Bolivia: 'A project for the liberation of the poor'
Federico Fuentes, La Paz
1 November 2007
Green Left Weekly
[posted on CubaNews]
"Here in Bolivia, the majority have realised that the
neoliberals have always betrayed us. Now the people cannot
be so easily bought off, there is growing consciousness and
a shift in the attitude of society. That is why it will be
difficult for [the neoliberals] to defeat us now. We will
continue governing for at least 50 to 100 years - some say
forever." This is how Roman Loayza, head of the Movement
Towards Socialism (MAS) group of delegates to Bolivia's
constituent assembly, described the situation in Bolivia
when Green Left Weekly spoke to him on October 17.
MAS is the party of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the
first indigenous president in Bolivia's history, elected in
2005 on a platform of reversing 500 years of colonialism
and genocide against the indigenous majority, and reversing
the impact of 20 years of neoliberalism that has left
Bolivia South America's poorest nation.
It is his confidence in the people that gives Loayza hope
for the constituent assembly, which has not met since
August and is rapidly approaching its second deadline of
December 14. Its original one-year time frame was extended
without a single article of the new constitution having
been voted on.
GLW asked Loayza why the assembly has faced so many
problems. He explained that "the traditional right-wing
parties do not agree with the constituent assembly, they
want to keep fooling the people, turning them against MAS.
They don't want to accept that they were defeated. They
want to wear the people down, in order to finish off MAS,
starting by finishing off the president.
"However, this will be difficult. Even if they do not allow
us to approve the new constitution, we have the
constitutional text, which is being finished off now and
will be presented to the people, and the people will
decide."
'A political project of the poor'
When Loayza, together with Morales, was first elected to
parliament in 1997 it marked the entrance of the indigenous
and campesino (peasant) movements onto the political stage
nationally. Two years previously, three of Bolivia's key
indigenous and campesino organisations, including the
United Union Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia
(CSUTCB) headed by Loayza, came together to construct a
"political instrument" that aimed to be "a political
project of the poor, for the liberation of the poor".
Following the 1997 elections, the Political Instrument for
the Sovereignty of the Peoples (which took the electorally
registered name of MAS) was formed. In 2002, MAS came
second in national elections, with Morales just falling
short of winning the highest vote for president.
Refusing to make alliances with the traditional parties,
MAS won government outright with 53.7% of the vote in the
December 2005 elections, on the back of rising indigenous,
campesino and other social movements. Re-elected as deputy
in 2002, Loayza is generally viewed as representing the
more radical wing of the MAS, largely due to his role as a
leader of the CSUTCB during the 2003 and 2005 uprisings.
A plurinational Bolivia
The election of what Loayza describes as Bolivia's "first
indigenous, originario government" allowed for the
implementation of the two central demands arising from the
struggles of the indigenous majority - the nationalisation
of gas (decreed in May 2006) and the convoking of a
constituent assembly (which began meeting in August 2006).
In the election of assembly delegates, MAS won over 50%.
"[An] indigenous, originario government signifies a change
because until now governments have always stolen our
resources, becoming wealthy at the expense of the poor. We
want to finish off the neoliberal economic model."
Loayza explained that Bolivia's social movements "are
proposing a united, plurinational communitarian social
state. Why plurinational? Because the indigenous originario
peoples from the east and west want our nations to be
recognised and, having finally been recognised, to
participate in all spheres - political, economic, social
and cultural."
He said that MAS is "neither from the traditional left nor
the traditional right - we come out of our own cultural
identity" adding, "we want to change the country because
each of the 36 [indigenous] nations has its own culture,
language and beliefs. They live in harmony with Mother
Earth." However, accepting these differences doesn't mean
division: "to change the country we want unity".
Behind the emphasis on indigenous rights and culture is not
the goal of returning to a romanticised past, but rather an
expression of Bolivia's national revolutionary tradition:
"After the new constitution is approved all authorities
will have to support industrialisation . we could become an
industrialised country, no longer underdeveloped."
Political commission
Attempting to implement these changes has placed the
indigenous peoples on a collision course with the old
ruling elite. This clash has at times been physical,
something Loayza can personally testify to. Loayza nearly
lost his life, spending two months in a coma, after a
scuffle in the assembly resulted in a fall from a three
metre high stage, fracturing his skull.
The right-wing opposition has fanned the flames of
discontent among the people of Sucre (known as the "white
city" for its social composition), where the assembly is
meeting, with the demand that the legislative and executive
powers - which shifted to La Paz in 1899 following a civil
war - return to the city. Violent protests forced the
temporary suspension of the assembly and some MAS delegates
were forced into hiding.
To overcome the stalemate, the government took the
initiative of forming a "political commission" to bring
together representatives from all groups in the assembly to
negotiate contentious points and attempt to reach
consensus. Having squandered eight months debating rules of
procedure, and then unnecessarily aggravating tensions by
declaring that the issue of the capital could not be
discussed in the assembly, many are wondering how useful
the assembly will ultimately prove to be, and whether it
isn't just the same old parties once again negotiating the
future of the country among themselves.
A recent poll showed that nearly two thirds of Bolivians
don't think the assembly will complete its job by December
14, with support for the assembly dropping to 39% in
October. From the original goal of "re-founding Bolivia",
discussion has shifted to the more moderate idea of
"constitutionalising" changes begun under Morales, such as
the gas nationalisation.
The current stalemate in the assembly now as many in MAS
focusing on ensuring the constitutional changes include the
ability to re-elect presidents to allow for continuity in
the process of change. Despite discontent with the
assembly, and in the face of sustained opposition attacks
on Morales, the same poll puts his support at 62%, an
increase of 5% from two months previous.
Loayza told GLW: "The political commission was formed
firstly to seek unity, and afterwards to discuss the
principal issues that have caused the problems, such as
[competing] visions for the country.
"Until now we have reached consensus on the economic issue:
the new constitution will recognise the state economy, the
private economy and the communitarian economy to benefit
the communities . we have also reached agreement on
autonomy" at the departmental (state), municipal and
regional level as well as for indigenous communities, "two
important issues".
While the main opposition party, Podemos, participated in
discussions over autonomy, they did not sign onto the
agreement, nor did they sign onto the subsequent agreement
reached on October 18 over the type of state that Bolivia
would become, which in an attempt to include all views was
defined as unitary, social, plurinational, communitarian,
autonomous and decentralised, democratic, free,
independent, sovereign and inter-cultural.
The assembly is yet to reconvene, with a negotiation team
from the political commission travelling to Sucre to see if
local authorities are willing to provide the necessary
safety precautions for delegates to meet. That same day,
October 31, the directorate of the assembly, along with MAS
delegates, travelled to Oruro to investigate the
feasibility of transferring the assembly there.
Loayza told GLW that while MAS was working hard to get
agreement from the two thirds of assembly delegates needed
to approve the final text, "I think we will not get that
unity". In such a scenario "once we have a constitutional
text we will approve it by majority [in the assembly], and
once approved we will hand it over to the people. If the
opposition does not let us approve it, the people are the
sovereigns: they will approve what we have done."
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