Ollantay Itzamná*, Prensa Latina employee
It was the second liberal revolution in the history of anti-indigenous Creole Guatemala. The first defenestration on the continent expressly carried out by the North American government (1954).
Remember that in the first Liberal Revolution (1871), Rufino Barrios took away all communal land from the indigenous people to give it to the new farmers. In the second nationalist liberal revolution (1944), all lands became the property of the state.
In neither revolution was there any land for the indigenous population, let alone were the indigenous peoples viewed as subjects of rights. This did not legally exist for the racist state. In order to promote flourishing popular tourism, they constitutionally existed as cultural reproductions or museum pieces until the 1990s. But we make sure that they do not become socio-political subjects.
What is the difference between the social upswing of October 20, 1944 and that of 2023?
subjects
In 2023, the political subject that unites the social effervescence is the Semilla political party, promoted and zealous in the United States, made up of the urban middle class, which sees with “concern” that the racist nation-state (eroded by corruption) collapses). , because it is one of his main sources of employment. Corruption was a constant no matter which side was in government.
Unlike in October 1944, today these are indigenous people and farmers who use their bodies and their hunger to “defend the democracy that Semilla favors.” At that time they were university students who years later were biologically and politically destroyed. This is a difference between both “revolutions”, but both “mobilized social subjects” are in the same subjective conditions (only support for the Ladino to build or maintain his business from the racist state).
In 2023, unlike 1944, the North American Embassy, the USAID, the OAS, together with the oligarchic side loyal to Washington, are the main stakeholders who are supposed to ensure that the idea of the “October Revolution of 2023” penetrates the collective subconscious of Guatemalans. USAID funds many projects of the 48 cantons and the NGOs that work with Semilla… they are included in the published reports.
complain
The current demand that brings together the mobilized communities is: “That the three public officials who are “disobedient” to Washington resign. In 1944 the demand was: Structural changes to modernize the nation state. To achieve this, separate state-owned enterprises, public services, land nationalizations, etc. were created.
Currently, the mobilized ethnic groups have no horizon for change other than replacing officials to revive the racist state apparatus that is deadly to indigenous peoples. Neither 48 cantons nor the office of the indigenous mayor of Sololá call for self-determination of the peoples, a plurinational state or a plurinational constituent assembly. Both the new emerging political elite and the middle class are happy with this because it is a guarantee of their stability as a class.
Horizons
In 1944, the revolutionary core was clear about its horizon of emancipation and self-determination as a country and as a state. For this reason, they have reorganized the legal system of the state, they have made the state a central economic actor to support the process of change, they have bet on the autonomy of universities to create the new modern subject that will support these changes enabled. This caused great discomfort to the USA/OAS, which is why they abolished the process in 1954.
No matter how many motley crowds the sectors have mobilized on the streets in 2023, the horizon is to continue handing everything over to the racist national bosses and the empire so that they continue to crack down even harder on the indigenous population, the peasants and the impoverished Middle classes take action.
Have you heard any slogans on the streets now directed against the oil companies that owe the state more than five billion dollars in royalties and taxes? Perhaps you have read a banner denouncing the USA. for encouraging the 1954 coup, or for the massacres of Palestinian children, or for vaccinating Guatemalan prisoners with syphilis,…? No. This revolution is Theater Made in the USA in complicity with those who are obedient and obedient to Washington.
rmh/oi *Quechua researcher, lawyer and anthropologist. Correspondent and columnist for several alternative media in Latin America
(Taken from selected signatures)