PERU

by Payman Piedar, Barricada contributor (reprinted from the journal Barricada)

Part 1

One hundred and seventy-seven years after gaining her independence from Spain in 1824, socio-culturally speaking, Peru still has not come to grips with a unified national identity politics. This can be considered one of the most important factors for Peru�s �underdevelopment,� especially in today�s "globalized world," where more than two thirds of the 25 million Peruvians have been ignored almost totally by the dominant economic and political forces. These people are usually either Indians (indigenous) or of mixed ancestry (colloquially speaking called �cholo�). 'Quechua' speaking natives are in the Northern, Central and Southern parts of the Peruvian highlands (along with the Aymara speaking groups). Various other indigenous nations live in the extensive Amazonian region of the North (the departments of Loreto and San Martin), central Amazon (department of Ucayalli) and South (Madre de Dios).

The minority �white� socio-economic group (Spanish descendents who primarily live in the capital Lima-where two thirds of the population lives) has historically looked down upon their above-mentioned 'fellow' citizens. It is this racism and prejudice that has prevented the formation of a 'unified' country on all levels, be it culturally, economically and/or politically. Needless to say the weak position of the left has not helped to change this scenario either, but that will be discussed later. The centralist attitude (70% of all the national resources go to Lima) of this politically and economically privileged minority class, has made Peru one of the poorest nations in South America. This corrupt political class of 'caudillos', whether the previous aristocratic oligarchy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the military elite, or the 'nuevo rich' comprador bourgeoisie, which has incorporated Peru into the world capitalist system, thinking only for their narrow & short term interests, have made Peru a dumping area for merchandise from imperialist countries, ultimately destroying the local economy in a whole-sale fashion.

The political economy of the last ten years, led by Fujimori�s mafia and associates, by implementing all of the yankee imperialist I.M.F. structural adjustment policies- privatizing practically every thing- has only made the situation worse. Currently, 85% of the economy is unreported. That is to say only 15% have 'decent' paying jobs, and poverty has increased from 48% in 1989 to an all-time high of 52%. A simultaneous increase in child labor, unprecedented child prostitution, high malnutrition and a tremendous increase in crime, are just a few of the social ills that come to mind. The mafia regime of Fujimori and Montesinos (CIA agent & head of the Peruvian national intelligence service), ever since the internal coup of 1992, have robbed Peru not only of its formal 'bourgeois democratic institutions� (read: selection of your oppressors and a total sham), but also of billions of dollars of the privatized industry's money that entered the treasury. Historically unprecedented corruption in all levels of society, from the congress people-even the so called opposition- to the supreme court judges, to the heads of the TV stations, to the owners of the newspaper & magazines, to the owner of the biggest bank- who also has the biggest monopoly in the country- and of course the"proud" armed forces, has caused a political earthquake that will continue to affect Peru for years to come. From the start it was obvious that the real president was the fugitive Montesinos, and that Fujimori (who now peacefully lives in his ancestral land of Japan) was just a puppet, designed for Peruvian and world public relations needs. The most outrageous and disgusting of the post-downfall episodes is the release of the indicted corrupt officials from prison day after day. It calls to mind Clinton�s infamous pardoning of 400 of his best 'white collar� criminal friends just a few days before leaving office. Evidently the bourgeois ruling elites know how to protect their own.

To make the whole situation even worse is the conduct of the leftist forces in the last two decades. Of course, we should put this in a historical context; that is to say, the authoritarian parties (Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist-Trotskyist) have done a lot of damage to the world revolutionary movements, especially in Peru. The last two of these forces were/are the decadent and backward �Communist Party of Peru,� best known as the Shining Path or Sendero Luminoso, who with their Maoist interpretation- which erroneously analyzes Peru as a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society like China of the mid 1920's- initiated an armed struggle in the country side, and has done a lot of harm to the cause of the workers� revolution. The second- and much smaller- force was the Tupac Amaru urban guerrillas, whose famous and courageous occupation of the Japanese embassy in 1997 ended in a tragic massacre of all 14 of the occupying guerrillas, proving that a small group of kind-hearted petite bourgeois romantics (20th Century Robin Hoods) cannot possibly create a revolution in the name of the masses- no matter how they formulate themselves as the so-called �vanguard� party.

History has proven that only the non-authoritarian associations or organizations whose means and ends are in accordance with the will and power of the workers and the oppressed themselves are able to make any difference. Not all is lost in Peru, however. In the process of overthrowing the mafia regime of Fujimori and Montesinos, a new generation of worker/youth activism and culture has risen. This new 'blood' could rejuvenate the movement of the masses in Peru. The tradition of the writings of Gonzales Prado (the Peruvian anarchist of early 20th century) has to be taken into account when considering the new reality of Peruvian society, in order to make real progress towards the creation of an anarcho-communist movement for the revolution to come.

Part 2

While in the in the so called advanced industrial societies the bourgeois democratic institutions are over two hundred years old and elections have played a fundamental role in legitimizing the political as well as economic and cultural dominations of the capitalist ruling class, in the periphery (so called third/fourth world countries) the sham of bourgeois democracy remains a relatively recent phenomenon.

For almost all of Africa, most of Asia & Latin America (since the end of World War Two and the creation of the new born 'independent' nation-states) the elections have become a new tool for the ruling elites and the state apparatus. A tool used not only to manipulate, control and shape the new citizenry, but to legitimize the incorporation of said citizenry into the capitalist world system of production and exploitation.

In the case of Peru, it is important to note that while we have had sporadic electoral processes ever since the early 20th century, it was never fully separated from military interventions and/or military governments. The last time the military promised to stay away from bourgeois electoral politics was in 1980. It is important not to forget that it had become a new strategy of U.S. imperialism (beginning with the Carter administration and his 'human rights policies') to withdraw its support for military dictatorships and impose "democratic elections" as the post modern political order of the day across the world. Ever since, Peru has had five elections and three presidents.

However the election of Alberto Fujimori in 1990 was for the most part due to his being a 'nobody' (he was a mathematics professor in a private university) in the political arena. Peruvians had had enough of the corruption of the traditional political parties. Secondly, the electoral victory of the prospective president was also largely due to the support of a well known crook, CIA agent and lawyer of several known drug-traffickers Vladimiro Montesinos. Montesinos would be in charge of Fujimori�s dirty work, including a cover-up of the former president�s tax frauds in his family construction business.

Fujimori�s auto-coup d'etat on April 5th, 1992 and the subsequent seizure of the congress received overwhelming public support (the prime reason shall be discussed further on). He got away with his reelection in 1995 even though it was a complete fraud, largely because of a weak 'opposition', a corrupt majority in control of congress, and the 'kidnapping' of the judicial system. However, after 8 years of virtual dictatorial rule, a leasing of the country to the IMF and the World bank, and a subsequent increase of poverty and hardship, the electoral manipulations (i.e. open fraud) of the elections in April of 2000 were simply the last straw. Moreover, the release of a scandalous video tape, showing the bribe of a congressman of the opposition by Montesinos, marked the end of the ten worst years in modern Peruvian history. The months of demonstrations and discontent finally resulted in the overthrow of the Fujimori/Montesinos government.

Fujimori became the first president ever to resign his post via Internet, doing so from his ancestral land of Japan!

It should be mentioned that ever since Montesinos escaped from Peru in October 2000 (with the help of course of his connections in Washington) more than 2000 other videos (that the paranoid Montesinos filmed himself, showing numerous bribes and other forms of governmental corruption) have been reviewed by the "new" congress. Obviously, this has caused a tremendous shock in the public consciousness, and a total rejection of the 'realpolitik' by a big sector of the population. All of this of course is a great window of opportunity for the revolutionary forces. These should take advantage of the situation and build their future tactics and strategy for the creation of a just, egalitarian and truly democratic society.

However, the problem in Peru was not (and is not) Fujimori or any other individual. The Peruvian predicament is too complex to be blamed on one person. It lies in the authoritarian socio-cultural heritage that Peru carries. In other words, the modern Peruvian citizen is a product of decades of the militaristic Inca society as well as the tradition of 400 years of colonial domination of Spanish conquistadores. Such a tradition has perpetuated the internalized 'inferiority complex' of the Peruvian natives as well as the mestizo (mixed) population of Peru.

