The Food of the World

 

By Jorge Aliaga Cacho

First published in Alert Scotland, July 1994

In order to establish the causes of poverty it is important to analyse the ideology which is embodied in theories and has influenced our ideas on levels of material development. According to Malthus (1766-1834) the human race tends to produce in geometrical progression while food supplies can only grow arithmetically. As the population grows there would be a fall in the average output of food per head causing misery whcih will be 'resolved' by famine or war.

Contemporary thinking on population presents us with a 'New Malthusian' version which shares Malthus's original view that population growth is the major factor in causing poverty, but which differs from Malthus in the belief that human intervention can put a check on population growth through birth control. The New Malthusian view sees it as imperative that people, especially the poor, should be persuaded or forced to have fewer children. They see the tendency to population growth as a constant factor in human history which needs no explanation in itself. However, they do not explain the reasons for population growth.

The Malthusian view is inappropriate to establish the causes of poverty because it ignores the roles of technology, trade and population mobility. However, it remains true that population growth requires increased food production. Malnutrition and undernourishment is due to the failure to increase investment in agricultural producction and also because the inability of many poorer countries to organise and pay for food imports. There are however encouraging examples such as the case of India which show that countries with rapidly expanding populations can make remarkable advances in increasing their agricultural production. Contrary to Malthusian claims, india has managed to increase food grain output at approximately the same rate as population over the past thirty-five years.

Anne Findlay and Allan Findlay in their book "Population and Development in the Third World" propose that: 'a more satisfactory solution in the short term is the movement of food resources into areas which are food deficient and in the long term the exchange and trading of equipment, ideas and technology to permit the increased agricultural potential of these regions'. In their opinion drought may be unavoidable but famine is totally avoidable.

Gabriel García Márquez's favourite song

 Old Horse

(Caballo Viejo)

 Author: Venezuelan Composer Simón Narciso Díaz Márquez 
(August 8, 1928 – February 19, 2014

Translated by Jorge Aliaga Cacho

When love arrives like this

In such a manner

You don’t even realise

The rushes turn green

The huamanchito blossoms

And its leaves open. (bis)

Old horse is put out to grass

Coz he is tired and old

But they don’t realise

How much his heart is breaking

When his bridle is taken

And his reins are put away

When old horse sees a lovely filly

His heart leaps and breaks the rules

He never will be reined in

Even if treated like a mule.

When love arrives like this

In such manner

Nobody is to be blame

Coz desire has no timetable

No date in the calendar

When true love arrives

Old horse is put out to grass

When his days are numbered

Sometimes with his little filly

In an abandoned corral

Old horse is loaded in the morning

And he walks his old horse pace.

The colt wastes his time

Because he’s young and strong

The old horse can’t afford

To waste the time in his hand

Coz after this life

you don’t get another chance.

When love arrives like this……Caballo! (bis)

The Enchanted Pond

By Jorge Aliaga Cacho


Anne Hogarth

Edinburgh, 1982. Translated by Anne Hogarth.

The town rocks in the wind along the beaches and the edge of the sea before colliding with the mountains. From the Cuyas’ hotel, you can see the mountains, with Inca remains nestled in the slopes. Behind these hills is a beach, inaccessible from flatlands, shut in by these great mounds of sand and stones. The beach is called La Honda and is the ancient route of the fishermen and salt collectors who go to dig out the mineral from its surrounding mountains.

The other beach, open and dangerous, stretches within; its waves seem to punish the sins of the towns, the priest who abandoned his parish, the tomb-robbers who profane the past, the history, the present of their town. On the beach the wind is more churlish, making play with the sand and scouring the faces of the people. The fishermen protect themselves with scarves used every night which the angry wind plucks

Chilca is full of legends and true tales. Storytelling is part of life itself. They say that the pond is enchanted and that during the night a beautiful woman emerges from its waters, revealing her body with unbridled lust and that the men are lured by her. They found Huapaya dead, with his face in the air, unsatisfied. Who is she?, perhaps the bride who was jilted at the church door and who now, as vengeance against the men of Chilca, appears every year in her mortal lasciviousness.

Who is she? The fishermen ask themselves. Her dress is tight, they say, and her hair flows in the clear night air caressing her back and well-turned shoulders. Brave men hide behind the fig trees. Nato is afraid. She laughs, gathers her hair and twists it up onto her head. Curious they draw near. She arches her body and opens her legs. She loosens her hair over her threatening breasts and a weak, gaping man is overcome. She laughs and runs her hand over her hips. Another feeble gaper succumbs, stuttering forward. She takes delight in drawing near to the male and now he cannot control himself. His eyes blaze and he can only watch the firm thighs of the female. She walks, leaves the water, her thighs two pendulous glistening earrings. She embraces him and draws him into the depths of death.

The Indian versus the Hispanic world in "Los ríos profundos'.

By Jorge Aliaga Cacho

Photo: The author in Machu Picchu.

