‘Our struggle is against U.S. imperialism’
Published Jan 8, 2006 4:42 PM
Below is the text of a speech by Evo Morales to the “In
Defense of Humanity” conference held in Mexico City on Dec. 24, 2003.
Morales is now president-elect of Bolivia.
What happened these
past days in Bolivia was a great revolt by those who have been oppressed for
more than 500 years. The will of the people was imposed this September and
October, and has begun to overcome the empire’s cannons. We have lived for
so many years through the confrontation of two cultures: the culture of life
represented by the indigenous people, and the culture of death represented
by the West. When we the indigenous people—together with the workers and
even the businessmen of our country—fight for life and justice, the state
responds with its “democratic rule of law.”
What does the
“rule of law” mean for indigenous people? For the poor, the
marginalized, the excluded, the “rule of law” means the targeted
assassinations and collective massacres that we have endured. Not just this
September and October, but for many years, in which they have tried to impose
policies of hunger and poverty on the Bolivian people. Above all, the
“rule of law” means the accusations that we, the Quechuas, Aymaras
and Guaranties of Bolivia keep hearing from our governments: that we are narcos,
that we are anarchists. This uprising of the Bolivian people has been not only
about gas and hydrocarbons, but an intersection of many issues: discrimination,
marginalization, and most importantly, the failure of neoliberalism.
The
cause of all these acts of bloodshed, and for the uprising of the Bolivian
people, has a name: neoliberalism. With courage and defiance, we brought down
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada—the symbol of neoliberalism in our
country—on Oct. 17, the Bolivians’ day of dignity and identity. We
began to bring down the symbol of corruption and the political mafia.
And
I want to tell you, compañeras and compañeros, how we have built
the consciousness of the Bolivian people from the bottom up. How quickly the
Bolivian people have reacted, have said— as Sub coman date Marcos
says—Ya basta! Enough policies of hunger and misery.
For us, Oct. 17
is the beginning of a new phase of construction. Most importantly, we face the
task of ending selfishness and individualism, and creating—from the rural
campesino and indigenous communities to the urban slums—other forms of
living, based on solidarity and mutual aid. We must think about how to
redistribute the wealth that is concentrated among few hands. This is the great
task we Bolivian people face after this great uprising.
It has been very
important to organize and mobilize ourselves in a way based on transparency,
honesty and control over our own organizations. And it has been important not
only to organize but also to unite. Here we are now, united intellectuals in
defense of humanity—I think we must have not only unity among the social
movements, but also that we must coordinate with the intellectual movements.
Every gathering, every event of this nature for us labor leaders who come from
the social struggle, is a great lesson that allows us to exchange experiences
and to keep strengthening our people and our grassroots
organizations.
Thus, in Bolivia, our social movements, our intellectuals,
our workers—even those political parties which support the popular
struggle—joined together to drive out Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.
Sadly, we paid the price with many of our lives, because the empire’s
arrogance and tyranny continue humiliating the Bolivian people.
It must be
said, compañeras and compañeros, that we must serve the social and
popular movements rather than the transnational corporations. I am new to
politics; I had hated it and had been afraid of becoming a career politician.
But I realized that politics had once been the science of serving the people,
and that getting involved in politics is important if you want to help your
people. By getting involved, I mean living for politics, rather than living off
of politics. We have coordinated our struggles between the social movements and
political parties, with the support of our academic institutions, in a way that
has created a greater national consciousness. That is what made it possible for
the people to rise up in these recent days.
When we speak of the
“defense of humanity,” as we do at this event, I think that this
only happens by eliminating neoliberalism and imperialism. But I think that in
this we are not so alone, because we see every day that anti-imperialist
thinking is spreading, especially after Bush’s bloody
“intervention” policy in Iraq. Our way of organizing and uniting
against the system, against the empire’s aggression towards our people, is
spreading, as are the strategies for creating and strengthening the power of the
people.
‘I believe only in the power of the
people’
I believe only in the power of the people. That was my
experience in my own region, a single province—the importance of local
power. And now, with all that has happened in Bolivia, I have seen the
importance of the power of a whole people, of a whole nation. For those of us
who believe it important to defend humanity, the best contribution we can make
is to help create that popular power. This happens when we check our personal
interests with those of the group. Sometimes, we commit to the social movements
in order to win power. We need to be led by the people, not use or manipulate
them.
We may have differences among our popular leaders—and
it’s true that we have them in Bolivia. But when the people are conscious,
when the people know what needs to be done, any difference among the different
local leaders ends. We’ve been making progress in this for a long time, so
that our people are finally able to rise up, together.
What I want to tell
you, compañeras and compañeros—what I dream of and what we
as leaders from Bolivia dream of is that our task at this moment should be to
strengthen anti-imperialist thinking. Some leaders are now talking about how
we—the intellectuals, the social and political movements—can
organize a great summit of people like Fidel, Chávez and Lula to say to
everyone: “We are here, taking a stand against the aggression of U.S.
imperialism.”
A summit at which we are joined by compañera
Rigoberta Menchú, by other social and labor leaders, great personalities
like Pérez Ezquivel. A great summit to say to our people that we are
together, united and defending humanity. We have no other choice,
compañer os and compañeras—if we want to defend humanity we
must change systems and this means overthrowing U.S. imperialism.
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