Anti-communism, Catholic nationalism and geopolitics. The impact on Mexico.
Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero, Xóchitl Patricia Campos López, Samuel Schmidt, editorial:
Montiel and Soriano Publishers, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
By Arely Lucas Abundio, Brayan Martínez Martínez and Luis Ángel Isidro Bonilla, students of the Bachelor of Political Science at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla.
The book is a reflection on anti-communism as a geopolitical factor, and analyzes it in three periods: prior to the Second World War, during the cold war and in the post-communism period.
As the pages of this political analysis are turned, several questions appear: how do these ideologies affect Mexico? Did anti-communism trigger the 1968 student massacre? Is López Obrador a communist? What defines us as political scientists?
Reading this research allows us to understand the evolution of an ideology and myth that provided Mexicans with a false vision of the world and a partial view of history; anti-communism legitimized authoritarian actions by political, economic and social leaders who claimed to protect the homeland at any cost.
The historical analysis led the authors to find in Poland's Catholic nationalism a fundamental factor for the development of global anti-communism. They recover the trajectory of intransigent integral Catholic political thought, -for example, of Vladimir Ledochowski- that places the Freemasons, Jews and Russians as enemies, although after the October revolution anti-communism is added, which irradiates the anti-Bolshevik experience towards Europe. from the East and that, hand in hand with the Vatican, reaches Latin America and Mexico.
The Intermarium was a project that will allow Poland to protect its sovereignty. After the fall of the tsarist empire and the survival of the Orthodox Church, Poland was characterized by its defense of the anti-communist movement to preserve its political-religious integrity and be a future buffer against the Soviet Union and Germany.
The geopolitical interest of the Catholic Church in Poland is essential to maintain itself as a religious hegemon in Eastern Europe, highlighting the need for the Holy See to create a perfect Christian society, the City of God on earth, but at the same time showing a face radical, authoritarian and papolatra.
Anti-communism becomes a converging element of the European and Cold War wars of the last century, and out of a fervent struggle for the new world order, this process spreads everywhere under the leadership of the United States of America. America.
The Polish Intermarium project will have as its main objective to stop the spread of communism by displaying a series of narratives and actions that will unleash conservative and religious phobias towards Freemasons, Jews and communists, while at the same time being essential to explain the vision of Catholic nationalism.
Latin American countries, characterized by the great influence of Catholicism and extreme Spanish-American conservatism, adopt the US national security project governed by the Intermarium.
Mexico was one of the countries most aided by anti-communism, Catholic nationalism, Francoist influence and secret societies financed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Francoism manipulated the question of Hispanidad to turn Spanish spiritual imperialism into a quintessential conservatism that denies the virtues of liberal democracy, but fights head-on against communism. Ibero-American conservatism highlights the attachment to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and its influence in all social spheres.
The anti-communist right in Latin America has a long history, accompanying the religious and authoritarian character of the oligarchies. During World War II, its presence grew stronger and, over time, it established itself as an ally of US imperialism. The set of strategies against the USSR will mark the stage of the dirty war against the Latin American left. The thread that the text discovers between Nazi-fascism and Yankee imperialism, evidences the link between the Intermarium and North American Atlanticism.
Based on the influence of the Intermarium on the secret societies of Catholic nationalism, the book analyzes the consequences that an ideology such as anti-communism can bring to the political culture of Mexico. The conservative culture not only tries to prevent left-wing parties from reaching power and forming a government, but also influences the authoritarian patrimonialism represented by the different political groups that have reached the presidency of Mexico, cacique corporatism and the lack of solidity for a authentic liberal democratic culture.
The gap of inequality, marginalization, vulnerability and impunity is the ideal breeding ground for authoritarianism. The Intermarium is reborn in the new right-wing wave in the world, with strong Russophobia without the USSR and non-communist Russia; promoting the hegemony of the United States and the Catholic Church now in the dispute for the world order after neoliberalism and covid-19.
Communism and anti-communism caused a stir in political systems around the world. It is important to question to what extent they were struggles against imperialism and for national emancipation.
This essay explains the validity of the ideas, hatreds, contradictions and dialectics of an anti-communism that is still present in Mexico and that has a presence in many social sectors.
The anti-communist discourse in our country is socialized on a daily basis, although the Mexican Republic does not have a communist party, but the memory of 1968 and the destruction of the revolutionary guerrillas makes clear the force of Catholic nationalism in the anti-liberal political culture of our society.
Taken from: Latinoture Magazine (2022 November)
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