IPS-English ECUADOR: ‘21st Century Socialism' Heats Up Constituent Assembly Campaign
 
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:35:52 -0700

 
Kintto Lucas

QUITO, Sep 28   (IPS)  - Controversy in Ecuador over the meaning
of so-called ”21st century socialism” has heated up the campaign for
Sunday's elections to a constituent assembly that will rewrite the
Ecuadorean constitution.

The debate on the new socialism has been fed in the last few weeks
by President Rafael Correa, the media, candidates to the constituent
assembly, and even distinguished visitors like German political analyst
Heinz Dieterich and former Spanish prime ministers Felipe González
(1982-1996) and José María Aznar (1996-2004).

According to the latest opinion poll, carried out by the Cedatos
polling firm on Sept. 10, the last day that poll results could be
published, the governing Alianza País could win 44 to 53 seats in
the 130-member constituent assembly in Sunday's elections.

But the proportion could be even higher. New surveys by the Informe 
Confidencial and Santiago Pérez polling firms, to which IPS had access
this week, indicate that Correa's coalition could gain as many as
60 seats in the assembly, which would give the government and allied
leftist parties a comfortable majority.

Although Correa has spoken out in favour of 21st century socialism,
which is championed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, both the
president and Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea ruled out any mention
of socialism in the new constitution, even if their delegates hold
a majority of seats in the constituent assembly.

”The constitution we propose will not call the country socialist,
or anything like that,” said Larrea.

The Ecuadorean government has its own vision of socialism and ”has
the advantage of not being dogmatic, of not believing in prophecies
and of not following any manual,” he said.

In New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly, Correa
once again made it clear that Ecuador's model differs from Chávez's,
because the realities in the two countries are different.

At a conference in Quito, Dieterich, who developed the concept of
21st century socialism, argued that one of the pillars of this model
is that the value of goods should be based on the time it takes to
produce them, which would be the first step towards a more just economy.

To illustrate, the analyst, who lives in Mexico and writes extensively
on Latin America, said that in foreign trade, Venezuela should estimate
the time input for producing a barrel of oil and Cuba should estimate
the hours of work that go into producing medicines.

According to Dieterich, a professor at the Autonomous Metropolitan
University of Mexico since 1977 and currently an adviser to President
Chávez, 21st century socialism goes hand in hand with participatory
democracy.

He said the new socialism differs significantly from traditional
democracy, which is limited to political relations and ignores economic,
cultural and military relations, and stressed  that in a participatory
democracy, the people must be involved in decision-making at all levels.

He also said participatory democracy can be channelled, for example,
through participatory budgets, which were pioneered by city governments
controlled by the leftist Workers' Party in Brazil long before 21st
century socialism was ever mentioned.

Another element that forms part of the new socialism is the use of
popular referendums to allow voters to decide on far-reaching matters,
like declaring war, approving free trade agreements, or the use of
the national budget, all of which directly affect a country's citizens,
said Dieterich.

The first phase of this new model should be characterised by a mixed
economy, including public, private and cooperative ownership of the
means of production, he added.

Mariela Torres, one of the audience members in the conference, was
visible disappointed by Dieterich's presentation, telling IPS that
he merely ”cobbles together ideas and terms that have been developed
by other people, and does not contribute anything new.”

Two weeks before Dieterich's visit to the Ecuadorean capital, Correa,
a U.S.-educated economist, had stated in a forum that he believed
in ”the democratisation of the means of production.”

The new socialism is participatory and ”radically democratic,” he
said, adding that it faces the challenge of presenting a new conception
of development, in which the aim is to ”live well, not to live better,”
while incorporating questions like gender and ethnic equality, as
well as harmony with nature.

He underscored the fundamental importance of the role of the state
in any process of fomenting equality. But he also stressed that the
elimination of private property would be ”unthinkable,” just as ”the
class struggle and violent change are untenable.”

Correa further noted that the new socialism must arise from an ongoing
process of construction of the concept, ”because if we ever believe
we have all the answers, we will have failed, as occurred in the case
of classic socialism.”

The president said that the strongest economic growth in Latin America
has been seen in Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay, and that Bolivia
achieved a trade surplus this year. According to Correa, all of these
countries, as well as Brazil and Chile, are following the path of
21st century socialism.

A few days after Correa's remarks, Aznar harshly criticised his proposals,
in a seminar organised by business leaders in Guayaquil, the economic
capital of Ecuador.

The conservative former Spanish prime minister said ”pseudo-revolutionary
populist policies are a failed formula,” and maintained that the new
socialism is based on ”authoritarian and totalitarian prescriptions
that will only generate more poverty and marginalisation and more
limited opportunities.”

”Since the fall of the Berlin wall, socialism has lost, and neoliberal
policies that generate greater stability, prosperity and opportunities
have won out,” Aznar said.

”I believe there are two paths in Latin America today,” he said.
”One is populism, which leads countries to isolate themselves from
the rest of the world, and the other is the route taken by stable
and prosperous economies” like Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, he argued.

His predecessor, former socialist prime minister González, also joined
the fray, saying 21st century socialism is being demonised just as
the neoliberal free-market model has been, even though both have negative
as well as positive aspects.

Leftwing candidates to the constituent assembly, meanwhile, addressed
the question in a Sept. 20 seminar on ”21st Century Socialism and
the Environment in the New Constitution”, organised by the Institute
for Third World Ecological Studies in Quito.

Edgar Isch of the Popular Democratic Movement said that a radical
alternative to the capitalist model should return to the teachings
of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, both of whom had already stated
in the 19th century that capitalism and the destruction of nature
always go hand in hand.

He also said that although the constituent assembly is not going
to draft a socialist constitution, popular movements could gain more
strength through the process, to prevent the depredation of the environment.

But Alfredo Luna of the Pachakutik indigenous movement complained
that the concerns of native peoples seem to be ignored by the proponents
of 21st century socialism.

”What socialism can we talk about when community forms of organisation
continue to be squashed and undermined by capital?” he asked the audience
in the seminar.

He proposed that the constituent assembly lay the foundations for
a brand of socialism that is based on ”recognition of diversity.”

Luna also said the constituent assembly should pave the way for comprehensive
agrarian reform that would include a ban on the use of land to grow
crops for producing biofuels, which, he argued, ”undermine Ecuador's
food sovereignty.”



(END/IPS/LA IP CR IF CS/TRASP-SW/KL/DM/07)


 
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