Theoretical and political reflection about social utopia in Latin America has always been present indirectly and in general in all Latin America thought since Independence from Spain in 1821 and years later.
This is where we find a moderate Enlightenment, or Aufklárung, in Latin America headed by Independence processes in the Founding Fathers José Martí in Cuba, Francisco Morazán Quesada in Honduras, Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, etc., who gave their lives for the well-being of their nations and outlined social visions about the independent future of the Latin American continent, which even today comprise the main reflections of Latin American philosophy.
Problems like the need for interculturality; rapprochement and dialogue among diverse cultures; the democratization and humanization of society; the existence of a Latin American philosophy, etc., constitute essential problems for reflection that in Latin America adopt the future of the continent as pertaining to social utopia.
Nevertheless, nowadays, due to precarious and extremely unequal economic conditions, a nw problem has emerged which concerns philosophical reflection in Latin America, and which has put in check ist ability to answer crucial philosophical questions. It is about the determination of the short-term future of the continent in societies besieged by organized crime and drug trafficking which places at stake the existence of the states themselves and representative democracy in those countries.
This problem is the rupture, in daily life and in the affairs of the government, of direct links with organized crime and with drug trafficking, that have coped and sequestered public institutions, denigrated virtues and moral values, submerging in vices and violence Latin American societies in all aspects of their own social and political life.
The questions that thus arise for philosophical reflection have to do with how to combat these scourges, and most concretely, whether or not is is possible to establish dialogue with said criminal forces to convince them and to force them to abandon their damaging practices for the people and for society as a whole. This is a concrete question coming from social utopia that requires dialogue from the communicative action theory by Jürgen Habermas, but that in Latin America faces a true challenge for which such theory has no answer. This is bacause the dialogue this theory proposes is for societies of citizens who have reached the age of majority, self-conscious of their own development, wiht a consolidated democracy, and for societies that are well-organized, which is not the case in Honduras and Latin America.
How to dialogue with delinquents? And, how to dialogue even with former presidents accused of corruption and direct links with drug trafficking, who are even now being tried in the United States for such crimes? How can sincere dialogue be established knowing that these individuals will not easily depose their accomplice attitude, being driven bay ambition and anxiety for power? Also, regarding philosophical reflection on the utopian capability of dialogue between adverse forces, many of which are unethical and lacking civility, we need to critically question the role that citizens themselves play in the organization and the morally correct functioning of their own institutions and societies as a whole.
In fact, we need to ask ourselves, from philosophy, why citizens allow their societies to be penetrated by such scourges and why they do not act correspondingly and actively to impede this from happening? Why do citizens allow themselves to be seduced by vices, addictions and bey the violence that these mean and represent?
A probable answer is that among the citizens fear and terror rule, and more courage is missing because they themselves are subjected to terror not only by the drug traffickers, but also by the State itself, which pursues them, and which does not protect them as they face the expansion of a true “drug addiction war” in our continent. Violence has been converted into a business just a drug trafficking, which stimulates it. In these violence processes, communicative dialogue does not appear to play a preponderant role, and instead ist presented as a weak and senseless formula. Moreover, those who work for the government are, in their majority, accomplices in this impairing situation.
What to do, the, from the outline of social utopia to guarantee the future of Latin American societies where seldom dialogue and communitarian espirit have prevailed? And what can philosophical reflection as an open horizon for the future do to guarantee the existence of said societies?
Well, we believe that the first thing to be done is to legalize drugs in a controlled manner in industrialized nations, co-responsible for the violent situation ruling peripheral nations. Furthermore, in second place, every single country alike should begin a process of massive citizen formation to educate the conscience of the citizens regarding the nedd to care for their physical and emotional health, and to defend moral and ethical values, to establish sincere dialogue, as the theory of communicative action of Habermas suggests. Also, in third place, the rule of law should be strengthened, to allow institutions to prevail and to rid them of government employees who yield to corrupt and criminal practices that attempt against the well-being and the development of society. This can be accomplished by having more control of the election practices of magistrates and judges in the judicial system of each country.
And, overall, despite all, we need to produce philosophical theory that advocates for communicative dialogue between all components of societies to generate philosophical conceptions of relational social utopias that unite us in a renewed ideal to build social and economic relationships that suppose material well-being for all families, and not only for certain groups. Social utopia as a conception for the near future of Latin America has, in this manner, to inquire about why we need ethics and why we need utopia trough responsible communicative dialogue to civilize our common and particular interests, which is what our Founding Fathers desired, which seems we have forgotten, and which is necessary to bring back to memory and towards the historical future.
I am amazed, it looks pretty nice.