[Marxism] A promising interview with El Sal. pres-elect Funes

[Joaquin Bustelo]

My good friend and comrade Fred says, "Well, the core list regulars have
trouble seeing anything positive in the program Funes puts forward."

Not ME!!! Perhaps because I know the guy and worked with him some time back.
Though I doubt he remembers me -- I know what it feels like to be a Central
American stringer feeding an American imperialist media monopoly -- been
there, done that --, which was my relationship to Funes (I was the
imperialist media monopoly -- or rather, its employee/agent/representative.
If I WERE an actual imperialist media monopoly, I doubt my consciousness
would be such that I'd be on this list. Being, consciousness -- see my
previous post on this thread).

I *THINK* that CNN en Español will probably replay the half hour interview
Funes gave to their lead anchor, Patricia Janiot, several times over the
weekend. They usually do when they get a big "get," as we say in the news
biz, like a half-hour interview with a newly-minted, applecart-upsetting
president-elect. 

It is well worth watching. 

The way he answers the questions about following Venezuela's path is, I
think, a very clear indication that while Funes may not view his
role/possibilities right now as more than what would be perceived as a
"reformer" by mostpeople, it would be a mistake --a really LARGE mistake--
to dismiss him as what many of us on this list call a "reformist." 

If you DON'T understand this, go back and re-read the press coverage leading
up to Chavez's first inauguration and the few months after, including the
denunciations in the left press of this "bourgeois Bonapartist swindler."

[Just so I don't get hoist on my own petard of accusations of inventing
quotations, let me make clear the words "in quotes" are not a direct quote
from any left wing media, but rather my political characterization of the
attitude of SOME of them -- and implicitly thereby apologize to S Artesian
for accusing him of deliberate felony falsification when, at the very most,
he was guilty only of failing to be clear about a source, the moral
equivalent of a parking ticket, at the very most. You know, about S
Artesian, the more I debate and hate the guy, the more I like him. I don't
AGREE with him, I just feel we're kindred souls.]

[But back to Funes.]

People like me, Nestor and Fred (I'm sorry to see Louis isn't clear on this)
will note that he counterposes to the imperialist-inspired
question/red-baiting a pledge of loyalty to the Salvadoran NATION. 

That's how Fidel and Chavez started out, though by now they have gone
somewhat beyond that -- but never against it.

An added garnish when you watch the CNN en Español interview is knowing that
until a year and a half ago, Funes was the lowly stringer (occasional
free-lance contributor) from a tiny country to Spanish CNN (which is
projected as Janiot's network, in terms of anchors), and now he is NOT JUST
"Mr. President Elect," but someone with a *HISTORIC* achievement, even if he
turns out to be an absolute CATASTROPHE as President: he is the first person
to be elected President of El Salvador in the last hundred years or two
without openly and shamelessly running for office as a bought-and-paid-for
agent of the local oligarchs and a Washington sock puppet. 

Janiot, or so it seemed to me, knows or intuits this, and showed it in the
very respectful, and even deferential way she asks her questions, even
though some are real imperialist-inspired curve balls. Which Funes then
hits, not just past the outfield fence, but over, above and past the
bleachers, out of the ballpark, totally, and into the windows of nearby
office towers, as if Janiot were a softball pitcher and he the mayor-league
MVP all-star game winner for his hitting. 

Like, duh ... which, of course, he is.

This guy got nominated for president by the FMLN _*PRECISELY BECAUSE*_ he
was the media personality --local celebrity-- dealing with current affairs,
news and political/social commentary, that the more conscious layers of
working and oppressed people, and even beyond those, identified with, and
who expressed a commitment to their interests.

[Sorry for all the baseballing, but Fidel's recent reflections have largely
been about the game -- and where the columnist in chief leads, I follow.]

But on Funes, just contrast *him* to the guy currently there in the
Salvadoran presidential palace. 

Only a few weeks ago, while virtually ALL Latin American presidents were
meeting at I-forget-which summit, Saca, the current Salvadoran president was
NOT JUST boycotting the meeting, but demonstratively worshipping George Bush
the Lesser's posterior in Washington (shortly before the latter departed
DC).

I know it has become the practice on this list to trash incoming presidents
even BEFORE they do anything. And there very much IS a genuine parallel and
similarity between Funes and Obama. BOTH present themselves --and, I
believe, genuinely think of themselves-- as patriots. The DIFFERENCE is that
Obama is an American patriot, a patriot of the top-dog imperialist country
in the world, however much he may internally rationalize it as being about
"the people" and even Blacks and other oppressed folks (which I doubt, BTW).

