A week ago the Bolivian MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo or Movement Towards Socialism) party won the Bolivian presidential election by a majority, and Luis Arce, a cabinet member of former president Evo Morales, will be Bolivia's next president. If you've been keeping up with the news surrounding Bolivia, you know that in November 2019, Morales was ousted by a U.S. backed coup to protect lithium interests. Morales was the president of Bolivia from 2006 to the coup and increased GDP while decreasing poverty, enfranchising more indigenous peoples, and nurturing a Bolivian economy that has suffered under military dictatorships, colonial repression, and neoliberal capitalist economic policies for decades. All of this has been written about exhaustively, and the election of Arce shows the true popularity of Morales and MAS in Bolivia. Most importantly, it is a sign of hope for Latin America and those on the left in general. I think that there are lessons that we can learn from Bolivia in terms of the politics of Latin America and the United States.
1. The Solution Was More Than Just Voting
The MAS victory was not just the result of people going to the polls and trusting democratic institutions. Bolivians have been protesting and striking for months on end just to push for the far-right post-coup government to hold elections in the first place. The government, led by Jeanine Áñez, repeatedly postponed the election, and the only reason why Bolivians were allowed to go out and vote for MAS and for their beliefs was because they pushed for it and took real political action. This is a lesson that American citizens should be able to learn from. Every four years Americans vote in the Presidential Elections and are disappointed in the results. When the DNC shut out Bernie there were sighs of resignation. There is an unfounded trust in capitalist democracy that exists in the United States that allows people to feel content with waiting four years to inevitably be disappointed again. In Chile right now protestors have been in the streets fighting for civil liberties for months on end, and today Chileans voted to adopt a new constitution and rewrite the Pinochet-era constitution that has been in use for decades. In the United States this year there have been large protests and they have been exciting and inspiring to see, but for truly lasting change to occur Americans have to realize that the United States is not truly democratic. Then they have to push to change that. Bolivia has shown us that, and it is up to us to learn.
2. Left-Wing Ideas ARE Popular and Can Be Spread
After the 2019 coup, American media tried to claim that no coup had occurred, rather a popular uprising against a brutal leftist dictator. This election overturns that idea. Not only did Arce have the most votes, but he won a majority in the first round. The left-wing ideas of MAS overwhelmingly defeated the conservative and far-right ideas of the opposition parties. Something that needs to be realized is that, if properly understood, socialism is appealing to the poor and oppressed, and capitalism is not. The problem in America, sadly, is that decades of anti-left propaganda have brainwashed many into false notions of what socialism is. Whereas most Americans will tell you that capitalism is "freedom" and socialism is "tyranny", many will not be able to define either system in a way that holds up. Republicans and Democrats both have been successful in convincing poor Americans that the way to success is bootstrap-pulling and the "free market". In America, there needs to be a new wave of pro-union politics and political action. Of course, these things have not really ever stopped, but they need to be emphasized even more. Left-wing ideas need to spread from the bottom up and the capitalist propagandizing needs to be undone however possible. Workers want more freedom, but they have been told that capitalism makes them free. If political education and mobilization can show more people the truth about capitalism, then perhaps, as in Bolivia, people will realize that socialism is favorable. I see something similar here in Haiti, where everybody agrees there is no freedom, and there is a growing sense of discontent, but there isn't the necessary political education to bring about the necessary change.
3. The United States is an Enemy of Democracy and Freedom
To the American government, the highest goals are not human rights or liberty or democracy or anything of the sort. The highest goals of the American government are protecting profits and upholding the wishes of the capitalist class. Throughout recent history, the United States has helped to overthrow or oppose democratically elected leaders: Chile in 1973, Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, numerous times in Haiti, over and over again all over the world. These were not to protect human rights, because the United States also has a history of funding and backing brutal capitalist despots. They were to protect profits, and that is exactly what happened in Bolivia last year. Now that the results of this election have pretty much proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Evo Morales' exile WAS the result of a U.S. backed coup, we see even more the hypocrisy of the United States and the opposition toward democracy that always results from capitalism. In the same way those in Latin America and the Middle East have learned not to trust America, American leftists have to lose their ideas of American ideals as good and pro-democracy. If you are against oppression, the United States will be against you.
I apologize if my writing is not good, but I found that this was the only thing in a while that's made me want to post on here. I have made the mistake of promising in my last few blog posts that have gone unread that I would continue to try to post more regularly here. I can't promise that and I probably won't write anything for a while here again. I do hope that at least somebody reads this, though, and I hope that it is at least somewhat well-written.
Comments
Post a Comment