The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas: Dawn of an Alternative to Neoliberalism? (Introduction)
by Paul Kellogg
Editors’ Note: The following is an excerpt from the Introduction of a paper on ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, by Paul Kellogg, editor of Socialist Worker and a leading member of the International Socialists. It was first presented to the June 1-3, 2006 conference of the Canadian Political Science Association, at York University in Toronto.
The full paper considerably longer than a normal issue of Socialist Voice, so we have posted it separately HERE.
Copyright © Paul Kellogg 2006. Requests to reproduce should be addressed to paul.kellogg@utoronto.ca.
In December 2004, Fidel Castro Ruz, president of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba, and Hugo Chávez Frías, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, signed an historic agreement, which outlined a framework for trade relations between their two countries on principles not just different from those motivating the FTAA, but principles which were formulated in such a way as to explicitly challenge the FTAA. ALBA has become synonymous with the radical reforms underway in Venezuela, and a symbol of the hopes for radical transformation which have emerged with the move left in Latin America as a whole.
ALBA — the Spanish acronym for the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas — means “dawn” in Spanish. And there is a real feeling that what we are witnessing is what Chávez has called “the dawn of a new era” in Latin America — an alternative at last to the long night of neoliberalism, neocolonialism and imperialism.
But ALBA is not the only player in the field of alternatives to the FTAA — nor is it necessarily, in economic terms, the most important. Just before the ALBA declaration, President Chávez participated in another summit of Latin American heads of states, this one without the presence of Castro, where agreement was reached, in principle, to accelerate progress towards a South American Community of Nations (CSN).
Most analysts conflate these two processes, treating them as identical. And at one level, they are. And both do represent a huge alteration of the power relations in the hemisphere. Both represent the attempt to wrench economic development out of the control of the Great Powers — in particular the United States — and assert the sovereignty of the economies in the region. But if both are, in this sense, anti-imperialist, only ALBA is explicitly anti-neoliberal and at times anti-capitalist. The CSN, by contrast, is evolving in a very traditional manner — state capital in cooperation with multinational capital. The ALBA project is being driven by Venezuela — led by a president who has situated himself openly against neoliberalism. But at the heart of the CSN project is the Brazilian state, and its much bigger economy — led by a president who began his term in office with an open retreat towards neoliberal policies.
This article will ask the question, to what extent are the two projects compatible?
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