Funes is set to become president of a nation oppressed and exploited six
ways to sundown by this very same imperialist power. And however much HE may
seek to rationalize or evade it, defense of his nation and promotion of its
interests inevitably will lead to a clash with American imperialist
rapaciousness. 

But consider this before writing him off: Imagine that Funes UNDERSTANDS
that this is true, because most members of the Latin American
intelligentsia,  the social layer that Funes comes from, INCLUDING the ones
that believe Latin America has no choice but to accept and capitulate to
this American dominance, know it to be true. But imagine further, Funes
unlike the "pitiyanqui" capitulators, *understands* that Latin American
interests in the last analysis are incompatible with US interests insofar as
these remain imperialist interests, and that the true interests of the
various nations of Latin America, and of the Latin American nation to be, as
a whole, are those of its working people. And he has no problem talking
about how Salvadoran interests are the same as those of the Americans,
because he understands ALSO that in the last analysis, "regular people"
--working people-- in the United States would be better served by a
non-imperialist society than the current setup.

What should he do? Give speeches about the need for fight Yankee
imperialism? Or instead express at every opportunity a profound desire for
the best relations with the United States, implicitly --and sometimes
explicitly-- saying that he can't imagine a noble and powerful people like
the American people wanting to screw a small and impoverished country like
El Salvador? 

I vote for the LATTER. ASSUMING Funes is as conscious and committed to a
fundamental transformation as I hope he is, the ONLY way to get THERE is to
go THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE with masses of Salvadoran working people through
which they learn from THEIR OWN experience, and not speeches, that both the
imperialists and the local oligarchic/capitalist powers must be overthrown
and then systematically stomped on until they are so smashed nothing but
powder remains.

Assuming that Funes is NOT as committed to a fundamental transformation, a
transitional figure like the "reformist" Funes would pave the way for the
compas who COULD lead a fundamental transformation, although in this case it
would take longer and the cost almost certainly would be higher.

Of course, you could imagine a socialist superman/spellcaster that by
reciting incantations from Trotsky's "Transitional Program," Lenin's "April
Theses," Mao's "On Dialectics" or Fidel's "Second Declaration of Havana" can
magically elevate the consciousness of the average Salvadoran peasant to
that of a political commissar in Trotsky's Red Army circa 1919. But I
stopped believing in magic at the same time when I stopped believing in sons
of God, Virgin Births, Papal Bulls and all that other Catholic crap when I
was 13 or 14. 

At this point we don't know and we probably won't know Funes's potential or
limitations for absolutely dead certain, like in the Chavez's case in
1998-1999, for many months, perhaps years. But our POLITICAL stance should
be the same either way --not DENUNCIATORY of the ways in which Funes fails
to make EXPLICIT the long-term logic of the situation, but *supportive* of
his defense of the immediate interests of the Salvadoran nation and its
working people.

And in this regard, he has handled himself SO well that on WEDNESDAY, three
or four days AFTER his ARENA opponent conceded defeat, Funes received a
congratulatory phone call from (bowing my head) HRH President Barack Hussein
Obama. 

What does that mean? That over at Clinton's foggy bottom and the National
Security Council, Obama's experts --American imperialism's experts--
concluded that even if it was tacky to wait until mid-week to congratulate a
weekend election winner, it would look even WORSE for the United States not
to make the belated gesture AT ALL.

SOME people look at that and say, what an effing sellout this Funes is. Even
Obama, and it could WELL have been Bush, couldn't have been happier with his
election, as the phone call shows. 

But I say "right on!" to the brother-comrade president elect, hoping that is
what he will turn out to be. Place the imperialists into a corner so they
begin to expose THEMSELVES. 

I *KNOW* that is true for at least SOME Latin Americans, including those I
collaborate with in producing news coverage. There was an initial negative
reaction to my proposal of including Obama's phone call to Funes as a small
part of our offering to viewers/readers this AM. "It seems like 'mala
leche,'" a member of our team said. "Mala leche" is an AWESOME Spanish (like
in Spain, in the Iberian peninsula) expression that means BOTH "bad sperm"
AND "sour milk." 

I immediately jumped in, "we must not say anything like that. Let's just
report what happened, and let people draw their own conclusions." And as I
said it, and saw the reactions on the faces of the other members of the team
I'm part of, I could hear in my mind a long, drawn-out G-O-L being shouted
by a sportscaster.

I *love* it when God is good to me, even though I understand this is simply
the reward for those who are dialectical in this period.

Sorry to switch metaphorical sports, but in addition to following Fidel, I
have a lot of Argentine friends who not only think that God was born just
south of the Rio Plata estuary but that his name begins with "M" and rhymes
with "Donna."

Joaquin