This peculiar political culture has allowed for authoritarian figures such as Fujimori to surface to the political arena and seem acceptable and normal. And that is precisely why the April 5th 1992 auto-coup was seen as a positive gesture on the part of Fujimori. The former president promised to �clean up� the congress and end the �cycle of violence' caused by the dirty war (1980-92). Let us remember that such a war was imposed primarily by the military forces through the massacre of peasants, and kidnapping and torture of urban activists!

As I mentioned in the previous article, the left-wing in Peru has not been immune from this political culture either. The same authoritarian and hierarchical mentality has shaped several generations of docile and submissive youths, which in this case take the form of party "cadres" within an "acceptable" and dogmatic vanguard party. The 'Shining Path' propaganda posters further illustrate this idea. All through the 1980s poster-paintings of chairman Gonzalo, depicted the Sendero leader as a deity. Halo around his head, gloriously carrying a red flag and followed by hundreds of people. The left in Peru had virtually been discredited by the early 1980�s, a whole decade before the fall of Berlin wall and the inevitable defeat of the Russian and Chinese versions of 'real socialism' (read: state capitalism). The failure of the 1960's guerrilla movements, was largely due to the Trotskyite & Maoist movements. These were too small and disorganized, and lacked a strong social base. Finally, they were poorly prepared militarily. This resulted in a movement of the struggle from the underground to the political arena. �Izquierda Unida� (the united left)-a typical variant of "Marxist" traditional left. claiming to be the biggest above ground left-wing party, participated in the elections of 1980. They lost the presidency but won the city hall of Lima. The newly elected mayor-Alfonso Barrante, implemented a series of reformist measures to help the increasing population of the newly urban poor in the 'pueblos jovenes' (shanty towns). These included programs like the 'vaso de leche' (a glass of milk for the school kids) and 'comedores populares' (soup kitchens - to feed the hungry in each district).

The next elections are set for April 8th, 2001. Voting, by the way, is mandatory in Peru. It is enforced by a 20$ fine (in a country where the official minimum wage is 120$ a month). As you shall see in the next few paragraphs, the three top contenders (among the total eight) are truly terrible options for the Peruvian constituency.

There are three major candidates for this upcoming election. The first is Alejandro Toledo, a bourgeois economist slated to receive 38% of the vote. He is of course a staunch defender of the market economy, �with a human face.�

The second candidate, slated to recieve 27% of the vote, is Lourdes Flores, a catholic and member of the Opus Dei. She benefits from the support of a large section of the Peruvian capitalist mafia, as well as Merril Lynch. Interestingly enough, this reactionary is accompanied on the ballot by Juan Luis Risco, former secretary general of a reformist workers union.

Third in the polls is Alain Garcia, expected to receive 15% of the vote. Alain Garcia is the murderer that ordered the massacre of over 300 Shining Path guerrillas in the prisons of �El Fronton� and �Lurigancho� in June of 1986. The prisoners, who had risen up, were unarmed and lying on the floor when they were executed. This criminal should be held guilty for human rights violations, not running for president. However, the Peruvian ruling class is not bothered by such details and allows this criminal to pursue a political career.

Of course, none of these candidates is a suitable alternative for the working classes of Peru. That is why it is so important to resist the mandatory vote, not only to oppose the candidates, but to oppose the entire system which they represent. The solution in order to avoid the fine and still show one�s opposition is to invalidate the ballot by deforming it so that nobody receives your vote.

The hope for Peru lies in the truly revolutionary anti-authoritarian forces building the foundation for the new society by promoting and organizing a culture of resistance based on anti-authoritarian and anti-elitist methods of organization within the workers, peasants, and anti-capitalist youths of Peru. Some of the pre-capitalist social formations of Peru, which are in many cases very much communalistic, are still in existence in rural areas of the Andes and among natives of jungle regions. Revolutionaries need to present a viable alternative to these oppressed sectors who are ready to commit themselves to a revolutionary struggle. It will be a long struggle, but is the only way towards the final victory.