DEVELOPMENT: ‘Latin-ness’ Unites Africa, Latin America and Europe

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 7 2001 (IPS) - A new international order that is not only economic, but also political and juridical, is essential so that the world does not head towards “absolute chaos”, and steers instead toward progress, Portugal’s former president Mario Soares told a seminar here on “Latin space” in today’s world.

The urgency of the changes is most conspicuous in Africa, “a continent adrift,” whose peoples do not live any better than they did before the end of colonisation four decades ago, Soares said in the opening address of the seminar “Questioning Afro- Latinness” in Rio de Janeiro, a three-day event organised by ‘La Academia de Latinidad’.

Only structural changes with a global reach will allow Africa to resolve its problems, which will require forgiving the foreign debt of African nations and imposing the so-called Tobin Tax, a surcharge on international speculative transactions to finance development in poor countries, stated Soares.

“Policies of inclusion” will be indispensable for ensuring that Latin culture does not become exclusionary, so that there are not 100 million Brazilians living in absolute poverty within a few decades, said Cándido Mendes, secretary-general of the Rio-based Academia de la Latinidad.

Mendes, rector of the private university in Rio de Janeiro bearing his name, divided the West in two currents: the Anglo- Saxon, in which the priority is “the individual and personal citizenship”, and the Latin, which is “gregarious, collective and mediatory.”

The first promotes “hard globalisation”, while the latter wants “soft globalisation”, based on its “sweet civilisation,” he said.

What was referred to as “Latin space” during the conference encompasses Latin America, Mediterranean Europe – Spain, France, Italy and Portugal – and the African countries that were colonies of those nations.

Luis Cabral, former president of Guinea-Bissau, said he hopes that ‘latinidad’ – “a superior concept” – will be a factor in promoting development in poor countries.

The Africans, aware of the “fragility” of their nations, fear threats to what they have achieved, but are always attempting to identify those forces that unite people, and “dream about establishing different relations than those of the past,” said Cabral.

Before the seminar began, the exhibition “I Am a Simple African” was inaugurated, about Amílcar Cabral, leader of the fight for independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, assassinated in 1973.

‘La Academia de la Latinidad’, founded by European and Latin American intellectuals in March 2000, seeks to promote solidarity among Latin peoples, as well as with other cultures, and to encourage cultural and scientific activities.

The academy’s board members and founders include such personalities as Frederic Mayor (former head of UNESCO), the writers Gabriel García Márquez, of Colombia, and Carlos Fuentes, of Mexico, and economists Celso Furtado, of Brazil, and Enrique Iglesias, a Spanish-born Uruguayan who is now chief of the Inter- American Development Bank.

The participants in the seminar, which ends Wednesday, hope to formalise the inclusion of Africans in the concept of ‘latinidad’, as French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian are spoken in many African countries, said Soares. “They feel a Latin-ness in much the same way as Latin Americans,” he added.

France, which until recently had questioned the concept, now apparently understands that defence of the French language “passes through its Latin-ness”.

The former Portuguese president explained that it is not a matter of combating English, but of “fighting narrow-mindedness, the steamroller that the Anglo-Saxons seek to establish in today’s world.”

Brazil’s vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, stated that ‘latinidad’ builds synergies and “finds cultural roots so that intelligent actions can be taken.”

The diplomat highlighted the cooperation and economic relations that have been gathering force among Portuguese-speaking nations in recent years.

Portugal’s investment in Brazil multiplied 20-fold, reaching nine billion dollars, or half the total flow of such capital from Portugal abroad, he said.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s cooperation in the areas of education, culture and health has intensified with African nations like Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe.

These closer ties are due in part to the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, founded in 1997 to foment political solidarity and cooperative relationships among Brazil, Portugal and the nine African nations that were once Portuguese colonies.

Geographic distance and the insertion of each country in regional organisations or blocs impose certain limits to integration between the Community’s members, but there is motivation for promoting stronger links between the vastly different realities, said Soares, who is also the new president of IPS.