[R-G] Fwd: Bolivia Rising

Sun Aug 24 23:52:19 MDT 2008

Dear readers
In this latest newsletter from Bolivia Rising we bring you analysis on
the August 10 recall referendum and the historic vote in support of
the process of change in Bolivia. Amongst other we provide the views
of Mark Weisbrot, Richard Gott, Jeffery Webber, Hugh O'Shaughnessy and
Federico Fuentes.
In news updates there are reports on the meeting of social movements
held in Cochabamba last weekend, the moves to send troops to defend
the gas fields against opposition protests and Venezuela's pledge for
solidarity with Bolivia and its "Democratic and Cultural Revolution"
In solidarity

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1) Bolivia: Historic Vote Confirms Will for Change - Federico Fuentes
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-historic-vote-confirms-will-for.html
2) Bolivia: Right-wing rebellion spurs left offensive - Federico Fuentes
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-right-wing-rebellion-spurs-left.html
3) Bolivia Gets the Change It Asked For - Mark Weisbrot
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-gets-change-it-asked-for.html
4) Morales' boost - Richard Gott
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/morales-boost.html
5) Bolivia's Post-Referendum Conjuncture - Jeffery R. Webber
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivias-post-referendum-conjuncture.html
6) The Bolivians cast their votes well - Hugh O'Shaughnessy
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivians-cast-their-votes-well.html
7) The trigger of South America - Hamid Golpira
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/trigger-of-south-america.html
8) Everyone a winner in Boliva vote ... or are they? - Eduardo Garcia
and Simon Gardner
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/everyone-winner-in-boliva-vote-or-are.html
9) The Bolivia Recall Referendum: Final Numbers and Analysis - Inca  
kola news
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-recall-referendum-final-numbers.html
10) Evo Morales calls on the opposition to unite efforts in favour of  
Bolivia
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/evo-morales-calls-on-opposition-to.html
11) Bolivian social movements in Permanent Mobilization
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivian-social-movements-in-permanent.html
12) Morales sends troops to Bolivia's oil, gas installations
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/morales-sends-troops-to-bolivias-oil_25.html
13) Venezuela Pledges Strengthened Alliance with Bolivia Following
Morales Referendum Victory
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/venezuela-pledges-strengthened-alliance.html
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1) Bolivia: Historic Vote Confirms Will for Change
Federico Fuentes

With 99% of the votes counted, Bolivia's first indigenous president
won a crushing 67.43% majority in the August 10 recall referendum.
Surpassing the 53.7% he received in the 2005 national elections, which
until then was the highest vote recorded by a presidential candidate
in Bolivia's history, the result confirmed the broad support for the
Morales government's project for wide-ranging social
change.........http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-historic-vote-confirms-will-for.html
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2) Bolivia: Right-wing rebellion spurs left offensive
Federico Fuentes, 23 August 2008

Violent attacks on police officers, roadblocks, civic stoppages
enforced by armed fascist youth groups and threats to cut off meat
supplies and take over gas fields have all been part of what left-wing
Bolivian President Evo Morales has denounced as an attempted "civil
coup" by "desperate people" following his August 10 recall referendum
victory.

However, the wave of protests appears to be quickly losing steam as
social movements get organised to push for the approval of the draft
constitution drawn up by an elected constituent assembly to "refound
Bolivia".........http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-right-wing-rebellion-spurs-left.html
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3) Bolivia Gets the Change It Asked For
Mark Weisbrot, August 15, 2008

Evo Morales changed the history of Bolivia when he was elected in
December 2005 as the country's first indigenous president, and the
first to get a majority of 54 percent. On Sunday he expanded his
mandate considerably in a referendum, with 68 percent of voters opting
to keep him in office.

The conventional wisdom in Washington--where the foreign policy
establishment is decidedly not sympathetic to Morales's populist
agenda--has been that the referendum would settle nothing. Bolivia
remains divided, say the pundits, along geographic (eastern lowland
states versus the west), ethnic (indigenous versus non-indigenous) and
class (rich versus poor) lines. Maybe so, but apparently it is less
divided than when Morales was first elected, an event that was widely
celebrated as a milestone akin to the end of apartheid in South
Africa. Was that election also
meaningless?...........http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-gets-change-it-asked-for.html
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4) Morales' boost
Richard Gott, August 11

Bolivia has voted decisively for its president's socialist programme,
but a shadow of reactionary opposition in the would-be separatist
eastern regions
remains.......http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/morales-boost.html
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5) Bolivia's Post-Referendum Conjuncture
Jeffery R. Webber

.......It would be a tragedy of immense proportions for
left-indigenous forces and the Morales government to follow the paths
of Villarroel in the late 1940s, the MNR of the 1950s, and the UDP
government of the early 1980s. Viewed together these experiences
represent the signature failure of left-wing populism when it does not
confront the economic and political power bases of the urban
capitalist and landowning elite, even in situations when popular
mobilization and radicalization was positioned to make these sorts of
inroads on elite control of society.

