Bolivia
Needs Our Solidarity
By Federico Fuentes,
Caracas
17 September, 2007
Green Left
Weekly
For Bolivia’s indigenous
majority there is no going back. The election in 2005 of Bolivia’s
first indigenous president, Evo Morales, marked a watershed —
a before and after in Bolivia’s history — after more than
500 years of struggle against imperialism and colonialism. It marked
a conscious step forward by Bolivia’s indigenous majority in its
struggle for justice and equality.
As Morales pointed out in
an August 22 interview with the BBC, right from the start Bolivia’s
right wing “said this little Indian is only going to be president
for three or four months. That day passed and now they say this little
Indian is going to be here for a long time, we have to do something
about it; and that means encouraging confusion or destabilisation.”
That is why today a resurgent
right wing is determined to destabilise the country and government —
even if it means plunging the country into civil war or provoking a
violent military coup — to bring down Morales, and with him the
hopes and dreams of millions of indigenous and non-indigenous people,
not just in Bolivia, but throughout Latin America and the world.
Distribution of racist material
inciting people to “bring down this Indian shit”, provoking
violent confrontations, holding civic “stoppages” enforced
by fascist youth groups, and smuggling arms into the country —
these, and more, are ingredients in a conspiracy to overthrow Morales.
The public faces of the right wing, centred in the wealthy departments
(states) of the east, are the opposition governors and the unelected,
business-controlled civic committees — in Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni
and Tarija — now openly joined by the civic committee of Cochabamba
and Chuquisaca. Behind them stand the gas transnationals, large agribusiness
and the US empire, all of whom benefited from ransacking Bolivia’s
enormous natural wealth while pushing the country to the position of
the poorest in South America.
But their task will be far
from easy. The election of “this little Indian” came on
the back of a wave of social rebellion, fuelled by an increasing rejection
of neoliberalism and the emergence and growth of national and indigenous
pride, based on the celebration of the country’s indigenous peoples
and recuperation of its natural resources. It was also the result of
a conscious decision more than 10 years ago by the indigenous, campesino
and coca-growers’ movements to move “from resistance to
power” and construct their own “Political Instrument for
the Sovereignty of the People” — more commonly know by its
electorally registered name, Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).
Gaining the support from
an important section of the country’s middle class and intellectuals
for its project, MAS was able to win the 2005 national elections, crushing
the traditional politicians whose subservience to the US empire had
almost led to the total suffocation of the country.
Today, the Bolivians who
due to their skin colour were previously excluded from the plaza in
front of the presidential palace, and who protested outside it to overthrow
other governments, have begun to take over the positions of power. This
act has been a powerful catalyst in rebuilding the self-esteem of the
people, who now proclaim with pride their indigenous roots.
The central task entrusted
to the MAS government was to convoke a constituent assembly in order
to “refound” Bolivia, ending injustice and recognising the
rights of the previously excluded indigenous majority.
However, more than a year
since the assembly’s inauguration in Sucre in August 2006, it
is yet to vote on a single article for the new constitution. The same
political minority that ruled over the demise of the country today cries
out in defence of “democracy” and “autonomy”,
with the objective of protecting its political enclaves and economic
power and mobilising sectors of the white and mestizo middle classes
of the east and west against the government.
The stalling tactics and
latest round of violent protests by the right wing, this time in Sucre,
threatened the security of the assembly, forcing some indigenous delegates
into hiding in order to avoid racist attacks. On September 7 the assembly
directorate voted to suspend sessions for a month as it was unable to
guarantee security.
On September 10, more than
10,000 campesinos and indigenous people marched through Sucre in a show
of force to defend the constituent assembly and national unity. Unlike
the scenes of violence over the previous weeks, the streets of Sucre
were filled with a festive tone.
Later in the day, during
the 10,000-15,000 strong Social Summit, the social organisations resolved
to “defend, including with our lives, the constituent assembly
and this process of irreversible profound change being driven forward
by the historic forces of our peoples and the indigenous, originario
and campesino nations, together with the popular organisations”.
Furthermore, the social movements
declared themselves to be in a “state of emergency” and
committed themselves to organising Committees in Defence of the Constituent
Assembly, adding that, if necessary, they would undertake “other
more radical measures”.
In its manifesto, the summit
outlined 18 strategic points behind which the participants would mobilise
to ensure they are enshrined in the new constitution. Among them are
the creation of unitary, plurinational, communitarian and democratic
state; nationalisation of natural resources; taxes on large fortunes;
the expropriation without compensation of latifundios (large land-holdings)
and the immediate distribution of their land; re-election and revoking
of mandates of any elected authority; and the confiscation of all goods
implicated in acts of corruption.
For now the situation in
Sucre has calmed down; the opposition’s threats of further actions
starting on September 10 were called off. A new round of dialogue has
been convoked to see if it is possible to overcome the impasse.
But the tension remains,
and one can only speculate how long the calm will last. The directorate
of the assembly has signalled it will reject a court ruling overturning
the assembly decision to remove the issue of the location of Bolivia’s
capital from debate (the right-wing fuelled conflict over whether to
locate it in La Paz, the current political capital, or Sucre, the current
constitutional capital, helping trigger the latest confrontation). The
future of the constituent assembly and Bolivia hang in the balance.
The indigenous and campesino
mobilisation was an important step taken by the social and indigenous
movements in defence of the constituent assembly. However, as Vice-President
Alvaro Garcia Linera pointed out in the lead-up to the protest, “To
wear down the old powers will cost a lot, it will be conflictive, the
population needs to be conscious of this, and the best way to defend
the continuity of the process of change is through democratic mobilisation
to back this transformation and to put an end to the history of these
old elites”.
Mass democratic mobilisations
and the organisation of the people will be central to maintaining unity
amongst the movements and avoiding provocations by the right wing. The
right wing’s strategy depends on stirring up anger among the exploited
and oppressed who refuse to ever go back to the old Bolivia, with the
aims of triggering violent reactions and creating chaos.
The government and social
movements need to demonstrate that they are the only ones able to provide
real stability and change for all Bolivians. This is necessary in order
to appeal to the middle classes sectors that, due to mistakes by MAS,
now feel alienated from the government — something the government
itself has acknowledged and that it has begun to remedy. It is also
critical to maintaining support among the armed forces.
Internationally, it is vital
for the governments and peoples of the world to voice their solidarity
and make clear that they will reject any attempts to trigger a civil
war, or an ensuing US/UN military occupation or illegitimate government.
Undoubtedly the US elite
sees Bolivia as the weak link in the emerging Bolivia-Cuba-Venezuela
“axis of hope” in Latin America. Moreover, Bolivia’s
government and the indigenous revolution is helping stimulate indigenous
struggles in the region — something Washington fears and will
not tolerate.
On September 9, Venezuela’s
socialist president Hugo Chavez, sitting next to Morales, warned on
his Alo Preisdente TV program: “If US imperialism attacks our
peoples, using their lackeys in Venezuela and Bolivia, they can be sure
that we’re not going to wait with our arms crossed. If that occurs,
we will shout with Che Guevara, and then one, two, three, four, five,
or 10 Vietnams will have to be created in Latin America.”
To date, neither the governments
of Argentina or Brazil have spoken out about the growing threat to Bolivia.
A clear statement by these two and other South American countries rejecting
a civil war, military coup or invasion of Bolivia, would be a strong
blow against the US empire’s designs.
Now is the time for all intellectuals,
union militants, solidarity activists, political parties and progressive
minded individuals who believe in real justice and equality to raise
their voices in defence of Bolivia and its government, which is leading
an important process of change providing hope and inspiration to millions
of indigenous and oppressed people around the world, to ensure that
the US and its lackeys cannot get away with crushing this movement for
social liberation.
[Federico Fuentes
is editor of Boliviarising.blogspot.com.
Eduardo Yssa from the National Coalition for the Defense of Water, Basic
Services, the Environment and Life of Bolivia will be participating
in the Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum
in Melbourne, October 11-14. Visit http://solidarityforum2007.org
for more information.]
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