Movements In Bolivia Research Articles

This is Us, We are Government. Experience of Social Movements in Bolivia

The emergence of social movements in the public arena had to do with neoliberalism´s negative consequences. Different actors with different interests worked together against the system, which became their “common antagonist”. On the one hand, after years of autonomous organization, these social movements won social recognition and increased their power. On the other, political parties and trade unions lost legitimacy. In December 2005, a faction of the Bolivian social movements won the general elections, and Evo Morales (the cocalero movement´s leader) became the first Aymara president in Bolivian history. How to manage this government it is one of the majors challenges the social movements confront in today’s Bolivia.

La revuelta de las “ñatitas”: “Empoderamiento ritual” y ciclo de difuntos en la ciudad de La Paz (Bolivia)

The periodic exhumation and moving of dead bodies is a ritual of long history in the Central Andes, as revealed by “programs to extirpate idolatry” in the 16th and 17th centuries as well as ethnography on current All-Saints Day celebrations. Despite the open hostility of the Catholic Church toward “unorthodox” customs regarding the dead, remarkable instances of them can still be observed and studied at present, such as the socalled “Feast of the Natitas” which is held on every Sunday following All-Saints Day in the premises and church of “the General Cemetery” of La Paz. The current process of “ritual empowerment” of native peoples and social movements in Bolivia makes it all too clear the full significance of this feast as well as its commanding presence in ritual time and space against the policy of Catholic Church authorities in the country.

Social movements in Bolivia: from strength to power

Social movements in Bolivia: from strength to power

Engaging Modernity: the political making of indigenous movements in Bolivia and Ecuador, 1900–2008

Most analyses of the recent indigenous mobilisations in Bolivia and Ecuador (as well as other Latin American countries) have sharply divided the new indigenous politics from earlier class-based political projects of the left. The emergence and mass-appeal of indigenous movements, in these analyses, are rooted in ethnic and cultural cleavages between indigenous peoples and the rest of Bolivian and Ecuadorean society. This article argues that a political interpretation of indigenous movements in these countries gives a more coherent explanation for their historical trajectories as well as their present situation, in particular their high degree of articulation with other popular political actors. Its historical section describes the emergence of indigenous movements in Bolivia and Ecuador as part of an engagement with modernity that began in the first half of the twentieth century as part of the cross-ethnic projects of unions and radical parties of the traditional left and put indigenous communities into positive relationships to the modernizing Bolivian and Ecuadorean states.

Refounding the Nation

This article examines indigenous discourse in the Americas during a 15-year period and its particular application in indigenous movements in Bolivia through the political crises and the installation of the Constitutional Assembly. It argues for a view of multiple temporal and spatial patterns in indigenous thought that opens the possibility for understanding the complexities of radically reforming the nation.

Dynamite in the Mines and Bloody Urban Clashes: Contradiction, Conflict and the Limits of Reform in Bolivia's Movement towards Socialism

<p>This paper critiques common depictions of the Evo Morales government in Bolivia as revolutionary socialist or radically reformist. It introduces the concept of indigenous ascendant populism to better understand the character of the Morales administration. It summarizes the historical significance of the electoral victory of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS); situates contemporary Bolivian politics within the broader theoretical debates occurring within the Latin American left; and explains the trajectory of Latin American populism and the particularities of Bolivia's experiences within that trajectory. Against this theoretical and historical backdrop two popular mobilizations occurring in 2006 and 2007 are examined: a conflict in a Huanuni mine in October 2006 and the ‘Cochabamba Conflict' of December 2006 and January 2007. Both events are found to substantiate the thesis of indigenous ascendant populism. The contention is made that a renewal of independent self-organization and strategic mobilization of the popular classes and indigenous nations is necessary so that social movements will not be trapped within the limited political horizons of the current government. </p><p> </p>

El movimiento "cocalero" en Bolivia durante los años 80 y 90: sus causas y su desarollo

In the present paper we propose an analysis of the emergence and the development of the coca cultivating peasant’s movement in Bolivia in the 1980 and 1990. We consider here the causes of the rise of the ‘cocalero’ movement in the wider politic and social context of the country in this historical moment. As well, we develop a reflexion about the development of the movement after that the political party MAS, who’s it was one of the charter members, arrives in the government.

