Thinking Poor or Poor Thinking?

LEARNING TO DANCE TOGETHER: DRAWING LESSONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Real Progress in the Left
In the 21st century, the Latin American continent has finally begun to work together after centuries of regional conflicts stemming from racial and political prejudices. Yet, sadly, because of that political separatism, clear and evident advances made in that part of the world are obscured, undermined and, in the most extreme cases, outright denied.

As we saw above, despite the gradual progress that Ecuador has been making in terms of reducing poverty and providing more social security to the most vulnerable groups of society, figureheads like ex-presidents continue to undermine the progress, calling the president a cunning liar and in the process bashing Venezuela’s progress, as well.

But claims that there is no democracy in Venezuela have been continuously debunked under overwhelming evidence of the contrary. After 12 elections since 1998 (including referendums and presidential elections) that have all echoed the people’s wishes in the returning/continuation of President Hugo Chavez, the claim is simply a bad joke. In an article written in Foreign Affairs Magazine, a report is cited from the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, where it is stated that between “2002 and 2006 Venezuela decreased poverty by 18.4 percent and extreme poverty by 12.3 percent.”

The fact is that the 44% figure of government spending in 2007, coupled with massive contributions that the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, has committed to the country, including $1.7 billion in 2007 for social programs, have propelled the nation forward. (And if we’re talking reinvestment into the country, Canada’s very own Newfoundland has helped to cut its poverty levels by half (to 6.5%) precisely with royalties from oil and mining companies.)

Similarly, the claims that Ecuador is a dictatorship also crumble in front of the evidence. As mentioned above, since President Correa’s administration took power, $15+ billion have been reinvested in the country, reducing poverty slowly though gradually. Also, in 2011 just over 15% of the nation’s GDP rather than half goes towards paying a foreign debt it claims has amassed through SAPs and adherence to the Washington Consensus; the rest is reinvested into the country. Unemployment rates have dropped and currently reside at 5%. And with the state funding post-secondary education, the literacy rate is now at an impressive 91% of the population.

The Cuban Socialist Model has also made great strides forward. Rather than focusing on economic growth alone as a determinant of social progress, the government has stressed the importance of social development policies and the Central Role of the State in implementing and enforcing them. Though the Cuban government has been widely criticized around the world and denounced by many as a dictatorship, the country has made impressive steps forward in terms of reducing absolute poverty, providing social security and, most importantly, creating a society where all individuals share an aspiration to equal outcomes despite their income levels, precisely because of the level of access to all of society’s services, such as education and health, and the ability to voice their opinions at local committees.

Under the Human Development Index, Cuba has gradually been climbing since 1998 and is currently 50th, meaning it is among highly developed nations. In the Human Development and Equity Index, Cuba is among the top five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the 1990s, as the USSR and most of the Socialist Bloc lost momentum, Cuba went through what is now known as the “special period” – an era of tremendous economic hardships that saw the re-emergence of relative poverty, something that since the Revolution’s triumph in ‘59 had been practically eradicated.

The volatility of the next years, coupled with the illegal economic and commercial embargo that the United States has sanctioned on Cuba since practically the outset of the Revolution, exacerbated the problem. People nevertheless had access to doctors, particularly the rural areas where after the revolution a medical center had been built in practically every sector of the country, even in the remote mountains; they still had access to free education; and food was provided to a certain extent by the State. Things were tough, definitely, but manageable because of the social spending that provided safety nets for people displaced or simply not able to find work. According to the UNDP Human Poverty Index, in 2007 the people below the poverty line were at 4.7%, down from 5.1% in 1997. Unemployment was at an impressive (and continues to be below) 1.9%, down from 7.1% in 1997.

The government had also pledged to reduce the rate of hunger by half between 1990 and 2015, and followed through by increasing the food availability between 1999 and 2003, from an average of 3007 kilocalories to 3165 per capita per day, effectively bringing the malnutrition rate down to 2% of the population. By 2007, the food levels had increased by 37% and the protein levels were increased by 25% thanks to government farming programs.

Social programs also see to it that the most vulnerable groups of society – children, women, elderly and the disabled – never go without food. Indeed, through the entire country not a single person lives on the street or goes hungry any night. Cuba has perhaps the best health record in the world, and some of the best professionals come out of their free education system which allows anyone who wants to enter and who has high enough grades to do so.

The government increased the number of Municipal Universities during this period by 700. For those who don’t get into universities, the government has built vocational and trade schools all over the country, particularly in remote, rural areas. For instance, a new program called “Superación Integral” (Integral Advancement) has been implemented around the country so that anyone from 18 to 29 years of age that is not working or attending school can learn computer or other vocational skills.

Income redistribution has also played a key role in Cuban society. Apparent in the GINI Index is the fact that equality among people has risen, being at 0.56 in 1953 and 0.22 in 1986; the ‘special period’s’ economic reforms caused the figure to rise to 0.33 in ’98. Factors like the declining purchasing power of salaries due to price hikes, the introduction of the double currency, and the dual market system with different prices, currencies and qualities of product, amongst others, contributed to the rising inequality in the country. Also, income sources became diversified and salary scale gradually separated from work effort. Inequality in terms of material well-being had begun surfacing.