“It’s about revisiting this project of Latin America as a region, as a continent.”
(Transcription of Karina Batthyány's Column)
(In InfoCLACSO – June 2, 2021)
NOT ONE LESS
Let's start with the Ni Una Menos edition, a movement that originated in Argentina in 2015 and reminds us once again of the issue of violence against women, which we have addressed on multiple occasions and which continues to be one of the most serious, most dramatic problems in terms of gender inequalities in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
So, this Wednesday marks another celebration, another Ni Una Menos protest, which will surely take different forms in each country due to the pandemic. But once again, CLACSO strongly supports this slogan: Ni Una Menos, enough of violence against women, enough of any kind of physical, symbolic, and sexual violence against us women. Let us remember, just as a fact, that in our region, one in three women is a victim of this form of violence.
-I wanted to point out if it's possible to make a small assessment of Ni Una Menos, taking into account the Law on Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy in the Argentine Republic, the struggles in the Dominican Republic, a very mobilized continent with some triumphant struggles in this last year.
-Absolutely. It's a continent where we observe two trends: on the one hand, progress in terms of the feminist agenda, the agenda of the Women's Movement—clearly the events in Argentina, the current situation in the Dominican Republic—but let's not forget that it's also a continent where there's a very strong backlash from conservative sectors precisely against this agenda. That is, against the agenda of recognizing women's rights. This backlash is sometimes surprising in its violence, its virulence, and that's why we have to use each of these dates, in this case Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), which refers to violence against women, to remember the progress made but also the outstanding issues or unresolved matters in terms of equality between men and women. And if there's one unresolved issue, it's undoubtedly gender-based violence. Of course, there are others as well, such as everything related to sexual and reproductive rights, the issue of care work, and other topics that we've addressed in various columns.
30 YEARS OF MERCOSUR
Given that we are also in the 30th anniversary of MERCOSUR, I propose that we address the issue of regional integration based on an event in which CLACSO participated last Friday, organized by FOMERCO (Fórum Universitário do Mercosul) on the challenges of regional integration in Latin America.
The first point I want to raise here is this issue of integration, based on a key concept we've already discussed. This has become abundantly clear during the pandemic, and even before, that the search for solutions, the search for alternatives to the various problems we face, will never be done in isolation: no one can succeed alone, neither individually nor collectively as a state or as countries. Therefore, the issue of regional integration is urgently returning to the Latin American agenda. Furthermore, we believe that Latin America possesses a wealth of human, cultural, social, and scientific capabilities to address this issue and collectively seek alternatives as a region, as a continent.
Of course, when we say Latin America, we also know that we are talking about Latin America as one and as many at the same time. It is one because we share common interests, culture, projects, and aspirations, but we must also consider the diversity that exists in Latin America in terms of languages and cultures, and we believe that the best version of Latin America is precisely this blending of diversity. That is to say, recognizing this diversity and, from there, addressing the challenges of regional integration. Challenges of regional integration that, of course, must be analyzed in terms of geopolitics, and we must not forget the historical component in the evolution of Latin America's geopolitical insertion. Remember: we had periods of great dependence on Europe, then on the British Empire, and then on the United States. And today, a new actor has appeared on the scene with great economic and geopolitical relevance: China (the first or second largest trading partner of most of our countries).
So we have to think about regional integration, about it from a geopolitical perspective. Because talking about regional integration isn't about escaping globalization, but rather about addressing the challenges it imposes from a Latin American perspective. We also have to consider how we can understand these issues that challenge each of our countries if they aren't viewed through a regional lens. I believe this is truly difficult, if not impossible, because the often narrow logic of our nation-states is insufficient in a context so heavily influenced by globalization.
And if we don't consider another issue we've addressed here at InfoCLACSO, what happened with vaccines and, more generally, with the pharmaceutical industry or multinational corporations. We see examples every day of what this difficulty in accessing vaccines means for the Latin American continent.
