nicaragua-i dont think-therefore i am - marzo2005-jlr

7/30/2019 NICARAGUA-I Dont Think-Therefore I Am - Marzo2005-JLR

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Intellectuals and Job Insecurity:I Dont Think... Therefore I Am

Social scientists and other intellectuals have

covered a lot of ground in studying the poor. We

invade their homes without so much as a search war-

rant and pester them with surveys. We weigh their chil-

dren, count their pigs and hens, measure their land and dig

up their past. If they gave us half a chance, wed even rum-

mage in their pockets and have a look under their beds. We

investigate how much they have and how much they dont

have, what they spend their money on and what and how

much they eat. Then we weigh, survey, dig around and count

again because we need to compare the situation after to thesituation before. In investigation after investigation we dis-

cover new manifestations of poverty, expressed as vulner-

ability, the weak exercise of citizenship or deficient empow-

erment.

We are distant and distinct, exterior and superior

We work under the implicit supposition that the poor are

the main element in the problem of poverty. We present

them as the hole-riddled bucket were going to repair. In

this rancid epistemological paradigm, they are objects to be

discovered, by definition clearly distinguishable from us. We

are in the other corner: distant and distinct, exterior and

superior, playing at being unobjectionable and unobjecti-

fiable objectifiers, the cognizant subjects whose discerning

eye is taken for granted. Only very occasionally do we ques-

tion whether that eye might not be a little myopic, astig-matic, already a little strained and unable to see so far.

French sociologist Pierre Bourdieuwho said that we

use science to objectify others but never to call ourselves

into questionrightly observed that the intellectual world

JOS LUIS ROCHA

Can we find an alternative way of thinking

to combat the single thought thats currently swamping us?

And can we sti ll exist as consultants if we even dare to try?

Is it possible for us to think at all in Nicaragua today,

or will we just continue to blame the system for the

limited and routine ideas we churn out in return

for considerable financial reward?

28

envo

NICARAGUA


2/8

ANALYSIS

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29

march 2005

We need to put ourselves under the

microscope of that same criticism we

so generously apply to politicians, the

poor, producers, traders, migrants andother subjects who dont themselves

generate analyses but are always

exposed to ours

always selects other worlds as its objects and only rarely

studies itself, in which case it demonstrates an indulgence

that it never displays when studying others. From our lofty

intellectual position, we dont consider ourselves the object

of study; dont see our own gaps and cracks. Theres no

profusion of concepts to estimate our deficiencies, assess

our weaknesses or correct the way our vulnerabilities af-

fect our perception of reality. And this tends to perpetuate

our illnesses, errors and defects.

The conditions in which a thought is produced are very

rarely taken into account, as if they were removed from the

product to be obtained. It is forgotten that analysis is con-

ditioned by the hermeneutic place. Referring to his profes-

sion as a sociologist, Bourdieu mentioned the existence of

tendencies towards error that vary by sex, social origin and

intellectual formation. And in another text, he pointed out

that sociologists always run the risk of applying to the so-

cial world categories of thought that the social world have

instilled into their spirit. There is thus a need to sociologi-

cally analyze the social conditions in which their instruments

of thought are produced.

The systems little secrets

and obstacles to self-criticism

While accepted in theory, these simple theses are not so ac-

cepted in practice. My previous article on consultants (see

Bureaucrats for Hire in envos January 2005 edition)

provoked angry protests from many colleagues in the

consultancy profession. Not that I was particularly sur-

prised. We intellectuals are highly allergic to being stud-

ied, particularly if the analysis reveals certain little secrets

on which depend the reproduction of a system that at theend of the daydespite its many drawbacksdoes help us

eat, dress, travel and live, and in a none-too-Spartan way.

