Bolivian workers fight privatisation and imperialism


Bolivian workers have been battling the vicious neo-liberal policies
of their government backed by Western imperialism.
Over the last five years the struggle has overthrown one president
and successfully defeated water privatisation.
Now the incumbent president, Carlos Mesa, has tendered his
resignation.
Dave Carr reports on the current mass protest movement which is
demanding nationalisation of the gas industry.

"PROTESTERS CHANTED, ‘Mesa go home, power for the people,’ as they
marched through La Paz on Friday, clad in colourful ponchos and wielding
whips and clubs." (BBC, 3/6/05)

Bolivia remains gripped in a deep political crisis. The beleaguered
President Carlos Mesa, in a last ditch attempt to end the weeks of
workers’ and farmers’ protests that have brought the country to a halt,
announced elections to an assembly on 16 October.

The assembly would write a new constitution – the indigenous peoples
who comprise 62% of the population are demanding more rights. On the
same day as these elections a referendum would be held to decide on a
demand (from a section of the capitalists) for more autonomy in the
resource-rich regions.

However, this hasn’t placated the protesters who are against the
referendum and are demanding the nationalisation of the gas industry.

Neo-liberalism

THE REVOLT of the poor masses is against the ‘neo-liberal’ policies
of the current president and his predecessors.

In October 2003, president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was overthrown
by a mass movement and fled to Florida following a general strike
organised by the COB (Bolivia’s TUC). Lozada was planning to export
natural gas to the USA, a move that would have benefited the
multinational energy companies and the imperialist superpower.
Vice-president Carlos Mesa was appointed president and promised a
referendum about the oil and gas industry and a constituent assembly to
rewrite the constitution.

On 2 March 2005 a general strike was declared in El Alto (a
desperately poor industrial and housing area of one million people
adjoining La Paz) to demand the reversal of the water privatisation.
Congress revoked the contract with French company Suez Lyonnaise des
Eaux.

Suez was the major shareholder in a failed privatisation that had
left 200,000 people without access to water whilst guaranteeing a 13%
rate of return on the companies’ investment. Countless others were
unable to afford the $435 connection fees – almost eight times Bolivia’s
monthly minimum wage.

A similar struggle in Cochabamba in 2000 led to victory. As a result
the US company Bechtel (currently enjoying profitable contracts in Iraq
reconstruction) was thrown out. Bechtel then brought a $25 million
lawsuit against Bolivia for cancelling!

Most recently, the strikes, street protests and blockades of the
capital city La Paz have again been to demand the nationalisation of the
highly profitable gas industry.

Mesa is defending the interests of the multinationals saying that the
recent hydrocarbons law passed by the congress to increase taxation on
the energy industry is "too punitive". He also rejects nationalisation.

Mass movement

THE SCALE and depth of the mass movement is of revolutionary
proportions. The state and the ruling class have repeatedly lost control
of the country and are unable to hold the masses back. When Mesa
threatened Congress with resignation back in March 2005 he complained
that there had been 820 national protests against him during his 18
months in office!

However, the leadership of the opposition party MAS and the COB isn’t
prepared to carry through a transformation of society. They are still
wedded to capitalism.

Since the year 2000 popular movements in Ecuador, Argentina and
Bolivia have removed ‘neo-liberal’ presidents. Other radical and
populist figures like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, have come to the
forefront and won elections.

Unfortunately, in all these cases, these leaders have not broken with
capitalism. What is needed is mass socialist and revolutionary parties
that can lead the struggles to a conclusion, ie the abolition of
capitalism and its replacement with a socialist system, where production
is run democratically, according to people’s needs, not for profit. Only
then can the capitalism system of poverty, violence and oppression be
broken.