The Indian versus the Hispanic world in “Los ríos profundos”. José María Arguedas was born in 1911, in Andahuaylas, a region of the Central Andes of Perú. “Los ríos profundos” was published in 1958 and is one of the most acclaimed works of the indigenista genre. Mariategui’s opinion of indigenismo is given in the following: “La literatura indigenista no puede darnos una versión rigurosamente verista del indio. Tiene que idealizarlo y estilizarlo. Tampoco puede darnos su propia ánima. Es todavía una literatura de mestizos. Por eso se llama indigenista y no indigena, si debe venir, vendrá a su tiempo. Cuando los propios indios estén en grado de producirla’ (JCM, “Siete ensayos, 1958, p.252). Some have ventures to affirm that the indigenista time envisaged by Mariátegui arrived with José María Arguedas , who in their viwe represents the beginning of an indigenous literature. Arguedas does not stylize the Indian. His writing is more in the terrain of indigenismo. However we ought to be aware that such a term needs major explanation. Mario Vargas Llosa has written the following description of one of the most important aspects of “Los ríos profundos”, namely memory: ‘Como en esas cajas cajas chinas que encierran dentro de cada una, una más pequeña, en “Los ríos profundos” la materia que da origen al libro es la memoria del autor;de ella surge esa ficción en la que el protagonista a su vez, vive alimentado de una realidad caduca, presente solamente en su propia memoria. Tras esa operaciónde rescate del pasado, Ernesto descubre su añoranza de una realidad no mejor que la presente, sino vivida en la inconsciencia, incluso, cuando todavía ignoraba el mal, (Vargas Llosa in “Ensoñacion y magia en José María Arguedas”, Expreso, Lima, 24 April, p.15. It is therefore through Ernesto’s recollection that we are going to explore the presence of the Indian and the Hispanic in “Los ríos profundos”. From the beginning of the novel we can see how Ernesto’s memory is juxtaposed with reality. Ernesto did not wait to come to Cusco to discove the city as it actually is, but compares Cusco with his memories of the tales told by his father about the great city of the Incas. ‘Entramos al Cusco de noche. La estación del ferrocarril y la ancha avenida por la que avanzamos lentamente, a pie, me sorprendieron. El alumbrado eléctrico era más debil que el de algunos pueblos pequeños que conocía. Verjas de madera o de acero defendían jardines y casas modernas y casas modernas. El Cusco de mi padre, el que me había descrito quizas mil veces, no podía ser ese’. (1) El Cusco which permeates Ernesto’s memory was the Cusco of the Incas. This is obvious in the magic description and respect with wihich the Inca architecture is presented to the reader. - ‘Dondequiera que vaya, las piedras que mando formar Inca Roca me acompañaran. Quisiera hace aquí un juramento. - ¿Un juramento? Estás alterado, hijo. Vamos a la catedral. Aqui hay mucha oscuridad. Me besó en la frente. Sus manos temblaban, pero tenían calor’.(2) This quotation shows that Ernesto’s father was aware of his son’s confusion. It is also clear that the architecture of the city made an impression on the youn Ernesto which can be inferred from his description of Inca Roca’s Palace and when he states: “La construcción colonial, suspendida sobre la muralla, tenía la apariencia de un segundo piso. Me había olvidado de ella. En la calle angosta, la pared española, blanqueada, no parecía servir sino para dar luz al muro’. (3). In this passage it seems to be clear that the Indian wall, el muro, was given more importance, in the narration, than the Spanish wall. The Spaniards used the Indian architectural base in order to build their own buildings. The Cathedral in Cusco is another similar example of the secondary function of white culture in the Indian universe. The following paragraph (p.11) expresses in full the great impression caused by the Inca buildings on Ernesto. ‘Eran más grandes y extrañas de cuanto había imaginado las piedras del muro incaico; bullían bajo el segundo piso encalado que por el lado de la calle angosta era ciego. Me acordé, entonces, de las canciones quechuas que repiten una frase patética constante, río de sangre, agua sangrienta, lago de sangre que hierve, lágrimas de sangre. Acaso podía decirse, piedra de sangre o piedra de sangre hirviente? Era estático el muro, pero hervía por todas sus lineas y la superficie era cambiante, como la de los ríos en el verano, que tienen una cima así, hacía el centro del caudal, que es la zona terrible, la más poderosa. Los indios llaman al tiempo violento de las danzas guerreras, al momento en que los bailarines luchan. Puk-tik, yawar rumi! –exclamé frente al muro, en voz alta. Yo como la calle seguía en silencio repetí la frase varias veces. El viejo, his relative had a different concept of the Indian. In page 23 el viejo states about Indian buildings the following: '–Inca Roca lo edificó. Muestra el caos de los gentiles de las mentes primitivas'. El viejo did not understand the soul of the Indian. El pongo who served his house gave signs of social fatality and when disputing this state of affairs with his father Ernesto asks why this situation was permited by the Inca, the father responds: los incas están muertos. This is the central intrigue of the novel, namely, the past reality and Ernesto’s memory which develops during the narration. El Zumbayllu is a story included by Arguedas in “Los ríos profundos”. Chapter 6 contains a passage in which the narrator expresses his concern with the Spanish audience’s understanding of the work. The narrator is interested not just in a semantic communication with his audience but he would like to provide the reader with the language’s spiritual content. The text contains a conscious attempt by the author to present Quechua culture to the reader, seen as an outsider. An instance of this is the following linguistic commentary: ‘La terminación Quechua yllu es una onamátopeya. Yllu representa en una de sus formas la música que producen las pequeñas alas en vuelo; música que surge del movimiento de objetos leves. Esta voz tiene semejanza con otra más vasta: illa. Illa nombra a cierta especie de luz y a los monstrous que nacieron heridos por los rayos de la luna. Illa es un niño de dos cabezas o un becerro decapitado; o un peñasco gigante, todo negro y lucido, cuya superficie apareciera cruzada por una vena ancha de roca blanca, de opaca luz; es también illa una mazorca cuyas hileras de maiz se entrecruzan o forman remolinos; son illas los toros míticos que haían al fondo de los lagos solitarios, de las altas lagunas rodeadas de totora, pbladas de patos negros. Todas las illas, causan el bien o el mal,pero siempre en el grado sumo. Tocar una illa, y morir o alcanzar la resurrección, es posible. Esta voz illa tiene parentesco fonético y una cierta comunidad de sentido con la terminación yllu’, (5) The same concern for cultural explanation is found in the narrator’s description of the making of the Indian flutes:’pinkuyllu, mamak’. The use of these instruments has functions which can only be understood by being aware of the Indian cultural scale of values, their emotions. : ‘Pinfuyillu es el nombre de la quena gigante que tocan los indios del sur durante las fiestas comunales. El pinkuyllu no se toca jamás en las fiestas de los hogares. Es un instrumento