Can you calm down by sipping coffee?

I always remember the Moelli Cafe on the edge of Coyoacan Square in Mexico City. One summer day last year, a French scholar friend asked me to chat there. The area is full of colonial buildings, and although Zhu Yan has changed, you can still feel the afterglow of the glorious era of the colonial empire. Green trees, sculptures, fountains, everything you should have. Sitting under the parasol at the door of the cafe, watching the pure white-faced waiter shuttling between seats, it was as if he were in Europe.

But the feeling of being in Europe was soon disturbed. We talked about doctrine over coffee and were interrupted from time to time. Now there are beggars who sing a song and then hold out their dirty hands to ask for money, a blind musician who plays a guitar and then comes to the table to beg for coins, a peddler who comes up to peddle handicrafts and sells music CDs.

I always remember these interesting scenes. What does the existence of these dark-skinned marginal people and these shadows incompatible with the beauty of European style mean? In this country, on this continent, it is very difficult to do spiritual yoga or speculative games like European philosophers, because unexpected programs and unpleasant characters flash from time to time to destroy the realm of meditation, and the exploration of pure theory is inevitably limited by external disturbance and noise. In this place that once carried both utopian dreams and wealth dreams for Europeans, the rich are surrounded by poverty, the first world and the third world coexist, unable to realize even the most humble dreams, it has always become a nightmare to break into the illusion of prosperity. This is the reality of Latin America.

Why does the present reality look like this? What can I do to change the present reality? Local thinkers must struggle to find answers to such questions. In the face of such reality, it is impossible to sip coffee and indulge in reverie, and all thinking has to be connected with this bleak world. One kind of thinking holds that in order for the future of Latin America to be the same as that of Europe and the United States, we must abandon the barbaric and dirt-poor past, reject the indigenous people who have always lived at the bottom of society, embrace Western civilization wholeheartedly, and move towards "modernization." Another kind of thinking holds that it is impossible for Latin America to copy the successful model of Europe and the United States, and that the cornerstone of rebuilding and reviving national culture is buried in the indigenous culture on this continent, which has survived for many years. These two kinds of thinking represent two tendencies, whether they are called "Europeanization" and "Americanization", "Euramericism" and "nativism", or "modernity" and "identity". They are always entangled in the contemporary history of Latin America.

If you want to compile a History of Western thoughts in China, I am afraid that few people will think of Latin American thinkers, although Latin America should be part of the West in terms of mainstream culture, and most of Latin American modern ideas are written in languages from Europe. Even Latin American thinkers themselves need to overcome the problem of self-confidence. In the eyes of the ignorant in the developed world, Latin America is either passionate or mysterious, offering only colorful tropical fruits and amorous mixed-race dancers, and will never contribute any great ideas to human experience. Before the colony was awakened, it could only be raped by a strong culture, and independence and liberation did not mean changing positions. The intellectuals in the post-colonial era still followed the "advanced" ideas outside, and even quoted the words of Omei sage with trepidation, lest they should make mistakes in the notes, let alone construct their own theories. Until 1969, when Western history had begun to be "post-modern", the discussion on the question of "is there a Latin American philosophy?" was not over. In this year, the Peruvian philosopher Salazar Bundy published "is there a philosophy of our America?" while the Mexican philosopher Thea published his work "American philosophy as philosophy itself". If we admit that philosophy should embody the ultimate concern for human beings and be responsible for the environment around the thinker itself, instead of being as profound, grotesque, boring and alienated as it is today, then Latin American philosophy undoubtedly exists, and it not only exists, but also lives with great energy and splendor.

In an oppressed environment, independent thinking is itself a way to struggle for freedom. Many Latin American ideas, which are unique in the third World, are marked by revolution and struggle. Economic structuralism points out that the essence of the so-called "international division of labor" is that the European countries in the center of the world specialize in industrial production and the former colonial countries in the periphery of the world specialize in supplying raw materials, and such a system is unequal. The central countries are destined to benefit and the peripheral countries are destined to be exploited. The dependency theory further points out that the development of the central countries and the underdevelopment of the peripheral countries cause and effect each other. If Latin American countries want to achieve real development, they must decouple from the worldwide exploitation system and take the socialist road through revolution. What echoes the dependency theory is the liberation theology thought of carrying forward the primitive Christian doctrine and caring for the poor, the liberation pedagogy thought of subverting the traditional idea and regarding the educated as the main body of thought, and even the thought of questioning and challenging globalization with high fighting spirit today. These ideas are embodied in action, that is, Che Guevara, who leaves the island and goes deep into the jungle, is the literacy workers who go to poor villages to establish a new system, that is, Argentine citizens who take to the streets to fight against the unjust system.

Facts have proved that if the theories imported from Europe and the United States are accepted completely, they will often reap the consequences of pain. The vision of "development" and "modernization" is so beautiful and attractive that policy makers are desperate to embrace the "science" and "civilization" of the northern powers, hoping to dye the skin of all their citizens white. Positivism brought "order" and "progress" to Mexico, which was finally overthrown by a bloody and heroic revolution. Neo-liberalism gave Argentina a shot in the arm and eventually plunged the country into bankruptcy. What is more frightening than the failure of economic reform is the loss of self. Let's listen to the warning of a Cuban cultural official: "if one day we get out of the crisis and achieve a certain degree of economic 'affluence', only to find that our souls have been hollowed out." our 'rich' people have become the kind of people that Marty saw in the Yankee way of life who became vulgar in the noise of the zoo, losing their culture and spiritual strength. If the people have lost their motherland and historical memories, then we have made no progress at all. "

But is there really a panacea in indigenous culture? Do traditional habits really deserve to be regarded as the quintessence of Chinese culture? The unique phenomena of Cordillo rule, asylum relationship, corporatism and so on in Latin American politics are all related to the past of this land. In order to build a society that can strike a balance between freedom and justice, we have to face squarely the traditional interpersonal relationship that hinders the modern legal system. Looking at the outside, in this era of increasingly close global communication, if we embrace the ancestral heritage alone and refuse to open up and interact, we will form isolated islands in the vast ocean and be trapped in the lonely cycle of thousands of years. The fight between the left and the right in the ideological battlefield often blinds the essence of the problem. The debate between "modernity" and "identity" is far from over.

I do not believe in the postmodernist argument that the author broke with the text. I have always had such a simple idea that a person's thought is inseparable from his experience. The life of every Latin American thinker should be worth a book, especially those philosophers who refuse to give up their critical thoughts and go into exile. It is not easy to avoid complacency in the education infiltrated with profound Western traditions, to perceive and fight against the hegemonic consciousness of Europe and the United States implied in the classics, not to mention to summon up the courage to challenge those in power in our own country. They have lost their original home, but they have built their own spiritual home in the midst of vagrancy, and they also take responsibility for the spiritual home of this continent and design the blueprint of the Republic in the future. Reading their thoughts full of humanistic feelings, it is like sitting opposite to a friend full of wisdom, talking in any language, drinking mellow coffee and knowing that you are happy in your heart.