SUPPLEMENT

No. 44November 14, 2020


U.S. Elections Results

Disputed Election Deepening Discontent
with Whole Set-Up


November 8, 2020. Gathering outside the White House. (CPD Action)

Dysfunction of Existing Institutions Apparent

Certifying the Vote and More Potential Disputes

Futile Attempts to Get Ruling Factions to Unite and Cooperate

- Voice of Revolution -
CNN and Others' Magic Wall


Bolivia

New President and Vice President Take Office

Evo Morales Returns to Bolivia, Welcomed by Millions

• New President and Vice President Address People of Bolivia




U.S. Election Results

Disputed Election Deepening Discontent
with Whole Set-Up

U.S. presidential elections are supposed to help "lower the temperature," as Biden puts it, on the disputes among the ruling factions. They are also supposed to provide the presidency and institutions with their democratic veneer -- the appearance that whoever is elected has "the consent of the governed." In the absence of this democratic veneer, the fact that the people are kept out of government cannot be kept hidden.

The results of the current election, however, in no way restore the credibility of the U.S. democratic system. The continued dispute, especially the potential for Supreme Court intervention and possible use of the military against the people, has only deepened the anger among the people.

Trump's lawsuits in Pennsylvania could go to the Supreme Court, as could others which are attempting to block the certification of the vote in Michigan and Pennsylvania. An intervention by the Supreme Court could impact other states and possibly call into question enough of Biden's Electoral College votes to send the dispute to the House of Representatives.

Any of these results would be met with resistance among the people. It is perhaps in anticipation of this that Trump fired his Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, and replaced him with Christopher Miller. Esper was among those who challenged Trump's threats to use the military against demonstrators. It is expected that Miller, another Army man, would support and implement such action. How the top military brass, active-duty soldiers and National Guard would respond, however, given the dispute, is not predictable.

The strength of resistance is such that unions representing 600,000 members are calling for a general strike if Trump disputes or discredits the election results and refuses to concede. These include 70,000 workers in Rochester, New York; 60,000 in Western Massachusetts; hundreds of thousands across the Midwest; the 200,000-member labour council in Seattle, and the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants.


November 7, 2020. Workers from UNITE-HERE participate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania march.

In addition, 100 African American clergy members, representing tens of thousands of people, signed an online pledge that calls for a general strike if Trump "attempts a coup or refuses to respect the legitimate result of the election." The pledge emphasized, "We will need many different tactics -- protests, occupations of state capitals, strikes -- but fundamentally it will all require unity, courage, preparation, and discipline." 

As people across the country stand ready to have their voices heard, additional actions are also planned for December 1, which is when most states should have certified their vote. The battles for equality, justice and accountability, ongoing since May, also continue.

The stand being taken is not simply one directed at Trump and his efforts to dispute and discredit the election. It is reflective of the growing demand among the people to have a say beyond a vote. Workers especially are bringing forward that they have a role to play in the political life of the country and in defining a democracy that serves their interests, not those of the rich. The dysfunctional nature of the existing set up is being widely debated. So too is the demand that it is the people who need control and are fit to govern and decide, not the rich.

No doubt many voted for Biden, though the estimated 80 million eligible voters who did not vote still surpasses his 75 million, which is only about 25 per cent of the eligible vote. It is also widely acknowledged that the choices given for President invariably represent the rich and serve them. Indeed the lack of representation at any level that is of, by and for working people is part of the debates at this time, a debate a general strike would only strengthen.

It is a significant problem for Trump and Biden that the election remains in dispute and particularly the potential for Supreme Court intervention, military intervention or Congress deciding the outcome. The democracy's lack of credibility and legitimacy requires ever greater reliance on the police powers of the executive, which only serves to further deepen the contradictions between the rulers and the people over the question of Who Decides? The people's striving for a modern people's democracy which serves them is the order of the day.

(Photos: VOR, Philly We Rise.)

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Dysfunction of Existing Institutions Apparent


November 8, 2020. Protests continue in Detroit, Michigan.