épico. No lo fabrican de caña común ni de carrizo, ni siquiera de mamak’, caña extraordinaria y dos veces más larga que la caña brava. El hueco del mamak’ es oscuro y profundo. En las regiones donde no existe el huaranhuay los indios fabrican inkuyllus menores de mamak’, pero no se atreven a dar al instrumento el nombre de pinkuyllu, le llaman simplemente mama’k, para diferenciarlo de la quena familiar. Mamak’ quiere decir la madre, la germinadora, la que da origen; es un nombre mágico. Pero no hay caña natural que pueda servir de materia para un pinkuylly; el hombre tiene que fabricarlo por sí mismo. Construye un mamak’ más profundo y grave; como no nace ni aun en la selva. Una gran curva extrae el corazón de las ramas del huarahuay, luego lo curva al sol y lo ajusta con los nervios de toro. No es posible ver directamente la luz que entra por el hueco del extremo inferior del madero vacío, solo se distingue una penumbra que brota de la curva, un blanco resplandor, como el del horizonte en que ha caido el sol’. (6). In the last passage we can appreciate the narrator’s intention to provide maximum representation to Indian cultural details. He goes on to describe the Indian’s behaviour when playing the musical instruments: the pinkuyllu and the wak’rapuku are used only to play epic songs and to accompany dances in which the drunken Indians sing old war songs and while some play the songs others beat themselves up blindly, bleed and then cry near the shadows of the high mountains, near the abysses, or in front of the frozen lakes, and the steppe. During religious celebrations those instruments were not played. But they were played during ceremonies to appoint communal authorities; during the ferocious fights performed by the young during carnival days or while branding of the cattle or, during bullfighting. (“Los ríos profundos”, p. 74, 75). In the same paragraph just mentioned the narrator shows us signs of western cultural integration such as bullfighting and cattle branding. For some the intentional wounding of the bull is more ‘morally’ unacceptable than the Indians self-imposed flagellation during their epic dances. It is true that bullfighting has been embraces bye the Indians. However we should notice that in many regions the Indians do not sacrifice the animal. The branding of cattle was also unknown during the Indian past. In the Indian music we can see a ‘Hispanic’ influence in the wak’rapuku which is a flute made out of a bull’s horn. The metal mouthpiece added to this instrument is of Hispanic origen. The narrator provides this information when he states: ‘El wak’rapuku es una corneta hecha de cuernos de toro, de los cueros más gruesos y torcidos. Le ponen la boquilla de plata o de bronce’ (7) Arguedas Cultural Mestizaje, and his conscious awareness of it, was clearly compelling in the mind of Arguedas. He wrote about his awareness of living in a divided world. To Arguedas mestizaje is a division, an accident, an unavoidable cultural encounter which needs to be handle with fearlessness and tolerance. Antonio Cornejo Polar, is his book “Los uiversos narrativos de José María Arguedas”, has written that in “Yawar fiesta” and, less clear, en “Los ríos profundos” the oposition is between the Andean world and the Costeñan world, the Indian world against the white elements of the cities. Cornejo Polar interprets this division as originating from their unequal cultural and socio-economic substance. ‘Se trata de una de las obsesiones que impregnan dolorosamente la actitud de Arguedas: la conciencia de vivir en un país dividido. (8) This is obvious when we compare Ernesto’s recollection of his early life with the description of his life in the catholic school. The first, the Indian communal world, is described differently: the westernised city is full of individual vices, personal ambition, greed. ‘It is a place where people kill each other in an absurd battle for wealth and power’. The following passage from the school, a white man’s institution, can provide us with a glimpse of the school’s spirit: “E Padre Director empezaba suavemente sus prédicas. Elogiaba a la virgen con palabras conmovedoras; su voz era armoniosa y delgada, pero se exaltaba pronto. Odiaba a Chile y encontraba siempre la forma de pasar de los temas religosos hacía el loor de la patria y de sus héroes. Predicaba la futura guerra contra los chilenos. Llamaba a los jovenes y a los niños para que se prepararan y no se olvidaran nunca que su más grande deber era alcanzar el desquite. Elogiaba a los hacendados; decía que ellos eran el fundamento de la patria, los pilares que sostenían su riqueza. Se refería a la religiosidad de los señores, al cuidado con que conservaban las capillas de las haciendas y a la obligación que imponían entre los indios de confesarse, de comulgar, de casarse y vivir en paz, en el trabajo humilde. Luego bajaba nuevamente la voz y narraba algún pasaje del calvario. Despueés de la misa, las autoridades y los hacendados lo esperaban en la puerta de la iglesia: lo rodeaban y lo acompañaban hasta el colegio’. (9). In contrast with our last quotation we can refer to one which, instead of hate or revenge, delivers feelings of love. It is a passage concerning the Indians: ‘Huyendo de parientes crueles pedí misericordia a un ayllu que sembraba maíz en la más pequeña y alegre quebrada que he conocido. Espinos de flores ardientes y el canto de las torcazas iluminaban los maizales. Los jefes de la familia ylas señoras, mamakunas de la comunidad, me protegieron y me infundieron la impagable ternura en que vivo’. (10). The conflict between the Indian and the Western cultures can be seen in the following passage. A student of Indian extraction expresses disagreeable feelings towards the educational institution. ‘El interno más humilde y uno de los más pequeños era Palacios. Había venido de una aldea de la cordillera. Leía penosamente y no entendía bien castellano. Era el único alumno del Colegio que procedía de un ayllu de indios. Su humildad se debía a su origen y a su torpeza. Varios alumnos pretendimos ayudarlo a estudiar, inutilmente; no lograba comprender y permanecía extraño, irremediablemente alejado del ambiente del colegio, de cuanto explicaban los profesores y del contenido de los libros. Estaba condenado a la tortura del internado y de las clases. Sin embargo, su padre insistía en mantenerlo en el Colegio, con tenacidad invencible. Era un hombre alto, vestido con traje de mestizo. Usaba corbata y polaínas. Visitaba a su hijo todos los meses. Se quedaba con él en la sala de recibo, y le oíamos vociferar encolerizado. Hablaba en castellano, pero cuando se irritaba, perdía la serenidad e insultaba en quechua a su hijo. Palacios se quejaba, imploraba a su padre que sacara del internado’. (11). The last quotation reflects clearly the dilemma experiences by Arguedas from his childhood: the dilemma of the mestizaje shown in forms or racial ambiguity like attitude of Palacio’s father, a cholo, who spoke in Spanish when he was calm but in Quechua, the Indian language when he was angry. This phenomenon can be observed in many passages of the book. Ernesto, an autobiographic character, shows many signs of this racial ambiguity, to which I will refer later. Julio Ortega said the following about Arguedas:‘El personaje de sus cuentos <>, derivaba constantemente en esta ambiguedad