Now, from our perspective within the Social Sciences and Humanities, what are the key issues in Latin American social sciences, specifically within this regional context? First, we are the most unequal continent in the world, so inequality is undoubtedly one of those issues. This inequality is permeated by multiple dimensions: gender, ethnicity, urban and rural location, education, age, and so on, all of which contribute to the cleavages of inequality. We must address this issue of inequality from a regional perspective. Because if we focus solely on national statistics, we will surely miss some dimensions and, above all, some crucial alternatives for making progress on this issue.
Within the broader context of inequality—but I want to highlight this as a special issue—gender inequalities in the context of violence stand out. There are some absolutely key issues for the region: gender-based violence, the issue of care work, the agenda regarding sexual and reproductive rights, social and political participation, and much more.
Thirdly, the issue of democracy and political instability. We discussed this topic, expressing our deep concern about these processes of political instability and how they challenge democracy itself. Some indicators even show levels that, at the very least, call into question the Latin American population's commitment to democratic systems, and some issues we thought had been overcome in the region are resurfacing. This is particularly important for the social sciences because we know very well that these processes of political instability threaten the development of knowledge, particularly in universities and research institutions, and are especially threatening to the social sciences and the humanities.
Then there's also the issue of the environment and climate change: how to protect the environment on our continent, which has the greatest biodiversity but is also a continent that directly suffers the environmental and social consequences of global climate change. We need to deepen our understanding and discussion of this issue at a regional level.
And then there are also the issues related to migration and human mobility. We've mentioned this in other columns: human mobility and migration understood as a human right. This human mobility, which of course occurs through migratory processes, is a social phenomenon with an enormous impact on the current reality of Latin America, where dimensions of inequality and violence also converge.
And finally, we must also raise the need to discuss the processes of knowledge generation, scientific and technological development that were so clearly highlighted during this pandemic: how to associate and strengthen scientific systems in Latin America to avoid these levels of dependence, for example, on the vaccine.
Ultimately, it's about revisiting this project of Latin America as a region, as a continent, building common interests, and learning from past experiences that will allow us to resolve conflicts arising in all regions with a strategic vision for the future. This will enable us to understand what has happened in Latin America, where we are headed, and what we can do to strengthen the construction of democratic alternatives that overcome the exclusionary models that perpetuate these inequalities.
-Karina, as I listened to you, I was thinking about how interesting the geopolitical movement is, because in these ongoing and very important processes of regional interaction, we've seen sectors of the right, or the more conservative sectors, pushing against regional integration, specifically within MERCOSUR. Statements from Brazil and Uruguay, opposing regional integration, aim to distance themselves from the blocs at a time when individualism in global negotiations and the geopolitical map are more complicated than ever, as you just mentioned with the issue of vaccines. So, the issue of regional integration has become much more important and much more prominent on the agenda of progressive sectors in the region. Is that right?
-Exactly. When you look at these nationalist perspectives, they suggest finding solutions at the national level, not through integration processes. These processes are generally associated with more conservative, right-wing discourses. That's why I say we need to revitalize these regional integration processes. MERCOSUR is one example, but not the only one, and frame these challenges as part of an agenda that allows us to understand what has happened in Latin America, but above all, to seek alternatives moving forward to overcome this scourge that plagues Latin America: inequality. And we are convinced that this cannot be done in isolation. In other words, countries alone will not achieve this; they must strengthen each other, integrate, and recognize diversity, but from there, build collective alternatives. I think that's the core of the discussion, or the agenda for discussion, regarding regional integration. In that case, that was what we were debating and discussing at that FOMERCO (Fórum Universitário do Mercosul) table, where several colleagues from the different FLACSOs of Latin America were participating, also looking for mechanisms of complementarity between CLACSO (we are a research network, working in social sciences) and FLACSO (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences) which is another network that is also part of CLACSO, in how we strengthen each other, how we articulate ourselves to promote these and other discussions in the region.
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