Michael Rowan
Special for El Universal

The rebellion against modern times in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia - Peru and Ecuador are likely to follow soon - is not about capitalism or socialism. It is a rebellion against centuries of submission to conquest represented since World War II by the predominance of the United States, which has become more pronounced upon the collapse of the USSR. The poor of the Andes - half its population - are rebelling against modernity itself: knowledge, science, technology, finance, law, development, and democracy. Ironically, they are using democracy as the tool to do so.

The rebellion began a century ago in Haiti with the uprooting of French domination and culture. It was kept alive by Fidel Castro in Cuba, which dropped out of modern times in 1959. Hugo Chavez has unraveled modern institutions in Venezuela by using its oil wealth, and is now aggressively exporting the idea that modern times are evil, rich, powerful and white to Latin America. Evo Morales won Bolivia's presidency on the grounds that the "humiliation, scorn, derision, hate and disdain for the indigenous people" must come to an end. With the same message, Ollanta Humala is running first for the presidency of Peru, Ecuador may follow, and President Nestor Kirchner is riding the same wave in Argentina.

Both capitalism and socialism are modern, if opposite, economic ideologies for development. Presidents Lula da Silva of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile are socialists, and should not be confused with a rebellion against modern times. The same goes for Mexico and Colombia. Yet all of Latin America is vulnerable to the rebellion against modern times because poverty wracks half its population, with no development solution in sight.

Wherever the rebellion against modern times has been engaged, it has succeeded at destroying modern institutions. The failures of Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia are failures in modern terms. But in terms of rebellion against historical submission, imperialism, and colonialism - which are equated with modern times - these failures are considered grand achievements. The future of Latin America looks ominously like the present of Africa, and is the largest threat to world stability in existence today.
mrowan@cantv.net

Michael Rowan's column is published every Tuesday