racial, que es una lucha solitaria entre la configuración afectivamente indígena y las urgencias de la conciencia’ (12). Mestizaje is present also in other passages, for instance, the narrator states that Antero, the second year student, the owner of the zumbayllus, has blonde hair in (p.77) but he also states after, in (p,80), that Antero’s hair roots were black. Ernesto’s father, we ought to remember, had blue eyes. And if Antero, the Markaska, had a preference it was for dark skinned girls: ‘De lejos y de cerca he mirado a todas las chicas. Y ella es la reina. Se llama Salvinia. Esta en el Colegio de las Mercedes. Vive en la Avenida de Condebamba, cerca del hospital. Tiene ojos chiquitos y negros. El cerquillo le tapa la frente. Es bien morena, casi negra’. (13). Ernesto’s taste for girls is quite different on p. 68 when he remembers his dream girl, he asserts his preference for a thin girl, small and blue eyed: ‘debía ser delgada y pequeña, de ojos azules, y de trenzas’. (14). However, if the latter is an ambiguous racial attraction, when we deal with the problem of race and power we find in ‘Los ríos profundos’ very clearly who posses power. We see the powerless condition of the servant pongo, semi-clothed, Quecha speaking, which is different from that of the mestizo. Both individuals were ‘employed’ bye ‘el viejo’ but their deprivation was set by their degree of transculturisation. The mestizo, western clothed, with better command of Spanish, is found higher in the social pyrammid. The social relations attained by the pongo, for instance, are quite different from the ones enjoyed by Antero. Ernesto is aware of this fact when he states: ‘Hasta aquella mañana de los zumbayllus, Antero había sido notable únicamente por el extraño color de sus cabellos y por sus grandes lunares negros. El apodo lo singularizópero le quito toda la importancia a la rareza de su rostro <>, me dijeron cuando pregunté por él. Era mayor que yo y estudiaba en el segundo grado de media; me adelantaba en dos grados. En su clase no se distinguía ni por excelente ni por tardo. No tenía amigos íntimos y era discreto. Sin embargo, algún poder tenía, alguna autoridad innata, cuando sus compañeros no lo convirtieron en “punto” de la clase,es decir, en el hazmereir, en el manso, o el raro, el predilecto de las bromas. A el solo le pusieron un apodo que no lo repetían ni con exceso ni en son de burla’. (15). The division of classes is also shown in the fact that Antero, like ‘el viejo’, or Salvinia have Indian servants. This is clear whe Antero states: -No. Toavía no. Pero con su sirvienta le he mandado decir. Su sirvienta es de mi pueblo. (p.81). In the School the social classes are manifested by a combination of racial, ethnic and economic factors. The hermano Miguel, a black clergiman, is found at the bottom of the clerical hierarchy. Palacios, the Indian pupil, is also the humblest of his peers. However, Palacitos presence in the School is due to his father’s economic position. La opa, the mad woman, was Indian. The School servants are also of Indian extraction.. In chapter 11, entitled ‘Los Colonos’, we can appreciate that Gerardo and Pablo, sons of the military commander of the town, aare shown with different social characteristics. They are presented as icons of city life. In the following paragraph the preponderance of the criollos over the Indian or rural peoples is described: ‘Pablo, el hermano de Gerardo, se hizo amigo de Valle. Él también cultivaba la erudicción y la elegancia. Conquistó, además, , a un Martel, a un Garmendia, y a un joven delgado y pálido, de apellido extranjero, que tampoco se mezclaba con la plebe. Cuidaban de su ropa y no iban al campo de tierra. Subían durante los recreos al corredor alto. El Padre Director los toleraba. Ocuparon también la parte del corredor que daba al salón privado del Director, sobre la boveda de entrada al colegio. El Padre no los echo de allí. Reunidos en ese lugar privado, limpios, con los puños de la camisa almidonados, sus corbatas de seda bien cuidadas, y el k’ompo de Valle que se hizo cotidiano, ese grupo de alumnos que daba la impresión de gente empingorotada que estuviera de visita en el Colegio’. (16) The dichotomy city-countryside or criollo-Indian, is not as clear as in other novels by Arguedas, however, awareness of the ethnic and cultural complexities alluded to in ‘Los ríos profundos’ would allow to perceive this very present reality. The arrival of the costeños in Abancay seems to make clearer the distinction between both racial groups. Gerardo seems to have succeeded in influencing his peers: - Romero también se dejaba guiar por él. - No hay discusión –decía-. En la costa saben más que nosotros tienen más adelanto en todo.. Dejó tocar su rondín varias noches. Lo sentí preocupado. Yo lo seguía. Palacitos estaba deslumbrado por sus nuevos descubrimientos. - No puedo tocar. No hay ánimo –me dijo Romero, cierta noche. - Sin ti no habría equipo, de nada. Yo no conoces sino Andahuaylas y Abancay, y el camino –le dije. - Así que tu crees que en la costa no hay más adelanto? - Si, creo que hay más adelanto. Pero, ¿Quién te gana a ti en salto largo? ¿Quién te pasa en la defensa? ¿Te pasa Gerardo? ¿No he visto cómo le haces hociquear en el campo y la bola queda a tus pies? Romero era ingenuo, alto, fuerte, creyente. Tocó huaynos en seguida, esa noche. - ¿Casi te averguenzas del huayno, no? –le pregunté. - ¿Será eso? –dijo. (p.219) In the following paragraph, Romero explains what he feels about Gerardo’s influence. He asserts that Gerardo, the city boy, does not understand Quechua, the Indian language, and that the looks down on him when he speaks Quechua. ‘Ese Gerardo le habla a uno, lo hace hacer a uno otras cosas. No es que se harte uno del huayno. Pero él no entiende quechua; no se si me desprecia cuando me oye hablar quechua con los otros. Pero no entiende, y se queda mirando, creo como si uno fuera llama’. (p.220). The Church also has a role in the Hispanic-Indian dichotomy of Arguedas work. In “Los ríos profundos” the priests message for the Indian is distinctive and contradictory to the one delivered to the landlords. The Church helps to consolidate power in the handas of the wealthy. This is obvious in the following: ‘…¡Aquí hemos venido a llorar, a padecer, a sufrir, a que las espinas nos atraviesen el corazón como a Nuestra Señora! ¿Quién padeció más que ella?. (17). Undoutedly it was a message looking for the resignation of the Indian to their miserable existence and the preservation of the white, criollo, landord as empowered class. In 1968 an anti-imperialist government led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado promulgated agrarian reform in Peru. I 1969 José María Arguedas committed suicide inside a classroom of the University of San Marcos in Lima where he was a senior lecturer. I agree with Sara Castro Klaren (18) when she asserts that Argueda’s literature is neither indianist nor indigenist, neither regionalist nor ‘novela de la tierra’, neither it is a protest novel. What Arguedas does is to synthesised all those currents with the aim of offering an inner vision of a national world which until then was unexplored. Arguedas, through a realist narrative, draws refined memories of life in the Andean region of Peru, the focus of historical confrontation between Western and indigenous cultures.

