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  1. 2008/10/08
    Refounding Bolivia through democratic means
    Barrio Adentro

Refounding Bolivia through democratic means

 Dear Friends,

The article below is by Raul Burbano, a leading member of Toronto Bolivia
Solidarity.

He discusses how Bolivia's proposed new constitution has become the focus of
a broader regional effort to determine who will benefit from the wealth –
the masses or the U.S. corporations. He also provides us with an excellent
summary of the main provisions of this constitution.
_______________________________

*Refounding Bolivia through democratic means*

By Raul Burbano

Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for a national referendum on the
country's new draft constitution on December 7. The demand of the Bolivian
people for a new and socially, politically and economically inclusive
constitution is at the heart of the present political upheaval in that
country.

Right-wing forces representing the country's traditional ruling oligarchy
have launched a secessionist movement to Balkanize the country, in an
attempt to block the constitutional referendum. They have organized
murderous fascist gangs to terrorize the population.

They are backed by the U.S. government, whose ambassador, Philip Goldberg,
has recently been expelled from Bolivia for his support of the opposition
and openly admitted interference in Bolivian political life.

On the other side of the pendulum the vast majority of the Bolivians, more
than 67% of whom just voted support President Evo Morales in a recall
referendum.

The constitutional struggle in Bolivia has thus become linked to the broader
regional struggle in Latin America of who will benefit from its wealth – the
masses of the continent or its traditional oligarchy backed by Washington.

The demand for a new constitution is not limited to Bolivia. In fact, over
the past 15 years there's been a demand for a Constituent Assembly to
propose such a document in virtually every Andean country in Latin America;
Colombia (1991), Peru (1993), Ecuador (1998), and Venezuela (1999). All
countries have written or modified their Constitutions. In contrast to some
of these experiences, the demand for a constitution in Bolivia emerged from
grassroots movements and has widespread national support.

*Lengthy constitutional struggle*

Bolivia's demand for a Constituent Assembly is not a recent development and
goes back to the early 1990s. It emanated from the Guarani people with their
"Great March" from the eastern lowlands of Bolivia to La Paz; their slogan
"Land, Territory and Dignity" was rooted in the demand for a Constituent
Assembly. Then in early 2000 we saw the demand for a Constituent Assembly
taken up by both urban and rural social movements who had suffered at the
hands of previous governments' neoliberal policies. This culminated in the
Water Wars of Cochabamba, where residents poured into the streets to protest
Bechtel's takeover of their water system and attempted nationalization of
their gas – hence the Gas Wars in La Paz. It was during this turbulent
period that the call for a Constituent Assembly merged with the call for a
referendum on the gas issue.

In 2005 the MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo) under Evo Morales was elected
under a platform to "refound" the country's political institutions through a
Constituent Assembly. This was seen as the only way to bring about change
and address the endemic inequalities in the country. The magnitude of
inequality that the MAS is trying to rectify can be summed up by the issue
of land. According to the United Nations' Development Program, 25 million
hectares of prime farmland is controlled by 100 families. In contrast, the
remaining five million hectares of farmland in the country are shared among
two million campesinos. This profound inequality is endemic and represents
what is being challenged with the new constitution. **

*Constituent Assembly*

The Law Convoking the Constituent Assembly resulted from a negotiated
process between the political parties in the Bolivian Congress and the
executive branch headed by Evo Morales. Bolivians in each of the 70 voting
districts elected three delegates. The party that received the most votes
sent two representatives from the district and the second or third place
party sent one, thus guaranteeing that no party could monopolize the
assembly. The only condition was that a minimum of 30% of the delegates had
to be women. On July 2, 2006, Bolivians elected 255 delegates for the
Constituent Assembly. The MAS sent 137 delegates (64 were women), the
opposition 99, and the rest were independents.

There are 411 articles in the new constitution. Many are progressive and
outright revolutionary promising to refound the country to the benefit of
the majority. The new Constitution is controversial, but the majority of
Bolivians, the indigenous people, fully support it, as was seen in the
August 2008 recall referendum.

*Focus of controversy *

The following are articles or sections of articles from the new constitution
that are most important to the indigenous majority of Bolivia and also the
most controversial.