The U.S. elections have revealed for the entire world to see the extent to which the so-called democratic institutions in the U.S. are unable to sort out conflicts within the ruling class or give the appearance of a legitimate election which confers the consent of the governed.

The election dispute among the rulers continues to play out on a number of fronts. Trump persists in saying he won and that illegal votes are being counted. Biden is proceeding as president-elect. Some are backing Trump's many lawsuits in several states, while also calling on him to concede. The Wall Street Journal was representative of this position. "If Mr. Biden has 270 Electoral College votes at the end of the counting and litigation, President Trump will have a decision to make. We hope in that event he would concede gracefully," the newspaper wrote.

The Republican head of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has said Trump has every right to use litigation to challenge the results, as have others. Meanwhile, local Republican election officials, in Georgia, for example, have defended their work and said the vote count is valid. Similar stands are being taken by local and state officials in all the states currently under dispute. These include Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Other Republicans have called for Trump to stop the lawsuits, saying they are unlikely to change the outcome. Pursuing them undermines "the institutions at the foundation" of the country, they say. This is a major concern for the ruling class as a whole, because it undermines their authority to govern and use force against the people, which is already widely questioned.


November 7, 2020. Rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Twelve lawsuits have been dismissed at the local or state level. Others being pursued, such as in Pennsylvania and Michigan, are calling on the courts to block certification of the vote based on irregularities with state election law. Other lawsuits are still being prepared. Lawyers are expressing concerns that the cases are meant to discredit the vote, rather than secure an accurate vote count. The potential for Supreme Court intervention remains ever present, which would only further discredit the election.

What is evident for all to see is that the disputes among the factions of the rich vying for the power of the presidency have not been resolved and there is little hope that they will be resolved. While Biden has been declared the winner by the monopoly media, it is apparent that he does not enjoy broad support. There are various reports that about half of Biden's votes were not for him, but against Trump. It is Trump's loss that many are celebrating.

In some of the states currently under dispute, about 40,000 people who voted chose not to cast a vote for president. In Georgia, Biden is ahead by 10,502 votes; in Arizona by 16,985 votes, in Nevada by 34,283 votes. There are also an estimated 80 million eligible voters who did not vote. That number reaches about 100 million if those blocked from voting -- such as prisoners and immigrants -- are counted. There is also suppression of the vote using various requirements to register, closing polling stations, insufficient hours, etc. All of this contributes to evidence indicating that Biden's vote is only a small portion of the electorate, about 25 per cent. Furthermore, of that number, only about 12 per cent actually voted for him as opposed to against Trump.

In this way, the emphasis placed on Biden getting the largest number of votes covers up the fraud of elections of the world's allegedly "indispensable nation." According to Biden, "the people of this nation have spoken" and "delivered us a clear victory." This also serves to cover up that votes for candidates the people did not select and that do not represent them in no way reflect their concerns and interests. Certainly, the votes cast do not confer a "mandate" to continue to implement the war economy and war government of the U.S. which the ruling class requires of every president.

The new direction the people of the United States demand for their country is to have a peace economy and an anti-war government. The election results in fact reveal that the election process and selection of Biden by the ruling class has in no way diverted the broad movement of the people for justice, equality and the affirmation of the rights of all.


November 8, 2020. Washington DC, the fight for rights continues.

(Photos: A. Azikiwe, Phily We Rise, CPD Action.)

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Certifying the Vote and More Potential Disputes

The lawsuits the Trump campaign has initiated will likely continue until at least December 14, the date on which all states' electors meet and then forward their decision to Congress. The new Congress, seated January 3, then does the final certification, with the vote scheduled for January 6. If the vote is not certified at the state level, a possibility given the current wrangling, then it is possible that no candidate will get its Electoral College votes, or the state could send two slates of electors to Congress, one for Trump and one for Biden. In either case, the House of Representatives would have to decide the outcome of the election, with each state getting only one vote. The possibility that states with a majority of Republicans could vote in Trump's favour is only further intensifying conflicts among the rulers.

