[Debate] On Bolivia and on Recent Articles on TIPNIS | BOLIVIA [ENGLISH & SPANISH]

Mon Jan 23 08:49:53 GMT 2012

Monday, 23 January 2012

BOLIVIA / Pachamama, Dharti Maa, Mother Earth :

Here is an important and revealing ‘insider’s’ point of view, on the  
important developments that seem to be taking place in Bolivia today –  
and not only in relation to TIPNIS, I am sure.  From Nick Buxton, of  
TNI (Transnational Institute), who worked with the government of  
Bolivia as a media something for years, before and during the  
Cochabamba Conference in 2010…

Once again, it's necessary to act carefully to check one’s facts and  
then to think carefully as to what position to take with respect what  
seems to be happening, and how…

             Thanks, Nick, and thanks Cory, for the articles you  
posted before this, and as given below.

             JS

fwd

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Nick Buxton <nick at tni.org>
> Date: January 20 2012 1:22:06 AM GMT+05:30
> To: cjn at lists.riseup.net
> Subject: Re: [climate justice now!] Recent Articles on TIPNIS |  
> BOLIVIA [ENGLISH & SPANISH]
>
> If you want to follow Bolivian news on TIPNIS, I would suggest some  
> other websites that you would also need to refer  in order to get a  
> fuller picture of what is going on:

http://boliviadiary.wordpress.com/
http://woborders.wordpress.com/
http://ain-bolivia.org/

I have worked with the Bolivian government at various times over the  
last 6 years and the sad reality is that many of the most committed  
visionaries in the Bolivian government  - to an idea of "buen vivir",  
those who made the Cochabamba Peoples' Conference a reality, and those  
who pushed against REDD and carbon markets -  have ended up being  
forced out or ended up resigning over the TIPNIS dispute. A strong  
developmentalist approach which prioritises extraction,  
industrialisation and infrastructure has definitely taken hold  
squeezing out an alternative indigenous "buen vivir" vision. The road  
proved the spark for existing tensions on these issues within  
government and social movements to become a source of serious  
division. I think the role of the Right and the US has not been a  
significant factor in the conflict (they have been merely opportunists  
making the most of these existing divisions).

There are still good people left in the Bolivian government, and the  
government continues to push some important policies (demanded by  
social movements by many years) and there will be times when we can  
and should ally with Bolivia, but I think blind support is not (in  
fact never has been) helpful. I also think sadly we should expect  
Bolivia to be a less vocal and effective ally in support of CJN and  
the issues we fight on. This was already evident in Durban, where the  
main message seemed to be about the "right to develop"  with much less  
emphasis on "rights of mother earth", critiques of REDD etc. Only a  
change of political power on the ground amongst the movements has the  
potential to really reverse this.

Nick

On 01/18/2012 06:16 PM, Cory Morningstar wrote:
>
> Indigenous People in Bolivia Resume March for Tipnis: Jan 10 (Prensa  
> Latina) "The march calling for the construction of a road in the  
> indigenous territory and the Isiboro-Secure National Park (Tipnis)  
> will leave the village of Pongo on Tuesday, where it stayed for the  
> last three days." Full Article:
> http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=466731&Itemid=1
>
> Bolivian Indigenous People Request Help to End March: Jan 11 (Prensa  
> Latina) "Members of the march calling for the construction of a road  
> through the Indigenous Territory of the Isiboro Secure National Park  
> (Tipnis) on Wednesday asked for help to face the hard days ahead to  
> arrive in La Paz." Full Article:http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=467162&Itemid=1
>
> The Origin of the Alliance Between Some Indigenous Leaders and the  
> Right: By Juan Carlos Zambrana Marchetti, Jan 11, 2012 | "One of the  
> more surprising decisions of Bolivian indigenism is the obvious  
> alliance between the leaders of the Indigenous Confederation of  
> Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB, acronym in Spanish) and the conservative  
> Green party (Verdes) of the governor of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas,  
> against a process of change that defends the indigenous. It is an  
> inconceivable decision, the logic of which can be understood only by  
> taking into account, aside from the foreign million-dollar  
> investment that stands behind it, the extensive campaign of  
> manipulation that made it possible." Full Article: http://politicalcontext.org/blog/2012/01/the-origin-of-the-alliance-between-some-indigenous-leaders-and-the-right/Read 
>  the full article in Spanish: http://juancarloszambrana.com/spanish/?page_id=710
> The Phenomenon of the Indigenous Counterrevolution: By Juan Carlos  
> Zambrana Marchetti, Jan 13, 2012 | "It is no secret that the United  
> States finances the opposition to leftist governments, and that its  
> motivation is to control natural resources. In the case of Bolivia,  
> indigenous resistance to U.S. abuse made the indigenous people  
> formidable defenders of human rights, but their symbiotic  
> relationship with the land also made them defenders of natural  
> resources. Evo Morales managed to tie up the loose ends of this  
> symbiotic relationship, and, therefore, his victory was so  
> significant for the indigenous peoples that now, in Bolivian  
> politics, all roads pass through the indigenous. The extreme right  
> had no choice but to invent their own indigenism, and, as absurd as  
> it might be, the notion of an indigenous imperialism, the new  
> political phenomenon in Bolivia, is an indigenism complacent with  
> neoliberalism, the U.S. Embassy, the transnational oil companies,  
> and the NGOs, where the interests of looting hide." See article: http://politicalcontext.org/blog/2012/01/the-phenomenon-of-the-indigenous-counterrevolution/ 
>  Read the full article in Spanish:http://juancarloszambrana.com/spanish/?page_id=690
>
> Indigenist Oil Companies? By Juan Carlos Zambrana Marchetti, Jan 18,  
> 2012. | "The international Right has put on an indigenist costume,  
> not only to draw nearer to its historical victim, but also to  
> infiltrate indigenous organizations to the point of directing their  
> movements. The contribution of millions of dollars for the welfare  
> of indigenous people is one of several manifestations that are  
> taking place in Bolivia of a phenomenon that is catastrophic at the  
> world level. It’s the materialization of the old nightmare of a  
> world managed by corporations, in which governments lose the ability  
> to make decisions within their territories, yielding to the global  
> power of the transnational corporations." See article: http://politicalcontext.org/blog/2012/01/indigenist-oil-companies/ 
>  Read the full article in Spanish:http://juancarloszambrana.com/spanish/?page_id=731
>

>
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> NICK BUXTON
> PUBLICATIONS EDITOR
>
> t: +1 530 758 8952
> m: +1 530 902 3772
> e: nick at tni.org
> twitter: @nickbuxton
> skype: nickbuxton
> w: www.tni.org
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
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>
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