DELUXE SPECIAL REFERENDUM EDITION

Yesterday afternoon I was disturbed from my work by the sound of exploding dynamite coming from the main plaza. As I was not doing anything terribly important at the time, (just trying to sum up 5 months worth of work in a report written in Spanish) I decided to go see what all the fuss was about.

I arrived at the plaza to find what seemed like all of Sucre dressed in white and red (Sucre’s official colors) waving NO flags. I soon realized that it was the final day of the NO A LA NUEVA CONSTITUCION campaign and that I had stumbled across the closing ceremonies. They shut down all the roads around the main plaza, which is also where all the government buildings are, and there was a stage set-up with a band playing. The Governor of Sucre, Savina Cuellar, was on stage as well and she later delivered a heated speech in Quechua, which I assume, was about how horrible the new constitution is.

Bolivia Escucha Vota por el NO- Listen Bolivia, Vote NO!

All around people had different versions of NO flags or NO t-shirts and people of all ages, even small children, were dressed in pro-Sucre/anti-MAS garb handing out propaganda. A 7-year-old girl tried handing me a NO pamphlet and it freaked me out. I know in Canada we also tend to take on the politic beliefs of our parents, but that was a little much... As interesting as it was to be in the middle of that historical moment, I couldn’t help but feel creeped out by the mob like mentality. Not to mention the fact that government officials were participating in the campaign. I’m used to government offices remaining neutral on these types of issues, but that is certainly not the case here in Sucre.

NO- in the colors of the Bolivian flag.

After about 20 minutes I had reached my limit of listening to dynamite explosions and speeches about how the new constitution discriminates against whites and mestizos (people of mixed European-indigenous descent). I returned to the office to tell my coworkers about how full the plaza was and how strong the NO campaign seemed, but they brought some important points to my attention: A lot of people let the NO campaigners put bumper stickers on their car and a lot of people go out and wave their Sucre flags because their workplace, their family or even their school pressure them to, but that doesn’t mean that they will all necessarily vote NO this Sunday. The NO campaign might just seem more powerful than it really is because the people running the NO campaign happen to be the wealthy. Furthermore, it is important to remember that the NO campaigns are concentrated in just a few Bolivian city centers- Santa Cruz, Sucre and Tarija. Outside of those centers however, the SI campaign is strong, and of course, it is especially strong in and around La Paz.

Just to reiterate what this new constitution is all about, I have translated (ie: paraphrased and added my two cents to) a summary I found on BBC Mundo of the 10 major points the new Carta Magna proposes.

1. INDIGENOUS POWER- the 36 first nations of Bolivia will be recognized by the new constitution and granted participation in all levels of the state and economy.

2. AUTONOMY- 4 levels of autonomy will be recognized: indigenous, departmental, regional and municipal. This is seen as part of the widespread effort to decentralize the government.

3. LAND- although the current constitution does not technically allow ‘latifundios’ (large estates) there are currently no limits in place to enforce that rule. On Sunday, in addition to voting on the new constitution, Bolivians will vote between 2 land allowance options: A property limit of 5000 or 10,000 hectares. The implementation of this rule however, will not be retroactive. I’ve had a lot of right wing Bolivian’s try to convince me that Morales will literally go and take people’s land out from underneath them, but that is not the case. The rule will just apply to new land purchases.

4. RIGHTS- the current constitution generally respects ‘rights’, but this new one will have more than 100 articles referring to the rights of indigenous people, children, families, seniors, disabled people, and it even talks about consumer rights (which would have made my job a whole lot easier… more on that later). The rights section also includes stuff on environmental rights, economic rights, and rights to health care and education. What’s causing the most controversy though, are the articles pertaining to sexual and reproductive rights, which open up the door to easier access to contraceptives and perhaps the legalization of abortion. This is what has the conservatives’ panties in a knot. That and the fact that they think the new constitution will create first and second-class citizens; indigenous people being the first class. Wait, doesn't Bolivia already have classes or is that just me?

5. PLURAL STATE- the Morales government proposes to replace the current capitalist or mixed market economy with a state run economy. The state will not participate in the economy, but it will govern it. An important point here is that Bolivian enterprises will now take precedence over foreign ones and that the government will start to promote cooperatives and other alternative/community economies.
If Bolivia had a Wall Street, they would not like the sound of these clauses.

6. NATURAL RESOURCES- belong to the people of Bolivia and their management will correspond to the government with the interests of the public in mind. This section also states that water cannot be privatized and that energy can only be state owned.

7. RELIGION- the biggest point here is that Catholicism will lose its place as Bolivia’s #1 religion and that the state is will now be completely independent from religion.

8. REELECTION- currently the constitution says that you can only run for president for a second time after another presidential term has passed. The new constitution would change this so that after your term is up you could be elected right away. And by you, I mean Evo.

9. COCA- right now coca is not in the constitution, but the new one will declare that coca must be protected and recognized for its ancestral and cultural importance, and for its importance as a natural resource and a cohesive social factor.

10. OCEAN- In case you didn’t know, Bolivia is landlocked. They lost their little bit of coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific in 1883. The stuff in the new constitution on 'ocean' states that they have a right to the territory they lost... I don't know if that means they're going to start moving over there, or if Evo just thinks that they should be allowed to drive through there to have access to the coastline for trading opportunities. I recommend the latter approach...

'Bolivia was born with the ocean damn it!'

That's all for now. More to come once the votes are in.