The São Paulo Forum: Is There a New Latin American Left?

Abstract

Is there a new left emerging in Latin America in the post-Cold War era? Over the past few years, a quite diverse group of parties and movements has coalesced around a reconstructed left identity. All of them share a commitment to rethink revolution and social change in the new international situation of the 1990s. This group includes the Workers Party of Brazil (PT), the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua (FSLN), the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front of EL Salvador (FMLN), the Democratic Party of the Revolution of Mexico (PDR), the Broad Front of Uruguay (FA), the Free Bolivar Movement of Bolivia (MBL), the United Left of Peru (IU), and the Lavalas movement of Haiti, among others. Taken collectively, they are poised to play a major role in the hemisphere in the 1990s as a counterweight to the neoliberalism currently being pushed on the continent by transnational capital and local ruling elites.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.