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<p>GaryS, et al -</p>
<p>I was recently trying to make a little more sense of the larger
sociopolitical situation across central/south America and realized
that your location in Ecuador might provide some useful parallax.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.as-coa.org/articles/2023-elections-latin-america-preview"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.as-coa.org/articles/2023-elections-latin-america-preview</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I was (not?) surprised to read that there was a renewed interest
in "regional integration". This article references Lula and
Obrador and several other Latin American leaders who might be
attempting a broader ideological (and economic)
alignment/cooperation across the region.<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.bloomberglinea.com/english/will-lula-achieve-regional-integration-in-latin-america/"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.bloomberglinea.com/english/will-lula-achieve-regional-integration-in-latin-america/</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the unrest of the summer triggered? by energy/fossil-fuel
prices it seems like Ecuador has become (temporarily, modestly)
unbalanced which seems like an opportunity for change, whether for
better or worse. I see in the first article (Elections Preview)
that Lasso has a very low approval rating and the upcoming
(February) elections might include/yield a recall for him?</p>
<p>I lived on the border of AZ/MX as a teen in the early 70s and the
recent memory/residue of the Golden Age of Latin America was still
evident. The Mexican border town (Agua Prieta) still had
moderately grand facilities and institutions (e.g. A huge library
with elaborate fountains on the grounds, etc) even though they
were not able to support them in that grandeur... So I think I
still have an ideation that Latin America has many of the
resources or (hidden) momentum to achieve a resurgence of some
sort.<br>
</p>
<p>These reflections are partly triggered by this interview/article
produced by WBUR/Boston and distributed via NPR:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/01/11/8-billion-earth-population-rise-human"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/01/11/8-billion-earth-population-rise-human</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Which reminded me that while we *do* have a total-population
problem with our 8B and rising numbers (and 90+ % of land animal
by mass being human or human domesticates), the *distribution* of
people, and more to the point the demographic fecundity/fertility
distribution is very uneven and in fact seems to be inversely
proportional to various features of human civilization ranging
from GDP to education to technological development. Some (like
DJT) turn this into a judgement and a reason for resentment/fear
(e.g. S*hole country labels) but others have a more progressive
view. An excerpt from the WBUR interview/article:<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 25px;
color: rgb(52, 60, 64); font-family: Arnhem, serif; font-size:
18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures:
common-ligatures; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;
letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight:
700;">Jennifer Sciubba: </strong>"We're moving toward this
aging and shrinking world, and we are worried because we can't
sustain that same huge level of economic growth in the past. And
we do need to think about what that might look like, so we can
look relook at concepts like retirement. We can look at concepts
like what is work life. We also, though, have to start thinking
about family and marriage. And, you know, we're talking about a
paradigmatic shift.</p>
<p class="indent-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin:
0px 0px 25px; text-indent: -0.35em; color: rgb(52, 60, 64);
font-family: Arnhem, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">"That means we have to look at the world through a
completely different lens than we've looked at the world in the
past. But all of our theories about the good life, our economic
theories, our political theories, those were all developed under
conditions of population growth and economic growth, as William
said. So it's really hard to get a paradigmatic shift and say,
what if we try to look at the world in a different way? Can we
look at an aging and shrinking society as a good thing? Can we
look at growing older individually as a good thing? We've not
been good at that. And so we're kind of taking that negativity
and applying it at the societal level."</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="indent-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px
0px 25px; text-indent: -0.35em; color: rgb(52, 60, 64);
font-family: Arnhem, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">This passage specifically references aging (individual
and population) but there are other references to
economic/technological disparities. <br>
</p>
<p class="indent-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px
0px 25px; text-indent: -0.35em; color: rgb(52, 60, 64);
font-family: Arnhem, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">I also defer here to others who have an international
POV (e.g. Pieter in South Africa, Sarbajit in India, Jochen in
Germany, and I believe we have someone from Cuba, I think we lost
(off the list) Mohammed from Egypt a few years ago, etc.) as
well. We are not a very demographicly representative group here
but still offer a somewhat broad samplying by some measures.</p>
<p class="indent-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px
0px 25px; text-indent: -0.35em; color: rgb(52, 60, 64);
font-family: Arnhem, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">I realize this is yet another of my rambly maunderings
but I'd be curious to hear what others are observing/thinking
about these issues in this current time of global flux.</p>
<p class="indent-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px
0px 25px; text-indent: -0.35em; color: rgb(52, 60, 64);
font-family: Arnhem, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal;
font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2;
text-align: start; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness:
initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color:
initial;">- Steve<br>
</p>
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<p></p>
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