References

(1) “Los ríos profundos”, p.8, Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 1994
(2) Idem, p.13.
(3) Idem, p.12.
(4) Idem, p.35.
(5) Idem, p.72.
(6) Idem, p.73.
(7) Idem, p.73.
(8) Cornejo Polar, Antonio. “ Los universos narrativos de JMA” , p.17, Losada, Buenos Aires, 1973.
(9) “Los ríos profundos”, pp.49, 50.
(10) Idem, p.48
(11) Idem, p.60.
(12) Ortega,Julio,Introducción to Los ríos profundos,Oxford, Pergamon Press,1973.
(13) “Los ríos profundos”, p.81.
(14) Idem, p.68.
(15) Idem, p.80.
(16) Idem, p.128.
(17) Idem, p.124.
(18) Castro Klaren, Sara, “El mundo mágico de JMA”, p.17, IEP, Lima, 1973.

Uchuraccay: Carta a Pedro

Jorge Aliaga Cacho

Por Jorge Aliaga Cacho

Esta nota acerca de la masacre ocurrida en Uchuraccay, el 26 de enero de 1983 fue escrita en Edimburgo, la capital de Escocia, y se publicó, en el "Morning Star", diario de la Gran Bretaña, a pocas horas de conocerse la tragedia ocurrida a nuestros hermanos periodistas en Ayacucho. La nota también fue publicada por el semanario británico "Fight Racism Fight Imperialism". Ambas notas fueron publicadas en inglés y se difundieron rápidamente ayudando a incluir la noticia en varios titulares periodísticos alrededor del mundo. Mientras, en el Perú, como lo ha manifestado Alfredo Pita, la intelectualidad callaba.

Carta a Pedro

Pedro, camarada, tú no has muerto. Ayer recibí “El diario” del Perú y, al leerlo, me enteré, de golpe, acerca de tu desaparición; se me desgarró el alma. Estabas en primera plana y el titular decía: “Ayacucho: Asesinan 8 periodistas”. En la página siguiente estaba el artículo que informaba de tu muerte, junto a la de otros periodistas, cuando trataban de llegar a las localidades de Iquicha y Uchuraccay, en la provincia de Huanta, en los andes peruanos y; en su intento de verificar informaciones, proporcionadas por la policía, que declaraban que habitantes de esa zona habían dado muerte a numerosos miembros del grupo armado llamado ‘Sendero Luminoso’.

Para llegar al lugar, y luego de un largo viaje en ómnibus desde Lima, empezaste una cabalgata de ocho horas junto a tus demás compañeros; por indagar la verdad y por cumplir con su profesión fueron brutalmente asesinados. Para ti, al igual que para todos tus colegas, sus cámaras fotográficas fueron sus únicas armas de combate, sin embargo, los asesinos no tuvieron compasión y todos ustedes fueron masacrados. Cumplir en el Perú la misión de informar, Pedro, ahora cuesta la vida.

Hay contrdictorias versiones acerca de los sucesos, unos dicen; que ustedes fueron asesinados por la policía, y otros; que fueron campesinos quienes lo hicieron. Pero tú sabías, Pedro, que la policía muchas veces se disfraza de campesino para asesinar.

Tu cámara fotográfica la tomarán otras manos, Pedro, y en tu nombre imprimirán placas de imagen verdadera. Recuerdo cuando solíamos encontrarnos en los mítines de la clase obrera en Lima. Tú, siempre con tu cámara, disparando clicks durante las manifestaciones populares y al percatarte de mí, tímidamente sonreías, esas sonrisas eran de tu alma, Pedro. Camarada, tú no has muerto, vives en la poca pero exquisita sonrisa del niño peruano, en las crecientes luchas de nuestro pueblo y en el espíritu del partido. ¡Vamos! Disparen sus cámaras, reporteros del mundo, Dejen conocer que en el Perú, se violan los más elementales derechos de la condición humana, se asesinan campesinos, se vejan a mujeres y niños, y se castiga brutalmente a los parlamentarios de izquierda. Disparen con sus plumas y con sus cámaras: Pedro Sánchez, Eduardo de la Piniella, Felix Gavilán, Jorge Mendívil, Willy Retto, Jorge Sedano, Amador García y Octavio Infante han sido asesinados.

Jorge Aliaga Cacho, Edimburgo, enero 1983.

DEL NEVADO - AWATIÑAS

Banda boliviana, grandes amigos, que se presentaran en JANANTI, Edimburgo, Escocia.

Mariátegui and the Development of Indigenista Literature in Peru.

Sandro Mariátegui Chiappe, hijo del Amauta, escucha atentamente a Jorge Aliaga Cacho.

 

By Jorge Aliaga Cacho

My first point when dealing with the topic of Mariátegui’s influence on the development of an indigenista literature in Peru is that during Mariategui’s time there existed a plethora of options to express the literary forms of Andean literature in Peru. The collection of indigenista publications available at the time certainly suggests the existence of an effervescent confrontation among Peruvian intellectuals in relation to their consideration of indigenismo. Evidently, each discourse, each line of thought, each interpretation, represented the traditions and philosophies which they professed. These writers set the scene for an eclectic and diverse ideological debate embraced by distinct sectors of Peruvian society.

Intellectuals like José de la Rivaguero and Victor Andrés Belaúnde, jointly with the Peruvian state, represented the dominant classes in Peru. Luís E.Valcarcel represented the populist feelings embraced by a considerable number of writers at the time, and José Carlos Mariátegui and the group Kuntur of Cusco represented the new Marxist ideas which started to enter the ideological field of Peru in the twenties notably with the publication of Mariátegui’s “Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana”, in 1928. Therefore we can assert that Indigenismo represented from its origin the opportunity of a pluralist approach which I consider can be summarised in three stands: Indigenismo of the Peruvian state, populist indigenismo, and socialist indigenismo. I will construct my arguments following the path of Mariátegui: socialist indigenismo. I will try to discover how Mariátegui’s socialism affected the view of Indigenista literature in Peru. I will also consider the other distinct views which have contributed to the development of the debate. Like Mariátegui a partisan convinced and confessed Marxist, I will look at their contradictions and by mirroring them in the realm of society, I will attempt to evaluate the influence of Mariátegui in the development of the Indigenita genre.

