This document is from Bolivia, where a few tycoons and racists use the support of a US powerful propaganda machine and American money on the one hand, and exploit illiteracy and darkness of the people living in the most economically backward country of the South America on the other hand, to return the lost power and privileges. As it was in Venezuela, the traditional political parties turned to be stripped of power in Bolivia are acting now as the Grecian horse in this country. Five centuries of plundering and genocide of the indigenous population gave rise to less angriness of these politicians than two incomplete years of peaceful and democratic reforms. As it was in due time in Chili, the Creole fascism woke up by the activity of the people started preparing a coup d'etat. To create a favorite environment for the plot, the press escalates slanderous campaign blaming President Evo Morales for all deadly sins simultaneously, the opposition practically every day provokes riots in the streets to generate an atmosphere of chaos and loss of control, and to accuse the Government of infringing the democratic freedoms should it take any resolute actions to restore law and order.
Taking the oath two years ago, Evo Morales promised to comply with the Sapatist principle and “rule by obeying”. He keeps his words. Many analysts predicted that the first Indian President of the most Indian state of America will rule maximum several months taking into account lack of professionalism and training of his ministers and Morales himself. White racists frequently spoke about inability of the Indians to govern their countries. Once again debunking the myth about the power for aristocracy, the Morales’ Government proved to be the most economically and politically successful authority during the last decades. And this fact is recognized even by the political opponents of the President. It is the first time in the history of Bolivia when its Government successfully fights not against poor peasants cultivating the coca but against real drug traffickers who are historically belong to the political establishment. It is the first time in the history of Bolivia when Bolivian schoolboys and schoolgirls are not learnt to hate their Chilean neighbors. Adoring the personality of Che, Evo Morales speaks about a peaceful and non-violent nature of his revolution as about the highest ideal of his life.
Therefore the Bolivian ministers fail to receive US visas. Therefore today former masters of Bolivia divested of authority sponsor various initiative groups to save democracy at daytime, and knock at the doors of army barracks at nighttime. Because nowadays this process is still reversible by flooding the country with blood.
Let this publication become an additional element in launching a worldwide campaign of solidarity with Bolivia , Bolivian people and Bolivian non-violent revolution.
Oleg Yasinsky
Address of Bolivian President Evo Morales at the inauguration of the Second Latin American Humanist Forum, La Paz, Bolivia, November 23, 2007.
Thank you very much, our sisters and brother-humanists, participants of this Second Latin American Humanist Forum! My sincere greetings to the sponsors of this outstanding event.
It is important that the Forum is attended by representatives of various nations sharing our common struggle for life, for humanism. When I listened to the speeches of our comrades, I thought and recollected what it means the word “humanist” for me. As usual, certain media outlets try to make us misstate and then use these slips against us, especially against me.
Not so long ago one journalist asked me whether I am a rightist or leftist. I answered that in no case I am a rightist, may be I am a leftist. But a problem here in Bolivia is that certain so-called leftists became the best tools of the North American imperialism. Finally my answer was: I am neither rightist nor leftist, I am a humanist.
When I speak about the humanism, I think of Comrade Fidel (here we often recollect him)… Once upon a time, I attended his speech that started at 6 p.m. and finished at midnight. Then he invited me to a have a dinner with him, we started at 1 a.m., and he spoke until 5 or 6 a.m. about a human-being, about survival of the mankind, about the mission to save our habitat, our environment, and when he spoke to me about the life, human-being and survival of the human race, I understood that the most important goal in the world and life is to provide for survival of the mankind, and therefore thanks to my teacher Fidel Castro, I feel myself a humanist, comrades.
And the agenda that made us meet together here surely includes the problems of human survival and protection of humanism, therefore our duty is to exactly name those instruments, norms, policies and programmes that are hostile to the mankind. I was just proud to say that you visit Bolivia in a very important historical moment when our people owing to growth of their consciousness unite in their strivings to ensure equality on behalf of life… We are here in this University, and I want to express gratitude to our professors and teachers , to everybody whom I highly respect and admire, to teachers and students who are shoulder to shoulder with their nation. And as usual, the people are different. And there are those among the teaches who, as we see, continue to give lessons of Indian people discrimination. And you, Bolivians, know it well.
