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Latin American perspectives a program of comment and analysis about current Latin American problems and their historical setting. The commentator for these programs is Dr. C. Harvey Gardner research professor of history at Southern Illinois University. Here now is Dr. Gardner. Can democracy serve a modern revolution. No question presses the free world more and no richer test case exists than Chile where Christian Democratic President Eduardo free attacks for centuries of semi futile despair. Yet how close personal freedoms for each failure could throw Chile to the Marxists in 1970. His success might change much of an entire continent. Such is the thesis of Leonard Gross's new book The Last Best Hope. Eduardo free and Chilean democracy. A recent publication of Random House. To him who cares about the Cold War about communism about our relationship with Latin America
Chile and her eight million five hundred thousand citizens becomes a must for present day consideration there for the first time a real opportunity exists to break away from the past a past characterized by a few haves millions of have nots and the social and economic chasm that separates them. The 1964 victory of Eduardo Brady is only the first of a succession of victories but it needed his hand on the reins of government in Santiago to Chile represents a maximum opportunity for change not the automatic achievement of change. Those who elected him in Chile and those who hailed his election from abroad must realize that six years of social economic and political activity are called for to stave off the Marxists in the election of 1970. Currently free is the
strongest prospect to demonstrate that Latin America can find itself on the Democratic left. Why do you ask must it be on the left for years that have produced decades and decades that mount to generations the political right in Latin America including Chile has shown itself bankrupt and powerless in the face of advancing communism standing pat in a changing world is no answer to the problems of the day. Hence communist do not fear the conservative right. It is the Democratic left wedding the idea of reform to freedom and human dignity that disturbs indeed undermines communist appeal. The issue consequently poses the question can the needed changes be delivered quickly enough through democratic practices and evolutionary processes to ward off the appeals of revolutionary change within a communistic pattern
of action. The priceless ingredients are three ideas. Action and time off and so much attention is given to ideas there and the action and refinement that action either never takes place or occurs too late. The future prospect of Latin America is intimately related to this trinity of ideas action and time. The problem of Latin America. Author gross insists it is not ultimately under development. It is not poor natural or human resources. It is the problem of despair. A proper working relationship between ideas and action in the time interval between one thousand sixty four and one thousand seventy is the peculiar problem. The president for he and despair ridden Chileans the Roman Catholic church once a kingpin of the status quo
and now increasingly an organ of change is always a factor to be reckoned with in chilly north American Catholics may find the specifics of Chilean religious life barely credible although 85 to 90 percent of the population has been baptized. Less than 10 percent attend mass. Indeed in some Santiago slum areas less than 1 percent of the population attends church. As in many other places the oldest or the most religious the youngest the least so into lay the ratio of priests to population is less than one fourth that in the United States because Spanish and Spanish American Catholicism concentrated on preparation for the afterlife it long was passive about social problems leaving very few individuals to develop any sense of social obligation.
Early in the 20th century however thanks to the impact of the Papal and cyclical rather in Novato and subsequent pronouncements social doctrine crept into Catholicism. Especially prominent in this field in recent years has been Roger the Caymans a Belgian born just with Father indefatigable in his study of the total scene in Chile and in his pursuit of funds for promoting change. He has won the admiration of many and the hatred of many others the latter including the far right stand patters and the far left communists. I got into the Chilean reality very fast the Caymans recalls. You've got to deal with technology with prices with Social Security. Reality forced me beyond doctrine beyond principle beyond ethics. The priest saw that the social structure of Chile needed to be
reorganized in 1062 he and his colleagues published a frightening analysis entitled Revolution in Latin America which however frightening was also sober and factual. Quite easily the Caymans and the Center for Economic and social development of Latin America which is set up projects in every Spanish speaking country in the hemisphere except Cuba became allies of Ed wado for a three hour graduate of Catholic University in Santiago and subsequently a professor of labor law and with a strong sociological bent became in 1064 the first candidate of a Christian Democratic Party to win a presidency in Latin America. The despair and the problems he faced were interdependent and many including literacy employment taxes cost of living inflation. Indeed everything that can complicate modern life
