Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin American Liberation

Eugene Gogol is a Marxist-Humanist activist and writer. Previous works on Latin America: Utopía y dialéctica en la liberación latinoamericana / Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin American Liberation (Juan Pablos Editor 2014), El concepto del otro en la liberación latinoamericana / The concept of the other in Latin American Liberation (Juan Pablos Editor 2004). Other work: Toward a Dialectic of Philosophy and Organization (Brill 2012).

"The key question driving Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin American Liberation is this: ‘[a]re there living threads which connect a concept of utopia found in many of today’s Latin American movements and the dialectic as found in Hegel, created anew in Marx, and by others?’ (4). In Parts 1 and 2 of the volume, Eugene Gogol approaches this question directly: first, he unveils ‘certain concepts of dialectical thought […] that can aid us in grasping the dialectic in Hegel as in life’ (28); second, he looks for ‘strands of the dialectic as they emerge from within Latin America itself’ (4). The result is impressive. In clear and unhurried prose, Gogol offers an erudite exploration of some complex theoretical ground, and then deftly applies it to a few instances of popular rebellion in the region." – Eduardo Frajman, in: Marx &Philosoph, 27 July 2016

• Acknowledgements XIIntroduction 1I Utopia and the Dialectic as Contested Terrain 1II The Present Moment 5III Origins—Dunayevskaya and the Dialectic of Organization andPhilosophy 8IV Structure of the Present Study 10PART 1: PHILOSOPHIC FOUNDATIONS1 The Meaning of Utopia in Latin America 15I “The Right to One’s (Latin America’s) Own Utopia” 15II “Utopia as Space (Place) of Social Resistance” 17III Utopia and Latin American Thinkers 202 Dialectical Thought—from Hegel to Marx, from Lenin to Dunayevskaya. What is the Power of Negativity for Our Day? 25I Moments in the Hegelian Dialectic 25II Marx-Hegel—from “Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic” to Capital 33III Lenin-Hegel—Philosophical Preparation for Revolution? 37IV Dunayevskaya-Hegel—Reading Absolute Negativity “As New Beginning” 453 Are There Emancipatory Threads between Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin America? 57I Preliminary Note: The Dialectic of Universal-Particular-IndividualReaching toward Utopias-Projects-Masses 57II The Challenge in Practice and in Theory: Will Latin America Arrive. Only on the Threshold of a New Society, or Enter into the Realm of Absolute Liberation? 58III How Do a Latin American Concept of Utopia and the Dialectic of Absolute Negativity Speak to Each Other? 63PART 2: THE STATE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA4 Haiti, 1986–1993: The Uprooting (Dejoucki), the Flood (Lavalas) and the Repression 75I Haiti was the First: A Brief Note on the Significance of the Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804 75II Haiti in Books and in Life 76III Theology of Liberation in Concrete Practice: Aristide’s Sermons and Actions 83IV Epilogue: Post-the Jan. 12, 2012 Earthquake 885 The Revolutionary Process in Venezuela—Advances, Contradictions, Questions 95I The Passing of Hugo Chavez 95II Preliminary Moments: The Oil Addiction; The First Period of the Chavez Government 96III Under the Whip of the Counter-Revolution a Revolutionary Process Begins 98IV Chavez’s Call to Build “21st Century Socialism”—What is Its Meaning?How Can It Move “Beyond Capital”? Who are the Social Subjects of Revolutionary Change? What is the Role of the State? The Unions? The Party? 100V The Venezuelan Debate on 21st Century Socialism: Relation of Party and Mass Movement; What Kind of Party? What Kind of Leadership?The Role of the Intellectual: Excerpts from Forum on “Intellectuals, Socialism and Democracy” 112VI Is There a Missing Ingredient in Venezuela Today? 