By Mario de Queiroz
LISBON, Oct 25 2002 (IPS)

Democratic socialism, the labour movement and social democracy are in crisis and there is no alternative approach to counter the "devastating power" of the United States, says Portugal’s former president, Mario Soares (1986-1996).

The European leaders of these political currents, represented in the Socialist International (SI), are turning a friendly attitude towards Washington into servility to U.S. President George W. Bush, Soares told French journalist Dominique Pouchin, who released a book about the former president Friday in Paris and Lisbon.

Soares, considered the father of Portuguese socialism and a central figure of the IS in the final decades of the 20th century, identifies the British prime minister, Labour’s Tony Blair, as a guilty party, saying he is "a man of good intentions, perhaps a liberal socialist in his inner circles, but too closely linked to the United States."

For now, Pouchin’s book "Conversing with Mario Soares" is only available in its original version, in French.

Pouchin was a regular correspondent sent to Portugal by the French daily Le Monde, beginning with the so-called Revolution of Carnations, which in 1974 overthrew the dictatorship that had been installed in 1926 by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

The journalist has closely followed the country’s democratic processes over the last quarter century.

The book starts off with the Lisbon birth certificate of Mario Alberto da Nobre López Soares, Dec 7, 1924, and wraps up the story of the former president in the present, in the middle of the globalisation era.

Pouchin describes Soares as one of the few "living memories" of a golden era for political leaders in Europe, a region where the lack of leadership is now often deplored, as is the lack of Europe’s own diplomacy and policies as a counterweight to Washington’s overwhelming power on the global political scene.

In 1974, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), made up of leftist army captains and their troops, but an end to the "Estado Novo" dictatorship and dismantled the world’s last colonial empire.

During the provisional governments of the MFA, Soares – who was prime minister at the time – had the support of the United States and reached a pact with the military chiefs who were considered "moderate" anti-communists.

In that era, Pouchin was himself a young Trotskyite, but today the journalist rejects his former politics, and in the dialogues with Soares told him it was "surprising to see you today, at age 77, as anti-United States, an anti-imperialist."

"Anti-United States, no. Anti-neoliberal, yes," responded the former president.

"There is no longer imperialism nor anti-imperialism. The empire today is capital, an empire that is above the United States, an empire without a face, run by people no one knows, who are unaccountable to democratic institutions, who take decisions guided by the sole criteria of interest," said Soares.

Soares considers the globalisation process "inevitable", but shares the opinion of Mary Robinson, former Irish president and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is a proponent of "ethical globalisation", which takes social needs into account, and an "alternative" international policy.

"My age, 77, which you were so kind to remind me, does not prevent me from reading, keeping informed, reflecting and fighting for a better life for all human beings, in conditions of freedom and greater social justice," Soares told Pouchin.

"In these days going by, that battle does not make sense at the national level," commented the former Portuguese leader.

He does not hide his disappointment with the "conformist attitude" of the SI in regards to "the invisible empire of triumphant neoliberalism."

The elderly activist, who in Portugal is seen as a sort of "father of democracy", said the democratic socialist currents are in crisis, when they should have benefited from the crisis of communism in Europe.

In the Socialist International today, "there does not exist a current of enthusiasm, of adhesion to hope, as there was in the times of (former German chancellor) Willy Brandt," in the 1970s and 1980s, said Soares.

He said he wonders how Blair, after being the defender of former U.S. president Bill Clinton (1993-2001), "to the extent that he tried to convince him to join the SI – which would have been pure madness – now, after his friend has left office, maintains the same type of relations with Bush."

"Britain’s commitment to the United States has gone to the point of agreeing to send war planes to Iraq without advising his counterparts in the European Union." While in the SI, "I didn’t see anyone with even a shade of disagreement," he lamented.

"Europe must not be a peon of the United States, but rather its ally and friend, on equal footing," stressed Soares.

He bemoans the non-existence of a common EU foreign policy, and blames "the predominance of national egoisms".

The SI "should insist on humanist values" and distance itself from neoliberalism, "which has proved incapable of responding to the major challenges like eliminating poverty, fighting international crime and money laundering, and halting environmental destruction," the former president said.

The destructive ability of the United States does not prevent the emergence of "new conflicts, because violence begets violence, until it reaches the point that it is difficult to contain… Our deregulated world will be increasingly more dangerous and uncertain," predicts Soares.

However, the conversations recorded in Pouchin’s new book conclude on an optimistic note, as the interviewee says he is confident that the conscience of individual government leaders will lead them to follow the path of "the great fighters through pacifism", such as India’s Mahatma Ghandi and U.S. rights activist Martin Luther King.

According to Mario Mesquita, a Portuguese journalism professor and commentator, the book demonstrates the former president’s continued optimism, but adds that the international situation today is so catastrophic that "a revision of the habitual positive attitude of Mario Soares" will be necessary.

