Latin American Multipolarity is the Path Toward Peace.
Originally published: 12/05/2021
China as “New Cold War” Enemy
The dominant narrative in Western mainstream media nowadays is that China is the new rising global threat in what is now appropriately being called a “New Cold War ‘’. Of course this could not be further from the truth. No, rather the main antagonist of this very real “New Cold War ‘’ is the United States itself as well as its Western counterparts that help maintain its status as the sole unopposed hegemon. Western powers have concocted lies against China, fabricating a “genocide” of Uyghurs in Xinjiang that even the Western media outlets that pushed this fabrication had to walk back. The United States has also given resources and support to color revolution protests in Hong Kong in order to destabilize China and has also provoked a possible conflict in Taiwan in order to “protect Taiwan’s sovereignty” , which is skeptical given past considerations by the U.S Military to conduct a nuclear strike on Taiwan during the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis as revealed by Daniel Ellsberg. Not only has China not been the rising cold war threat it has been portrayed to be, but its most recent moves toward a more multipolar world, along with similar efforts by other countries deemed enemies by the U.S Empire, will make the world much safer than it is now under U.S global imperial domination.
Such is the Case with two of China’s current diplomatic moves in the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative), both of which have been portrayed by Western media as nefarious attempts to exploit other countries like the Western powers actually do themselves now. Rather in reality both these groups are actual attempts at removing unipolar, U.S dominated geopolitics in favor of a new economic order. A new multipolar world where individual countries and their peoples have a say in what happens both globally and at home. This new economic order that will be ushered in by projects like the SCO and the BRI will be one founded on peace and economic cooperation between countries rather than the warmongering and constant imperial plunder of the current order.
A New Order
The SCO is made up of a handful of countries such as China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Iran, and many other countries spanning the Middle East and Central Asia. The BRI similarly has done infrastructure and economic projects with these countries, many of which make up what is called the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road ‘’ named after of course its historical predecessor in the Silk Road. This new mass economic project to create a modern economic belt through the creation of infrastructure and various economic projects is not limited to Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East however. In 2017 Panama became the first Latin American country to officially endorse the BRI. This was in line with the 2017 statement by Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, where he called Latin America the “natural extension of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Belt and Road Initiative.” Since then more Latin countries have endorsed BRI, including Cuba which originally joined in 2018 and now as of 2021 has joined the global energy partnership and made its official entry into the BRI. Many Latin American countries have also yet to endorse the BRI, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, some of the region’s largest economies. Much of the disintegration between Latin countries in regards to endorsing BRI or other economic projects with China, is due to U.S imperial influence both historically and today, specifically through the use of organizations such as the OAS (Organization of American States).
“Ministries of Yankee Colonies”
The OAS, founded in 1948 and headquartered in Washington D.C, was created as a neocolonial tool whereby the United States could exert total domination over the destiny of Latin American countries in the post World War Two world. This resurrection of Monroe Doctrine policy has been a key reason as to the general instability in some Latin countries, but more importantly as the key reason preventing true Latin American cooperation and a more peaceful multipolar planet. In 2019 the OAS helped to orchestrate a fascist coup in Bolivia by calling their elections illegitimate, despite no factual evidence, which then led to a Christo-fascist puppet for U.S imperial interests being installed and the popular MAS (Movimiento Al Socialismo “Movement for Socialism”) President Evo Morales being expelled from the country. After receiving amnesty from Manuel Lopez Obrador in a positive sign of Latin American unity, The Mexican Air Force (FAM) plane that helped the now fleeing Morales was shot at by a RPG rocket launcher by the coup forces the OAS helped install. Bolivia, through the brave struggle of their peoples, took their country back from the coup wagers, resulting in the reestablishment of the MAS government under President Luis Arce and the return of Evo Morales.
Nicaragua faced equally false claims of illegitimate/rigged elections on November 7, 2020 by the OAS after the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional “Sandinista National Liberation Front”) once again won by popular vote under President Daniel Ortega. This call from the OAS led the U.S Government to prepare new sanctions against the Nicaraguan people on top of the already illegal sanctions imposed. In response Nicaragua left the OAS on November 19th, being the only other country besides Cuba and Venezuela to leave when Cuba was suspended in 1962 for instituting the Cuban Revolution and Venezuela in 2019. Nicaragua’s statement of departure was made in front of a giant portrait of Augusto Sandino, a Nicaraguan revolutionary who fought the U.S Marines that occupied Nicaragua in the 20’s and 30’s, with Foreign Minister Denis Moncada saying that the OAS is an “instrument of interference” that “has the mission of facilitating the hegemony of the United States.” The gross attempts by the OAS to tamper with the sovereignty of Bolivia and Nicaragua and the subsequent responses by both countries makes clear the need and want for an alternative to the OAS that actually benefits Latin American countries and is a tool of mutual benefit and cooperation instead of a tool of U.S exploitation.
Replacing the OAS
This is where groups like CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) can provide this alternative. CELAC was officially founded in 2011 with its inaugural summit being held in Caracas on December 2 and 3rd. CELAC rose from its predecessor, the Rio Group, which formed in 1986 for the similar purpose of cooperating on regional policy issues independently from the United States. CELAC’s most recent summit took place on September 18, 2021 in Mexico City, being attended by the likes of Nicolas Maduro and Miguel Díaz Canel of Venezuela and Cuba respectively. Absent was fascist clown President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Colombian narco President Ivan Duque who also “issued furious statements condemning Maduro’s attendance.” Despite the lingering of a few fascists in service of U.S interests in the region making some noise, this summit is a stark representation of an alternative to the OAS with cooperation between fellow Latin countries being emphasized. During the Summit an enumeration of issues were brought up including calls to end U.S colonialism in Puerto Rico, calls to end the U.S blockade of Cuba, and the general call to replace the OAS. All issues never discussed in any serious manner in the OAS. During the Summit China’s President Xi Jinping congratulated CELAC and called for further strengthening of relations between China and Latin America.
The U.S and the Western powers at large have done everything to smear China and the rising power of groups like the SCO and initiatives like Belt and Road because they are crumbling empires built on exploitation and colonial extraction and a world where global power is more evenly distributed does not suit the Empire’s dominative interests. Latin America has been the historic “backyard” to the U.S colonial behemoth, with large swaths of it being swallowed into U.S territory, countless neoliberal dictators from Pinochet to Somoza being put into power throughout the continent, endless “drug wars” funded by the U.S State Department, and numerous other crimes the U.S has perpetually perpetrated on Latin America. The emergence of CELAC as a true union between Latin American countries and the disappearance of the OAS as a neocolonial entity could be the final nail in the coffin of U.S imperialism. A unified Latin America, defying U.S imperial interests, along with a unified multipolar coalition led by China, could actually bring about the peace the world desperately needs.
Originally published at https://www.midwesternmarx.com.
