[Marxism] Evo's Bolivia according to The Economist

["Fred Fuentes" <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/economist-has-just-published.html

Evo's Bolivia according to The Economist

The Economist has just published an interesting article (particularly
compared to their usual tripe) on Bolivia under Morales. The article
asks the question is Evo the same as Chavez and answers, "not really,
perhaps, but we are still unsure". The article can be read at
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2007/06/evo-chavez-friends-not-clones.html

Three parts of the article are interesting in what they show about how
at least one important section of the international ruling elite views
the situation in Bolivia today.

1) Analysis of conflict in Bolivia
The Economist writes
"Many of Mr Morales's gestures in the 17 months since he took office
as Bolivia's first-ever elected president of Andean Indian descent
have been more divisive. His most popular policy, the nationalisation
of oil and gas, has irritated foreign governments and investors. The
"democratic revolution" he promises—a transfer of wealth and power
from Bolivia's white and mestizo (mixed race) elite to the mainly
Andean Indian poor—alarms the prosperous eastern provinces. He calls
the media the "main adversary" of his government and wants to hold
them accountable to the people. "
Here we see that at least for the Economist the dividing line in
Bolivia is clear: on one side stands Evo, his government; on the
other, "foreign governments and investors", "Bolivia's white and
mestizo (mixed race) elite" in "the prosperous eastern provinces" and
the media, the "'main adversary' of his government". This analysis is
miles ahead of the usual ultraleft nonsense that tries to pit the
masses against MAS.

2) Where to next in Bolivia - the importance of the Constituent Assembly
The Economist writes
"Greater clarity should soon come from a constituent assembly that is
writing a new constitution (another device used by Mr Chávez to
consolidate his power). Mr Morales's Movement to Socialism (MAS)
proposes to redefine Bolivia as a "unitary, pluri-national,
communitarian" state that gives pride of place to three dozen
indigenous "nations". These groups would control territory and natural
resources and would be represented as communities in a single-chamber
legislature alongside individual citizens. Private enterprise would be
protected when it "contributes to economic and socio-cultural
development". A fourth "social power" would oversee the traditional
three."

Again a fairly accurate summary of what Morales and MAS aims to get
out of the Constituent Assembly, and why the opposition have threaten
to take the battle outside the halls of the Constituent Assembly and
onto the streets to put a halt to MAS' project. There is still clearly
some sections of the ruling international and domestic elite that
believe Morales' government can be bought off and that the necessary
approach to take to Morales, unlike Chavez, is to negotiated with the
Bolivian government. But many are looking to see what comes out of the
Constituent Assembly and happens after the new constitution (if there
is a new one) comes into being, the Economist being one of the
advocates of this outlook. (Look out in next issue of Green Left
Weekly for an update article on the Constituent Assembly)

3) What the Evo government represents
Here the Economist can see something that much of the left miss,
except it is looking from the otherside
"But charging ahead when he can, and retreating when he must, is not a
strategy for governance. The inexperienced, often inept, government
has achieved little beyond boosting ethnic and national pride, and gas
royalties. "

It may not be a strategy for government, but seems like a sensible
strategy to winning real power. Having captured control the
government, Bolivia's indigenous, campesinos and workers are using
this position to, as they say, "move from resistance to power". But
power in this instance does not mean government, rather the creation
of a new decolonised Bolivian state. To day in Bolivia, as opposed to
the strategy of "changing the world without taking power" ala the
Zapatistas, or the "take power to not change much at all' strategy of
Lula in Brazil, we are seeing an attempt to implement the "take power
to change the world" strategy. How it will finish is unclear. What is
clear though is the driving force behind this national revolution,
which charges ahead when it can, retreats when it must - the seeming
unimportant (at least to the white foreign gringo journalist) "ethnic
and national pride". This simple fact is something that not only most
bourgeois journalist but many of the white first world left just don't
get. Today's Bolivian revolution is not a workers revolution, at least
in its fist instance, but an indigenous revolution, or, to put it
another way, the worker-peasant alliance has taken a different form,
an indigenous led national revolution. The old mole of revolution has
definitely reared its head again, this time in Bolivia, and but this
time it is not weaaring the traditional miners hat but rather a poncho
and waving a whipala AND Bolivian flag.

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