South America shows the way

Dilma Rousseff’s recent victory in the Brazilian Presidential elections, albeit only by a small margin is proof enough of the fact that there is a certain section of the Latin American nation who want her to lead the country. Of late there have been many protests in Brazil and the ones around and the build-up to the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup which commenced in June and ended in July highlighted the economic problems that the country is going through. But the fact that Rousseff was able to tide her way through all the allegations that were levelled against here and her Worker’s Party is proof of the fact that she has done some outstanding work too. If we happen to look at the football world cup, it becomes pertinent to say that it was one of the best managed ever. To host a sporting event of that magnitude in itself speaks volumes of the preparations that must have gone in. There is another factor that needs to be taken into account as far as this victory is concerned. Rousseff’s re-election means that the fairer sex in Latin American politics is still relevant and that women are leading from the front in a continent which for always has been associated with drug cartels and organised crime and where the state has been in complete disarray. If Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, widow of former President Nestor Kirchner is leading Argentina since 2007, Chile in December 2013 re-elected Michelle Bachelet. This development is of significance because traditionally women in South American nations have not been given their rights to education, have been sexually vitiated and are more considered as objects of desire rather than as equal independent beings. 

The third and one of the most important aspects of Rousseff’s re-election which cannot escape anyone’s eye is the fact that a sizeable majority of Latin America is Leftist still. In fact the defiance of the western capitalism has been so brazen that political analysis of the region in the 21st century has lead to the coining of the terms: ‘Pink Tide’ or ‘Turn to the Left’. What makes matters interesting is the fact that in 2005, the BBC reported that out of 350 million people in South America, three out of four of them lived in countries ruled by left leaning parties. And with the re-election of Evo Morales, head of Movement for Socialism Party in Bolivia the left leanings have further been substantiated. Hugo Chavez, the now dead former President of Venezuela and Fidel Castro along with brother and current President Raul Castro of Cuba have been known critics of the Capitalist Model which the United States of all countries has tried to sell. This is especially relevant for a country like India where the left movement could never outgrow from Bengal, Kerala and Tripura and how it has even lost ground in two of them. If Latin America can provide alternatives why cannot India provide them?