (Cono Sur) of South America. This is a sad word because Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and southern Brazil are genuine members of the Western world, culturally keeping pace with Europe and North America. Yet political, economic, and social stagnation put these countries--also in their own anxious self-interrogation--into the Third World, at any rate into a category bordering on "underdevelopment." During my sixth trip to South America in twenty years, I felt a malaise when I saw the contrast between words and attitudes on the one hand and instability on the other.
This in-between status is not likely to change in the near future. It may be attributed to two factors. One is the failure of some Latin nations to adopt a modern worldview--although they keep it before their eyes as an ideal. The second factor is the reluctance of the elites to pay the price of achieving stability. In some ways these factors are interdependent, forming a vicious circle. The elites argue that their prudence is justified by South America's lamentable destiny. First it was exploited by foreign powers--the Spanish since their discovery, Great Britain in the century of independence, and the United States in the twentieth century. Then it was subverted by various forms of radicalism, most recently Marxism. The wealthy classes continue living as if they were displaced Europeans. In the nineteenth century, rich Brazilian ladies sent their laundry to Europe by boat; today rich Argentinians send their capital to Swiss and North American banks. Only true patriots invest at home.
South America is a literally plundered continent, one weakened each time a political party or a providential man tries to influence its destiny. It is no wonder that in such a climate solemn promises are periodically made by pressure groups and ideologues to redress the nation, correct its course, resist foreign and domestic exploiters, abolish corruption, check the drain of capital, discipline the wealthy, satisfy peasants and workers, or refuse to pay the foreign debt. Only a minute part of such programs can be attempted because opposing interests and foreign pressures block reform. This is why no regime is able to remain long in power and why nobody believes in new formulas. The ritual cambio de las estructuras (structural change) must be taken into account, no matter who claims to be building for the future, even democrats like Alfonsin, leftist Christian Democrats like Frei, or socialists like Brizzola. Each program and leader appeals to particular segments of the population. Consensus is a mere word. In most countries a latent civil war continues, with temporary victors and temporary losers. The first group aims at the
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