One of Trump's lawsuits in Pennsylvania could go to the Supreme Court. At least one Justice, Justice Alito, has indicated that he thinks it was unconstitutional for Pennsylvania to extend the date for receiving mail-in ballots. His likely argument is that the decision was not made by the state legislature but rather by Pennsylvania's Secretary of State. If the Supreme Court intervenes and rules in Trump's favour, it could also call into question the vote count in other states that acted in a similar manner -- for example, Wisconsin and Michigan -- calling those Electoral College votes into question.

Such an outcome would also depend on whether the number of ballots received after Election Day in the states involved would be sufficient for Trump to win those states. Efforts to outright block certification are in part intended to overcome such a calculation. It also remains unclear if the Supreme Court will even hear one or more of these cases and what requirements in terms of counting or discounting the votes they might impose. All of this only further underscores that the existing institutions no longer function to sort out conflicts or give the appearance of a legitimate election.

The process for certifying the vote varies from state to state, with different deadlines in each. For states in dispute, the deadlines are: Nevada, November 16; Georgia, November 20; Michigan and Pennsylvania, November 23; Arizona, November 30; and Wisconsin, December 1. Other states have deadlines in November and seven have dates in December, with the last, California, December 11.

The states have election laws in place for the certification process before the election begins. It is not the state legislatures that certify the vote but the state election boards. These boards are usually made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, often appointed by the Governor and excluding any other parties. The state boards get information from all the county boards, which they review and then certify the vote. Once the vote is certified, whoever receives a plurality of votes will have their slate of electors seated when electors meet December 14. 

Michigan, for example, has a four-member Board of State Canvassers that must have a vote of 3-1 to certify. In the case of a 2-2 tie, it goes to State Courts, which would likely, but not necessarily, order the Board to certify the vote. If the Court does not order the Board to certify the vote, the state legislature might intervene, or dual slates of electors would be used. Thus, in the case of Michigan, it is the courts and a handful of people, not the electorate, who could decide the outcome.

It is worth noting that in all the talk about counting votes, the large majority of states -- which make up the majority of the population and have millions of discounted and suppressed votes -- are not even in the picture, let alone discussed. Elections in the U.S. are not designed to unify the people and involve them in debate as to how to move society forward. On the contrary, they ensure that the concerns and interests of the people and solutions to the problems they face, such as for health care, education, war and peace, and elections, are excluded altogether.



November 7, 2020. In Louisville, Kentucky, a march honours Breonna Taylor and moves her memorial to a more permanent location.

(Photos: I. McCullough)

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Futile Attempts to Get Ruling Factions to
Unite and Cooperate


November 13, 2020. Signs added to the fence in front of the White House.

In his victory speech November 7 and during his campaign, Joe Biden emphasized that it is time for the ruling factions to unite and cooperate. This is necessary to preserve the Union, he said. 

The more acrimonious the disputes become between the factions which comprise the ruling class in the United States, the more talk of unity sounds hollow. The disputed election itself and the many disputes within and between the presidency and military and federal and state governments all reflect the intense conflicts now raging among the ruling oligarchs. Expressions of concern that they could break out into an open violent civil war are becoming increasingly shrill.

The possibility of the contradiction degenerating into open violence has been further underlined by Trump's refusal to concede defeat in the election. In addition, he is making changes to his cabinet that point to his willingness to resort to violent means to suppress the opposition. This violence would more likely be directed against the people to start with. A general strike has been called by unions representing more than 600,000 workers across the country, including teachers, health care workers, flight attendants, auto workers and many more. The rulers are deathly afraid of the workers uniting and together rejecting the role they have been assigned where they are not considered citizens who determine the direction of the economy and politics but are described as "consumers," "producers," "clients," "voters," "Blacks," "whites, "delinquents" and the like, to avoid them emerging as a social force in the political life of the country. In the face of the people's striving for empowerment, Biden is urging the factions to now unite and for Trump to be isolated to such an extent he is forced to concede.