The restoration of right-wing power – today articulated through a
fiercely racist "autonomist" movement – must be stopped by a shift in
the MAS's moderate reformism to revolutionary audacity. This will
depend on the self-organization of the popular classes and indigenous
majority to mobilize strategically against imperialism and the media
luna racist elite, and to force the Morales government off its track
of conciliation with the
far-Right......http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivias-post-referendum-conjuncture.html
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6) The Bolivians cast their votes well
Hugh O'Shaughnessy, 11 August 2008

"Cet animal est très méchant. Quand on l'attaque, il se défend."

Now that the results of the referendum are in and - ignorant of the
fact that when Voltaire composed this mot his tongue was firmly in his
cheek - the racist opposition in Bolivia to the elected government of
their country will be trotting out these words about the wicked animal
which defends itself when
attacked...........http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivians-cast-their-votes-well.html
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7) The trigger of South America
Hamid Golpira

The Indigenous Intifada of the Americas has won another victory.

With 90 percent of the ballots counted, it seems that Bolivian
President Evo Morales received over 60 percent of the vote in Sunday's
recall election, ensuring that he will stay in office until his term
ends in 2011.

Morales, who is a member of the Aymara ethnic group, became the first
indigenous leader of Bolivia in nearly 500 years after his
inauguration in
2006.........http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/trigger-of-south-america.html
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8) Everyone a winner in Boliva vote ... or are they?
Eduardo Garcia and Simon Gardner, August 11

LA PAZ, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Almost everyone was a winner in Bolivia's
recall election with President Evo Morales and his political
arch-enemies all celebrating landslide victories, but it may be the
worst possible outcome.............http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/everyone-winner-in-boliva-vote-or-are.html
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9) The Bolivia Recall Referendum: Final Numbers and Analysis
Inca kola news, August 16

The final results of the Bolivian Recall Referendum of last Sunday are
now in (in fact they are officially 99.99% complete with just three
'mesas' from nearly 22,000 left to report, but I'm going with this as
a definitive count). This post sums up the main results, looks at the
main breakdown of the votes for both President Evo Morales and the
eight department heads (known as prefects) and also takes a closer
look at votes of the key dissenting state of Santa Cruz for reasons
that will become
apparent...............http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivia-recall-referendum-final-numbers.html
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10) Evo Morales calls on the opposition to unite efforts in favour of  
Bolivia

La Paz, August 10 (Notimex) – The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales,
today convoked the prefects to work in a united fashion and initiate a
process of dialogue with the aim of opening a process of national
reconciliation that puts an end to the institutional
crisis......http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/evo-morales-calls-on-opposition-to.html
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11) Bolivian social movements in Permanent Mobilization
Mario Hubert Garrido

Cochabamba, Bolivia, Aug 24 (Prensa Latina) The approval of a new
Political Constitution stands as a key motivation for Bolivian popular
sectors to be in permanent mobilization.

Farmers, indigenous peoples, women, miners, rural teachers, unions and
community groups making up the National Coordination for Change
(CONALCAM), urged President Evo Morales to call a referendum by
decree.

A 48-hour meeting with Morales was closed with a Declaration that
confirms the passing of a new Constitution as the only way to build a
new Bolivia.......http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/bolivian-social-movements-in-permanent.html
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12) Morales sends troops to Bolivia's oil, gas installations
LA PAZ (AFP) — President Evo Morales said he has put all of Bolivia's
gas and oil installations under military protection, as protesters
geared up in three energy-rich provinces against federal encroachment
and socialist reforms.....http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/morales-sends-troops-to-bolivias-oil_25.html
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13) Venezuela Pledges Strengthened Alliance with Bolivia Following
Morales Referendum Victory
James Suggett, August 11th

Mérida, August 11, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- The Venezuelan
government congratulated Bolivian President Evo Morales for a
successful national referendum Sunday in which Morales's presidency
was ratified by a record 63.1% of the vote. As a show of support,
Venezuela, a close ally of the Morales administration, pledged to
finance, along with Iran, a cement construction company to help the
Bolivian government build housing and economic
infrastructure........http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/08/venezuela-pledges-strengthened-alliance.html