"[An] indigenous, originario government signifies a change
because until now governments have always stolen our resources,
becoming wealthy at the expense of the poor. We want to finish off the
neoliberal economic model.
Loayza explained that Bolivia's
social movements "are proposing a united, plurinational communitarian
social state. Why plurinational? Because the indigenous originario
peoples from the east and west want our nations to be recognised and,
having finally been recognised, to participate in all spheres —
political, economic, social and cultural."
He said that MAS is
"neither from the traditional left nor the traditional right — we come
out of our own cultural identity" adding, "we want to change the
country because each of the 36 [indigenous] nations has its own
culture, language and beliefs. They live in harmony with Mother Earth."
However, accepting these differences doesn't mean division: "to change
the country we want unity".
Behind the emphasis on indigenous
rights and culture is not the goal of returning to a romanticised past,
but rather an expression of Bolivia's national revolutionary tradition:
"After the new constitution is approved all authorities will have to
support industrialisation … we could become an industrialised country,
no longer underdeveloped."
Political commission
Attempting to implement these changes has placed the indigenous
peoples on a collision course with the old ruling elite. This clash has
at times been physical, something Loayza can personally testify to.
Loayza nearly lost his life, spending two months in a coma, after a
scuffle in the assembly resulted in a fall from a three metre high
stage, fracturing his skull.
The right-wing opposition has
fanned the flames of discontent among the people of Sucre (known as the
"white city" for its social composition), where the assembly is
meeting, with the demand that the legislative and executive powers —
which shifted to La Paz in 1899 following a civil war — return to the
city. Violent protests forced the temporary suspension of the assembly
and some MAS delegates were forced into hiding.
To overcome the
stalemate, the government took the initiative of forming a "political
commission" to bring together representatives from all groups in the
assembly to negotiate contentious points and attempt to reach
consensus. Having squandered eight months debating rules of procedure,
and then unnecessarily aggravating tensions by declaring that the issue
of the capital could not be discussed in the assembly, many are
wondering how useful the assembly will ultimately prove to be, and
whether it isn't just the same old parties once again negotiating the
future of the country among themselves.
A recent poll showed
that nearly two thirds of Bolivians don't think the assembly will
complete its job by December 14, with support for the assembly dropping
to 39% in October. From the original goal of "re-founding Bolivia",
discussion has shifted to the more moderate idea of
"constitutionalising" changes begun under Morales, such as the gas
nationalisation.
The current stalemate in the assembly now as
many in MAS focusing on ensuring the constitutional changes include the
ability to re-elect presidents to allow for continuity in the process
of change. Despite discontent with the assembly, and in the face of
sustained opposition attacks on Morales, the same poll puts his support
at 62%, an increase of 5% from two months previous.
Loayza told
GLW:
"The political commission was formed firstly to seek unity, and
afterwards to discuss the principal issues that have caused the
problems, such as [competing] visions for the country.
"Until
now we have reached consensus on the economic issue: the new
constitution will recognise the state economy, the private economy and
the communitarian economy to benefit the communities … we have also
reached agreement on autonomy" at the departmental (state), municipal
and regional level as well as for indigenous communities, "two
important issues".
While the main opposition party, Podemos,
participated in discussions over autonomy, they did not sign onto the
agreement, nor did they sign onto the subsequent agreement reached on
October 18 over the type of state that Bolivia would become, which in
an attempt to include all views was defined as unitary, social,
plurinational, communitarian, autonomous and decentralised, democratic,
free, independent, sovereign and inter-cultural.
The assembly is
yet to reconvene, with a negotiation team from the political commission
travelling to Sucre to see if local authorities are willing to provide
the necessary safety precautions for delegates to meet. That same day,
October 31, the directorate of the assembly, along with MAS delegates,
travelled to Oruro to investigate the feasibility of transferring the
assembly there.
Loayza told GLW that while MAS was working hard
to get agreement from the two thirds of assembly delegates needed to
approve the final text, "I think we will not get that unity". In such a
scenario "once we have a constitutional text we will approve it by
majority [in the assembly], and once approved we will hand it over to
the people. If the opposition does not let us approve it, the people
are the sovereigns: they will approve what we have done."
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