One form the current battle takes is Trump's refusal to allow the usual transition process to proceed. This involves the General Services Administration (GSA) "ascertaining" that the election has produced a clear winner. The GSA is supposed to be a "non-partisan" body within the Office of the Executive but so far it is refusing to ascertain the election of Biden and, along with it, hand over the resources the president-elect requires to establish the transition and "hit the ground running" when the inauguration takes place. Millions of dollars in resources are being withheld, which includes not only money to pay staff and office rentals but also access to intelligence briefings, secure phones for calling foreign leaders, gaining security clearances for top officials. Biden forces are insisting that the GSA cooperate and Trump has so far successfully blocked them. A lawsuit by Biden is being considered.

The main effort here involves Biden seizing the reins of power that the presidency provides. This is couched in threatening language about how a failure to be ready threatens national security. "America's national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signalling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power," the Biden team stated.

As has been the case throughout the election process, the concern about a "peaceful transition" reflects the intensity of the conflicts and the rulers' recognition of the potential for violence within their ranks and against the people in a manner that threatens the Union and their continued rule.

Various Republicans, including Trump loyalists like Lindsey Graham, the senior Senator from South Carolina who has served as chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary since 2019, are now saying Biden should get the intelligence briefings and the transition should proceed while the lawsuits contesting the election results are being resolved. "I think he should get the information. [...] I just think it's part of the transition. And if in fact he does win in the end, I think they need to be able to hit the ground running," said Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Other Republican Senators making similar comments include Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and both Missouri Senators Roy Blunt and Josh Howley.

Biden's Call for Unity in Victory Speech

Biden's victory speech repeated calls for unity, directed at the vying factions among the rulers. Echoing former President Obama, he said, "I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn't see red states and blue states, only sees the United States." The reference to red and blue states is to the divide between Democrats and Republicans. This refers not to the people, but to the factions. The concern is the potential for the Union, the United States, to fracture.

This basic theme is repeated: "The refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not some mysterious force beyond our control, it's a decision, a choice we make. If we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate." He adds, "It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again. To make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They're Americans."

Biden attempts to claim a mandate from the people, saying "They want us to cooperate in their interests, and that's the choice I'll make. I'll call on Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to make that choice with me." And then, "This is the United States of America. There's never been anything, never been anything, we've been not able to do when we've done it together."

The emphasis is that for the United States to maintain its place as superpower and "indispensable nation," it has to remain united.

It is not the people of the country that are describing each other as enemies and refusing to cooperate. On the contrary, the stand across the country in relation to going all out to assist each other in coping with COVID-19 and to provide care despite lack of protection; the more than 20 million people directly involved in demanding equality and justice and an end to racist police killings and the millions more supporting them; the many millions who stood against separation of children from their parents at the border -- show the united drive of the people for a different direction for the country. While many rejoice that Trump is out, most, like nurses and teachers, are also already engaged in pursuing the fight for rights. Their united efforts are for a new direction for politics and the economy, a direction that favours the interests of the people by putting their rights front and centre.

Voice of Revolution is a publication of the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization.

(Photos: A. Cole, Popular Mobilization Portland, California Nurses Assn)

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CNN and Others' Magic Wall

The contradiction between the modern productive forces and the outmoded relations of production and their political reflection and form were on full display election night.

The major U.S. TV networks went all out election night to squeeze the life out of the people of the U.S. and reduce their brains to mush. For the most part the network presenters talked to walls and the "magic walls" answered with stifling regularity.

CNN's John King talked endlessly and passionately to his "magic wall" saying softly to it many times, "This is fun."

Bill Hemmer at Fox News had what he called with a smile his "Bill board." When someone questioned Bill if he had any idea what all those little red and blue "Bill board" squares represented and meant he candidly replied, "No, I'm looking at them all on this teleprompter here."

Steve Kornacki at MSNBC had an almost identical wall but with a more pedestrian name, "interactive touchscreen map." Steve tried to drive up the enthusiasm tweeting beforehand, "Heading up to the studio and not leaving until we've got a result. Our live coverage starts at 6 -- hope you'll come along for the ride!"

Chuck Todd on NBC News had what was simply called the NBC News Map. In a memorable moment, Todd interpreted the "Map" while pointing to a square saying, "If Biden comes up short, that's where he's going to find the votes he should have gotten to get this." Unfortunately, no one was around who could interpret Todd's interpretation of what the "Map" was saying.