and government. Arthur gross knew and admired for a e before he gained the presidency as well as after that victory in 64. On one occasion for eight consecutive days he had long conversations with the Chilean chief executive of them he writes. We would sit in deep chairs of dark brown leather. But the moment I ask a question for a he would bolt from his seat and pace across the green carpet passing countless times under a great gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling 20 feet above. After each of my questions his brow would crease he would put a hand to his head or stare vacantly or inspect the floor. And then. Then he would begin a long but systematic XOR. Such is the colorful journalistic style of this assessment of contemporary Chile fundamental to free E's ideas for economic improvement. It is believed that the private sector must be
restructured in the Chilean economy by means of agrarian industrial and mining reform. This affects and the pends upon attitudes or attitudes that must know some change. Young Chileans responded to for a Christian democracy for many of the same reasons they had identified with John F. Kennedy's new frontier. Both embodied historical perspective intellectual content and emotional appeal. Both Kennedy and furry offered their people a buoyancy at a moment when the spirit was bowed down. One of three E's a wealthy yet socially conscious will ya Nimal the day a lot of. Put it this way. Poor people don't want things they want possibilities. The principle necessity is not bread. Clothes on a roof. The principle necessity is culture. The Communist Party doesn't give things. It gives ideas possibilities. The Communist Party has never given
gifts to the people. The solution of giving is an aspiration. It gets at the symptom but it doesn't cure the public already has had a lot of morphine it wants a remedy. Charity makes beggars of the poor getting accustomed to being given everything instead of fighting for it. They put out their hands all sense of fight they should have is lost it when they are hungry we give them bread. If when they need a house we give them a house. They will continue being hungry and being members of a slum. We must give them a possibility. The most important thing in life is to feel useful. Think of the problem these people have. They never feel useful for anything. Such is one Julian's assessment of the Chilean problem for an American assessment of the Latin American scene at large. GROSS concludes his book by insisting that we the citizens of the United States do not treat Latin America like a brother rather we treated
as a child. We are paternal and distrustful but gross adds. We must act like parents. We ought to be sensitive ones. We should watch closely for signs that our child is becoming a man. It is a delicate matter to distinguish between rebellion and maturation. Often the only way to tell is to take a chance. We are very much in the predicament of the father who has reluctantly given his young son the car for the evening. He lies awake straining for the sound of screeching brakes wondering if his child will make it home safely. It would have been so much easier and more comfortable not to have given him the car. But the boy must become a man. The parent must let him go. This is ever so true in our Latin American relations. We seek stability and peace of mind and in so doing unconsciously block the progress to
which we insist we are dedicated in subtle but persistent ways. We emasculate our ward to date. We of the United States are given to be stowing our attention on blood drenched Asia have not come to appreciate the measure of crisis and opportunity to be found in contemporary Chile. For a he is fashioning a democratic revolution that deserves our interest and support. What is missing from our attitude toward this revolution is a consistent sense of outrage at the conditions it attacks. Outrage offered with such passion and conviction that the Latin Americans will not doubt where we stand. Unfortunately revolution is a dirty word in the American mind and in our world of categorical absolutes of good guys and bad guys.
We have forsaken the very revolutionary nature that made possible our own existence and growth in Chile today. The question is Can constructive revolution prevent the coming of the destructive revolution. An answer to this question is found in Leonard Gross's book The Last Best Hope to free and Chilean democracy published by Random House. This was Latin American perspectives with Dr. C. Harvey Gardner research professor of history at Southern Illinois University. Join us for our next program on Dr. Gardner We'll examine another aspect of life in Latin America Latin American perspectives is produced and recorded by station WFIU FM at Southern Illinois University and is distributed by the national educational radio network.
Series
Latin American perspectives
Episode
Texas is a two way street
Producing Organization
WSIU 8 (Television station : Carbondale, Ill.)
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-8w384c9m
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Description
Episode Description
This program focuses on Texas' role as a prime crossing point between the United States and Mexico.
Series Description
A series of comment and analysis about current affairs in Latin American countries.
Date
1968-11-05
Topics
Global Affairs
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:13:44
Embed Code
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Credits
Host: Gardiner, C. Harvey (Clinton Harvey)
Producing Organization: WSIU 8 (Television station : Carbondale, Ill.)
Producing Organization: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 68-31-9 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:14:37
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Citations
Chicago: “Latin American perspectives; Texas is a two way street,” 1968-11-05, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 28, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-8w384c9m.
MLA: “Latin American perspectives; Texas is a two way street.” 1968-11-05. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 28, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-8w384c9m>.
APA: Latin American perspectives; Texas is a two way street. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-8w384c9m