Week 4: Independence Narratives

The lecture video talks about political representations, independence movements and how leaders get elected.  The lecture video talked about colonial leaders of Latin America.

I learnt that 1850, brings about the idea of the “letter of Jamaica” written by Bolivar- being a violation of human rights to expect land.  Bolivar wrote this letter where he was exiled after Spanish forces crashed his army- the letter was to be directed to an English correspondent. He outlines his philosophical and political ideas in this letter and what he wants Latin America to look like. He says he hopes for a “powerful liberal nation to take America under its wing for guidance” which can be said that he wanted this to be directed towards Britain.  His idea was all about having a Pan American state but realises much later that it’s pretty much impossible because of a number of factors.

 I learnt that his beliefs were all centred around a free market economy and an opposition to slavery.  In this letter, he talks about how he had a strong desire to see Americas moulded into the greatest nation in the world, not by wealth or status but rather by the freedom and glory. He also talks about how he thought that it would be impractical to set up a government because there was not enough political knowledge at the time to do so.  Bolivar also talked a lot about slavery when the government seizes the rights of the citizens and contemporary struggles with neoliberals’.

"Chavez in context" video talks about Hugo Chavez and how he came to power in 1998, eventually won a referendum and constituent assembly to re-write a constitution and thus create  revolutionary change.  Whilst doing so he reproduces traditional features of Latin American politics- and how a leader is considered the centre of the globe.  He compares Bolivar to Chavez. Bolivar he says was creative, complex and full of great tactics.  Whereas Chavez looks at him as a figure that didn’t quite manage to finish the task he wanted to complete- which was the emancipation of people.

I learnt also that not only was there a struggle for independence there was a struggle for inclusion- and creating a synthesis between European and New World cultures. 

My general question: What would have been the benefits of having a large Latin American state? And in some cases would Tyranny be considered better than dictatorship?