The price of fire: resource wars and social movements in Bolivia

The price of fire: resource wars and social movements in Bolivia

Comparing Critical Junctures: The Democratic Inclusion of Social Movements in Norway and Latin America

Latin America is currently characterised by the rise of a number of strong social movements and the election of governments that have their support. This has given rise to hopes for the emergence of more inclusive political systems, and stable democracies. However, many of the new regimes either show limited ability to create significant change in policies or practices for ensuring social inclusion, or have produced new forms of fragmentation and social conflicts. What are the long-term prospects of democratic inclusion of the social movements? This article approaches this question through a comparison of three current social movements in Latin America—the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, the coca growers (cocaleros) movement in Bolivia and the movement of the unemployed (piqueteros) in Argentina—with the experience of the Norwegian labour movement in the early 20th century. It argues that the inclusion of social movements depends on their own internal structure and strategies as well as the state's institutional capacity and the global politic-economic context.

Teatro Trono: Youth Theater in Bolivia

"Teatro Trono: Youth Theater in Bolivia." NACLA Report on the Americas, 40(3), p. 48 Additional informationNotes on contributorsBenjamin DanglBenjamin Dangl edits UpsideDownWorld.org, a Web site on activismand politics in Latin America. This is an adapted excerpt from his new book, The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press, 2007).

Social Movements, Hegemony, and New Forms of Resistance

In Latin America, new social movements are vigorously and creatively engaging in grassroots organization and local and national mobilizations. Social movements in Bolivia, Brazil, and elsewhere have challenged the conduct of politics in their countries and the region. Their growth and militancy have generated whole new repertoires of action. Indeed, they raise the possibility of at least some form of “rule from below.” They have left the traditional twentieth-century parties far behind to create a nonauthoritarian, participatory political culture. Using existing political space to maximum effect, they are substantially strengthening participatory democratic practice and significantly altering political life. Less clear is whether they are, as Gramsci might conclude, coming together in a new cycle of subaltern actions that can break down the hegemony historically exercised by Latin America’s ruling classes.

Struggles against Accumulation by Dispossession in Bolivia

David Harvey suggests that, compared with struggles waged by traditional political parties and labor unions, struggles to “reclaim the commons” typically result in a less focused political dynamic of social action, which is both a strength and a weakness. While these social movements draw strength from their embeddedness in daily life, not all manage to make the link between the struggle against accumulation by dispossession and the struggle for expanded reproduction that is necessary to meet the material needs of impoverished and repressed populations. Social movements in Bolivia have framed their demands differently in the struggles against the privatization of natural gas and water depending on the different roles these resources play in the region’s political economy. Struggles against the privatization of natural gas pose a greater challenge to neoliberalism because of their macro frame and politics.

A trilha de Morales: novo movimento social indígena na Bolívia

O artigo discute as condições socioeconômicas que possibilitaram a emergência de novos movimentos sociais na Bolívia, sob a liderança dos povos indígenas e plantadores de coca. Esses movimentos sociais apoiaram o presidente Evo Morales nas eleições de dezembro de 2005. Analisa também as dificuldades e contradições enfrentadas pelo novo governo.

Reclaiming modernity: Indigenous cosmopolitanism and the coming of the second revolution in Bolivia

In this article I explore the emergence of complicated new forms of indigeneity in Bolivia over the last 15 years. I argue that although what I describe as a second revolution is under way in contemporary Bolivia, there is a danger that this revolution will be misread by scholars, political commentators, and others because of the prevailing tendency to interpret social and moral movements in Bolivia (and elsewhere) in rigidly neopolitical–economic terms. I offer an alternative theoretical framework for understanding current developments in Bolivia, which I describe as “indigenous cosmopolitanism”: the ability of national political leaders, youth rappers in El Alto, rural indigenous activists, and others to bring together apparently disparate discursive frameworks as a way of reimagining categories of belonging in Bolivia, and, by extension, the meanings of modernity itself.

Patterns of Protest: Politics and Social Movements in Bolivia

Bolivia leapt onto the front pages of the news in October 2003, when the 'Gas Wars' protests caused the ousting of Bolivia's President, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. In the Gas Wars the indigenous inhabitants, trade unions, and other civil society groups came together to protest the sale of Bolivian natural gas to the United States through a pipeline leading to Chile. In the unrest protestors were killed, and calls for the President to resign grew ever louder. Bolivia has a long history of social protest. In Cochabamba in 2000, the Water Wars saw nearly 10,000 people take to the streets against the privatisation of water. The Bolivian peoples' strong stance against foreign interests and the sale of their natural resources has been triggered by US pressure; first in the 'war on drugs' - the fumigation of 'illegal' coca crops - and pressure waged on a wider front of IMF structural adjustments, and the neo-liberal regime. In Patterns of Protest, UK-based Andean expert John Crabtree explains the antecedents of a poor country's struggle against its most powerful neighbours, and the predatory interests of global capitalism. In a strongly indigenous nation, explains the influence of Quechua and Aymara identity and organising in Bolivian politics, and analyses the unique way that Boliva has united disparate populations - the urban working class and the rural indigenous people - to demand that Bolivian natural resources benefit Bolivians first.

