Mujica died in Uruguay at the age of 89.
An inspiration to many across the globe with a social conscience, he left a legacy that still acts as a beacon rather than a bible to assist in plotting a way through the darkness that descends on humanity as a cloud of racist and fascist sentiment works incessantly to crystallise as the hegemonic political force.
Some of the thoughts of Pepe were pulled together in a book by Lucas Cervigni, which I read back in 2018.
Some of the thoughts of Pepe were pulled together in a book by Lucas Cervigni, which I read back in 2018.
For me there is as much inspiration to be drawn from him as there is to be found in his fellow South American, the late Helder Camara, Archbishop of Brazil's Olinda and Recife whose The Desert Is Fertile I first read during the 1981 hunger strike, finding it profound. I still retain a copy at home, Camara became immortalised through his words:
Pepe hailed from similar stock. An urban guerilla fighter who spent fourteen years in jail, thirteen of them alone, he had been a leading member of the Uruguayan Tupamaros. He is proud of his guerrilla past. Upon watching the film recommended to me by the former blanketman Alex McCrory, A Twelve Year Night, I immediately grasped what prompted the suggestion. There was so much in common between what the Tupamaros prisoners underwent in Uruguayan prisons and the experiences of the H Block blanket men. While the conditions the Tupamaros were held in were much worse than those inflicted by the British, and lasted much longer, a bond had nevertheless been created.
Under the government of Jorge Pacheco de Areco from 1968 to 1973 repression and conditions for the Uruguayan dominated bloc grew steadily worse. Pepe who had been politically active since the 1950s responded by joining the Tupamaros which brought him into armed conflict with the Repressive State Apparatuses. He was 'shot six times in armed conflicts' and escaped from prison twice. When captured for the final time he was 'taken hostage'. This meant he and others in a similar situation would be murdered should the Tupamaros, by then defeated, once more resume the armed struggle.
Eventually released, and over the mental breakdown that the deprivation had caused him, he returned to the political fray, and took up political office as a minister. His commitment to live like the majority, not the minority, coupled with his honesty won over huge swathes of popular opinion. Not for him a life of opulence or serial lying, denying in the furtherance a reformist political career that he was a comrade of the courageous Tupamaros fighters whose lives had been lost in the battle against injustice and repression. Such was his standing that by 2010 he was President of Uruguay. During his term in office he refused to live in the Presidential place, opting for his one bedroom farm house. No ministerial merc but a 30 year old car was his preferred mode of transport. He donated 90% of his presidential salary to house building projects for the homeless. He supplemented what remained of his income with the proceeds of flowers he and his wife, a former Tupamaros guerilla, grew in their own garden.
The book opens up with six well known facts about Pepe, then goes on to largely quote him or convey his thoughts under a number of themes. He introduced the most liberal abortion law in South America, and reluctantly legalised marijuana as he believed drug trafficking rather than drugs themselves were a scourge. He legalised gay marriage, arguing that it had existed for thousands of years and that to deny it was to needlessly torture human beings. He made serious inroads into reducing poverty. An anti-capitalist compelled to operate within a capitalist economy his perspective was one of taxing capitalism while scathing in his critique:
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.
Under the government of Jorge Pacheco de Areco from 1968 to 1973 repression and conditions for the Uruguayan dominated bloc grew steadily worse. Pepe who had been politically active since the 1950s responded by joining the Tupamaros which brought him into armed conflict with the Repressive State Apparatuses. He was 'shot six times in armed conflicts' and escaped from prison twice. When captured for the final time he was 'taken hostage'. This meant he and others in a similar situation would be murdered should the Tupamaros, by then defeated, once more resume the armed struggle.
Eventually released, and over the mental breakdown that the deprivation had caused him, he returned to the political fray, and took up political office as a minister. His commitment to live like the majority, not the minority, coupled with his honesty won over huge swathes of popular opinion. Not for him a life of opulence or serial lying, denying in the furtherance a reformist political career that he was a comrade of the courageous Tupamaros fighters whose lives had been lost in the battle against injustice and repression. Such was his standing that by 2010 he was President of Uruguay. During his term in office he refused to live in the Presidential place, opting for his one bedroom farm house. No ministerial merc but a 30 year old car was his preferred mode of transport. He donated 90% of his presidential salary to house building projects for the homeless. He supplemented what remained of his income with the proceeds of flowers he and his wife, a former Tupamaros guerilla, grew in their own garden.
The book opens up with six well known facts about Pepe, then goes on to largely quote him or convey his thoughts under a number of themes. He introduced the most liberal abortion law in South America, and reluctantly legalised marijuana as he believed drug trafficking rather than drugs themselves were a scourge. He legalised gay marriage, arguing that it had existed for thousands of years and that to deny it was to needlessly torture human beings. He made serious inroads into reducing poverty. An anti-capitalist compelled to operate within a capitalist economy his perspective was one of taxing capitalism while scathing in his critique:
We have never possessed this much knowledge. And still, knowing that we throw away 2 million dollars a minute in military budget on a a global scale, there are some who say we lack the resources to eradicate poverty. Those people have no shame . . . let's stop fucking around.
A universalist, his preference, like that of Albert Einstein, was for a global government, believing that national regimes cannot solve the climate crises or a myriad of issues that span beyond national borders. He buttressed this view with a call for people to think as a species.
While of the Left, he still took aim at it because of its infantilism, an albatross that prevented it raising its neck sufficiently to see beyond the confusion between wish and reality.
Forward thinking, his view of the past was that while it was important it was wise to develop a healthy disrespect for it. He stressed the value of honesty in political life, which caused me to reflect on the contrast between that and the recent week of lying played out in a Dublin court by a former IRA leader, determined not to be viewed publicly as a comrade of the IRA icon Bobby Sands.
Perhaps for the peoples of Europe who value a culture of democracy and tolerance in the face of the rise of a far right his words were prescient and sombre:
Brecht's beast which he knew so well is in heat again.
Forward thinking, his view of the past was that while it was important it was wise to develop a healthy disrespect for it. He stressed the value of honesty in political life, which caused me to reflect on the contrast between that and the recent week of lying played out in a Dublin court by a former IRA leader, determined not to be viewed publicly as a comrade of the IRA icon Bobby Sands.
Perhaps for the peoples of Europe who value a culture of democracy and tolerance in the face of the rise of a far right his words were prescient and sombre:
In Europe a far right politics against immigration is reappearing. which is not just right wing but fascist.
Brecht's beast which he knew so well is in heat again.
Lucas Cervigni, 2015, Mujica: The wisdom of "the worlds most humble president". CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN-13: 978-1517608408
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Thanks for that AM.
ReplyDeleteYour piece includes a lot to reflect upon and lots to explore further.
Particularly liked the reference to "confusion between wish and reality." Its a pervasive challenge, and not just for the left. It's one, I'd proffer, that every human ought address, ought address if their hopes & goals are for any significant degree of sustainable contentment.
And, as for Adams and his behaviour last week! Don't get me started ##*%!! I'd call him an ass if I didn't have as much compassion and appreciation as I do for that particular beast of burden.