Women back Nobel nomination for Evo Morales

More than 1,000 participants here at the 14th World Congress of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) had the opportunity to add their names to petitions urging the selection of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales Ayma for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

May Day, Bolivia 2006.

Morales, from the Aymara nation, is the first Indigenous president of Bolivia, the poorest country in South America despite its riches in minerals and natural gas. The Indigenous peoples of Bolivia have been brutally repressed during 500 years of colonial occupation and political dictatorship supported by the country’s wealthy elite and right-wing oligarchy with the backing of the U.S. government.

Morales won a landslide victory in the December 2005 election after years of activism and a campaign that relied on support from social movements, which are organizations of neighborhoods and areas, Indigenous groups, peasants, students and workers. He has begun implementing plans for the nationalization of natural gas and other resources and agrarian reform to take arable land from a handful of wealthy families and redistribute it to the poor.

The six-language Web site, “Evo Morales Premio Nobel de la Paz 2007” (www.evonobel2007.org), describes the fundamental reasons why the Bolivian president deserves this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. They include his struggle for dignifying the original peoples of Bolivia, of the Americas and of the world; his respect for cultural diversity; his defense of the sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples; his defense of natural resources and care of the environment and ecology; his governing with participation of the social movements; and his permanent fight for social justice, Latin American and Caribbean integration, and peace and coexistence among the nations.

Bolivian activists are urging progressive people around the world to support the nomination of Evo Morales for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. They ask that the following norms be adhered to in adding a “solid endorsement” of Morales for the award: 1) signatures must include a person’s first and last name, profession, city and country; 2) organizations and institutions should include the organization’s name, the principal activity to which it is devoted, and country; and the message or endorsement should be addressed to “International Campaign Evo Morales Nobel Peace Prize 2007.” Signatures and endorsements should be emailed to [email protected].