Evo Morales’ victory at the polls this Sunday is likely because of the progressive changes his government has brought about, as well as its ability to co-opt certain social movements and expand controversial but lucrative extractivist industries. This victory is all but assured in spite of these contradictions and tensions, but also because of them.
“I would say that the strength of Bolivia is not the state but the people. And the people have been strong and stubborn enough to be what they are, and to put their own desires as the terms and conditions of what is going to be the change. And that is what saves this process of Evo.” – Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui
With the new book Evo’s Bolivia: Continuity and Change, authors Linda Farthing and Benjamin Kohl achieve an admirable balance of providing an excellent entry point for those with little background in Bolivia as well as key insights for scholars and activists with a long history in the country.
“We’ve become leaders of [Conamaq] during difficult years … but here we stand. As long as we have energy, the struggle continues. We will not sell ourselves to any government or political party.” – Mama Nilda Rojas, Conamaq indigenous movement leader.
Julieta Ojeda is a part of Mujeres Creando, an anarchist/feminist organization in Bolivia that has been a radical voice for women’s rights before and throughout Evo Morales’ time in office. We interviewed her in La Paz in the midst of various social protests against the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) government.
Are there alternatives to this re-embrace of state-led capitalism? Evo Morales gained international attention by staking a strong discursive claim that global climate change was the result of the sins of capitalism. He posed indigenous cosmovision as the alternative: he declared that by embracing indigenous notions of reciprocity and communality, societies could learn to “live well” and sustainably instead of trying to live “better” than others through increased consumption.
From the Mines to the Streets provides an engaging introduction to twentieth-century Bolivian political developments that will deepen activists’ appreciation of this country. Written from the perspective of a passionate dedication to social justice, this is a key text to understand Latin American struggles.
In the last two decades, the best agricultural lands in Bolivia have been put into commercial production by large-scale producers closely linked to foreign investors, particularly Brazilians. Foreigners now control more than one million hectares of prime agricultural and ranching lands in Bolivia, primarily in the eastern lowland department of Santa Cruz, an important agro-export region dominated by transnational corporations.
The political victories of anti-neoliberal movements and regimes have opened a new chapter in Latin American history, yet the embrace of extractive industries has generated deep paradoxes for those committed to addressing inequality and the crisis of nature.
In light of Evo Morales’ May Day expulsion of USAID from Bolivia, here is a look back to the Harry Truman administration’s work to undermine Bolivia’s transformative National Revolution in 1952. This history’s legacy lives on; Washington’s power is woven into the fabric of Bolivian politics, from the dreams and nightmares of the National Revolution, into the MAS era of today.
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