We rarely turn the scalpel on ourselves, looking for ways

to extirpate some of the tumors already forming notable

protuberances. We need to put ourselves under the micro-

scope of that same criticism we so generously apply to poli-

ticians, the poor, producers, traders, migrants and other

subjects who dont themselves generate analyses but are

always exposed to ours. We take refuge behind our sup-

posed commitment to the common good, development,

womens empowerment and other noble causes to acquire a

kind of moral license that exempts our lifestyles, motives

and forms of work from being questioned or even honestlydescribed. But our commitment deserves to be analyzed

because it is partial, part-time and conditioned by un-purged

prejudices and the pressures of our cultural environment.

Such prejudices have to be studied if the hard drive

where they were installed by society and our class position

is to be reformatted. The nature and modus operandi of

the pressures must discovered in order to mitigate their

force. And above all, it must be seen how much of what we

say is conditioned by those prejudices and pressures. Our

behavior is induced and fueled by our sense of belonging to

a certain group. That belonging is reinforced by our ac-

tions: what we eat, what we wear, what we see at the cin-

ema, among many others. It is enormously reinforced by

what we think and say. That belonging also co-opts our

good intentions, so that the great idealistic proposals of a

member of the middle class, for example, run headlong into

his or her consumption habits and survival strategies. Those

strategies and habits have to be named and the way they

function has to be described to stop them having such a

determining effect on what we think and ensure that the

commitment is real. The problem is that when an initiativelike this gets underway it immediately generates furious

reactions that indicate our fierce resistance to being stripped

of the label we use to sell ourselves. Self-criticism runs up

against many obstacles. Those who doubt it should take a

quick look at the defense mechanisms identified by Freud:

negation (refusal to recognize the problem), rationalization

(self-justifying ideological production), projection (seeing the

dollar signs in your neighbors eye but not in your own),

formative reaction (doing and saying the opposite of what

one feels), displacement (looking for a scapegoat) and the

like.

Were in the same corner as those we analyze

If we intellectuals are not to be slaves to our own rational-

izations, we need to see where we are and what strategies

were employing. This will allow us to understand why we


3/8

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30

envo

NICARAGUA

write and think the way we do (issues, approaches, meth-

ods, etc). It would be very interesting to unravel the rela-

tionship between social conditions and the cognitive limita-

tions of thought production. But in this case well have to

limit ourselves to examining the way the labor system in

Nicaragua affects intellectual products. What is that sys-

tem like? What conditions does it imply? The first thing

we can state is that we intellectuals are not in the other

corner, but rather in the same corner as those we analyze.

While perhaps a little distant, were not so very distinct.

Generalized precariousness conditions the labor status

of intellectuals in Nicaraguaparticularly those of us who

have gotten involved as consultants. Just as foreign coop-

eration has consultants paid by the consultancy, universi-

ties have lecturers whose earnings depend on the number

of class hours they teach, and NGOs and private businesses

have drivers who are hired by the day. Institutions dontwant to commit themselves over the long term because that

would multiply their obligations as employers.

In the net administrators mentality, cost reduction is

a primordial objective at whose altar anything can be sacri-

ficed. Instrumental rationality conceives of human beings

only as resources, one more productive input whose cost

can be mitigated by reducing their use, depreciating them

and acquiring them under circumstances that are disadvan-

tageous for them. The tendency of institutions to supply

unstable work follows the same logic as the tendency of

states to cut social spending.

Being a teacher is increasingly

like being a salesperson

The consequences of this system dont seem like such a big

deal to those following its rules. I understand that an insti-

tution doesnt worry about the family tensions that labor

instability generates, even when they are obviously affect-

ing work performance. Whats striking, however, is the lack

of vision about the effects of working conditions on the

planned products. The fact that university lecturers, like

salespeople, earn according to quantityin this case how

many hours of classes they teachleads to an inevitable

deterioration in education.

A lecturer paid by class wants to invest no more time

with each one than is strictly needed. Any extra time spent

in preparation, coordination meetings, working with stu-

dents or in evaluation is effectively subsidizing the institu-

tion. The more detailed attention they pay to preparing

their lecture and the more concerned they are about profes-

sional scruples, the worse the deal is for them. On the other

hand, the more they can arrange for class time to be taken

up with student presentations, the less time they have to

invest themselves. The bottom line is lower education qual-

ity and increased moral hazard in the system.