I remember when our Indian movement, people’s movement, as far back as in 1988, 89 and 90 proposed to convoke a constructional assembly. And as certain journalists, comrades, managers, lawyers explained to me, the agenda was to provide for rebirth and re-foundation of Bolivia.
It is necessary to revise regulations and laws legalizing privatization of our natural resources and essential services. I want to focus your attention on this issue. Just as we spoke with Comrade Tomas (Tomas Hirsch, born in 1956, a leader of the Humanist Party of Chili, former candidate for the president of Chili from Leftist Block Juntos Podemos Mas and today the Spokesperson for the Humanism in Latin America - O.Y.) about the problem of war and necessity of new anti-war initiatives, and about the USA policy, it is not less important that such essential services as water supply, power supply, public utilities, telephone communications, etc. should not be and will not be a private business, access to them should be declared an inherit human right.
Is it possible that the essential services would be a private business? Is it possible that due to provision of these services a few capitalists and transnational corporations trading in water and power would earn millions exploiting the human poverty? It should be changed, but we will succeed in changing it only when the people have high level of consciousness, when the people can organize themselves to claim, convince and protect themselves in order to make certain persons belonging to the establishment revise their views, and start thinking and taking care of the society, life and human-being.
These last days in Bolivia I cannot understand how and why certain our brother students, professors of certain Universities go outdoors to offend and spit in faces of their brothers Indian peasants and members of their families who struggle for the same non-violent and democratic reforms as the constitutional assembly does. I cannot understand how certain regional authorities ask to make Evo Morales’ dummies to kick them, spit on them and then fire them. I cannot understand it.
I am convinced that until there are manifestations of racism and discrimination from the side of certain groups wishing and trying to injure the pride of the people, we cannot seriously speak about protection of life and human-being.
I want to confess that once upon a time I also fired one flag. Do you know, why? In the 80-s and partially in the 90-s I saw here in my country North American militaries in their uniform with their firearms, they commanded our armed forces and our police, they participated in crashing the movement of peasants, they fired at our compatriots and imprisoned them. When I was with the army, they said that foreign militaries cannot stay in our country in their uniform and fire at our people… And I cannot understand why the North American militaries stayed in Bolivia in their uniform, with their arms and fired at us. I have enough video documents to prove it if anybody is in doubt. I do not lie and blame on anybody, we all are tired of offences and quarrels, and it was an only event when I fired the flag, it was a US flag, during a big rally, I don’t know whether I was right or wrong… But if we speak about an authority, and especially about the president…to fire his dummy because he is Indian and peasant – I cannot understand it ..I cannot understand that it happens nowadays in Bolivia. It is done not by everybody and not by the majority but by a few families, I do not blame on all… I have just read the strategic plans of “Civil Committee” (“Civil Committee” is an organization of big industrialists and landlords in richest Bolivian province Santa-Cruz . The organization is funded by the Bolivian and transnational corporations, and struggles against the Evo Morales’ Government for independence of Santa-Cruz – O.Y.) and “La-Paz Comrades” (“La-Paz Comrades” is an organization of small businessmen of the Bolivian capital – O.Y.). I wonder how they may succeed in changing their consciousness. I have read a detailed plan how “to dismount the Indian” as they say in Santa Cruz. For example, there are certain items of the plan: to shut down the main oil pipelines, supplying crude to the main cities La-Paz, Cochabamba, etc. Imagine this egoism, this pettiness of certain civil leaders of Santa Cruz, certain democratically elected authorities. I cannot understand this egoism, individualism, sectionalism and regionalism… They are beyond my understanding. We have to master many such situations to learn to respect and feel fellow creatures, life of our sisters and brothers living together with us in this Earth. Therefore the racism and individualism are the foes of the mankind. But there are other things hostile to the mankind, it is the capitalism. I do not share the capitalist idea. How it is possible that a few families, a few transnational corporations would concentrate capital in their hands. They plunder natural resources, squeeze their labors, and to avoid liability (I want that everybody know it) they create instruments of suppression, oppression, recolonization, instruments of further plunder, for instance, the ICSID (International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes), and other institutions that in case of a conflict between a state and transnational corporations assume a function of “international arbitrator”. With such “international arbitral authority” the USA always wins, and states always lose.
