Oligarchy Kicks Out: Revolutionary Showdown in Bolivia
A NEFAC comrades passes this on from a Trotskyist email list he's on. Of course he doesn't have any political sympathies with the e-list hosts, but thought this is worth a look.
Some background on previous tensions can be found in this article from Irish Indymedia on land reform. Actually I'm going to hold off for something to appear on upsidedownworld.org before before getting excited about anything happening there, especially as regular street clashes are nothing new and rhetoric from the right far from new.
The revolutionary crisis in Bolivia has come to a head;
Yesterday -- Nov. 24, 2007-- the representatives of Evo Morales' MAS party in the Constituent Assembly finally broke with the oligarchy and approved, with a simple majority vote, a new draft Constitution for Bolivia.
See: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN2434404320071125
This huge breakthrough, caused both by the pressure of the mass movement from below and the intransigence of the oligarchy, was immediately met with a violent reaction by the counter-revolutionary forces funded by the United States. The right wing has declared itself in de-facto insurrection against the Morales government and the Constituent Assembly -- and against the revolutionary movement that has rocked Bolivia for the past four years. Three people already have been killed.
The coming days and weeks will be decisive for the course of the Bolivian revolution -- and for the wave of rebellion sweeping across Latin America.
Our comrades in La Chispa, the Bolivian sympathizing section of the Fourth International, are at the forefront of the resistance against the separatist offensive of the oligarchy and imperialism. We are attaching below the declaration of La Chispa [in Spanish] in the aftermath of the decision of the Constituent Assembly and the violent protests of the oligarchy.
These brave Bolivian youth activists need your help.
In today's situation of revolutionary crisis, any donation, big or small, to our Bolivia Solidarity Fund will go a long, long way. This fund is needed to help sustain and expand the activity of La Chispa in these decisive moments. You can donate through Paypal by clicking on the link below or you can send a check made payable to The Organizer (please specify Bolivia Fund at bottom of check) to:
For more information or to donate online, visit:
http://www.revolution-youth.org/bolivia.php
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Another
Another statement;
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Please find below the English translation of the statement issued yesterday (Nov. 25) in Bolivia by La Chispa, the Bolivian sympathizing section of the Fourth International, regarding the recent developments in that country.
We want to remind you once again of the Bolivia Solidarity Fund that we have launched in the United States to help sustain -- and expand -- the activity of La Chispa in these decisive moments. Any donation, big or small, to this fund will go a long, long way.
You can donate through Paypal by clicking on the link below or you can send a check made payable to The Organizer (please specify Bolivia Fund at bottom of check) to:
P.O. Box 40009
San Francisco, CA, 94140
For more information or to donate online, visit:
http://www.revolution-youth.org/bolivia.php
Thanks in advance for your solidarity,
Eric Blanc
for Revolution Youth (USA) and Socialist Organizer
************************************
Declaration of La Chispa, the Bolivian sympathizing section of the Fourth International
(November 25, 2007)
- Now is the moment! All out against the separatist oligarchy!
- Unity of the workers, peasants, youth and their organizations in defense of the unity of Bolivia and the October Agenda!
Brothers and Sisters:
Bolivia is living through a crucial moment in its history.
The oligarchies, agents of imperialism, after having provoked the conflicts in Sucre by manipulating the theme of the transfer of the capital (from Sucre to La Paz), have now announced their decision to organize "civil disobedience" and not recognize the decisions taken by the majority of members of the Constituent Assembly (147 out of 255, that is, 57%) at the session on November 24 at the Military Academy in Sucre.
In the words of Costas, the mayor of Santa Cruz, they have decided to accelerate the implementation of their autonomous status -- in other words, they have decided to attempt to split Bolivia in order to maintain their privileges as the lackeys of imperialism.
The moment demands the widest unity of all sectors of the people to confront our common our enemy: the right wing and, behind this, imperialism. Our enemies aim to crush our advance toward the implementation of the Agenda of October (2003) and May-June (2005) -- that is, full nationalization of the natural resources, a Sovereign Constituent Assembly, agrarian reform, etc.