The wall was a "magic board" for Anthony Salvanto on CBS News. A commentator with Variety noted Salvanto's "intense focus during his segments at the magic board, focusing on the nitty gritty of county-by-county analyses of demographic and turnout patterns in state after state. Salvanto usually holds a clutch of rolled up papers in one hand as the other glides across the magic board's many touch screens. Shortly after 9:00 pm ET, he noted the clear pattern evident that voters who went to the polls on Tuesday [November 3] favoured President Trump 69-30, compared to a 53-46 tilt toward Joe Biden among early voters in the battleground state of North Carolina. 'That split defines this [race] as much as any geography,' Salvanto told viewers." This profound insight was said to arise probably from the fact that Salvanto received a PhD in political science from the University of California at Irvine.

Tom Llamas handled the "wall" for ABC News. News reports praised Llamas for his measured use of the "wall." He premised each "wall" segment with the warning that before announcing results in this particular part of the country, "We want to make sure we have enough of a sample."

Canadian commentator John Doyle writing in the Globe and Mail was not impressed. In his article,  "The night of jabbering fools: U.S. TV news fails on election night," he complained, "You might as well be talking to the walls.... For all their nerdy guy-stuff minutiae about voting patterns in obscure counties, none of them can actually explain what's happening. After 10 hours, you wish a pox on all their houses and walls."

When the Democratic blue wave predicted by the polls failed to materialize and in the wee hours of the morning the race was still too close to call Doyle wrote, "An air of desperate puzzlement fell over all the TV coverage. Something about the unexpectedly tight results meant that the anchors and pundits knew they were out of their depth. They were. As a result, watching the U.S. presidential election results unfold on TV was total Novocaine -- no high, just numbness."

Doyle and others should step back a minute and think about what they witnessed. The "magic wall" and the artificial intelligence (AI) and other modern productive forces have advanced the world to where people and their collectives can actually take control of their lives. We can feed ourselves, clothe ourselves, educate ourselves and house ourselves without the intervention of overlords. We can organize work to have time to engage in politics, education, culture, recreation and generally to lift ourselves up as human beings and a society and take control of our lives, economy, and politics.

The problem is not the magic wall and the jabbering fools but the economic and political forms that constrain us within an era long gone, before we had AI and magic walls. The concrete conditions of the productive forces are before our eyes and offer the people a great future but the outmoded relations of production must be changed to bring them into conformity with those advanced forces.

What is the ensemble of human relations in the present telling us, in particular about political power? What do the human relations say about how we should organize and harmonize our relations with one another, our collectives, our work and the modern productive forces and nature?

People have to continue their fight for what belongs to them by right. They must seize the moment and organize themselves in a powerful contingent of individuals and collectives to design what the New will be. Humans have always been able to come up with the political and social forms necessary, commensurate with the condition of the productive forces and what the ensemble of all relations between humans and humans and humans and nature reveal.

This time in history, the people have the chance to do so consciously, to make history with a plan and foresight to bring our relations of production into conformity with the fantastic productive forces that we have developed, to harmonize our human relations with one another and our collectives and with nature.

The U.S. election coverage clearly showed that reference points and anchors from the past are flailing about, unable to find their bearings. It is not a pretty sight.

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Bolivia

New President and Vice President Take Office


November 8, 2020.  President Luis Arce and Vice President David Choquehuanca
are officially sworn in for a five-year term.

On Sunday, November 8 President Luis Arce and Vice President David Choquehuanca were officially sworn in for a five-year term, completing the transfer of power from the "transitional government" imposed on Bolivia by a U.S.-backed military coup a year ago. President Arce and his running mate of the Movement Toward Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MAS-IPSP) were elected by an overwhelming majority of over 55 per cent on October 18. Deputies and Senators who make up the two chambers of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, where MAS-IPSP holds the majority of seats, had been sworn in earlier. Almost 52 per cent of those who make up the new legislature are women, one of the highest percentages in the world.