Surely, our Cuban ambassador who is together with us here, already heard that after numerous events, in which we were involved together with Comrade Hugo Chaves, we made a decision to withdraw from the ICSID and abandon the ICSID services. When certain private companies violate state laws and start conflicting with the state, they approach the ICSID, and the state comes off a loser. And the state is obliged to pay huge penalties. Therefore we have to solve this problem, and I want to kindly request you on behalf of the Bolivian people and their Government to support us in this campaign to get rid of the dependence on the ICSID. We do not need instruments for permanent plunder of our natural resources.
Tomorrow or may be the day after tomorrow somebody of our comrades, a manager, a minister or a deputy minister, will come here to explain the subject in detail, because I may tell for hours how the ICSID became the best instrument to defend interests of transnational corporations. Therefore, how we can afford that this new millennium would be used by the capitalism to develop its industry of death. How we can afford that the economic inequality would deepen in our world taking into account that this inequality results in escalation of conflicts and asymmetry between countries and even continents making it impossible to solve social problems which actually have an economic substance. So, the conflicts and struggle for changes and justice will continue. And as soon as the people start winning this struggle, they usually face wars unleashed against them. And who usually wins the wars? The same transnational corporations. manufacturers of weapons… Who gets benefits from the arms race? People? States? Not at all, only transnational corporations.
I have analyzed the wars , in which Bolivia was engaged, and have come to a conclusion that there was no war actually between Bolivia and Chili. This Pacific War was a war of transnational corporations against Bolivia and Chili. And I want to use this opportunity to express gratitude to the Chilean people for this feeling, for the fact that many Chileans also want sea for Bolivia (“Chileans also want sea for Bolivia” – during the recent visit of Evo Morales to Chili and during the visit of leftist Chilean politicians to Bolivia they expressed support of the legal Bolivian demand to return access to the Pacific to their country that was lost by Bolivia in the Pacific War – O.Y.) … The war with Paraguay, incorrectly named as the war with Paraguay, the Chako War, was another war of transnational corporations, another war of those who want to concentrate the wealth in the hands of a few persons. Who needs wars? Neither states nor peoples need them because the peoples are the ones that die mostly, so Why war? That’s my respect for the Humanists, so that together we can end up with those wars, but to this end we have to fight also to get the huge factories manufacturing the weapons closed, the weapons that are used to depress and oppress the people and to strengthen the capitalism…there is nothing more reinforcing and protecting the capitalist system than the arms race.
I thing in this respect we have to do a lot, to work hard to make our people understand better these subjects…I can speak only about our still limited and modest experience in unification, organization and conscience of ways how to protect life and participate in saving of human lives.
My best personal experience as of today is this work aimed at increase of our compatriot consciousness level. A few minutes ago our Comrade Tomas told about our natural resources, he said that Bolivia is far from being a poor country. And I want to tell you, sisters and brothers- humanists, that we discovered shallow oil fields in 4 locations. I am surprised that after 500 years of plundering we still have shallow-oil deposits in our mother-land. I personally visited one of the deposits. This is our Pacha –mama. How was it possible that the transnational corporations kept us in poverty on our rich land?! We have our first achievements just after revision of the law on natural fuel. I want to use this opportunity to recollect the social movements of Bolivia that struggled for revision of this law in 2002 and 2003, and later advocated nationalization of our resources and for their return to Bolivians… I want that our brothers attending the Forum know that in 2004 and 2005 the Bolivian Government annually received for its natural fuel only 300 million Dollars while this year due to the new pursued policy the Bolivian Government received more than 2000 million Dollars. What a change!