Our enemies aim to put an end to the revolutionary process of the vast majority of the exploited and oppressed in Bolivia -- as manifested in the uprisings of 2003 and 2005. They aim to bring us to civil war to carve up the nation!
The workers, the peasants, the youth, the native peoples of all departments and regions of the country want a united and sovereign Bolivia!
In the face of the separatist, pro-imperialist reaction, we must all join together to fight back!
The Bolivian Workers Federation (COB), the backbone organization of the working class, has the responsibility to call on all those who raise the banner of the Agenda of October, the government itself, the MAS, and all the organizations of the people, neighbors, peasants, native peoples, to jointly form a UNITED FRONT IN DEFENSE OF THE UNITY OF THE NATION AND THE OCTOBER AGENDA.
IT IS URGENT THAT A NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BE CALLED, with representatives of all the workers' and people's organizations, with elected representatives of all the sectors, the mines, the factories, the countryside, the universities, to take the necessary defense measures against the offensive of the pro-imperialist right-wing oligarchy!
The lessons must be learned from recent events!
The oligarchy, through its political parties (PODEMOS; UN) and its civic committees, have blackmailed the government elected by the Bolivian people and organized the referendum on autonomies in 2006 -- which was rejected through the victory of the NO. These same forces have sabotaged the Constituent Assembly through pushing for the rule of two-thirds voting, forcing the MAS and the representatives to accept their demands.
Now these forces, through their spokespersons -- Tuto Quiroga, Manfred Reyes Villa, Marincovick, etc. -- say that Evo Morales wants to impose a fascist dictatorship!
Making agreements with these people, like the MAS has been doing, only served to strengthen its separatist drive, which aims to hand over part of our Bolivia to imperialism.
The Constituent Assembly must continue to meet and must take decisions by absolute majority, which is a basic rule of democracy!
In order for the people to mobilize today against the attacks of the right wing, a Sovereign Constituent Assembly must adopt concrete measures that correspond to the Agenda of October:
- 100% nationalization of the oil, gas, and mines!
- Elimination of the latifundios. Land to the peasants and native peoples!
- No to autonomies! Respect the majority decision of the people in the July 2, 2006 referendum.
- Immediately abrogate all the conservative laws such as 21060 and renationalize the privatized companies!
But, we insist, that there is no task more urgent than UNITING ALL THE FORCES OF THE WORKERS, PEOPLE, NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS, YOUTH ORRGANIZATIONS, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES to smash the offensive to divide and destroy Bolivia.
We repeat: The Bolivian Workers Federation (COB) has the responsibility to be at the side of our peasants and indigenous peoples -- regardless of the political differences that exist with Evo Morales' MAS party. It is a burning need to forge this front, with all sectors of the people -- though the COB must maintain its political independence.
It is in this process that the Political Instrument of the Workers (a party which has been approved on paper time and time again by the congresses of the COB, the CODs, the CORs) can be built. This would be a party that represents the working class and its allies. But to reach this point, the broadest UNITED FRONT against the oligarchies and imperialism must be built today.
Brothers and Sisters:
What is happening in Bolivia has a direct relation to the struggle of the peoples of the world, particularly in Latin America, where the majority is resisting the policies of the destruction of nations pushed by U.S. imperialism!
Today, imperialism and its allies aim to isolate and defeat the revolutions under way in Venezuela and Ecuador and the workers' struggles in Peru, Brazil, Mexico and inside the United States itself.
Defeating the offensive of the oligarchy is not only the condition for continuing the struggle for the Agenda of October; it is also the condition for continuing the upward movement in the struggle of our peoples throughout the continent and the world!
The time is now!
- Unite against the oligarchy and imperialism!
- Faced with the Civil Disobedience of the Oligarchy, the Mobilization of the whole Bolivian people is needed!