So much of the critique of Latin America came entirely from ignorance. There's a great book called "Building the Commune", by George Ciccariello-Maher, that talks about how Venezuelans have begun to transition out of the capitalist economic system, to diversify and localize their economic system, and to genuinely focus on improved quality of life over simple ever-increasing productivity and consumption.
The Chinese had the advantage of a massive population and a huge reserve of domestic natural resources to draw from. But this kind of systematic change is happening everywhere - from Cuba to Best Korea to Vietnam - not only because people have begun to embrace a socialist model but because they need to in order to survive. The American way of life is no longer the envy of the world. I think that, as much as anything, is driving a shift in rhetoric. It was very easy to say "Venezuelans fucked up" in 2016, when the oil shock wounded the nation. It is much harder to say "Venezuela fucked up" in 2021, when COVID shock has wounded ours.
So much of the critique of Latin America came entirely from ignorance. There's a great book called "Building the Commune", by George Ciccariello-Maher, that talks about how Venezuelans have begun to transition out of the capitalist economic system, to diversify and localize their economic system, and to genuinely focus on improved quality of life over simple ever-increasing productivity and consumption.
The Chinese had the advantage of a massive population and a huge reserve of domestic natural resources to draw from. But this kind of systematic change is happening everywhere - from Cuba to Best Korea to Vietnam - not only because people have begun to embrace a socialist model but because they need to in order to survive. The American way of life is no longer the envy of the world. I think that, as much as anything, is driving a shift in rhetoric. It was very easy to say "Venezuelans fucked up" in 2016, when the oil shock wounded the nation. It is much harder to say "Venezuela fucked up" in 2021, when COVID shock has wounded ours.
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