There is one more piece of information , the last or the last but one for today. Last time the positive balance of the Bolivian economy was achieved in 1960. Later we permanently suffered a budget deficiency. That time I worked in trade unions and remember very well the information that we received every year on the eve of Christmas from various mass media. That was a time of Christmas bonuses, and the Government economic teams including the ministers of various branches traveled to the USA to beg for loans to pay Christmas bonuses. It was a reality of Bolivia. Two-three days ago we checked certain indicators of the national economy to pay wages, salaries and bonuses. And I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that last year after the presidential oath I told at similar meetings and forums that we need minimum two-three years to stop begging for loans to pay Christmas bonuses to teaches, but already last year, the first year of our Government, the Bolivian economy for the first time since 1960 has reached a positive balance. We need not to beg for loans of foreign governments and banks to pay state salaries and bonuses.
Another important issue in the macroeconomic policy is a problem of foreign currency reserves. I want to be very frank with you; 3-4 years ago I understood nothing in this problem. In 2004, the Bolivian foreign currency reserves amounted to less than 1000 million Dollars. Last year they became a bit more than 1000 million Dollars, and a fortnight ago the Bolivian foreign currency reserves totaled more than 5000 million Dollars, comrades. For our brothers from Argentina and Chili this figure is not high, Comrade Kirchner said at the last summit of Latin American presidents that when he became the President he received a country with 6000 million Dollars of foreign currency reserves, and finished his presidential term with 44000 million Dollars. Enviable figures. The Bolivian reality is still absolutely different. In Bolivia, the reserves of 2004 amounted to less than 1000 million Dollars, and in 2007 they totaled more than 5000 million Dollars. And the question arises: earlier this money was also available, actually it physically existed but vanished and flew somewhere… To the pockets of our rulers or overseas. I cannot understand. Where they vanished to. And we said that the greatest evil for Bolivians is corruption.
The second enemy is neoliberalization and privatization. Comrades, I feel that my duty to you is advise you at least in brief on our current difficulties and problems. There is a problem of inflation, and there are problems with certain food prices. And in spite of the fact that prices of various food products fluctuate in the world there is another subject that disturbs us: so-called biofuel or agrofuel. I personally disagree with this project, but I don’t know what you, humanists, think about it. I disagree with an idea of biofuel because how it is possible to afford that agricultural products would be used to feed North American vehicles. How can we afford that our corn, our cane sugar would be used as a food not of humans but of machines? But here we face problems because certain businessmen hide food products, abuses the market, thus they want, first, to destabilize the Evo Morales’ Government, and, second, raise food prices due to artificial foodstuff shortage. Many strikes, including the strikes of transport workers are funded from outside, for a day of outage they pay more than for a working day. All means are good in this war against the Government… And surely, as they permanently look for new methods to weaken the Government , it is a permanent war of principles, ideas, plans and programmes.
Probably certain tycoons of our country today dream about Pinochet for Bolivia, but I am sure that there will be no Pinochet in Bolivia. We know that the level of maturity and consciousness of Bolivians and first of all that of the Bolivian Indian people will exclude it. We see numerous defenders of our process moving in columns to Sucre to assert its right to hold the constitutional assembly, and to La-Paz to demand social justice and social revolution… and this is the consciousness of the Bolivian people. Therefore I wand say to certain politicians and civil leaders that it is in vain to knock at the doors of military barracks, to sponsor economic boycott, economic plot, economic war that is already unleashed against us. I am sure that they will fail to succeed. We together with our people whose consciousness is growing day by day struggle for liberation of our country.
There are many political leaders and movements in the present world that stand for termination of military conflicts. In this respect I welcome a remarkable initiative of Comrade Hugo Chaves to find solution and terminate the military conflict in Columbia (he is speaking about recent participation of Hugo Chaves as a mediator in negotiations between the Columbian government and left-wing radical group FARK about exchange of hostages and POWs. In spite of the fact that the talks were evidently promising they were wrecked by Columbian President Alvaro Uribe under a vain pretext. – O.Y.). We respect the decision of President Uribe, he has a sovereign right to say Yes or No, but if I were President Uribe, I would urge all movements, presidents and leaders to help us in termination of the military conflict in Columbia. Real revolutions are not made by killing people of this or that side, our mission is to implement deep revolutionary changes to save human lives. What for do we fight? To asset the right to life, to save the mankind. If we had a similar conflict in our country, we would ask for assistance to settle it. Therefore it would be so important for everybody to get rid with such conflicts that still occur in our countries. And may be somebody of our friends should revise his mode of thought and change his behavior. What’s wrong with it you release kidnapped people, kidnapped incidentally. What is the guilt of these people? The capitalism is guilty here. And it is impossible to fight against it by killing or kidnapping somebody. It is my personal stand.
