The pink tide rose because the left’s moral authority came from opposing illegitimate power.

Evidence

Lula’s two terms were a major part of the “pink tide,” a term favored by international journalists to name the arrival of several left-of-center governments in Latin America. A generation after the fall of authoritarian capitalist military regimes, social democrats or socialists took power in Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, and Paraguay. It was no surprise that democracy would cause such a tide to rise; the era of US-backed coups repressed a genuine desire for reform in Latin America, and—since they fought and died to fight illegitimate power, rather than exercising it themselves—the left often had moral and intellectual authority. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 172

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Opposing both Stalinism and imperialism gave the New Left its moral authority — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 779

Broader Connections

• Opposing both Stalinism and imperialism gave the New Left its moral authority #expands (0.83) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 779