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The Global Women Strike condemns racist violence of the elite in Bolivia and its US backers Co-ordinations in: Bolivia, England, Guyana, India, Ireland, Peru, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, USA, Venezuela
The Global Women Strike condemns the violence in Sucre (Chuquisaca) by Bolivia’s racist elite against Indigenous people and members of the government of Evo Morales, the first elected Indigenous president.
Our sister organization in Bolivia keeps us informed about the struggle for liberation of the majority Indigenous communities against this re-imposition of apartheid. The women tell us that the elite wants to block any changes which would increase the economic, political and human rights of Bolivia’s Indigenous majority, the poorest in South America. Many of the oligarchy are the direct descendants of the murderous conquistadores of 500 years ago, while others are descendants of immigrants from ex-Yugoslavia who made their fortunes in Bolivia first of all by being white.
They want to balkanize Bolivia, separating Santa Cruz, the largest and richest state, from the rest of the country as if its resources were their personal possession rather than the property of all Bolivians. To this end they have been attacking Evo Morales, members of his government and those who support it. They are backed by the US government and its ambassador to Bolivia Philip Goldberg, who presided over the division of Yugoslavia.
On 24 May, President Morales was prevented by the oligarchy from visiting Chuquisaca to launch much needed public works. Racist gangs backed by separatist regional authorities, attacked the mainly Indigenous and rural population which supports Morales, as well as the army and police, most of whom are also Indigenous. About 30 people were made to take their shirts off, bow down and beg for forgiveness as if they were still the slaves of the Spanish Crown, while their ponchos (the traditional dress), their flag and the flag of the government party the MAS (Movement towards Socialism), were torched. Women, children and older people, as well as ministers and members of parliament, were among those assaulted and humiliated. Racist gangs sporting Swastikas and Ku Klux Klan symbols have been prominent.
Such attacks have been increasing. Last November the Constituent Assembly in Sucre had to meet in barracks to protect itself from violence aimed at preventing a new constitution from being passed. In May the Santa Cruz prefect held an illegal vote aimed at pushing forward its separatist agenda and sabotaging the national referendum on the constitution.
We are outraged that in the 21st century there are still those who impose what they believe is their natural right to rule and who refuse to accept the will of the people. This elite of murderers, thieves, exploiters, subversives and traitors believe themselves to be racially superior to the native population they thought had been defeated five centuries ago. They are used to getting away with doing as they like. They have the backing of US and European governments and their multinationals which are determined to win back their power and influence in South America, and ensure their control over the continent’s natural resources and its population regardless of the damage to our planet and all who live on it.
All over the world Indigenous native people have had to defend themselves with the only weapon at their disposal: their collective organization. In Bolivia, the movement that put an Indigenous rural man in power had previously brought down US-backed presidents and corporations, winning back important natural resources through the re-nationalization of water and the nationalization of gas. Women from Indigenous, rural and mining backgrounds have been particularly active and are determined to defend the only elected government which brings the hope of ending extreme poverty and exploitation. A pension has already been won, and people expect much more.
Bolivia is another example of the counter-revolution we face when we make a revolution to free ourselves from slavery, exploitation, starvation, humiliation and repression.
We face it in Haiti where the population has been punished for over 200 years for defeating the imperial powers and abolishing slavery in 1804. First France, then the US imposed crippling foreign debts, coups, invasions, occupations, embargos and dictatorships causing thousand upon thousand deaths and forcing many more people into exile. Here again a tiny local elite has served its imperial masters well, living in comfort while the majority of the population struggles to survive. And those who oppose such corruption are murdered, imprisoned or disappeared, like our dear friend and colleague Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.
We face it in Cuba whose successful and independent revolution has survived despite decades of economic embargo.
We face it in Venezuela where the US has backed coups and assassination attempts against democratically elected President Hugo Chavez for daring to use its oil resources to combat poverty and increasingly uniting the Third World autonomous of US domination.
We face it in Gaza where the Palestinian population is being starved in the biggest apartheid prison in the world for refusing to submit and democratically electing the “wrong” president against the wishes of its imperial masters, the US, Israel and their EU lackeys.
The international media, the NGOs and increasingly the UN have enabled these attacks on our movements by peddling lies which if repeated often and loud enough are assumed to be the truth. These lies demonize us as mobs, savages, hooligans, rioters, extremists, terrorists just for claiming what is rightfully ours: the wealth we produce, and the right to determine our own development. They fear the power of the people and the justice we impose.
Our sisters and brothers in Bolivia and the Indigenous and rural movement they are part of, are beacons of hope for all of us everywhere who are fighting for survival, for a just world, for a world that invests in caring and not in killing.
Viva women! Viva the Indigenous and rural movement in Bolivia! Forward ever!
31 May 2008
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