Re: [A-List] Bolivian COB Sends Open Letter to Evo Morales Demanding Nationalization of Hydrocarbons

["Nestor Gorojovsky" <nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

These "ultimatums" of the COB leadership are not precisely what the 
US Embassy hates more in Bolivia.  In fact, after 1985 the COB 
leadership has suffered a sad history of adaptation to neoliberalism. 
This was partly a necessity, partly a consequence of their reformism. 
 But the overall effect was that, for the time being, the 
relationship of this COB leadership with the revolutionary COB of 
yesterday is problematic, to put it mildly.

Unfortunately, the record of this Unions Central during the 
neoliberal age was far from soothing.  True opposition to 
neoliberalism did not come from the COB leadership (unlike in 
Argentina under Menem, where the CGT split, one wing heading 
opposition to neoliberals the other one caving in and betraying).  

One of the reasons may be that neoliberalism pushed the Bolivian 
working class into virtual physical death as a class, thus forcing 
what actually remained of a working class to take a strongly 
defensive position.  One might safely say that today's unemployed -
those people who voted massively for MAS and Morales- are the former 
workers of the COB, and that for the time being the COB has become a 
representation not of the Bolivian working class but of some 
"privileged" layers: yes, "privileged", because in a wasteland such 
as Bolivia today, it is a _privilege_ to be a slave of capital.  In 
countries such as Bolivia,  the role of the "reserve"army is far from 
marginal, as in Marx's classical model;  perhaps one may safely add 
that this is one of the central goals of imperialist expansion, to 
export and expand the reserve army to the periphery (and this is one 
of the reasons why I am against any definition of the fSU as 
"imperialist" in the classical Marxist sense, BTW).

The whole thing boils down to this:  if one takes into consideration 
the _whole_ of the working class, this leadership is 
irrepresentative.  Bolivian masses acted accordingly.  They voted 
Morales, and will support him against these hard-nosed reformists 
suddenly issuing ultimatums to the first government in decades that 
seriously confronts those powers with which they have been 
negotiating day after horrible day.

Respuesta a:"[A-List] Bolivian COB Sends Open Le"
Enviado por:grok@xxxxxxxxx
Con fecha:17 Feb 2006, a las 17:36

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> 
> [I believe that this non-ultimatum-sounding ultimatum was
> stated earlier, at election-time, and gave Morales something
> like 100 days or less to follow thru. I think it was a LOT
> less than 100 days... 
> 
> Support the masses -- not Morales. We already know where
> he's going: same place Lula is, and Bachelet is going.
> 
> - -- grok.]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> International Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples (ILC)
> P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.
> Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217.
> To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact ILC at <ilcinfo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> website: ILC section in www.owcinfo.org
> - --------------------
> 
> Dear Sisters and Brothers,
> 
> The following Open Letter was sent by Jaime Solares, General
> Secretary of the Bolivian Workers Federation (COB), to
> Bolivian President Evo Morales, with a copy to the president
> of the Bolivian Senate. Included was a cover letter
> requesting a meeting between the leadership of the COB and
> Evo Morales to discuss the content of the Open Letter and to
> demand the immediate implementation of the demands contained
> therein.


Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[No necesariamente es su autor]
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"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
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