Timor Libre

I think I am becoming a pinko.

It may be that I am light-headed following a 24-hour bug, it may be that I have been taking Robinson (“Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention and Hegemony,” CUP 1996) too seriously, but I am beginning to question the idea that neo-liberal economics will be East Timor’s savoir.

The premise of neo-liberalism is to reduce obstacles to the free-flow or “total mobility” of capital. Neo-liberalism links economic elites across countries and diminishes governments’ ability to direct economic activity. This arrangement disadvantages small-scale producers and benefits large producers and the bureaucrats that smooth the transfer of labor-outputs or natural resources from the periphery to the core.

Robinson concludes: “There is no objective correlation between economic growth and living conditions… the opening of Third World economies facilitates the transfer of resources from the domestic to the external sector.” (35)

So I read that, underlined it, made a little note, and moved on. Later however, it came back to me.

On the weekends, I have gotten in the habit of taking a book (Robinson’s lately) to the beach in the late afternoon and reading until it gets dark. The guys that run the nearby restaurant come out to chat and waste time before the late-night crowd rolls in. Tonight we talked about the price of education: One of the guys has finished six semesters of a computer course but had to stop because of the crisis and the high costs. Education is expensive.

So, with Robinson still fresh, it occurred to me that if neo-liberal economic developments like the Sunrise Oil and Gas fields deal with Australia are not going to make Miguel richer, than what would make education cheaper?

That’s when we started talking about Cuba, (Sweden and Switzerland,) free education, good healthcare, high literacy rates, etc. And it may have been the cool night air or it may have been the enthusiastic company, but the whole Socialist project began to make sense for Timor.

There are many similarities between Cuba, East Timor and their Anglophone neighbors, and I think a brilliant comparative study is long overdue. I am not sure if Timor prefigures post-Castro Cuba, or if instead the situation in Timor is more like last days of Batista, with huge economic disparities, and lots of overseas capital concentrated among an international elite.

After tonight, I say “¡Viva la revolucíon!”