   - *Bolivia** is a unitary, plurinational, communitarian and democratic
   State*: This means that all 36 peoples, cultures, languages have the same
   rights and opportunities, and are recognized equally before the law,
   institutions, and society. It refers to a Bolivian unity that respects
   autonomy – i.e. municipal, departmental, regional, indigenous-originario,
   campesino and peasant autonomies. This guarantees the unity of the state
   and the democratic decentralization of power.
   - *Plurinational public administration*:* *This refers to all public
   functionaries and requires them to know the dominant indigenous language of
   the region where they work. This will enable them to be able communicate
   with the people they represent. They are also to know the Spanish language,
   to enable then to communicate with the rest of the Bolivians; and a foreign
   language, as a link to the outside world. **
   - *The nationalization of natural resources, renewable and non-renewable,
   under the control and ownership of the Bolivian people*:* *This would
   forbid the ownership of gas, oil, mining resources, water, land, and forests
   by foreigners. All natural resources will be the property of Bolivians, for
   use by Bolivians for the benefit of Bolivians, and administered by the
   state.
   - *Sovereign natural resources:* It is totally prohibited for non-state
   organizations to directly involve themselves in the administration,
   management, control and preservation of forests, parks, and natural
   reserves, as well as biodiversity, all of which are under the control of the
   state.
   - *Social and communitarian economy:* The state will participate in the
   strategic sectors of the economy. Foreign private investment will be
   subordinated to national development plans. Private property should
   guarantee that it plays an effective social function for the benefit of
   human beings. Ownership in the economy will be public, private and
   communitarian. Medium and small rural producers, agrarian communities and
   productive associations will receive state protection, economic support,
   credits, technology, and infrastructure in order to guarantee the well being
   of society. A mixed economy is proposed to reassure business interests
   and maintain market stability.
   - *Expropriation without indemnification of latifundios: *The goal is to
   redistribute land amongst producers including those from the countryside
   and city who are willing to produce for the benefit of society. This is a
   major blow to the giant landholders – the Ronald Larsens and Branko
   Marinkovics of the Media Luna (eastern) departments.
   - *Reelection and revocation by popular mandate of any elected authority:
   *Never again will authorities be untouchable owners of their positions.
   The people are sovereign and the people can ratify or change their
   authorities when they so desire.
   - *Election of all authorities of the Judicial Branch, including
the **Supreme
   Court: *This is a change from the current undemocratic model of
   appointment by congress, which has seen nepotism flourish in the courts. It
   looks to redress the balance of power that has for so long being in the hand
   of the elites.
   - *Recognition of communitarian justice** as an alternative,
   complementary and ancestral form of solving differences and conflicts:* The
   indigenous systems of justice would be given the same standing in the
   official hierarchy as the existing system.
   - *A plurinational Parliament with only one chamber: *In essence, this is
   a reengineering the political institutions. This would guarantee the same
   number of currents representative for each department and no more chambers
   of elites and privilege. The goal is to break the oligarchies'
   traditional monopoly in the Senate that has traditionally acted as an
   obstacle to all progressive governments.
   - *All Bolivians have the right to free health care and education in
   equal conditions.***
   - *Total elimination of illiteracy*.

Other articles in the constitution those are relevant and important to note:

   - *A new capital of Sucre**: *Sucre is to be acknowledged as Bolivia's
   official capital.
   - *Ban on sexual orientation discrimination*: Bolivia would be only the
   second country in the world, after South Africa, with this constitutional
   provision.
   - *Bolivia** is a country of peace that promotes the culture of peace.
   Bolivia repudiates all war of aggression and prohibits the installation of
   foreign military bases on its national territory. *
   - *Water is considered a human right.*
   - *All the cultural rights for indigenous people are also accorded to the
   Afro-Bolivians. *
   - *A wide number of social rights are established for children, youth and
   older people, never before seen in 183 years of Bolivian history.*

*Ratification procedure*

The national assembly approved the new constitution in December 2007. The
country's main opposition party boycotted the assembly vote on the new
charter. The constitution now requires ratification by at least 51% of
Bolivian voters in a national referendum. If voters reject the draft, the
country's existing constitution will remain in effect. It's important to
note that a number of articles have to be approved directly by Bolivian
voters.

Among them is an article that would limit the size of individual land
holdings to a maximum of 10,000 hectares. This is bitterly opposed by the
country's agribusinesses and big landowners of the Media Luna region in the
East. If passed this would have a major impact on the lowland departments of
Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando, and finally address the historical injustice of
unequal land distribution.

The opposition claims the constitution proposes the creation of two
Bolivia's: "one for indigenous people and another for non-indigenous
people," as one opposition member said, "with separate and parallel judicial
systems and languages effectively making the indigenous people first-class
citizens and everyone else second class citizens." The opposition parties
claim that the government is trying to establish a Cuban-type
one-party-dominated state that will put an end to pluralism. They also argue
that the government is just following in the footsteps of Venezuelan
president Hugo Chávez. **

Those who support the constitution feel that its plurinational communitarian
aspect is a decolonization of the state that for centuries has discriminated
and marginalized the indigenous majority. They believe that it is designed to
give every citizen equal access to Bolivia's resources. Others see it
as confronting
the neoliberal doctrine and replacing it with a viable alternative – the
cosmovision of the indigenous people (communitarian land and rights for
nature) – thus creating a more humanist and just society.

Vice-President Álvaro Garcia Linera called it a first step in the new road
towards "*capitalismo Andino Amazónico*" (Andean-Amazonian capitalism) which
will "improve the possibilities of the emancipation of the worker and
community forces in the medium term". The Agencia Nodo Sur (South Node
Agency) explains that "Andean-Amazonian capitalism is neither socialism nor
neoliberalism, but a system catering to the contemporary realities of
Bolivia which recognizes communal, state, and private forms of economic
organization as being equal under the law"

*Intensified conflict *

The "refounding of Bolivia" with the new constitution and the reengineering
of the political institutions has widened the rift between the mountainous,
largely poor, and indigenous part of the country that backs Morales, and
rulers of the more prosperous Media Luna states, where the opposition has
their base of support.

The conflict is now rapidly coming to a head. The opposition has said they
would not allow the constitution to be imposed on them. They are instigating
a civil war in the country with the hope that direct U.S. involvement in the
conflict will turn the tide to their advantage. Meanwhile, the government is
pressing for a vote on the new constitution before the end of this year in
the hopes that it will, for once and for all, refound Bolivia.

*Raul Burbano** is a member of Toronto Bolivia Solidarity (
torontoboliviasolidarity@gmail.com) and the Latin American Solidarity
Network.*
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