I have considered it important to start our study by sketching the oral literary practices of Pre-Columbian Peru. Mariátegui argued that the literature of the Spaniards in colonial Peru is not Peruvian but Spanish. I will, therefore, assess some Inca oral traditions which according to many forms part of the literary tradition of Peru before the Spaniards arrived. I will also look at the work carried out by the Indian chroniclers Garcilaso de la Vega and Guamán Poma de Ayala whom I consider, in different degrees, expressed the beginning of a literary mestizaje.

Mariátegui held the view that literary production in Peru during the colonial period was not Peruvian. This was not, according to Mariátegui because this literature was written in Spanish but because it had been created with Spanish feelings and Spanish soul. I will deal with the literary expressions of Colonial Peru, the influence of Góngora, and in particular with the work of Mariano Melgar to whom Mariátegui refers as the first Peruvian literary expression.

Mariátegui’s views on the problem of the Indian were distinctive. He proposed the abolition of big states, the protection, and promotion of the collective land tenancy. Mariátegui argued distinctively for the elimination of feudal features in agrarian relations. Mariátegui studied the Indian communities and found in the Ayllu Quechua the substance of ‘Inca comunismo’. Mariátegui’s arguments were taken as irreverent by the mos hesitant representatives of Hispanic-American marxism and generated a heated polemic at the time. However, Mariategui’s ideas, as we will see, did not represent a ‘complete utopia’. Mariátegui envisaged the preservation of the best traditions of the Inca past but enriched with the contributions of modern socialism and Marxist praxis. Nevertheless, I recognize some exaggeration in Mariátegui’s idealized view of pre-Columbian Peru.

I will examine the polemic which Mariátegui sustained with Luis Alberto Sánchez. Sánchez, as a member of APRA, brought to the debate the ideological temperament proposed by Antenor Orrego and Haya de la Torre, foremost figures of APRA. I will focus in APRA’s view’s of the Indian, Luis Alberto Sánchez’s view, to create the anti-thesis of Mariátegui’s paper on the problem of the races which Mariátegui sent to be discussed at the First International Conference of Latin American Communists celebrated in Buenos Aires in 1929.

Mariátegui argued that: ‘el dualismo quechua-español del Perú, no resuelto aún, hace de la literatura nacional un caso de excepción que no es posible estudiar con el método valido para las literaturas orgánicamente nacionales, nacidas y crecidas sin la intervención de una conquista. Nuestro caso es diverso del de aquellos pueblos de América, donde la misma dualidad no existe, o existe en términos inocuos. La individualidad de la literatura Argentina, por ejemplo, está en estricto acuerdo con una definición vigorosa de la personalidad nacional (“Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana”, p.236). Analogously I will argue that the Indian in Argentina, and particularly in its literature, displays the most bland representation of native Americans in the literary tradition of the American continent.

I will interpret Mariátegui’s view of the futuristas, Clorinda Mattos de Turner, and the Colonidas. These pre-Indigenista literary traditions were also interpreted by Victor Andrés Belaúnde in his book “La realidad nacional” published in November 1930, in Paris, two years after the publication of “Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana” and a few months after Mariátegui’s death. Victor Andrés Belaúnde in his book, “La realidad nacional”, an immediate replica of Mariátegui’s “Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana”. In fact the work was partially published between 1929 and 1930 in the magazine “Mercurio Peruano”. I will compare both writers discourse of some aspects of the literary development and particularly their assessment of the pre-indigenista tradition in Peruvian literature.

The fine quality of the polemic sustained between Mariátegui and Belaúnde, as much as the shared respect for each other's arguments, stimulates the examination and comparison of some sensitive aspects of their discord.

Victor Andrés Belaúnde wrote:

“La distancia ideológica que me separa del autor –toda la que media entre el cristiaismo integral y el socialismo integral- y con la evidente injusticia con que trata a la generación a la que pertenezco, imponen de mi parte, al estudiar sus Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana, un deber de mayor imparcialidad. Deber fácil en este caso. Tengo el espíritu abierto a la admiración, y la despiertan sinceramente el talento y la obra de Mariátegui”. (Belaúnde, Victor Andrés, “La realidad peruana”, p.1).

Mariátegui on his part wrote:

“Declaro sin escrúpulos que traigo a la exégesis literaria todas mis pasiones o ideas políticas aunque dado el descrédito y degeneración de este vocablo en el lenguaje corriente, debo agregar que la política en mi es filosofía y religión’. Explaininig further his position Mariátegui continued: ‘Pero esto no quiere decir que considere el fenómeno literario o artístico desde el punto de vista extra-estético, sino mi concepción estética es unimisma en la intimidad de mi conciencia con mis concepciones morales, políticas y religiosas, y que, sin dejar de ser concepción estrictamente estética, no puede operar independientemente o diversamente’.

José de la Riva Aguero (1885-1944) on his part had a strikingly different view of the Indian. His view assumed a Hispanic stand and his articles in “Mercurio Peruano” and I “Universidad” clearly defended colonialism. His “La Historia del Perú” is filled with statements that denigrate the character of the Indian, who in his view is degenerate being, and accordingly endowed with inferior psychology, used to domination. For Riva Aguero, unlike Mariátegui, the national being was to be found in the aspiration to develop a European civilization inherited from Spain. Riva Aguero thought that the ‘regeneration’ or ‘redemption’ of the Indian implied their assimilation by the Hispanic culture and Hispanic traditions found at the heart of colonialism. Riva Aguero, like Sarmiento in Argentina, proposed as a solution to white immigration. His prescription was also mestizaje and an educative civilizing action on the part of the catholic church in favor of the Indian. Riva Aguero was mainly influenced by Michelet, Taine and positivism, Uruguayan Rodo, and his readings of Plato. The novecentists engaged the roots of history as well as the techniques and conduct of positivism, modified by a return to idealist elements. The novecentists were also familiar with classical literature and classical history. Riva Aguero an admirer of Tito Livio and the 19th century, social critic, Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo. The short story writer Ventura García Calderón (1886-1959) shared with Riva Aguero an interest in awarding to the ruling class the right to ‘civilize’ the country and ‘solve’ the problems of the nation. García Calderón and Riva Aguero were aristocrats and as such both justified a regime of servile exploitation based on the following assumptions: ‘racial inferiority’ and the ‘inferior, ignorant and primitive character’ of the Indian population. García Calderón’s literary characters lacked a distinguishing national character, but the actions and geography depicted our reality. Some opine that García Calderón’s work, at the beginning of the century, is a response to a moment of transition in Peruvian prose whose evolution García Calderón reviewed in his book ‘Del romanticismo al modernismo’.

