The rightwingers have turned up their fog horns, blasting the massive demonstrations yesterday in Argentina during Bush’s visit to the fourth Summit of the Americas. The leftie blog reports are few. Those that did post — such as Left of the Dial, ThinkProgress, The Agonist, and one of BoomanTribune.com’s own Cruz Del Sur, reporting in from Argentina — remind us that there is another America, unlike the United States, that is vibrant with participatory politics and increasingly progressive.
The “big boy” liberal blogs would never be caught publicizing popular demonstrations (‘cept, rather naively, the orange Ukraine demos).
Hell, the big boy blogs don’t even much acknowledge that there is another America. And certainly not especially where — and we know that only the aging hippies love this crap — the protestors wave banners with Che’s posterized handsome face. (Even I’ll admit that if Che had been a homely dude, his visage would not have lived on.)
John Hinderacker is on the story at Powerline, a major ‘winger blog, with “The Usual Suspects, This Time in Argentina.” Some of Hinderacker’s points are pretty funny:
The protesters are, in effect, pro-poverty. Here they are: [PHOTO of demonstrator kicking in store window.] … A rational person, of course, would wonder what “stopping Bush” has to do with kicking in a plate glass window. […]
These people presumably would be embarrassed to carry around a picture of Ted Bundy, but for some reason they think Guevara is OK. […]
UPDATE: The New York Times isn’t fooled–it’s all about Karl Rove! This is one of the dumbest news stories I’ve read in a long time. The Times adopts the point of view of the “populist” Hugo Chavez. Pathetic.
Then there’s Astute Blogger‘s “MAR DEL PLATA RIOTERS LOVE TYRNANNICAL (sic) TROIKA”: “[T]hose who oppose trade and foreign investment [love two] murderous tyrannical Leftists – and one aspiring one [Hugo Chavez]! Castro and Che bequeathed nothing but suffering: When Castro took over Cuba it was the richest nation in the Caribbean – now it is the second poorest – only Haiti is worse.”
One of the truly outstanding posts from the left, ThinkProgress‘s “Summit of the Americas: Then and Now,” compares Bush’s reception at the 2005 Summit with that of President Bill Clinton at the 1998 Summit of the Americas in Chile:
At one point, Clinton walked in hazy sunshine down Gran Avenida, a busy commercial street lined with thousands of people, including schoolchildren in blue and white uniforms, many of them chanting “Clinton, Clinton.” A few bystanders chanted “Kennedy,” … [CNN, 4/16/98]
To be fair, there were also protesters when Clinton arrived in Chile, but we have yet to witness any indication that there is any popular support for President Bush in Argentina.
Great point. There is no evidence of any support for Bush.
Besides our Cruz Del Sur’s Re: The Summit and her additional comments here, the best post on the Summit and the demonstrations in Argentina is from The Left End of the Dial … BELOW:
I love LeftDial’s title:
The day George Bush came face to face with Latin America’s revolt
By Naomi Klein. A few grafs to whet your appetite:
All of this is happening because the indigenous movement in Cauca, as in much of Latin America, is on a roll. In the past year the Nasa of Northern Cauca have held the largest anti-government protests in recent Colombian history and organised local referendums against free trade that had a turnout of 70%, higher than any official election (with a near-unanimous no result). And in September thousands took over two large haciendas, forcing the government to make good on a long-promised land settlement. All these actions unfolded under the protection of the Nasa’s unique Indigenous Guard, who patrol their territory armed only with sticks.
In a country ruled by M16s, AK47s, pipe bombs and Black Hawk helicopters, this combination of militancy and nonviolence is unheard of. And that is the quiet miracle the Nasa have accomplished; they have revived the hope that died when paramilitaries systematically slaughtered leftwing politicians, including dozens of elected officials and two Unión Patriótica presidential candidates. At the end of the bloody campaign in the early 90s, the Farc understandably concluded that engaging in open politics was a suicide mission. The key to the Nasa’s success, Rozental says, is that they are not trying to take over state institutions, which “have lost all legitimacy”. They are instead “building a new legitimacy based on an indigenous and popular mandate that has grown out of participatory congresses, assemblies and elections. Our process and our alternative institutions have put the official democracy to shame. That’s why the government is so angry.”
The Nasa have shattered the illusion, cherished by both sides, that Colombia’s conflict can be reduced to a binary war. Their free-trade referendums have been imitated by non-indigenous unions, students, farmers and local politicians nationwide; their land takeovers have inspired other indigenous and peasant groups to do the same. …[…..]
In other words: people power.
Here’s another great post from the How This Old Brit Sees It … blog. And Anna at Daily Kos tells me that her husband covers both Americas at his blog, Annatopia.
