IV373 - December 2005

In an article written on the eve of the election Paolo Stefanoni traces the political developments which resulted in the May-June 2005 uprising in Bolivia, the subsequent political agreement and the eventual election of Evo Morales.

Jaime Solares has put the Bolivian Workers Confederation (COB) back on the map, and made it once again a significant force in the workers movement and the array of radical social movements in general. What attitude will he and the COB now take to Evo Morales?

On Sunday December 18th, in a historic victory, Evo Morales, candidate of the left-wing MAS, became the first indigenous president in Bolivia’s 180-year history. Someone who in the course of his life has been a lama breeder, a trumpet player and a coca grower, became, on this 18th of December, the first indigenous person to accede to the office of President of the Republic in the whole of Latin America.

Sociologist, political analyst, ex-leader of the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (EGTK) along with Felipe Quispe at the beginning of the 1990s, and very much present in the media, à lvaro García Linera is the newly elected vice-president of Bolvia. He did this interview with Pablo Stefanoni for Inprecor, our French-language sister journal.

Felipe Quispe is one of the decisive leaders of the Bolivian indigenous movement and of the Left in general. He is widely seen as being more militant and uncompromising than Evo Morales. This interview by Herve do Alto took place before the election.

Evo Morales, leader of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), won the December 18 presidential election with surprising ease. With 51% of the vote - more than 15% more than the polls predicted - Morales won outright on the first round. But what is the MAS? What does its victory mean?

Miguel Romero, editor of the journal Viento Sur talks to Sergio Rodriguez, director of the pro-Zapatista magazine Rebeldia about the recent Sixth Declaration of the EZLN, and the turn towards the ’Other Campaign’, a bold attempt by the Zapatistas to reach out to civil society nationwide.

For the anti-war movement, it is critical to insist on the complete withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces, from Iraq and from the region, because retaining any of them will violate Iraqi sovereignty and continue to fuel insurgency and hatred.

The Respect conference was a deeply worrying event. It unfortunately put a question mark over Respect’s long-term development as a broad based alternative to new Labour and its neo-liberal agenda.

Download a pdf version of this month’s edition from here.