Two days before their official swearing-in, at dawn on Friday, November 6 Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca participated in an Indigenous ceremony at the ruins of the pre-Columbian city of Tiwanaku, Bolivia's most important archaelogical and ceremonial site. There they symbolically assumed the governance of Bolivia by receiving the staff of power from Amautas (Indigenous wise persons) and pledged to govern in peace, unity and prosperity, promising not to betray the trust of the people. A similar ritual was celebrated with them in La Paz the morning of their swearing-in, led by the National Council of Amautas, who asked Pachamama (Mother Earth) for permission to open a good path during the presidential term.


November 6, 2020. Indigenous ceremony during which the new president and vice president  symbolically assumes the governance of Bolivia.

 MAS senators are sworn in.
Starting the day before the official swearing-in, members of unions and many of the organized social movements that are part of MAS' base, including youth groups, guarded the area around Murillo Square where the government buildings are located, spending the night there. The people's forces were not about to leave safeguarding the democracy they fought to restore, and the safety of their new government, to anyone but themselves, especially before the transfer of power took place. The treacherous role played by the country's police and military, who were instrumental in consummating last year's coup and in carrying out massacres against the people is still a fresh memory. The people's role in defending their electoral victory was all the more important given that just days earlier, recalcitrant elements of the reactionary coup forces, unwilling to accept their humiliating electoral defeat, were able to engage in a terrorist attack by detonating dynamite in front of the MAS headquarters while Luis Arce was meeting inside with others. That incident followed the killing last month of the militant and popular young mineworkers' leader and MAS organizer Orlando Gutiérrez. He succumbed in hospital to head injuries suffered in an attack allegedly carried out by a gang of those elements as well.

Thanks to the vigilance of the organized people, Sunday's official events and celebrations went off smoothly. They were enjoyed by the tens of thousands who came from all over the country to proudly celebrate the victory they achieved by uniting in action to get rid of the hated coup government of the racist oligarchy. The oligarchy was intent on destroying the gains of the last 14 years, including the country's public health system, with disastrous consequences. In their rejoicing at their ability to restore democratic rule in the short time that they did, and to hand such a sharp rebuff to the imperialist forces that set the coup in motion, patriotic Bolivians were joined by many others worldwide including in Canada and Quebec. Peoples worldwide wish them well as they take on the challenge of defending what they have achieved.

(Photos: Kawshachum News, L. Arce, O. Vargas)

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Evo Morales Returns to Bolivia,
Welcomed by Millions


November 9, 2020. Evo Morales and former vice president Álvaro García Linera greeted in the border town of Villazón as they cross into Bolivia from Argentina.

We will return and we will be millions!

- Declaration of legendary Aymara independence fighter
Tupac Kátari before he was executed by the Spanish in 1781

On the morning of Monday, November 9 a multitude of people gathered in the border town of Villazón in the south of Bolivia to greet Evo Morales and former vice president Álvaro García Linera as they crossed into Bolivia from Argentina where both have been living as refugees during most of the past year. Many people travelled 16 hours overnight, after attending the swearing-in of President Luis Arce and Vice President David Choquehuanca in La Paz the day before, to join in celebrating Evo's much-awaited return to Bolivia.


November 9, 2020. President Alberto Fernández bids farewell to Evo Morales at a send-off in La Quiaca, Argentina before walking across the border into Bolivia with him.

Before crossing the border, Evo was honoured at a large send-off event in the neighbouring city of La Quiaca in Argentina's Jujuy province. There, Argentinian President Alberto Fernández bid him farewell, saying, "I am honoured to have had you among us." The two men embraced and then walked together across the international bridge to Villazón on the Bolivian side.

In Villazón, after receiving a traditional Indigenous blessing upon setting foot on Bolivian soil, Evo and Alvaro were received by a sea of jubilant supporters who packed the town square and filled the streets leading up to it for blocks and blocks. Contingents of miners could be identified by their hard hats. Members of different Indigenous nations played traditional musical instruments and danced in the streets -- all contributing to the joyous atmosphere that prevailed. The rally in Villazón served as the kick-off for a caravan of vehicles in which Evo, Álvaro and hundreds of supporters travelled through three departments, starting in the south of Bolivia and arriving in the Tropic of Cochabamba in the centre of the country two days later.