After drawing an assessment of both approaches, I will try to establish fresh evidence to prove my hypothesis that Mariategui’s influence on the development of indigenismo is of vital importance. I will examine works by the new generation of indigenistas such as José María Arguedas, Ciro Alegría, Eleodoro Vargas Vicuña, and Martin Adán, trying to extract the indigenista features of their work. In particular, I will focus on “Los ríos profundos’, one of the most important novels of the indigenista genre written by Arguedas in 1961.

To conclude, I will provide an overview of other works of an indigenista nature, among them an unedited poem written by Eleodoro Vargas Vicuña, and presented to the author of this dissertation, in the year 1980, ‘una noche de luna’ as the poet would say. Finally, I will try to find some points of convergence between some of the participants in the First Congress of Narrators of 1965 and José Carlos Mariátegui.

(JAC, Edinburgh 1996)

The Nature of the Scottish Political System

Jorge Aliaga Cacho en Escocia.

This essay was written before the referendum held in 1997, in which the Scottish electorate voted for devolution, the powers of the devolved legislature. The Scottish Parliament has at present the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.

The Nature of the Scottish Political System

By Jorge Aliaga Cacho 

William the Conqueror realized that geography made a conquest of Scotland impossible. A show of strength, however, would help put the Scottish King in his place. In 1072, William took an army and navy to the firth of tay, and Abenethy Malcolm III became the English King’s ‘man’. To make sure of peace Malcolm’s eldest son was taken off to be brought up in England”.

I thought it would be useful to start this discussion reflecting upon Tom Steel’s assertion quoted above: it shows us Scotland, historically, in a position of political dispute with its English counterpart. The nature of the Scottish political system therefore did not originate in 1707 with the Act of Union, but is based on traditions, structures of power and cultural values which already existed before the time of William the Conqueror.

Professor J.G.Kellas in his book “The Scottish Political System” argues that the Act of Union of 1707 tried to divide the field of action of ‘British’ and Scottish Law and he also recognises the historical influence of the ‘Royal Burghs’ in the present structure of local authorities. The singular position of Scotland in relation to the United Kingdom as a whole and its differences with Wales, Northern Ireland and indeed England, is based on historical grounds which brought into existence political and social institutions which survive to the present day.

During David I’s reign Scotland attempted to achieve a national system of justice and administration. The most powerful instrument the king had by his side was the church. Church and State in feudal Scotland were indivisible. The nature of the Scottish political system is fed by the inheritance received from its past. Kellas asserts that: ‘the legal system of Scotland is one of the strongest clues to the existence of the Scottish political system’, (p.3). If we accept this argument as valid then the historical background with which we introduced this essay is, in my view, also valid, and of vital significance, to the topic under discussion. Furthermore, I would say that politics in Scotland are related to the development of its culture and more particularly its political culture. Scotland does not possess a government or a Parliament of its own. However, it has a significant number of political and social institutions and, more importantly, I think, Scotland possesses a strong feeling for its constitutional, probably, ‘political’ role. 

The ‘fundamental law’ joining Scotland and England is The Act of Union of 1707. Ironically, this takeover did not affect the institutions which we can say made Scotland owner of its own identity. I refer to the Scottish legal system, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Scottish educational system, and the ‘Royal Burghs’ (local authorities). These powerful institutions are the ones which inherited the Scottish past experience and in Kellas’ own words: ‘became transmitters of Scottish national identity from one generation to the next’, (page 2). At the beginning there was a Secretary of State for Scotland in the government. Later, in 1746 this position was dropped leaving the chief Scottish law officer, the Lord Advocate, as the main representative in the executive for Scottish affairs. Later in 1885 the Scottish office was created due to the development of Scottish administrative boards and also because of the rising of national feeling. The Scottish Secretary was to become a permanent member of the Cabinet. The fact that Scotland has a separate legal system required a separate legislation for Scotland. Therefore, the people from Scotland have many laws which are exclusive to Scotland, and the law courts are different from the rest of Britain, with the only exception that in civil cases the final court of appeal is the House of Lords in its judicial capacity. However, Scottish courts decide all other cases whether under Scots law or ‘British’ law. The Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland are the representatives of the Scottish legal system in government, but the Lord Advocate is not the same as the Lord Chancellor in England and Wales: the difference is that Scotland has its own qualifications and traditions to appoint the Head of the Scottish judiciary which is recruited separately from that of England. The position in Scotland is held by the Lord President of the Court of Session (the supreme Scottish court).

Apart from its own institutions in the executive, legislative, and judicial spheres of government, Scotland also has a number of party organisations, pressure groups, and advisory bodies. It is true that, since the introduction of the Act of Union, political institutions in Scotland were not encouraged. However, it is also true that the Scottish MPs were to be, but not in proportion to population, members of the House of Commons and most of them are primarily interested in issues affecting Scotland. The commitment of the Scottish MPs to the solutions of the problems affecting its constituencies led to the creation of the Scottish Grand Committee (1984) in order to deal with the Scottish Bills. Today there are several Scottish committees of the House and during each year a number of Scottish Bills are passed in Parliament. 

Having mentioned these peculiarities and differences in Scotland now the question rises: are these peculiarities and differences elements of a Scottish political system or a political sub-system? Kellas argues that: ‘it can be said that any territorial local authority was a sub-system of the central authority. Since Scotland is not a local authority in British terms, it would have to be a super-sub-system or territorial type’. For Kellas the concept of system is more appropriate, having in consideration the scale and nature of the phenomena in Scottish politics. However, political scientists like Keating and Midwinter consider that: ‘it is doubtful whether Scotland can be considered a political system when the main Scottish political institutions are UK institutions and authority and power are still retained and concentrated at Westminster and Whitehall’. Kellas believes that only devolution would provide Scotland with a political system in this sense, and even then it would still be the case that ultimate power was retained in London.

