Via the Wall Street Journal, Finally, A Real Revolution
Limiting the power of government to take precedence over the rights of individuals is crucial. ProReforma puts it this way in one of its educational brochures: “No country, in no time has had success with a democratic model that grants the right of excessive intervention to government.” Yet Guatemala keeps trying to make it work. “Through six decades since World War II and after many attempts” by all sides, be they “populists or elitists, civilians or soldiers, from the left or from the right, it is evident that the system of intervention, mercantilism and paternalism has produced neither prosperity nor peace.”
How would strong individual rights change the future? Mr. Ayau argues that when individual rights always trump interests the culture that underfunds and politicizes the courts will begin to change. As to poverty, consider that would-be entrepreneurs are barred from competing in many markets because powerful interests make the rules and regulations. Without a market economy the country cannot create wealth.
There is nothing new in the classical liberal argument for individual rights. What is new here is the scope of this project. Recognizing that the beneficiaries of its proposed reform are ordinary Guatemalans whose rights are regularly violated by the political class, ProReforma has spent two years on a national education campaign.
Tapping into popular frustration, a campaign brochure argues that Guatemalans must do more than chase the “vain illusion” that “some day a good and illuminated man will come to power.” They must force change to “a style of government that will facilitate success for whoever comes to power.”
ProReforma needed 5,000 petition signatures for its proposal to be introduced into Congress for debate; it has collected more than 73,000. Now the ideological left has begun a campaign of its own, marked by vituperative and personal attacks against ProReforma’s promoters. The proposal might be defeated, but the good news is that ProReforma’s civic education project has already succeeded. Today, more Guatemalans are aware of their inalienable rights. The question is how they can wrest those rights from the collectivist left.
Where to find on-the-scene reports via twitter: El Periodico, Noticias Guatemala, Prensa Libre. Also, follow #escandalogt. Some Guatemalan twitterers were saying last night they planned to print out “V for Vendetta” masks and wear them en masse to the demonstrations today. Organizers on Twitter urged all who planned to participate to report anomalies or rights abuses by authorities, and observe cautionary guidelines to avoid violence.
Online reports are coming in that governors, under duress from the state, have used public funds to ship busloads of primarily poor, indigenous citizens from the interior and north of the country to participate in government-planned pro-Colom demonstrations. Twitterers on the scene say the government-organized, pro-Colom demonstrations number about 2,500 participants as of 10am PT and include a patriotic musical performance.
