La Progresía, Davos and the Military

Social, economic and cultural trends, as well as recent events in the world—and particularly in our continent—seem to show us the clear advance of great global capital and the materialization of its agendas in each and every one of the regions of the planet. That is why it is always worth following up on what global leaders and the world’s most important businessmen say at their annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, which this year took place from January 16 to 20. (see this link). Listening, or rather, analyzing the reports on what was said in the framework of that meeting of the World Economic Forum is of the greatest importance, since it shows us the guidelines of what is happening and what is about to happen.

It is curious to realize how what is said there has a fundamental impact on the lives of all the inhabitants of the world. What I find even more interesting is the synchronicity between the agendas of these very rich and powerful men and the political elites in the developing world. To show this, a cursory analysis of the trends in Latin America—and especially in Mexico—suffices.

The progressive governments in the region seem to follow to the letter the wishes of the men of money. The so-called “pink tide” that is sweeping our continent with the election of multiple leaders who call themselves “left”—but who are rather “progressive”—has come as a breath of fresh air to make the dreams of the great Lords come true. of the capital. The latter dictate the agenda to the global leaders of the underdeveloped world—or of the Global South, as the Lords of Davos like to say.

The promise of a “Great Reset” anchored in environmentalism, extractivism and welfare seems to come with limits to our freedom through the hyper-vigilance of technology and the widespread presence of the armed forces.

Our progressive leaders elected from across the continent—starting in Canada—talk about fighting climate change, developing renewable energy [eólica y solar principalmente; de esas que le gustan a la élite, ojo]gender equality, minority rights [ojo, no de las mayorías—aunque “defender derechos” siempre se celebra y es importante] and assistance programs within the framework of a large and powerful State that would be crowned with the granting of “a universal basic income.”

All these benefits of a new economic system—which would mean the end of a neoliberal era and of globalization as we know it up to now—would be supported by the creation of new technologies, biometric authentication, and the issuance of government digital currencies. And none of this is a conspiracy theory. All this has been discussed in Davos, Switzerland year after year. It is enough to be aware of the coverage of the annual meetings of this forum and the statements of its main exponents—in particular, those of its Executive President, who expresses himself orally and writes clearly on these issues.

The aspirations of the global leaders who meet in Davos every year seem to materialize particularly well in our continent, rich in natural resources necessary for the energy transition (such as lithium and rare earths) and the reordering of supply chains since the recent world health emergency, the war in Ukraine and the wars to come. And the Latin American leaders (also the Canadian and the American, of course) seem to be the most dedicated and efficient employees in the construction of what is conceived as a new ordering of geopolitics and the order of our world. Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden, Gustavo Petro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Gabriel Boric, Alberto Fernández, Luis Arce, Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself and even Dina Boluarte (who attended the Davos Forum in 2022) share the same discourse and values strangely similar.

The discourse shared by the region’s political leaders and big businessmen focuses on the fight against climate change and the need for an expeditious transition to renewable energy. These energies are developed by the Global North; they are expensive, not necessarily “so clean”, they will be subsidized by the respective States and they still depend to a great extent on non-renewable energies. To achieve this—I am referring to the energy transition—a paradigm shift is required, a change of mentality (values, identities and ideologies) to move forward and accept technological change by leaps and bounds and the redirection of the labor force (great migrations ) towards the regions that are going to carry out the transformation within the framework of a “new green agreement”.

Greater social controls are also required, which would be achieved through the control of biometric data, the “cancellation culture” for identity reasons, the disappearance of cash and the digitization of absolutely all our transactions and production processes, and for Of course, the advance of the armed forces in spaces previously reserved for the civilian sector. This is the true “new” progressivism, which is based on what is conceived as the centrality of progress through the accelerated development of technology. This process transgresses the human being through tools such as nanotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence.

The basic values ​​of progressives coincide perfectly and advance the aspirations of the elite that enriches itself with this development and distances itself more and more from the majorities, disdaining and limiting the class struggle through a focus on culture warfare. While extreme right-wing movements that despise reason and negotiation are being fed, and that are violently confronting radical progressives, a kind of technocratic dictatorship is advancing that increasingly concentrates capital in very few hands. This is happening at a time when the State is expanding its control and functions hand in hand with the armed forces and seeking for the majority a universal basic income or welfare-oriented social policies, disguised as socialism. [que al final garantizarían una mayor igualdad (pero en condición de pobreza)].

In this context, our country seems to be a pioneer and leader in Latin America of international progress. Certainly, Mexico seems to advance the designs of big capital better than many other countries on the continent. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador seems to seal his commitment to big transnational capital at the close of the North American Leaders Summit. That commitment became apparent after his speech at the United Nations Security Council in New York last year and his visit to the US capital. The trip to Mexico of the special presidential envoy for Climate, John Kerry, indicates (imposes) the Mexican president the path to follow.

And the progressive government of López Obrador—like the government of his Latin American progressive allies such as Fernández, Boric, Petro, Lula da Silva and others—meekly accepts the (imposed) proposal to move towards the development of renewable energies within the framework of the agenda towards the year 2030 of the United Nations and following the guidelines of the European Union and the World Economic Forum. The meeting of the “Three Friends” in Mexico City, the memorandums of understanding on indigenous peoples, for example, as well as the defense of Canadian mining companies and the advancement of Plan Sonora, show us the true and unique face of Latin American progress.

And for this progress to reign, the existence of the petty extreme right or an apparent victory over what was left of the neoliberal model—destroyed by the same capitalist elite that decided to advance their agendas now by what they call the “left”—was necessary. Thus, the Davos project and its language are not far from that of progress. While society fiercely fights its culture wars and the adversary is “cancelled” for ideological reasons (radical left or right) or identity, the agenda of global leaders and big businessmen of the World Economic Forum advances.

And that agenda is embodied in the good leaders of the “pink tide”—in the case of Latin America. And some of these leaders are clashing with the unspeakable forces of the radical right. But they are not alone, they rely on the armed forces that seem to have, in our hemisphere, a great ally in the US Southern Command (southcom). In this sense, the words of Laura Richardson, Commander in Chief of southcomin an interview with the Atlantic Council on January 19 of this year.

Here, General Richardson recognizes the strategic importance of natural resources in various regions of Latin America and the Caribbean such as lithium, rare earths, oil, gold, copper, the wealth of the Amazon region and water, among others. Her speech perfectly reveals the interests of her country in our continent. It’s worth listening to; It is a jewel (here the video).

Thus, as the book illustrates for a single country Venezuela, Politics and Oil of Rómulo Betancourt, we could anticipate similar processes of appropriation and extractivism in the case of the strategic resources of our continent. In the present context then, we also envision an alliance that goes beyond the national (and does not recognize borders) between transnational energy companies, the military, political leaders and global elites. All of this would go hand in hand with progressives, whose values ​​and ideologies trickily disguise themselves as the left, but advance values, identities and ideologies that distance themselves from the class struggle and are functional to the agenda of the Lords of Davos. The promise of a “Great Reset” anchored in environmentalism, extractivism and welfare seems to come with limits to our freedom through the hyper-vigilance of technology and the widespread presence of the armed forces.