I consider that there is a need to look at the Scottish political system in a more direct way. If we imagine all the elements of its structure and then consider their functions in isolation we could generate a better picture. 

Talcott Parsons writes: ‘When the system and its units are looked at ‘statically’, i.e. as objects in abstraction from the processes going on within the system, then these norms define the qualities of the object and the sub-objects or ‘parts’ of which it is composed’. (“Essays in Sociological Theory”, p.397) . My own view is that the sub-system term is not the most appropriate to define the Scottish phenomena. However, it is my point of view that we should not overestimate the role of the Scottish political system or indeed the ‘British’ one in relation to the European Parliament. If we do not accept the existence of a Scottish political system in its own right we could, using the same arguments, state that the ‘British’ political system does not exist in relation to the European Parliament. National parliaments usually possess three main powers: the first one, to dismiss the government; the second one to grant or withhold supply: i.e., vote the budget; and thirdly; to participate in law-making. Despite the fact that there is no Community government, the European Parliament has, in some measure, the three main powers mentioned above. The possibility that small nations may find a new role in a more integrated Europe has created a new confidence in Scotland’s aspiration for self-determination. 

This new energy for self-government is no longer only about 1970s-style devolution, but support for ‘independence’ is increasing across the board including in the ranks of the Conservatives, half, support either devolution or independence and despite the Conservative Party’s opposition to Home Rule. Among the Labour party supporters 36% back ‘independence’; and in the SNP the percentage of support is bigger (55%), and 60% of Alliance supporters back devolution. (1987, MORI). In general the opinion poll support for ‘independence’ runs around 35% and between 18 and 25 year-olds it is closer to 50%. This new reality has found expression in the Scottish Constitutional Convention which represents 80% of the Scottish people through their institutions and organisations. ‘The Constitutional Convention has created the basis for new relationship between political parties, including the Labour Party, The Democrats, the Communist Party, the SNP and a broad movement in society, including the churches’. (Manifesto for New Times 1990 – “Marxism Today”). 

Devolution for Scotland, in my view, would have a deep effect on the Status Quo, changing the nature of the political system of Britain. England itself could aspire its own devolution and questions like how is it that Scots have the right to vote in English Parliament and not the English in the Scottish one?, or how is England going to reconcile the English Parliament –if achieved- with- that of the United Kingdom. Other change under devolution would be the end of ‘imposition policies’ for Scotland like the poll tax, school boards, Health Service, housing, etc. The Scottish Parliament would have the authority to consider these policies. Under devolution a Scottish Parliament would also have to consider an increase in revenue or a reduction in spending to end the subsidy to Scotland on devolved services from the UK which at present stands at 30% per head higher in Scotland than in England. The continuation of this subsidy could create resentment on the part of England. 

For the Scottish Constitutional Convention devolution will deliver a directly elected Scottish Parliament with a UK Parliament covering UK concerns. A Scottish Parliament whose powers would guarantee by law, and could only be altered with the consent of The Scottish Parliament, not by Westminster alone. Devolution would provide for Scotland’s Government the right to be represented in UK ministerial delegations to the Council of Europe; a Parliament which would recognise the unique Character of the Scottish islands and its Councils. The financial aspect of the Scottish Parliament would seek financial powers and flexibility, power to vary income tax rates within clearly defined limits and it would be assigned all Scottish income tax and VAT. In the economic and social aspect Scotland’s Parliament would also seek powers including: National Health Service, Social Security and Welfare, education –including universities-, vocational training, land use and planning, housing, industrial development, tourism, environmental conservation, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, electricity generation, legal system, transport, highways, Police and Fire Service, water, etc. 

‘Independence in Europe’, on the other hand, proposes that Scotland could aspire to ‘independence’ in the European Community and also the possibility of becoming a state. These factors could give Scotland the chance to become better off –or worse off- economically and socially, I would suggest the first option, would be more likely. Independence in Europe’ (SNP) or ‘independence outside Europe’ (Green Party) or indeed other options, its income, spending and welfare would determine its progress and its oil revenues could even made Scotland richer but this could endanger its relations with England when trying to secure such revenue. ‘Independence in Europe’ could, also, bring the reorganisation of political and social institutions according to the new political geography. 

With the federal system Scotland would differ from the devolutionist one by its attack on central sovereignty and its total scope covering the entire state. Despite the fact that there are already federal features in the British Constitution with regard to Scotland, coming from the perpetual guarantees in the 1707 Act of Union, however given the dominant position of England: 84% English population against 9% Scottish, the federal system would not be easily introduced in Scotland. Perhaps a solution to the last problem would be to divide England into regions making each of them a federal unit, but this system in England would be difficult to implement because a suitable infrastructure of institutions, laws, etc. does not exist. 

To conclude I would like to define my option: Kellas thinks that in today’s Scotland there are only ‘a limited number of policy areas where Scots are determined to act independently of England’. He thinks the allocation of ‘British values are acceptable to Scotland in many important respects’. He compares the political culture of Northern Ireland placing it far apart from its Scottish counterpart. He states that politics in Scotland are not dominated by religion, although he recognises that there do exist special correlations between religion and voting in Scotland. Kellas argues that in Scotland there is no fundamental challenge to the constitution despite the SNP. I would like to emphasize that ‘independence’ is an evolutionary process and that the dynamic of the Scottish political arena will determine whether ‘devolution’, ‘independence’ or indeed federalism would best serve the interests of the Scottish nation.

Jorge Aliaga Cacho, Glasgow, January 1991.

This essay was written in 1991. Scotland gained its own Parliament in 1997. 

Bibliography

1 CPGB, “Manifesto for New Times”, Marxism Today, 1990.

2 DOD’S “Parliamentary Companion”, 1987.

3 Gow, David, “The Red Paper on Scotland”, EUSPB, 1975.

4 Hanham, H.J. “Scottish Nationalism” Faber and Faber, 1969.

5 Keating, M., Bleiman D., “Labour and Scottish Nationalism”,

Macmillan Press Ltd, 1979.

6 Kellas, J.G.. Articled in “Parliamentary Affairs”, Oxford

University Press, October 1990.

7 Kellas, J.G. “The Scottish Political System”, Cambridge 1989.

8 Parsons Talcott, “Essays in Sociological Theory”, Free Press 1964.

9 Steel, T. “Scotland’s Story”, 1984.