Explains the success of the MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo) in Bolivia and its wider consequences for Latin America.
Evo Morales is one of the world's most controversial political leaders. His story is extraordinary: poor shepherd-boy, persecuted coca grower, self-professed admirer of Ché Guevara, hero of the anti-globalization movement, and first indigenous president of modern Latin America.
The story of the social movement turned political party he is a part of -- the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) -- is also exceptional: originally founded as a splinter of an ultra-right party, it was given as a gift for the coca growers after they had been banned several times for spurious reasons to register their own party, and went on to become an irresistible force for indigenous rights in Bolivia.
In this insightful and revealing book, Sven Harten explains the success of the MAS and its wider consequences, showing how Morales has become the symbol for a new political consciousness that has entailed de-stigmatizing indigenous identities.
Author(s): Sven Harten
Publisher: Zed Books
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 274
Tags: Bolivia; Movimiento al Socialismo (MaS): Socialismo;Iberoamerica;Latin America; South America;Evo Morales; Evo Morales bio;colla;aymara;Tahuantinsuyu;Alto Perú;Incanato;Inca;quechua;quichua;queshWa;americanística;British imperialism;coca growth;cocaine;antiglobal;antiglobalisation;contrahegemony;
Contents
......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Introduction | A Journey......Page 12
Part I
......Page 22
Crisis of representation in Bolivia......Page 24
From revolution to dictatorship to transition: 1952–78......Page 26
Bolivian nationalism: a brief history......Page 29
The rise of democratic institutions without democratic politics......Page 34
Coca: a cursed holy plant......Page 36
2 | Evo’s youth and upbringing......Page 44
Early life......Page 46
Evo’s university: looking for another form of democracy......Page 52
The origins of Evo Morales’s notion of the nation......Page 56
History of the coca growers’ movement......Page 58
Internal functioning......Page 65
Coca discourse: defending the sacred leaf......Page 81
Part II......Page 90
4 | Morales’s political instrument? The creation of MAS, early 1990s......Page 92
Brief history of the instrumento político MAS......Page 93
Poisoned relations......Page 96
MAS: a bottom-up perspective of the party......Page 100
Old wine in new bottles, or something genuinely new?......Page 102
Second-generation reforms......Page 108
Party politics: where is the ‘silent revolution’?......Page 111
Waves of conflict......Page 118
War on drugs......Page 119
For our water and for our lives......Page 122
Guerra del Agua in 2000......Page 123
table 1 Chronology of the Water War......Page 124
El Mallku......Page 127
Guerra del Gas or Octubre Negro 2003......Page 129
Conclusion......Page 136
Reaching out to other social movements......Page 138
Institutionalizing party structures......Page 145
Alvaro......Page 147
How indigenous is MAS?......Page 152
Leadership......Page 153
Organizational problems......Page 161
7 | Compañero Evo, symbol of the pluricultural people......Page 165
The people......Page 166
Construction of identity......Page 170
Conclusion......Page 182
Part III......Page 186
8 | Bolivia’s first indigenous president, 2005–10......Page 188
Bolivia under President Morales......Page 189
Imagining the ‘plurinational nation’......Page 197
9 | Refounding the state: the foundational promise of populism......Page 213
Building a new state: what had to change?......Page 214
Principles of a new state......Page 222
The path to change: Asamblea Constituyente......Page 226
Bolivia’s new constitution......Page 228
Conclusion......Page 236
Conclusion | The difficult road ahead for President Morales and the MAS......Page 239
The dangerous path towards re-institutionalization......Page 243
Chapter 1......Page 247
Chapter 2......Page 249
Chapter 3......Page 250
Chapter 5......Page 252
Chapter 6......Page 253
Chapter 7......Page 254
Chapter 9......Page 255
References......Page 256
Index......Page 266
