Here's the scene:
The streets of La Paz were teeming with supporters from every hamlet and municipality in Bolivia and beyond! Red flags were blowing in the wind. Green flags. Yellow flags. Wiphala flags! Workers. Taxi drivers. Housekeepers. University students. Mothers with babies. Union leaders. Theater groups. Supporting indigenous groups boasting traditional dress, flutes, and drums Former government officials who had left the MAS party. The press. International support teams. Trumpets blared. Flutes sang. Mariachi bands blasted accordion music. Placards proclaimed: “TIPNIS=VIDA, EVO=MUERTE,” “EL TIPNIS: NO SE TOCA, CARAJO!” and “¡TIPNIS SOMOS TODOS!” People rushed to meet the marchers, hugged them, kissed them on the lips. Men and women were sobbing in the streets! Whole schools had been liberated to play a role in history, and uniformed children were waving flags, holding up their drawings of tropical flowers, and cheering. Along the boulevards the welcomers flanked the marchers like a thick envelope of protection from potential police action; in some parts the shield extended five times thicker than the march itself.What precipitated such a scene? You will have to read the article to get the full flavor of this delightful morsel. Basically, the people of Bolivia have achieved a great victory. It may be temporary and limited, but they did it by understanding that they had power and they mobilized it. These mostly peasants saw through the phony populism of their pretend leader and understood that they must depend on themselves to secure their lives. It was probably this insight more than the victory itself that generated so much celebration.
Could we in the US who regard ourselves as better educated achieve a similar understanding that candidates whom we are allowed to vote for are charlatans? That hopey changey Obama is as phony as Evo Morales? And, finally if we are to have any real change, we must bring it about ourselves?