Neither class-paid lecturers nor day-hired drivers will

give their best. This system undermines the possibility of

harmonizing personal interests with the institutional strat-

egy. There is less appropriation of and identification with

the institution, essential elements for a well-functioning

bureaucracy. The flip side of the lack of institutional com-

mitment to its employees is, quite appropriately, lack of

employee commitment to the institution. Any common-

ality of interests that could once be built upon is replaced

by denuded self-interest on both sides.

Officials implement labor instability

with the best of intentionsIn its different manifestations, this labor precariousness is

a growing global phenomenon. German sociologist Ulrich

Beck called it the Brazilianization of the West, given that

both the way of life and the multiplicity, complexity and

insecurity of work in the South are spreading to the neuro-

logical centers of the Western world.

Labor stability was one of workers fundamental con-

quests in industrialized countries, and on a more modest

scale in non-industrialized countries as well. But we are

backpedaling at a dizzying speed. Those implementing the

mechanisms of this labor destabilization are not the sharp-

fanged Rockefellers and Fords depicted in 19th-century cari-

catures, but more often than not officials with clear con-sciences and the best of intentions.

This incongruence should be immediately plain for all

to see when institutions with alternative pretensions ap-

ply such mechanisms. Their programs and texts promote

The flip side of the lack of institutional

commitment to its employees is, quite

appropriately, lack of employee

commitment to the institution. Any

commonality of interests that could

once be built upon is replaced by

denuded self-interest on both sides


4/8

ANALYSIS

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31

march 2005

Market totalitarianismin which only

marketable things are said, written or

even thoughtis both more complex

and more devastating to critical

thought. It castrates anything

mobilizing or provocative that might

exist in the research profession

calls the tune, but orders and imposes the subjects, ap-

proaches, deadlines and means of dissemination. All of these

selection mechanisms filter out illegitimate words or he-

retical ideas that might open up new perspectives and call

the system into question. The client-readers condition what

can be said. The problem is obvious: one cant be provoca-

tive when the IDB is paying and wants a text to dissemi-

nate as part of its collection of articles. Legitimate concepts

must be used, which definitely restrict the horizon of what

can be thought.

It amounts to a very subtle form of ideological intoler-

ance that is thus more effective than the kind orchestrated

by classic state totalitarianism. Market totalitarianism

in which only marketable things are said, written or even

thoughtis both more complex and more devastating to

critical thought. It castrates anything mobilizing or pro-

vocative that might exist in the research profession. The

main problem is not whether to charge or not to charge, to

charge a lot or a little, but rather the mutilating effect of

the system, its sterilizing effect on the critical function ex-pected of intellectuals.

Canned internet fare

and a sprinkling of clichs

The people best able to survive in the consultancy field are

those who have learned to do the most saleable verbal jug-

gling. The consultants recipe has to include a few figures

here, a generous sprinkling of tables there and a garnish of

fashionable clichd terminology to taste understood as the

consumers taste. Its not actually necessary to have read

Nobel economics prize winner Douglass North; its enough

to mention transaction costs and the weight of institu-tions in economic development to appear an expert on new

democratization, while at the same time they are volatizing

their hiring, reducing their personnel in line with financial

imperatives and sliding towards concentrating posts, wages,

perks and labor stability among a select group of people

who are best placed in the system to assert their rights.

But such institutions blind themselves to this incongruence

by justifying it as a means of survival. The institutions

beneficent mission is presumed to guarantee that any holo-

caust perpetrated in its honor is beneficent.

Unstable, well-paid consultants

submitted to intense pressure

Together with lecturers and drivers, consultants are another

form of labor destabilizationalbeit a generally well-paid

one. By adopting this model, multilateral organizations,

the state and private business, universities included, can

avoid dangerously inflating their payroll and guarantee net

benefits from their human resources, with incoming funds

exceeding costs. The same is happening in Europe: the In-stitute of Social Studies in the Hague and the Institute of

Development Studies in Brighton offer employment on the

condition that those contracted contribute the equivalent

of 150% of their salary through consultancies.

