Democracy Now!: The Rebellion Grows in Bolivia

From Democracy Now!
Broadcast Friday June 3

Indigenous Uprising: The Rebellion Grows in Bolivia
Juan Gonzalez interviews Jim Shultz

JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, but at the same time there's also a developing autonomy movement in the richest state or province of Bolivia. Could you talk a little bit about that?

JIM SHULTZ: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, part of what's going on here is traditionally the mineral resources of this country, silver, tin, have been in the highlands where the indigenous communities are strongest and most represented. The oil and gas -- and we're talking about a lot of oil and gas. We're talking about 53 trillion (with a T) cubic feet. This is the second-largest reserve on the continent after Venezuela. This is a lot of natural gas. It's in Santa Cruz on the other side of the country, the lowlands, the jungle lands, as well, which is a wealthier part of the country. The response to the demand by the people in the highlands for nationalization and public control has been an effort, especially in the province of Santa Cruz, to demand autonomy, essentially to demand that the national government stay out of certain affairs, and it doesn't take a lot of reading between the lines to understand what it’s really about is the people who are sitting on the land where the gas is located really want to make sure that they get the biggest share and the most control. And the oil companies have very clearly been manipulating this. This is not an uprising in Santa Cruz of the poor. This is an uprising of the business class. And it is very simple for foreign oil companies to manipulate that process and foment that discontent, and so -- I mean, it's interesting every time the indigenous community has an uprising, the U.S. government likes to blame it on narco-traffickers but they don't seem to pay attention to the fact that you have this uprising on the other side of the country for autonomy that has oil company fingerprints all over it . . . .

JUAN GONZALEZ: We're talking right now on the phone with Jim Shultz, the Executive Director of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, Bolivia, about the crisis in Bolivia. Jim, could you talk to us a little bit about the U.S. role in the current crisis and in Bolivian politics, in general, and that of the I.M.F.? You have been writing quite a bit about that on your blog that can be found at DemocracyCtr.org. Can you talk to us about that?

JIM SHULTZ: Well, Juan, it’s important to put the story in the context both of sort of U.S. and I.M.F. policy but also in what's happening in Latin America more broadly. Bolivia has for the past 20 years been the lab rat for the I.M.F. and the World Bank's economic policies. Bolivia did it all, privatization of water, privatization of oil and gas, relaxation of labor standards, all of the deficit reduction coming in from the backs of the poor. All of this has been done at the command of the I.M.F. and the World Bank. And Bolivia doesn't have a lot of choice. When the I.M.F. and the World Bank tell Bolivia, “Thou shalt privatize your water” or “Thou shalt privatize your oil and gas,” those are commandments that are very difficult for a poor country like Bolivia to say no to. The fact is it hasn't worked. I mean, this is a country that has had two major civic uprisings over water privatization, both of which have kicked big international companies out of the country, and now it’s having this uprising over gas privatization. It just hasn't worked.

Read more or watch the video report.

Jim Shultz is the Executive Director of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba. He writes a blog on the developments in Bolivia that can be found at DemocracyCtr.org.

Protests and blockades paralyzing La Paz. Roads across the country shut down. Campesinos marching on Santa Cruz attacked by stick-wielding youths. Congress struggling to find some compromise that can bring the country back to normal. All sides losing patience and repeated rumors of coups in the air. This is the way Bolivia looks tonight.

How would people in the U.S. feel if the IMF came in today and forced the US government to privatize Social Security, took that fundamental democratic choice right out of the public’s hands? Or suppose that the IMF forced the US government to turn over the Alaskan wilderness over to oil companies from China? What then?

What is happening in the streets of El Alto, La Paz and Cochabamba this week is nothing to be shocked about. It is a political boomerang a decade in the making from a simple fact – Bolivia did not hand control of its oil and gas reserves over to foreign companies because the people deliberated on it and decided it was a good deal. Bolivia took that action under the threat of losing foreign aid it was dependent upon.

You don’t take a decision like that away from people and then express shock and dismay when they finally react. If fatal violence again breaks out in Bolivia in the next week, let us not pretend that it was a purely Bolivian act. The actions that set that violence in motion will be traceable, once again, to an unelected institution a hemisphere away in Washington DC.

http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/index.htm

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday June 3 11:35 GMT (4:35 am PDT)

Bolivia moves to resolve crisis

Bolivia's president has set out plans for radical reforms in an attempt to end weeks of violent protests which have partly paralysed the nation.

Carlos Mesa said the constitution would be rewritten by a new assembly that would be elected on 16 October.

He said a referendum on the same day would decide on a demand for more autonomy by resource-rich provinces.

The move should satisfy both sides of Bolivia's regional and ideological divide, a BBC correspondent says.

Read more.

:kick:

The Constitutional assembly is a concession; but the core of the
issues is the nationalization of hydrocarbons and the opposing
"local autonomy" measures for the hydrocarbon rich lowland areas,
all driven in the unmentioned background by the issue of economic
colonialism, the right or large corporations to exploit where they
will at prices of their own choosing.

They would owe 50% of their revenues.

Indigenous groups and labor unions want nationalization of Bolivia's oil and natural gas.

This is a classic clash of economic nationalism and neoliberalism.

Neo-conservative economic policies are always called neo-liberalism.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less."
--Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6

The root of the word liberal is the Latin liber, meaning free. in this case, freedom is relative to the businessman's right to buy and sell. It has nothing to do with a welfare state and may even embrace ideas hostile to it. This liberalism isn't what we think of as liberalism; it is really laissez-faire capitalism and free trade agreements.

Until the Great Depression, the world liberal was commonly used this way. Republicans accused Roosevelt and the Democrats of hijacking the word when they applied it to their New Deal programs.

Here is some further expounding on the subject from the Global Exchange website.

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday June 3 23:26 GMT (4:26 pm PDT)

Bolivian protesters reject offer

Protests have continued in Bolivia despite promises made by President Carlos Mesa aimed at easing the crisis.

He had announced plans on Thursday for an assembly to rewrite the constitution and for a referendum on more autonomy for resource-rich provinces.

However, neither protest leaders nor the provinces appear to have been placated by President Mesa's proposals.

Mass demonstrations paralysed the city of La Paz for another day, blocking roads and halting public transport.

Read more.

From the BBC Online
Dated Monday June 6 10:05 GMT (3:05 am PDT)

Bolivian protesters vow to go on

Demonstrators in Bolivia have rejected calls by the widely respected Catholic Church to end their protests.

Thousands are expected to march on the main city, La Paz, on Monday where they plan to hold a popular assembly.

The country's main roads remain blocked, affecting fuel provision to La Paz, in the fourth week of protests.

The mainly left-wing and indigenous protesters are demanding nationalisation of the gas industry and constitutional reforms.

Read more.