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New Politics in Old Bolivia
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Counterpunch - Dec 1, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/dangl12012007.html
Public Opinion and Evo Morales
New Politics in Old Bolivia
By BENJAMIN DANGL
Nearly two years into the presidency of Evo Morales, government
officials and leftist social organizations are determined to break with
the past and transform the nation. The opposition calls it a civil war.
The government calls it a revolution. Other Bolivian activists and
analysts call it business as usual. A look at public opinion and recent
conflicts in Bolivia expose the hopes and challenges facing Bolivia's
first indigenous president.
During the weekend of November 24-25, opposition protestors clashed
with police. Protesters were demanding that the capital of Bolivia be
moved to Sucre. Three people died and over 100 were wounded in the
confrontations. Leading up to this bloody weekend, assembly people of
the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS, the political party of Evo Morales)
had been routinely attacked by opposition groups advocating the capital
move and protesting the MAS and the new constitution. Due to these
frequent attacks, the MAS moved the assembly to a nearby military
college for security. Opposition assembly people boycotted the
gathering at the military college, protesting the move and the MAS
plans for the new constitution. On Saturday, November 24, the MAS and
allied parties gathered to pass a new draft of the constitution without
the opposition present. The new draft was passed by 138 out of the 255
assembly people.
According to Evo Morales, the draft that was passed guarantees autonomy
for departments and indigenous groups, nationalization of natural
resources, greater access to water, land, electricity, education and
healthcare. Morales explained that the constitution respects private
property, but also public and communal property. The assembly has until
December 14th to approve the final constitution. This final
constitution requires the sup****t of 2/3 of the entire assembly,
meaning these articles won't be passed without the participation of
opposition groups. Any articles in the constitution that do not receive
2/3 approval will go to a national referendum for citizens to vote on.
The Landscape of Public Opinion in Bolivia
To gain an unofficial understanding of the general public opinion
regarding the Evo Morales administration, I recently spoke with a
number of Bolivians from diverse economic, geographical and political
backgrounds. These informal discussions took place on buses, in parks,
bars, farms and living rooms. They offered insights into the current
crises and political landscapes in the country. It was these opinions
and popular sentiments that erupted into violence recently, and will
likely decide the fate of the government.
In general, I found that poorer, working class and rural people tend to
sup****t the MAS primarily because Morales is the first indigenous
president of Bolivia, a former coca grower and is from a humble
background like their own. These sup****ters, which largely make up the
government's base across the country, cite the partial nationalization
of the gas, redistribution of land, improved access to basic services
and the work of constituent assembly (in spite of its problems) as key
reasons for their sup****t. Many of the country's social organizations
and unions are within this sup****tive group. Though they have
criticisms, many leaders have entered, or are working with, the
government in some capacity. This is the group that will likely
continue to defend the government from opposition forces and keep Evo
Morales in office.
I have also met a number of people that in spite of the criticisms they
have, recognize the historic im****tance of the first indigenous
president, and the fact that the MAS is a political instrument
developed by grassroots movements. These people acknowledge the
challenges facing the administration, yet are not contented with the
changes that have taken place under the MAS government. They say more
private land and cor****ations should be expropriated, that the gas
should be fully nationalized, and that the MAS is depending on the old
structure of the corrupt state, rather than transforming the state.
Criticisms are growing within this group, particularly after the
violence and problems at the constituent assembly. Though this group
may weaken the overall sup****t for the government, they currently lack
a coherent political strategy or major party outside the MAS.
Others cited the government's lack of expertise, management and
technical skills as reasons to be critical. They contend that instead
of picking people with technical and political experience, the MAS
chose to hire people that are close political allies, and indigenous
people with union organizing experience. These critics say such choices
have contributed to poor management within the government. It's
im****tant to point out that in the past it has been the technically
experienced politicians that have used their skills to loot the
country. In this government, there has been a concerted effort to
include workers, indigenous people and leaders from excluded sectors
that understand the suffering and needs of the population which the
government was elected to work for.
I have also met a handful of people that are against the indigenous
president for racist reasons. Others oppose the government for
ideological reasons, and advocate continued neoliberal policies. Within
this oppositional group is the occasional critique that Evo Morales
isn't governing for Bolivians, he is just following orders from
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro of Cuba. This is not
true. The route that the current government is taking with the
management of natural resources, the re-writing of the constitution and
other issues has been established by popular demands from the Bolivian
people. For decades, numerous mobilizations and protests pushed the
constituent assembly and gas nationalization into the political agenda.
It's true that there is a considerable amount of influence and sup****t
coming from Cuba and Venezuela. Yet many people in Bolivia see this as
a good thing. It's a collaborative relation****p of mutual respect, and
much less hierarchical than the relation****ps former Bolivian
presidents have had with the Wa****ngton or multinational cor****ations.
For example, when Venezuela lends money to Bolivia, there aren't any
neoliberal strings attached, such as the privatization of water
resources.
