In all the midst of the tremendous and welcome attention to  the climate change conference in Copenhagen little attention has been given to a miraculous development in the Global South.   Not only has Evo Morales won an overwhelming majority as President of Bolivia but his party, the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) has won 2/3 of the Senate and a strong majority in the House basically destroying the strength of the right-wing parties.

 While the rest of the world struggles to save a destructive economic and environmental system, the people of Bolivia, 70 per cent Indigenous,  are showing a path to a more democratic, egalitarian sustainable society and hardly anyone is watching.

 The peaceful revolution in Bolivia is succeeding beyond anyone’s expectations. Their accomplishments even when the Right had a majority in the Senate blocking their efforts have been spectacular.  In the second poorest country in the Americas and in the midst of a terrible economic crisis they have dramatically improved the lives of thousands of Bolivians, invested in education and health care, nationalized the hydrocarbon and electrical industries, initiated the first pension for seniors and adopted a revolutionary constitution that guarantees absolute equality to each of the national groups in the Boilivia as well as equality for women.   You can read more about their accomplishments here.

The UK Guardian explains it well in their editorial today

“Mr Morales has done this by defying the Washington consensus on development, natural gas and coca leaves. In his first term, he sent the IMF, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the US ambassador packing – all for different reasons. He renationalised the gas industry and increased royalties on hydrocarbons. The result was three years of budget surpluses and $8bn in cash reserves. He gave cash payments to school children, mothers and pensioners, giving poor families an incentive to keep children in full-time education. Curiously, Bolivia now wins praise from the IMF, which applauded the government’s prudence in saving part of the windfall income from gas revenues.”

Evo Morales and the movement he heads are in the midst of a profound shift of culture and a redistribution of wealth from a tiny minority to a majority that has been oppressed, marginalized and persecuted for centuries.  They have resisted the pressure from international capital and the U.S. to develop their own road to what they call “living well.”   When I was in Bolivia a couple of years ago and asked one of Evo’s ministers what they mean by living well he responded, “It means not to exploit and not to be exploited, not to rob and not to be robbed.”  

Living well also means living in harmony with nature.  Bolivia was the second country to announce in Copenhagen yesterday that they support reduction of carbon to 350 as part of a massive global campaign.  Evo Morales has taken a lead at an international level in calling for human kind to return to their role as protectors of Mother Earth, not its destroyer. 

When I interviewed Morales in 2006 when he had just been in office six months he told me:

“The indigenous communities have historically lived in community, in collectivity, in harmony not only with each other as human beings but with mother earth and nature, and we have to recover that. If we think about life as equality and justice, if we think of humanity, the model of the West, industrialization and neo-liberalism is destroying the planet earth, which for me is the great Pachamama [Mother Earth]. The model that concentrates capital in the hands of the few, this neo-liberal model, this capitalist model, is destroying the planet earth. And it’s heading towards destroying humanity. And from Bolivia we can make a modest contribution to defend life, to save humanity. That’s our responsibility.”

 Evo’s enemies say he is a little brother to Hugo Chavez but nothing could be further from the truth.  They are allies, for sure but Chavez is a cadillo (strong man) leader, Evo is the leader of a movement.  At the moment of this great victory and before he spoke to a massive crowd outside the presidential offices, Evo met not only met with his cabinet but also with the leaders of the social organizations to whom he feels accountable.  It is the extraordinary and well organized social organizations in Bolivia that have won this tremendous victory, mobilizing to back down a sometimes violent Right as well as to support a government that truly represents them.

The Bolivian movements and the MAS are re-inventing socialism and creating a new path to development.  They are doing it peacefully and democratically despite sometimes violent opposition from the wealthy elite.  A delegation from Toronto Bolivia Solidarity there during the elections reported that even since the referendum on the constitution a few months ago, the atmosphere had become much more peaceful.  In the heart of anti-Evo territory in Santa Cruz, a demonstration of 50,000 rallied for the MAS.  This in a city where people were afraid to talk about supporting Evo even a year ago.  Even the most experience leader of the MAS is amazed at the transformation.

“So in the midst of all the news on climate change, have a look at what’s happening the place that I think gives us the most hope for humanity on the planet.  Here are some places you can find more information.

Upside Down World

Bolivia Information Forum

Bolivia Rising

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick is one of Canada’s best-known feminists. She was the founding publisher of rabble.ca , wrote our advice column auntie.com and was co-host of one of our first podcasts called Reel Women....