Ethnicity and politics in Bolivia

In recent years polarization along ethnic lines has become an important feature of Bolivian politics. In this article we examine the emergence of new indigenous movements in Bolivia and how this was eventually reflected in the adoption of multiculturalist policies by the Bolivian state. However, in an overall context of neoliberal economic policy and a party system that suffered a ‘representation deficit’, such policies may celebrate cultural pluralism while stopping short of addressing issues of the redistribution of power and resources. This provided the context for a series of popular protests in which indigenous people played a prominent role and which eventually carried over into the 2002 general elections. We argue that it remains to be seen if the new presence of indigenous people in Bolivia's political arena points to a constructive incorporation.

New Political Movements and Governance in Latin America

ABSTRACT This article argues that traditional governance in Latin America is in crisis. Globalization and IMF-advocated neoliberal economic policy have left the masses behind, despite the growth of democracy. Traditional governing structures often cannot respond to popular needs, and they are being challenged by a series of new, highly politicized social movements like the indigenous and peasant movements in Bolivia, popular assemblies in Argentina, and the Landless Movement in Brazil. In the process, new forms of popular mobilization and participatory decision making are challenging entrenched authoritarian attitudes and practices and making way for new political-bureaucratic structures and a new political culture.

Packaging Indigenous Media: An Interview with Ivan Sanjinés and Jesús Tapia

ABSTRACTAn interview with two key figures in the indigenous video movement in Bolivia conducted at the Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival in New Mexico. In the interview, Ivan Sanjinés and Jesús Tapia describe the development of indigenous video centers and organizations in Bolivia, their work with video makers across Latin American, their goals during their 2002 U.S. video tour, their reactions to their audience's questions, and notions of authorship and collaboration as a process that extends from communities in which videos are made to hemispheric networks of media makers. I introduce the interview by situating indigenous video in Bolivia within the wider and significant historical shift toward indigenous politics in Bolivia in the 1980s and 1990s and draw from the interview new meanings for the term indigenous media that involve the ways video makers assemble and package a multiplex of technologies, resources, social organizations, cultural principles and imagery into a representational form that extends beyond the completed videotape.

Globalization in a Time of Neoliberalism: Politicized Social Movements and the Latin American Response

This article examines the emergence of new, highly politicized social movements in Latin America as a response to deteriorating economic and social conditions and the related growth of neoliberal economic policies advocated by International Financial Institutions like the IMF and the World Bank and by national political elites. It argues that the decline of bureaucratic authoritarianism and the growing democratization in the region have helped to move the struggle for more equitable societies and the empowerment of popular sectors away from armed struggle toward new repertoires of action conducted in civil society by new social and political movements. An overview of the phenomenon, examines the Zapatistas in Mexico, the National Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the breakdown of traditional parties and the rise of the Chávez movement in Venezuela, recent political movements in Bolivia, the rise of neo-populism in Peru, and the political and economic crisis that delegitimized governments and politics in Argentina and led to popular assemblies and demonstrations that removed successive governments from power in 2001 and 2002. Finally, a case study of the Landless movement in Brazil (the MST) is offered as an example of how such movements develop and contest power.

L’académie Caroline de Charcas, une “ école de cadres pour l’Indépendance ”

The academia carolina of charcas : an «executives’ school» for the independence The Academia Carolina of Charcas, created in 1776, was an enlightened institution, a product of its century, which was founded with the purpose of training the lawyers not only in the audiencia of Charcas (Bolivia and Paraguay), but also in Rio de la Plata. In its halls gathered a significant portion of the men who were involved in the first independence movements in Bolivia, as well as Argentina. This paper analyzes the intellectual evolution of its members and the ways that the traditional social and mental structures of a creole elite changed to allow the implantation of what is considered to be the modem ideology of the independence. This sociological study of the lawyers of Charcas throws light on the process of the revolution’s cultural genesis in the Cono Sur.