Let’s drive a workers’, peasants’ and youth plan of struggle!
The MAS government decided to hold the referendum for modification of the Political Constitution of the State on February 21st, 2016. The goal is to pass the re-election of the President and Vice-President for two consecutive periods, and so to enable Evo Morales and García Linera to run in 2020 – 2025 elections.
By Lucha Socialista (Bolivia)
An early referendum was meant to prevent political erosion caused by the economic crisis. The government has just been through the first year since the latest election of October 2014, and they are already concerned about the 2020 re-election. How can we understand this desperate quest for ensuring Evo’s candidature in the elections to come?
If we have a look at what is going on in the neighbouring countries with all Popular Front governments (so called populist), such as Kirchner in Argentina, Rousseff in Brazil, Correa in Ecuador, we can realise they are losing people’s support –recently the right-winger Macri won the elections in Argentina– as a consequence of implementing a policy of protection of transnationals and entrepreneurs, with the international crisis excuse.
In Bolivia, referendum of February 21st has a preventive nature to an inevitable short-term future loss of support. MAS pretends to appeal to October 2014 elections’ result, and the recent diplomatic success in Hague about the maritime issue,
to unlock the constitution while he is still strong enough to do so.
Data seem to indicate as from 2016, and even more so in the years to follow, world economic crisis of price decreasement will be felt more intensely for raw materials as hydrocarbons and minerals. Even under this administration, government has admitted a slide-down of national incomes over 30%. This situation compels the government to implement adjustment policies, but aimed to protect the profits of multinationals, and against population’s rights. An example of the above is Incentive Act for oil companies, just about to be passed in the Congress, meant to reduce HDI revenue to universities, departments and townhalls, so as to shift this money to transnational companies as “reward” for production and exploration. This is a clear example of how the measures to be taken by the government from now on, in response to the economic crisis, will favour the great entrepreneurs, at the expense of workers, peasants and students. Obviously, such policy will cause repudiation by the population. This is why, if he does not reform the constitution now, he may not be able to do so later on.
With Evo, only the rich are well off
Workers, young people, indigenous nations and poor peasants have plenty of good reasons to say “No to the re-election of Evo Morales”, for different reasons from those of the right-wing. Because, over the latest 10 years under Evo’s administration, it has been the bankers, transnationals and large landowners who fared best. Take the following data as an example:
·In accordance with data provided byFinancial Supervisory Authority System (ASFI – from its name in Spanish), banks’ profits accrued steadily from $28 million in 2005 up to $272 million in 2014.
·Oil transnationals made more than 5 billion dollars since 2007.
·Agro-industrial landowners: the farming area was enlarged by a million hectares a year, at the expense of destroying huge tracts of tropical forests, eviction of indigenous communities, and imprisonment of landless farmers.
·Violence against women and discrimination of the LGBTT population accrued against the background of a government who expresses male-chauvinist and homophobic gags in public.
·Rights of the indigenous people have been systematically breached where TIPNIS
has been a clear example.
·Lack of steady jobs is still there: nearly 80% of the working age population are informally employed; most of them are young who get paid minimum wages, work for long hours, and have no social insurance.
The right-wing does not represent us, and they are concealed behind false citizen platforms
The right-wing characters, Samuel Doria Medina, Tuto Quiroga, Luis Revilla, together with other dissidents of MAS, who have split away from them only over the shares of power, now summon for a nay vote, with arguments such as the “defence of democracy”, “defence of the Constitution”, “alternation right”, and even racist, anti-social-movements arguments, without questioning the benefits this government has provided to transnationals, large landowners and bankers. What they actually defend is this economic model, and attacks against workers, peasants and youth.
Neoliberal right, collaborationist and antidemocratic, politically responsible for looting and repression of labour struggles, now hides behind fake citizen platforms in order to evade repudiation persisting against them in people’s memory, and this is why “characters” are propped up to wash their faces.
Let us start a “Vote No to re-election” campaign, to challenge the crisis.
Up to February 21st, workers, youth, indigenous people, peasants and impoverished toiling masses must drive a joint campaign, posing the need of a platform of struggle to face the crisis. It must hinge round the following matters:
-No to the Incentive Act to transnationals. For a real nationalisation of hydrocarbons and Mining!
-No to unemployment and layoffs. We need a real plan of reactivation of our industry!
-No more protection for large landowners. We need the land for peasants!
-No more male-chauvinism and violence against women!
-No more layoffs or closures ofjob sources!
-No more cuts in the budgets of universities and regions!
LUCHA SOCIALISTA and VIRAJE invite you to join us at our activities.
La Paz, December 10th, 2015.