1166 Mexico’s Revolutionary Forms of Organization: The Zapatistas and the Indigenous Autonomous Communities in Resistance 119I Indigenous and Zapatista Organizational Praxis—The Building of Autonomy in Rebel Lands 119II Anti-Capitalist and from the Left: The 6th Declaration and La Otra Campaña 127III Once Again, the Building of Autonomy in Rebel Lands: The Second Encuentro of the Zapatistas and the Peoples of the World—The Power of Indigenous Voices in Rebellion 132IV The Zapatistas and Mexico’s Left Intellectuals 135Appendix 1: Zapatista Document: Them and Us—Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos 140Appendix 2: Zapatista Document: Them and Us—Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés 1467 Bolivia: In Revolutionary Transformation, 2000–2005; The Pull of State-Capitalism, 2006–2013 152I The Revolutionary Social Process, 2000–2005 153II What Happens After? Social Movements under the Threat of State-ism and Neoliberalism in Unity, 2006–2013 161PART 3: REVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES IN LATIN AMERICA: VOICES FROM BELOW8 Social Movements in Argentina 171Francisco T. SobrinoI Background 171II The Movement of the Unemployed 172III The Movement of “Recovered Factories” 175IV The Meaning of the Protests of December 2001 and the Mobilizations of 2002 178V The Local Assemblies 179VI Attempts by the New Government and the Dominant Classes to Resolve the Crisis 182VII The Cooptation of Sectors of Intellectuals, Human Right Organizations and a Part of the Left 184VIII Other Measures Used by the Ruling Classes in order to Solve the Crisis of Legitimacy 186IX In a Way, a Provisional Conclusion 186Appendix: Excerpts from an interview with Paula, an Argentine feminist and member of the Gay, Lesbian, Transvestite, Transgender, and Bisexual (glttb) Collective 1889 Indigenous Struggles for Territory, Autonomy and Natural Resources 195I The Meaning of Autonomy in Mexico: The Case of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Cópala 197Brenda Porras Rodríguez and Fernando Alan López BonifacioII The Nasa: Subjects of Dignity 208Appendix: Interview with Nasa Activists 225III The Community Police in GuerreroAn Interview with Marciano, an Indigenous Mixtec, on His Work and Experience 22810 Women as Force and Reason of Social Transformations 231I Feminisms and Liberations in Our America [Nuestra América] 233Francesca GargalloII The Role of Women in the Struggle for Autonomy in Mexico 260Raquel VázquezAppendix 1: Women in the Montaña Region of Guerrero: The Other Arm of Community Justice 270Appendix 2: Political Statement of the Xinka Communitarian Feminist Women: There is No Decolonialization without Depatriarchalization! 27911 Youth, Popular Education, Teachers 281I The tipnis March: New Horizons for Popular Education 283Benito FernandezII On Urban Resistance and Processes of Formation of Subjects for Emancipatory Action: An Examination of the Cultural Breakthrough Brought about by the Medellin Youth Network, 1991–2011 302Edison Villa HolguínIII The Battle for Oaxaca: Repression and Revolutionary Resistance 328Eugene GogolAppendix 1: Yo Soy #132 338Appendix 2: Chilean Student Protests 351Camila VallejoAppendix 3: The Books of the Zapatista Little SchoolZapatistas from the Indigenous Communities in Resistance 357PART 4: BATTLE OF IDEAS AND PRACTICES; CONCLUSIONS12 Horizontal-ism, State-ism, Marxism and the Indigenous Dimension—Raul Zibechi, Álvaro García Linera, Hugo Blanco 375I Raul Zibechi, Chronicler of Latin America in Social Rebellion 375II The Statist Marxism of Álvaro García Linera 380III Hugo Blanco—Peruvian Revolutionary: From Trotskyism and the Peasantry to the Indigenous Movement for Land and Mother Earth 385Appendix 1: The Organization and Building of Mass Power: Horizontalism and Verticalism, Utopia and Project 389Rubén DriAppendix 2: The “Top-Down” State and the “Bottom-Up” State 399Guillermo Almeyra13 The Zapatistas and the Dialectic 402I “The Time of the No and the Time of the Yes” 404II The Zapatista Concept of Time 404III The Rewinds: Our Dead, the Living, Biographies, Diversity, Stories, Our History, and Other Subjects 40614 Marx, Hegel and Dunayevskaya—Toward a Dialectic of Philosophy and Organization in the Context of Latin American Liberation 414I Marx and the Present Moment in Latin America 414II Hegel’s Revolution in Philosophy—From Master Slave to Absolute Negativity 416III Dunayevskaya’s Reading of the Dialectic in Marx—Its Significance for Today 419IV Conclusion: Toward a Dialectic of Organization and Philosophy 424Bibliography 431Index 438