Comrades, it is also very important to remember that in our Indian movement we strive not only to live in harmony with each other and not only to build relations with the neighbors on the principle of solidarity… I have told you already that in community Isakam-del-Iyosuka in department Oruro where I was born, there is no private property, and all property is owned by the community – until now! But it is not only the collective ownership that is important but also ability to live in harmony with the mother-land. The San Andres Festival is coming, it is devoted to our mother-land. And if I get permission of our Government, I’d like to go to San Andres to the Kuchi-Kuchi hill to celebrate there. This festival starts with our prayer to our Forerunners, our fathers and mother-land for permission to work on this land. It is manifistation of our respect of the mother-land. And this attitude radically differs from the capitalist custom to conquer the land destroying the environment. I share many initiatives and ideas implying that if we want to save the mankind we should firstly save our mother-land, Pachamama. If we fail to save the mother-land, it will be senseless to speak about saving the mankind. Therefore, I think that the first enemy of the mankind is the wild capitalism, and our duty is to become friends and unite to prevent the capitalism from implementation of its programme, to modify this economic model, to deprive the tycoons of power because these tycoons advocate plundering of our national natural resources and unfair distribution of incomes from their development… Last year we made a decision to launch a state-funded programme to finance education of children from the poorest families, the Juancito Pinto Programme. Thereafter, we proceeded to the problem of our grandmothers and grandfathers … this problem is just under solution now. I am speaking about a draft law on Pension of Dignity. Less than 20 per cent of people of a pension age in Bolivia receive pensions. More than 80 per cent of the people do not have pensions at all. And practically all these people worked all the life long, worked more than others and earned less than others… and until now they had no right to pension. During the last 20 years of the neoliberal model all this inherit evils of the capitalism and social defects have just aggravated. Now we all learn to employ the politics for the benefits of the people, and we permanently try to explain to the people that the politics is a kind of science that should serve the people and should be actively pursued by the people. It is our permanent way, permanent search for equality. I understand that full equality between everybody is hardly possible. But we must reduce this huge amoral economic gap existing today between the people. I believe that our comrades from wealthy families who received higher education will be able to convince certain families who still think only about their privileges and indifferent to their nation. So far I cannot understand why certain people are so ungenerous towards their own nation and so allied with the Empire. These people and their families think not about the Motherland but about their money for themselves. I think that such forums may become very important lessons, just universities for these people to make these families feel with their nation, mankind, human-being, neighbor , but not think about themselves only. You may be very much helpful in it, and I want to request you for it.
Comrades, such your assistance is very important to us. Through our state-owned media outlets, through our broadcasting network, that we called “New Motherland” we request you to communicate with the people, to approach them directly explaining the harm and danger of violence, explaining them that we fright for their interests. Your participation is very important to boost the process of reforms initiated by us.
When I travel across the country I am astonished that we succeeded in changing so much in such a short period… During these trips, I sometimes propose solutions, sometimes listen to proposals, and sometimes explain that we still lack resources for something when I am requested for money…
And without any fear and doubts I want to express my admiration for Cuba and Venezuela for their expressed solidarity, solidarity without any preconditions. I remember when the first Cubans came here they asked me: President, where shall we open the first 10 ophthalmologic centers? I hardly believed that it was a reality… And we started selecting places… here or there… and already in 2002 they made free surgeries on 180 000 people… I cannot stop admiring this example of brotherhood, disinterested help of the country that has many own economic problems…
Dear guests, sisters and brothers! I wish you happy staying in our country, and, please, do not forget to advise me on your conclusions that you will come to during this important forum. Based on your words I, as a humanist like you, brothers and sisters, will assume additional obligations. Thank you!
