BRUSSELS -- At a series of meetings around the left-leaning World Parliamentary Forum (WPF) held late last month in Porto Alegre, Brazil, there was a strong case made for the necessity of building a new economic and political partnership between the European Union and South America.
The WPF, consisting of representatives of socialist and progressive parties from around the world, but primarily at the moment from Latin America and the EU, endorsed the need for creating a global network to challenge U.S. hegemony.
The last 20 years has seen a political transformation of South America as authoritarian regimes, one by one, have been replaced by liberal democracies, but these are weak and fragile because of the impact of neoliberal ideology on the exercise of state power. While certain governments and parties have attempted to resist the logic and activities of United States-funded "missionaries" selling the message, it has been a losing battle while standing alone.