Subjected to such pressure, the quality of the consult-

ants work is nose-diving, but without either their prestige

or that of the brand name for which they are producing ap-

pearing to be compromised. By quality, Im not referring

only to the composition, presentation, amount of empirical

evidence amassed or client satisfaction. Quality is also

measured in terms of the progressive levels of depth achieved

in researching and analyzing a given subject. Such progress

cannot be improvised. Obtaining it requires a gradual, step-by-step, concept-by-concept installation of capacity, review

and critique, applying and adjusting our predecessors work.

Quality is measured, for example, in the discovery of new

issues, new, more complex investigative veins that havent

even previously been tapped much less explored. And above

all, it is measured in the courage to maintain that func-

tional critique that for Bourdieu defines the intellectual and

which he described as freedom from the powers that be,

critique of topics, demolition of simplistic alternatives and

restitution of the complexity of problems.

No time or funds for heretical ideasWhile single thought is spreading across the globe, the

conditions of production are affecting the other possible way

of thinking. The consultancy system generally contemplates

no time for questioning. He who pays the piper not only


5/8

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32

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NICARAGUA

Critical knowledge of what others have

done, the possibility of discussing and

establishing dialogue and the adaptation

of novel theories employed as

instruments of analysis are intellectual

traditions that more often than not arecancelled in the rapid work and labor

destabilization system generated by

consultancies

institutional economics. And just mentioning panoptic

architecture serves to make us sound like experts on Fou-

cault. Consuming canned Stiglitz on internet enables us to

state that informational asymmetries impede the devel-

opment of markets because they can lead to an adverse se-

lection in resource allocation. By adequately folding together

these conceptswhich are actually very revolutionarywe

can achieve a state in which theres no danger of creating

anything revolutionary because we establish no dialogue

with either the authors or our readers.

And just as the school system applies criteria that se-

lect certain kinds of skills and ends up reproducing pre-

existing social differences because those skills are linked to

differences in inherited cultural capital, so the consultancy

system maintains the differences among consultants. Thus,

those paid and contracted more are the ones with the best

recommendations and qualifications, which are more often

than not the direct result of inherited capital. But the

consultancy system goes even further: by rewarding more

those who most elegantly package the same already conse-crated ideas, reflection is stagnated, perpetuating the cur-

rent dramatic realities.

work and fast think is the consultancy worlds equiva-

lent of the catering industrys fast food.

And just as a gourmet would never dream of finding an

exquisite dish in Burger King, for example, no experienced

reader has much expectation of stumbling across some

memorable finding in any text produced by a consultant.

This isnt because consultants are necessarily mediocre in-

tellectuals; they just dont have the time to think. Their

clients dont seem to expect that from them; in fact, it may

be that they prefer them not to think too much. Thats why

so many consultants repeat, cut, paste and get no further

than a handful of slogans. They saturate their presenta-

tions with an overwhelming juxtaposition of quotes from

classic works in an attempt to impress. Consultants calcu-

late that there will always be neophytes and novices among

their audiences who will be left open-mouthed by even their

most insipid ideas.

The impact of a particular thought is also influenced

by the dissemination time. A World Bank norm is not to

publish the research it finances for two years. Given thedemented rhythm of Nicaraguan politics, where everything

is in constant flux, this norm means that such texts are left

to rot as the ideas they contain lose their applicability and

relevance. Everything becomes ephemeral. On the politi-

cal stage, the actors, the script and the guilty are all con-

stantly changing. Diagnostic studies become almost imme-

diately obsoletewith the exception of those that focus on

cultural factors. And even that thought, forcibly matured

by delayed publication, becomes increasingly innocuous and

odorless. It has no applicability in any era and is therefore

valid for any of them.

