BOLIVIA Resistance and Revolution POLICIA In May and June this year a huge popular movement erupted against foreign companies' control of Bolivia's natural gas. Amancay Colque from the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign explains the background to these events. 16 ince its colonization by Spain. Bolivia has been linked to Europe • through the exploitation of its natural resources, especially the silver mines of Potosi which produced such a large amount of silver that the Spanish used to say that they could build a bridge between Europe and South America with it. By the time this mountain was exhausted ten million men. women and children had lost their lives. The Spanish tried to replace this labour with African slaves. but due to the fact that minerals are very high in the mountains (Potosi is 4.090m above sea level). Africans died from altitude sickness, so the Spanish had to depend upon indigenous labour. By the nineteenth century tin mining and other forms of mineral extraction had replaced silver. After winning independence in 1825. Bolivia was double the size that it is now: but British interests carved it up during events like the Pacific War of 1879. when Chile invaded Bolivia. Bolivia lost its access to the sea and the richest nitrate and copper mines in the world. while British companies such as Gibbs & Sons amassed great fortunes. The tin produced in Bolivia came straight to the UK. Meanwhile in Bolivia the working conditions of the miners were horrendous: life expectancy was 35 years. The Chaco war of 1932-5 started over a dispute betsveen two oil multinationals: Standard Oil backed Bolivia and Shell backed Paraguay. More than 60.000 Bolivians lost their lives. mostly indigenous people. The country at the time had a population of 1.5 million. so as a proportion the death toll was higher than that suftered bị Britain in the First World War. The 1952 Revolution Many analysts claim that the 1952 revolution. the best kept secret in the history of South America. was a direct consequence of the Chaco war, when the deep inequality and racism that existed in Bolivia became a raw: open wound. The miners were a tiny proportion of the mainly peasant population, but being responsible for 60 percent of the GDP. had a huge amount of hargaining poner. Moreover. because they lived in isolated communities. ther relied on one another in order to survive. This. plus the high level of exploitation to which they were subjected. made this the most advanced and radical sector. In 1946 the miners federation passed the Pulacayo Theses. which mere an adapatation Of Trotskr's Transitional Programme. After the revolution the Theses were adopted by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB). On 6 April 1952. a coup was about to take place in La Paz. Victor Paz Estenssoro. leader of the MNR (Nationalist Revolutionart Movement). a party which had clear sympathies with Hitler's political views. had won the clections. but the ruling elite refused to hand over pourer. The MNR plotted the coup to share government Instead when Estenssoro with the military. arrived in La Paz he found himself sharing power with the workers. The army fought for four days: finally they were defeated by the miners and factory workers. The workers marched through the city in two lines: in the middle were the soldiers and olficers. who were naked with their hands on the backs of their heads. This showed the people that the army of the oligarchs had been defeated. Just a len days before the indigenous population could not even enter the city centre. The immediate gains of the 1952 revolution were the nationalisation of the mines. and agrarian reform. Until then the land had been in the hands of a few families who were the descendants of the Spanish. Alter the revolution.
Agenous communities started to take over : J. Estenssoro had no choice but agree •and reform: the MNR were too weak to = -e the demands of the people. * the revolution only a small fraction of • copulation could vote as they had to take Less than 10 percent of the trac! test. :.iation could pass that test. so universal trage was introduced. = COB. no ordinary trade union, was •exed just after the revolution and played an portant role in running and organising the ..ntry. Its members are not restricted to trades • employment: many are part of the informal ...or. or street vendors. or simply want to be :=.. of a trade union. *e biggest mistake made by the workers at the "e was to share power with a bourgeois party. = MNR. The argument at the time was that Pourgeois party would refuse to implement •olutionary demands, at which point it would easy to depose them and replace them with workers government. However. the MNR led along with the workers" and peasants" emands and instead of opposing them * hetantly carried them out. =e counter-revolutionary process was slow : "J gradual and some of the most radical eins took decades to dismantle. A period of • cctoral democracy and dictatorships followed. .: during this time the memory of the 1952 :: olution was passed from parents to children ¿ consciousness of the need to organize to wast and survive lived on. The New Economic Policy 1985. the newly elected democratic ¡ernment (Estenssoro's MNR) passed a law dismantle trade unions and begin a process of : vatization. All state-owned companies were I to multinationals. Most of the mines were sed and the few profit-making mines were * atized. making 30,000 miners redundant. • me of these went to the countryside in search ivork and became coca growers or cocaleros. her the defeat of the miners, the cocaleros .re the only organised force that successfully -allenged neoliberalism. came cocaleros brought all their traditional is of organising and fighting to improve their king conditions with them, including union canisation. They have forced successive *e-liberal governments to scale back the coca ::dication programmes by using mobilizations. • :blocks and hunger strikes. *= cocaleros decided to create an alternative sical party. Because they did not want a sitional party. they called it the Political crument for the Sovereignty of the People • was the birth of MAS (Movement Socialism). the name adopted for the ::dential elections of 2001. which the MAS -*** ery close to winning Cortunately, MAS often does not reflect the views of the rank and file. While the MAS grass roots were demanding the nationalisation of the oil and gas in May and June this year, their leader Evo Morales was calling for increased taxes on the energy companies. The international press has credited Evo Morales with mobilising the people against these companies in 2003 and 2005 (sec below) but this is totally untrue. He is more concerned with winning the presidency: On many occasions the social movements have called him a traitor. Neo-Liberalism and the Informal Sector Since 1985 the informal sector has increased employment. One good example of the organized informal sector is the FEJUVE. the Federation This is a of Neighbourhood Associations. grassroots organisation born out of the needs of ordinary workers in poor neighbourhoods, such as water. sewage. education and electricity The Water War In April 2000 in Cochabamba there was an important veter! in the tight against water privatisation. This struggle. which became known worldwide as the Water War, managed to do what no political party or union could - unite the different social sectors. Peasants joined with factory workers and neighbourhood committees and people who were not formally part of any organization. The old sectarian ideas were broken and a new way of organizing was born. embodied in La Coordinadora. which is an umbrella organization representing different social sectors. The Gas Wars The Water War has opened up a new process. in which ordinary workers and peasants see that it is possible to reverse neo-liberal policies. so long as they stay together and organised governments. Chief among these havo been the Gas Wars of 2003 and 2005 the Bolivian economy was opened up to European multinationals. principally British Petroleum and Repsol. from the Spanish State, moved in to seize the country's huge natural gas reserves. In October 2003 the COB and the peasants" federation (CSUTCB) called a general strike and mounted demonstrations and road blockades to press their demand for nationalisation of these reserves. The military attempted to repress the movement, killing more than 70, but President Sanchez de Losada was forced to flee to Miami. deputy Carlos Mesa. assumed the presidency and promised i) to nationalise the oil and gas. 2) to convoke a Constituent Assembly to remake the Bolivian state in the interests of the poor majority: 3) to put the ex-president on trial for the crimes of October 2003. None of this happened. Accordingly. on May 16 this year, the Second Gas War began with a march from the huge shantytown of El Alto down to La Paz. to demand nationalisation of hydrocarbons and Mesa's resignation. On the same day, another march to La Paz began. organised by MAS. although its demand was only that royalties on oil and gas extraction be increased. Over the next days and weeks. with the developing unity in struggle of miners, poor urban dwellers and peasants, the more radical demands became overwhelmingly popular. On June 5. half a million protestors took to the streets. On June 8. Carlos Mesa resigned as president. but the movement has not yet won its demand of nationalisation. Elections have been brought forward and will be held later this year. but even if Evo Morales is elected president. many sections of the masses have little faith that he will change things. What Next? The level of politicisation of ordinary working class people is at its peak and there has never heen such interest in politics, participation in popular mobilizations and desire to struggle. The issue of who controls the countri's economic resources is on the agenda as never before. There are many crucial questions currentl being discussed in the streets of Bolivia: How can we take power? What happens if we take power? How will the multinationals react who currently benefit from the exploitation of the natural resources? People have realized that they cannot trust traditional political parties to carry out an agenda that will challenge the interests of capitalists. However these capitalists have the backup of international organizations such as the World Bank, IMF and others. They are also aware that the war in Iraq was linked to the interest of the West in controlling the oil reserves. Bolivia has the second largest gas reserves in the region, which are crucial not just for the US but for the neighbouring countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Il a popular revolution were to take place. there is a real danger of US-backed military intervention, for At the same time the Bolivian masses will not accept things continuing as they are. These are the real questions facing activists there. Our primary task is to carry out elective solidarity work. so as to aid the resolution of these questions in favour of the poor and the oppressed. Contact the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign at www.boliviasc.org.uk 17