Finally, there is a large and vocal political opposition to the Evo
Morales administration. This opposition is organized primarily through
right wing political parties and civic organizations in the eastern
parts of the country. These groups have led the charge against the MAS
in the assembly, the media and the streets. A recent strike was called
by prefects for six of the nine departments in Bolivia. This strike
represents the cohesion of the right, and the regional division in the
country. Though the MAS won the presidency, it did not win a number of
prefect and mayor positions. These local governments and right wing
leaders have united against the MAS. It's this opposition which poses
the biggest challenge to the MAS government.
A common critique that crossed these lines of sup****t and opposition to
the government was the tension and violence in the country. The recent
deaths and injuries in Sucre are part of a cycle of violence that has
beset the administration since it took office, erupting earlier in
Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and elsewhere in the country. These outbursts
aren't necessarily just the Morales administration's fault, but part of
a power struggle which has erupted between the MAS and the opposition.
And, as Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera explained in a
<http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4715>recent
interview in Americas
Program, these tensions, both racial and economic, are not anything new
for Bolivia: "The novelty today is that for the first time the society
is forced to look at itself in the mirror, and it has to see its
limitations, its cracks, its weaknesses. The real problem would be if
we didn't resolve them, if we just did what past governments have done
and swept them under the rug."
"With or Without Evo"
Another group of intellectuals and journalists offered their analysis
of the current government and the role of society outside the
government palace.
In the worn down Bolivian Workers' Center office in El Alto, I met with
Julio Mamani, a journalist who has for years re****ted on his city, its
politics and social movements. Mamani lamented the lack of space for
critique within the MAS: "If you critique the government, they say you
are an instrument of neoliberalism." Others in the government shared
this criticism, complaining about a "with us or against us" mentality
within the MAS that stifles open discussion and critiques.
Mamani explained another challenge is the lack of political
alternatives on the Bolivian left. Most groups have gathered under the
umbrella of the MAS. "What will happen to them after Evo is gone?"
Mamani asked.
Felipe Quispe, a long time indigenist/leftist leader, and Felix Patzi,
a radical sociologist and former minister of education in the MAS
government, had answers to that question.
In a hotel lobby near the central Plaza Murillo in La Paz, a
mustachioed Quispe, smoking cigarettes and chewing coca at the same
time, tilted his hat above his forehead and shook his fist in the air
when talking about indigenous mobilizations in recent years. "We have
tried to recuperate our land and our power. Yet this power is in the
hands of our looters, including the MAS. We have to reorganize,
rearticulate our forces in the country sides and in the cities Who will
make the revolution for us? It's us, the poor, those on the bottom, the
discriminated, the workers, we who built this country, it's up to us.
We need to govern ourselves."
The academic Patzi spoke of the social and indigenous movements that
were very active in recent years and helped pave the way to the
election of Evo Morales. "The MAS is a part of the momentum of these
social movements If this movement is to go forward, it's up to us.
We'll have to continue this process with or without Evo."
Others on the left are planning for a Bolivia without Evo, or at least
a radicalization of the existing government. Writer and analyst Luis
Tapia also looked beyond conventional thinking. Tapia has a beard, long
flowing hair, and red-rimmed gl*****. Speaking in a sure, steady tone,
he explained that Bolivia contains many more political and social
forces that the state does not include. "In Bolivia, politics is a lot
more diverse than just the state," Tapia explained. He mentioned
communitarian governance among indigenous groups, unions,
anti-privatization movements and neighborhood councils which question
the vast inequalities in the country. "This political diversity and
power often doesn't fit into political parties or governmental
positions. Democracy is not synonymous with the state." Tapia said that
the Bolivian state only represents a part of the diversity of the
country, and likened presidents to monarchs -- both centralized
positions of power which facilitate the application of policies which
are harmful to the people. Tapia said there is a dire need to
"de-monopolize" politics and democracy in Bolivia.
On the other hand, the MAS contends that it is a government made of
social movements, and is working to transform the state so that it can
better serve the needs of the poorest sectors of the population. As
Morales recently explained: "It is the experience and the effort of the
social movements that is causing democracy to address the issues that
really concern poor and needy people Democracy is much more than a
routine election every four years." Indeed, many of the ministers and
party members within the MAS are from union and indigenous movements.
In many ways, and with limited results, the MAS initiatives and
policies have reflected the demands of these excluded sectors.
The hope and enthusiasm of the first year of the Morales administration
has dissipated. The initial plans and announcements of 2006 have
largely unraveled in 2007. Instead of an instrument of transformation,
the constituent assembly has been turned into a political swamp which
the MAS may not be able to pull itself out of. Though the gas has been
partially nationalized, some land has been re-distributed, and access
to basic services increased, much still needs to be done. There may a
strong presence of social movement leaders within the government, but
until the MAS can transform the state into something which reflects the
diversity of Bolivia, it risks being suffocated by the rusted apparatus
of the old state. Though the poor majority may still sup****t the
Morales administration, these first two years in office have exposed
the stark challenges facing the polarized country.
[Benjamin Dangl is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and
Social Movements in Bolivia, (AK Press, March 2007). Email
Bendangl(at)gmail.com ]
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