The tyranny of statistics

and a concealment strategy

To legitimize a way of thinking that is born devalued, the

consultant adds a centuries-old sauce to the spaghetti of

slogans. The tables, graphs, avalanche of statistics and cas-

cade of numbers are spices designed to cover up for the ab-

sence of thought. The tyranny of mathematics is reinforced.

Statistics are deified, transformed from instrument into

totem. Ignoring the quotepart exaggeration and part

truthattributed to Mark Twain that there are lies, big

lies and statistics, consultants want the statistics to say ev-

erything and dont bother to analyze how the data selection

and gathering themselves shape the object of the investiga-tion.

This feature is neither inconsequential nor devoid of

an interested bias. The obvious interest is to demobilize.

Consultants often present social problems as technical eco-

Fast work and fast think is

consultancys fast food equivalent

Critical knowledge of what others have done, the possibil-

ity of discussing and establishing dialogue and the adapta-tion of novel theories employed as instruments of analysis

are intellectual traditions that more often than not are can-

celled in the rapid work and labor destabilization system

generated by consultancies. The supply and demand of fast


6/8

ANALYSIS

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33

march 2005

nomic problems or fail to mention them altogether when

they are the most relevant aspect of a given sphere of study.

They say, for example, that micro businesses need to im-

prove their information flows, but dont analyze who hogs the

information and how the information channels are man-

aged.

They also say that micro businesses should vary their

designs, improve their marketing and train their human

resources, which are very commendable findings. But they

pay no attention at all to social conflicts within micro busi-

nesses or between them and their suppliers or clients. Such

conflicts reveal opposing strategies and explain why certain

designs and marketing models are suitable in one market

segment and not another, why the human resources are so

unsatisfied, why employers wont invest in training them

and why micro businesses prefer to compete through prices

rather than quality.

The fact is that examining such aspects in greater depth

requires quite a lot more than just the string of clichs and

simple-minded surveys and interviews with which most con-sultants season their studies. Researchers who get intro-

duced into the consultancy system easily learn how to cover

up.

Opting for an alternative by

building utopian castles in the air

Some researchers have conclusively demonstrated that the

main problem facing coffee producers is not an abrupt ex-

cess of supply and fall in prices, but rather an inequitable

distribution of profits the length of the marketing chain that

is accentuated by speculators. That is an invaluable and

very provocative finding, but it is a cover-up to assume thatthe problem can only be resolvedalthough even that would

be difficult enoughby increasing the scale of operations

and improving the efficiency of fair trade initiatives. Such

proposals are typically launched by consultants working for

a micro-cosmos, such as the NGO that contracts them and

wants to build paradise in an eggshell.

With the best of intentions, consultants conceal and

demobilize by limiting their proposals to technical aspects

and constrain them to a highly limited sphere. They for-

getand thus concealthe fact that the solution has to in-

volve negotiations between social sectors and a mutual de-

liberation of forces and pressure mechanisms. Instead of

examining the weave of the social fabric, they seek to buildcastles in the air.

They opt for alternativism: as the current distribution

of credit isnt democratic, lets create non-conventional

banks; as producers arent receiving fair prices, lets link

up a parallel chain that pays out fairly. Building alterna-

tive institutions is a good thing because it fills vacuums,

solves certain peoples problems and creates new experi-

ences that can be replicated on a greater scale. But it is

negative when it excludes or helps avoid broader and na-

tional struggles, because it then becomes an elegant form

of giving up.

After the surfeit, where are you Karl Marx?Marxism and other approaches take into account the essen-

tial aspects of social and political struggles. It would be a

good idea to recover their analytical instruments. Perhaps

we are currently experiencing a wave of rejection due to

satiation. Marxism saturated Nicaragua in the 1980s. The

university and high school pensum oozed it. The philoso-phy taught was pure, insipid dialectic materialism. The texts

produced by many intellectuals sterilely repeated Marxist

slogans. At the time, someone very shrewdly observed, Its

just as bad not being able to read Marx as having to read

only Marx.

But Marxism has been too hurriedly abandoned, throw-

ing out the baby of its ideology-dismantling hermeneutics

along with the bathwater of its economistic determination

and its mechanistic positivism. Luckily, a number of Marx-

ist concepts survive, transformed, as contraband in the bag-

gage of many authors. Marvin Harris cultural materialism

is more or less a form of historical materialism. False con-

sciousness is a useful finding for all heirs of Freudian,Nietzchean and Marxist thinking. But it is difficult to sell

such approaches and concepts to the slogan buyers, so they

have limited application among consultants who are entirely

dedicated to what is marketable.

Building alternative institutions is a

good thing because it fills vacuums,

solves certain peoples problems and

creates new experiences that can be

replicated on a greater scale. But it is

negative when it excludes or helps

avoid broader and national struggles,

because it then becomes an elegant

form of giving up


7/8

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34

envo

NICARAGUA

Everythings for sale: A change in symbolic goods

The sale of thought consumes a large amount of the time

earmarked for its production. This not only limits what

can be said and written to what can be sold, it also imposes

an investment of time, energy, emotions and money into all

aspects of the ceremony and paraphernalia linked to pro-

fessional success, including clothing, relations, manners,

brochures, business cards, forums, flirting with journalists,

etc. Such investment proves very profitable, which is what

makes it worthwhile sacrificing everything to it, including

thought. And this new trait reveals a shift in Nicaraguan

intellectuality. Intellectuals used to be more inclined to value

symbolic goods: recognition, tributes, publications, illustri-

ous but unpaid posts and, above all, the accumulation of

knowledge.

Suddenly such symbolic goods have become devaluedand the only ones desired are those that can be exchanged

for material goods. Its the equivalent of passing from the

Middle Ages to the Renaissance, that time of economic boom

triggered by gold and silver from the Americas from which

the sense of humanist optimism emerged. It was precisely

then that the usefulness of prestige accompanied by mate-

rial benefits became apparent. Gngora complained that

everything was for sale, with the court selling its gala, the

war its courage and the universities even their knowledge.

In todays Nicaragua, the symbolic goods of gala, courage

and wisdom are only useful, or are of far greater use, if they

can be sold.

The crisis in academia:

From symbolic goods to material goods

Given the devaluation of symbolic goods, the search for

material goods became a priority, amounting to a Coperni-

can turnaround. Many institutions have fallen victim to

this shift, which deserves a more detailed examination than

I can provide in this article without sounding like an out-

moded moralist. One interesting example of institutions

affected by the shift towards the preeminence of material

goods is provided by the universities, which are currently

incapable of retaining the professionals they so carefully

attracted for decades. Their move towards contracting lec-

turers paid by class hour has reinforced the nomadic labor

practices of white-collar workers. Unattractive wages and

labor instability have turned universities into a labor niche

from which many good professionals have fled into the arms

of the far more attractive world of consultancy.

When symbolic goods had more weight, even high-fly-

ing business people and wealthy professionals were attracted

by the draw of academia. Lecturing offered the kind of so-

cial visibility that their managers desks or legal practices

just couldnt give them. It also provided the chance to cul-

tivate new, attractive relations, o publicize their ideas, ex-

ercise a vocation for teaching and assume another identity.

The current preeminence of material goods explains

why many intellectuals prefer to dedicate themselves to

making presentations in dreary grey conferencesmade

greyer still by the compulsive use of Power Pointand writ-

ing slipshod documents of grey literature rather than well-

argued books and articles for scientific and other presti-

gious journals, or quality magazines aimed at interested

laypeople. The fact that publishing only offers a low yield

over the long termand even that is uncertain explains

why consultants very rarely publish anything.

Labor uncertainty and fascination

with the shop-window effect

The relative devaluation of symbolic goods is due to the

uncertainty surrounding the acquisition of present and fu-

ture material goods. Material goods are valued more

highlyand symbolic goods valued lessbecause there is

far greater labor instability in todays Nicaragua than was

true of Sandinista or Somocista Nicaragua.

Maintaining a job and a determined income level is a

daily battle given the uncertainty of achieving either, al-

though this is obviously not a problem for many intellectu-

als. Its not so much a question of the improbability of sat-

isfying primary needs, but rather the shop-window effectexerted on some by the ostentatious consumption that state

posts and executive positions in private business and for-

eign cooperation provide.

There has also been an absolute devaluation of sym-

Intellectuals used to be more inclined

to value symbolic goods: recognition,

tributes, publications, illustrious but

unpaid posts and, above all, accumulation

of knowledge. Suddenly such symbolic

goods have become devalued and the

only ones desired are those that can be

exchanged for material goods


8/8

ANALYSIS

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35

march 2005

bolic goods triggered by a profusion of those best of all sym-

bolic goodsprofessional degreesand complicated further

by the lax selection of teaching staff. Universities churn

out thousands of BAs and masters. A recent graduate with

no particularly brilliant traits can quite easily end up a lec-

turer. These are just two body blows to academic pedigree.

Being a lecturer and flaunting a university degree no longer

have the same prestige they once had.

Nicaraguas national university system has greatly

helped accelerate this inevitable devaluation through its

policy of issuing degrees with all the generosity displayed

by households distributing candy in celebration of the Im-

maculate Conception. There has been noticeable academic

decay following the invasion of the barbarian hordes. Its

an open secret that a BA earned during the sixties is worth

four of todays masters degrees. Measured in terms of how

many material goods it can buy, the purchasing power of

the university degree as a symbolic good has plummeted.

Chameleon-like, weve sold out to this system

Should we view this devaluation of academic prestige as one

of the causes of the crisis in intellectuality? The copious

production of professionals, a streamlined state sector and

foreign investment that buys up existing state companies

and at best maintains the same number of employees has

implied, and will continue to imply, an increasing drop in

the range of job offers for us intellectuals.

But we have implemented a very ingenious salvage

strategy, which is in fact class solidarity. To stop foreign

cooperation funds from going to direct actions and slipping

through our hands, we have placed ourselves in key posts

where decisions are made about how to earmark those funds.Weve perfected the rationalizations about the benefits de-

rived from investing in us, and with chameleon-like virtu-

osity have adopted the most sellable colors. In other words,

weve got it all sown up.

In the struggle over the use of bilateral and multilat-

eral foreign aid, which I have caricatured here with a rather

broad brush, we have created then exploited a privileged

position. From that position, we get the best and avoid the

worst of the current system of labor instability, part of a

strategy designed to compensate for the instability and un-

certainty, the adverse effects of a system that actually per-

petuates its perverse mechanisms. By making a pact with

the system, weve ended up confirming Georg Lukcs theory

that the middle classes tend to accommodate themselves to

different regimes, represent strictly private class interestsand have a non-transforming nature molded by changes in

their surroundings that depend entirely on the behavior of

other social groups.

Our responsibility:

why have we let ourselves be seduced?

Our strategy also reveals an underlying attitude: given that

we can do so little to take on the system, we have to resign

ourselves to working in the miniscule spaces available and

the small openings we carve out for ourselves. This is no

small achievement in these times of narrowing horizons,

but it is sad that so few dare to go against the grain withcongruent actions. Will we continue forging pacts because

theres no alternative? Will we continue blaming the sys-

tem, or will we review its mechanisms of seduction and look

at why, how and how far we let ourselves be seduced? One

thing Im sure of is that well never find a way out of this

situation by trying to define who the worst sinner is, he

who sins for pay or he who pays for sin.

Jos Luis Rocha is a researcher for Nitlapn-UCA and a

member ofenvos editorial committee.

Nicaraguas national university system

has greatly helped accelerate this

inevitable devaluation through its

policy of issuing degrees with all the

generosity displayed by households

distributing candy in celebration of the

Immaculate Conception

nicaragua-i dont think-therefore i am - marzo2005-jlr

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