[Marxism] Indigenous peoples rising up

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

NY Times, July 17, 2004
Where the Incas Ruled, Indians Are Hoping for Power
By JUAN FORERO

ACHACACHI, Bolivia -After centuries of misery and discrimination, 
indigenous people across the region are flexing their political muscles, 
moving to wrest power from the largely European ruling elite but also 
dreaming of an independent state.

Such a state could look a lot like this bleak town in the highlands, 
where the police and central government authorities were chased out long 
ago, their offices destroyed by seething Aymara Indians. The Bolivian 
flag has given way to the seven-color Wipala, the flag of the Indian 
nation. Roads linking this landlocked country to the world were also 
blockaded frequently, a lever to prod the government to meet 
ever-tougher demands.

The political awakening has extended into Peru, where indigenous people 
have also closed highways and taken over some small towns. In Ecuador, 
groups of the Pachakutik movement have pledged to step up protests meant 
to force the resignation of President Lucio Gutiérrez, whom they helped 
to put in power but who has fallen out of favor over his free-market 
policies.

It is in Bolivia, the most indigenous country in Latin America, where 
they hold the most influence. One crossroads for the two visions of 
Bolivia will come Sunday, when a referendum is held on the issue of how 
to use the country's abundant natural gas, either exporting it in the 
hope of conventional economic development, or keeping it for use at 
home. The outcome could ignite new protests unless President Carlos Mesa 
is able to finesse the issue through his complicated five-question ballot.

He faces Indians who are increasingly aggressive in taking on the 
government, and have scored a series of victories. Just nine months ago, 
their protests forced President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozado to resign. 
Now, they want Mr. Mesa to expropriate Bolivia's oil and gas companies, 
a proposal he rejects.

In local meetings, some Indians now even talk of forming a completely 
new nation, reaching across the scrub grass of the Andean highlands into 
Peru and Chile, where the Aymaras also live. It is a idea that has a 
powerful hold on this swath of the former Inca empire.

"We could remain part of Bolivia, but we want to run things," said Ramón 
Yujra, the director of a school in Achacachi and an indigenous leader.

Felipe Quispe, a former guerrilla and a prominent indigenous leader, 
went further. "What we've been doing is taking out the government 
representatives, the police, the transit force, the judges, the 
subprefects, even the mayors," he said. "Like a drop of grease that 
expands, if this movement keeps growing, we will reach all of Bolivia."

Such talk is enthralling to his followers, and unnerving to the ruling 
elite and the government. Motivated by a distrust of the ruling class 
for ignoring their poverty, and rejecting global economics, they talk of 
a vague - critics say naïve - plan of returning to the Inca past, with a 
communal agricultural society. All decisions should be made by consensus 
in local councils, or allyus, these Indians say.

The indigenous movement has surged in the first years of this century, 
using the ballot box, sometimes violence, and popular protest. In 2000, 
they stopped a plan by the Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco, the 
huge conglomerate, from privatizing the water system in Cochabamba, 
Bolivia's third-largest city. Politically, Indians and their allies now 
control about a third of the 157 seats in Congress, up from a handful a 
few years before.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/international/americas/17boli.html

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