Excerpt:

By Mario de Queiroz
LISBON, Oct 25 2002 (IPS)

Democratic socialism, the labour movement and social democracy are in crisis and there is no alternative approach to counter the “devastating power” of the United States, says Portugal’s former president, Mario Soares (1986-1996).

The European leaders of these political currents, represented in the Socialist International (SI), are turning a friendly attitude towards Washington into servility to U.S. President George W. Bush, Soares told French journalist Dominique Pouchin, who released a book about the former president Friday in Paris and Lisbon.

Soares, considered the father of Portuguese socialism and a central figure of the IS in the final decades of the 20th century, identifies the British prime minister, Labour’s Tony Blair, as a guilty party, saying he is “a man of good intentions, perhaps a liberal socialist in his inner circles, but too closely linked to the United States.”

For now, Pouchin’s book “Conversing with Mario Soares” is only available in its original version, in French.

Pouchin was a regular correspondent sent to Portugal by the French daily Le Monde, beginning with the so-called Revolution of Carnations, which in 1974 overthrew the dictatorship that had been installed in 1926 by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

The journalist has closely followed the country’s democratic processes over the last quarter century.

The book starts off with the Lisbon birth certificate of Mario Alberto da Nobre López Soares, Dec 7, 1924, and wraps up the story of the former president in the present, in the middle of the globalisation era.

Pouchin describes Soares as one of the few “living memories” of a golden era for political leaders in Europe, a region where the lack of leadership is now often deplored, as is the lack of Europe’s own diplomacy and policies as a counterweight to Washington’s overwhelming power on the global political scene.

In 1974, the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), made up of leftist army captains and their troops, but an end to the “Estado Novo” dictatorship and dismantled the world’s last colonial empire.

During the provisional governments of the MFA, Soares — who was prime minister at the time — had the support of the United States and reached a pact with the military chiefs who were considered “moderate” anti-communists.

In that era, Pouchin was himself a young Trotskyite, but today the journalist rejects his former politics, and in the dialogues with Soares told him it was “surprising to see you today, at age 77, as anti-United States, an anti-imperialist.”

“Anti-United States, no. Anti-neoliberal, yes,” responded the former president.

“There is no longer imperialism nor anti-imperialism. The empire today is capital, an empire that is above the United States, an empire without a face, run by people no one knows, who are unaccountable to democratic institutions, who take decisions guided by the sole criteria of interest,” said Soares.

Soares considers the globalisation process “inevitable”, but shares the opinion of Mary Robinson, former Irish president and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is a proponent of “ethical globalisation”, which takes social needs into account, and an “alternative” international policy.

“My age, 77, which you were so kind to remind me, does not prevent me from reading, keeping informed, reflecting and fighting for a better life for all human beings, in conditions of freedom and greater social justice,” Soares told Pouchin.

“In these days going by, that battle does not make sense at the national level,” commented the former Portuguese leader.

He does not hide his disappointment with the “conformist attitude” of the SI in regards to “the invisible empire of triumphant neoliberalism.”

The elderly activist, who in Portugal is seen as a sort of “father of democracy”, said the democratic socialist currents are in crisis, when they should have benefited from the crisis of communism in Europe.

In the Socialist International today, “there does not exist a current of enthusiasm, of adhesion to hope, as there was in the times of (former German chancellor) Willy Brandt,” in the 1970s and 1980s, said Soares.

He said he wonders how Blair, after being the defender of former U.S. president Bill Clinton (1993-2001), “to the extent that he tried to convince him to join the SI — which would have been pure madness — now, after his friend has left office, maintains the same type of relations with Bush.”

“Britain’s commitment to the United States has gone to the point of agreeing to send war planes to Iraq without advising his counterparts in the European Union.” While in the SI, “I didn’t see anyone with even a shade of disagreement,” he lamented.

“Europe must not be a peon of the United States, but rather its ally and friend, on equal footing,” stressed Soares.

He bemoans the non-existence of a common EU foreign policy, and blames “the predominance of national egoisms”.

The SI “should insist on humanist values” and distance itself from neoliberalism, “which has proved incapable of responding to the major challenges like eliminating poverty, fighting international crime and money laundering, and halting environmental destruction,” the former president said.

The destructive ability of the United States does not prevent the emergence of “new conflicts, because violence begets violence, until it reaches the point that it is difficult to contain… Our deregulated world will be increasingly more dangerous and uncertain,” predicts Soares.

However, the conversations recorded in Pouchin’s new book conclude on an optimistic note, as the interviewee says he is confident that the conscience of individual government leaders will lead them to follow the path of “the great fighters through pacifism”, such as India’s Mahatma Ghandi and U.S. rights activist Martin Luther King.

According to Mario Mesquita, a Portuguese journalism professor and commentator, the book demonstrates the former president’s continued optimism, but adds that the international situation today is so catastrophic that “a revision of the habitual positive attitude of Mario Soares” will be necessary.

Excerpt: