Although AMLO denies this, some of us criticized the neoliberal model many years ago

Abigail Brewer 2 years ago 3 min read

Who knows how many times, before him, none of those who criticize his administration today have denounced the failures of the neoliberal model, said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

It is probable that, having devoted decades of creating and leading social movements and visiting all the country’s municipalities, he did not have the time or opportunity to find out that there are so many journalists who, just like him, point out the flaws. neoliberalism.

He almost certainly did not read my August 9 1998 article in Impacto, titled Against the Form.

Part of what I wrote on that occasion was the following:

“In less than a year, two giants of global thought spoke out against the economic model adopted by most of the developed and third world countries of the world, including Mexico. It is significant that both thinkers unreservedly condemn what is called in our country neoliberalism by its critics and globalization before its defenders.

“Who knows whether what is written below has been read by those who have contributed to the imposition of the present economic model in these United Mexican States or by those who in some way defend, support and promote it at any cost. The fact is that since 1979, With the conservatism Margaret Thatcher coming to power in the United Kingdom and imposing neoliberal philosophy, policies, programs and strategies in that country, even today, the globalized economic model has swept the industrialized and underdeveloped countries, destroying hundreds of millions of lives around the planet and impoverishing the ever-growing proportions of the world’s population. When a very small group of wealthy people amassed wealth and political power like never before.

The copies I referred to in the previous paragraph were from two articles that appeared in the September/October 1997 issue of the American magazine Foreign Affairs. The first was written by the Austrian-American Peter Drucker (1909-2005), the father and philosopher of modern management. The second is for American historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (1917-2007). Both were highly critical of the neoliberal paradigm in their texts.

Drucker, in his essay The World Economy and the Nation-State, concluded that the new constraints that neoliberalism imposed on government cause economic decisions to be made by the global economy rather than by the nation-state.

In his article, does democracy have a future? (Does democracy have a future?), Schlesinger warned that the growing income inequalities of the population of “neoliberal” countries could foster a new generation of class struggle and instability, a possibility that could lead to future totalitarianism.

It’s been nearly 24 years since my script was published and about 25 years since Drucker and Schlesinger’s articles appeared, but their supporters didn’t notice because it didn’t suit them.

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