[Marxism] Aijaz Ahmad on Bolivian developments

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John Enyang

an extract:
-clip-

Fourth, there is no such thing as a revolution without mastering the armed
forces. The Bolivian armed forces belong to the Americans and U.S. troops
have carried out an exercise on the Paraguayan side of the Bolivian border
since Morales won the election. The carrot of the World Bank aid comes
with the stick of U.S.-trained armed forces. The great advantage of Chavez
is that he is a military man and enjoys the loyalty of the majority of his
officers, and even then a U.S.-engineered coup came extremely close to
overthrowing him. A story was doing the rounds in Caracas this past
summer, to the effect that as the coup unfolded and Chavez felt cornered
he called Fidel for advice and Fidel said: "Do anything but do not do an
Allende on us." That is an advice pregnant with meaning, and at least one
of the meanings is that when you are overwhelmed by the armed might of the
enemy, revolutionary suicide is not what you should opt for; just live to
fight another day. At least some of the critics of Morales would rather
have him commit revolutionary suicide immediately than to live and engage
in a long-term battle of great courage and subtlety that would be
necessary if a 500-year-old balance of power is to be reversed. What Fidel
seems to be counselling Morales is something for which Lenin had a phrase:
"revolutionary patience". If Morales still betrays the revolution, so be
it.

^^^^
CB; U.S. influence in the Bolivian military is a very important fact.



________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism