[Marxism] Pro-Mesa middle class hits streets, while peasants, workers unite: Bolivia

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While the Social Movements Stick Together, the Middle Class Takes to the
Streets
By Luis Gomez, 
Posted on Thu Mar 10th, 2005 at 04:22:40 PM EST
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/10/162240/827

While the middle class pours into the Plaza Murillo, to cheer President
Carlos Mesa in his palace, the stalemate between the right wing (with
the government leading) and the left (with all the social movements
united) continues?
This morning there was a second meeting in the Bolivian Workers?
Federation (COB in its Spanish initials) offices. Mesa asked Evo Morales
for a dialog, and Morales has invited his peers to come with him, as he
had previously announced.

Let?s move on to the facts? 


At this moment, about one hundred meters from where I am standing, the
Plaza Murillo is completely filled with people who support President
Carlos Mesa. They are the bureaucrats (who got the government?s
permission to leave work), the housewives who color their hair, the
lawyers in fancy suits, the middle-class students, entire companies
bussed in by their owners? they are the merchants of La Paz who have an
agreement with Mayor Juan del Granado (one of Mesa?s allies)? more than
10,000 of them, all excited with their white flags and handkerchiefs,
calling Evo a ?shit Indian.? They are Mesa?s troops, there for effect,
and obviously covered by the Bolivian commercial media. 
Last night, as we anticipated, Carlos Mesa called Evo Morales to ask for
a meeting and dialogue this morning. ?I said that first he had to
apologize for everything he has said, and then we would talk,? said Evo.
?But now it?s not just about me or just about the MAS and its proposals?
it?s about all of the legitimate representatives of the Bolivian people,
united in this great pact of national mobilization.?

Morales spoke during the second meeting of the social movements, which
began this morning at 11, in the COB?s meeting hall. The social leaders
today continued moving towards a stronger, more long-term alliance. 

The discussions focused in large part on criticisms of Evo Morales, the
Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, and their various positions
(such as their desire to dominate all the social movements). However,
despite the differences on display, everyone agreed that it was
important to attend the dialog with the president, united and clear of
purpose, this afternoon (at 4pm). 

Jaime Solares, executive secretary of the COB and the man Evo informed
last night of his idea to go together with all the leaders, suggested
that they only discus the central issue that brings all of them
together: that of the nation?s hydrocarbons and the new law that Mesa
hopes to change in order to keep benefiting the transnational
corporations (to name a few, Repsol from Spain, Total from France, BG
and BP from Britain, Enron from the U.S., and others). 

?When the right wing, the government, the oligarchy, and the
transnationals unite, we are forced to unite as well,? commented Evo to
those present, answering the critiques that others ? especially the
Aymara leaders such as Felipe Quispe, Rufo Calle and recently-elected
leader of the peasant farmers of the La Paz department, Gualberto Choque
? were making. He invited everyone to fight together, at least for the
hydrocarbons law proposal the MAS is pushing in Congress.

?And if nothing changes, brothers, we are willing to fight and shut down
this Parliament,? stressed Evo, speaking both in the name of the Six
Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba (the main peasant farmers?
organization of the Chapare) and as president of the MAS.

The agreement was reached quickly. Criticisms and mistakes were not
ignored, but it was decided to leave these for later discussion ?face to
face, with respect and clarity.?

This afternoon, when the Bolivian social leaders arrive at the meeting
with Carlos Mesa, the first condition will be not to arrest or charge
any of the people who are currently blockading or marching in the nine
departments of Bolivia.

Once the negotiations have begun, the Bolivian social movements will
demand that the president govern as he has promised (to satisfy the
demands of the Bolivian people), that he not push a hydrocarbons law
that is a product of the pressure of international financial
organizations? or that there will be war. 

The Masses Keep Growing

After this morning?s meeting, Narco News asked a few leaders about the
state of the current mobilizations. Don?t forget, kind readers, that at
least two districts in El Alto have been blockading their roads without
rest since March 2, that there are marches and blockades in the Chapare,
in Potosí, and in Santa Cruz.

The rural Aymara indigenous, the other big group that could change the
country?s history, have resolved to prepare for mobilization.  Gualberto
Choque, after the meeting, told us that the 20 provinces of La Paz
department have begun to ?pass along the voice,? to spread the message?
and they know, because their history tells them so, that they are a key
sector. ?Not since the time of Tupaj Katari (in the 18th century) have
they been able to defeat us.?

In the Chapare and in Yapacaní, in the north of Santa Cruz department,
the blockades remain firm. The people of El Alto have gone back to their
blockades today, and in Cochabamba Oscar Olivera and other social
leaders are working to shut down their city.

And quick a note to clarify something: in a country with an average
yearly per capita income of less than US$3,000, where the poorest people
(58 percent of the families) live on less than $1.50 per day, here, in
Bolivia, the daily losses for this emergency and conflict are $13.8
million. Do you understand, kind readers? It seems that there is some
money in this country, but as always, it is in the wrong hands.

We will keep reporting? for Narco News, direct and live from the social
epicenter of our América? don?t miss the next chapter.


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