In his speech in Villazón, Evo said it was thanks to the Bolivian people who took action to rescue their democracy and their country that today MAS was in government and he was back in Bolivia. It was a message he would repeat many times to the tens of thousands who came out to the rallies held in towns and cities the caravan passed through, on its 1,100-km journey through the departments of Potosí and Oruro to the Tropic of Cochabamba, the caravan’s final stop. There, in Chimoré, the city where Evo plans to live and work in the coming period, as he did before becoming president, a million people turned out to celebrate his arrival.

Evo and Álvaro were fêted at political-cultural celebrations in large and small population centres along their route as the people affirmed the rich ancestral traditions of their regions and their rights today. Celebrations took place in the mining towns of Atocha, Uyuni and Oruro, the quinoa growing region of the Bolivian highlands and the tropical lowlands of Cochabamba. Between scheduled stops, Evo and Álvaro had to get out of the car many times as villagers who lined the highway waving their Wiphalas and other flags demanded to personally express their support and joy at the former president's return, take selfies with him and give gifts of food and agricultural products grown in their fields and gardens.


November 9, 2020. Evo Morales and Álvaro García Linera are welcomed by miners in Antocha.

In a speech to a midnight rally in Uyuni, where the world's largest salt flat is located and lithium is mined, Evo made a point of saying that last year's coup was not just an act of Bolivian right-wing forces. He said they were accompanied, directed and financed by the United States for the purpose of stopping the process of change in Bolivia's economy. "They do not want us to benefit from the added value of our resources, to have the technology to process our resources," he said.

Bolivia's lithium industry was brought to a virtual standstill by the coup government when its attempts to sell it off to private foreign interests did not work out. Luis Arce has long said that a MAS government will reactivate the industry and continue with plans to process more of the strategic mineral as a national project. Evo reiterated this, adding that "nationalization is the program of the people; privatization is the program of the looters who want to keep on looting our natural resources." He said that fight was not just Bolivia's but humanity's fight over who controls the earth's resources, ending his remarks with "Long live a dignified and sovereign Bolivia!"


November 10, 2020. Campesinos line the route of Evo Morales' caravan.


November 10, 2020. Morales visits his childhood home in Orinoca, Oruro (left): Morales receives gifts of food.

Million-Strong Rally Greets Evo in Tropic of Cochabamba


November 11, 2020.  Evo Morales and Álvaro García Linera at Rally in Chimoré.

By the time the caravan arrived at its final destination in Chimoré, there were people as far as the eye could see packing the runway of the city's airport -- the very place Evo and Alvaro had flown from, a year before to the day, after accepting the Mexican government's offer of asylum.

The event was organized by the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba, the coca growers' union of which Evo is still the president. In attendance was a broad section of the Bolivian people as well as ministers and elected members of the new Plurinational Legislative Assembly, other officials from all levels of government, Indigenous leaders and members of the Unity Pact of unions and social movements that worked to elect Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca, and many others who came from all over Bolivia as well as neighbouring countries -- Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and others, to be part of what promised to be, and was, a historic event.

In his remarks to the crowd Evo explained the circumstances that led to his and Álvaro's decision to leave the country -- mainly the fact that the top leadership of the police and military had been bought off and were responsible for the mutiny of those forces. He thanked the thousands of workers from the Trópico who surrounded the airport so the plane in which they flew to Mexico could take off in the tense situation that had developed. He said he never felt abandoned during the time he spent as a refugee outside Bolivia.

He attributed the reversal of the coup in just a year to the strength, unity and convictions of the Bolivian people, who he also credited with stopping right-wing forces, right up to the eve of the inauguration, from preventing Luis Arce from taking office.

In closing, he emphasized: "First, we are anti-imperialist, that's not up for debate. It's not about being 'populist,' 'progressive,' 'in solidarity.' If you're not anti-imperialist, you are not revolutionary. Get that in your head brothers and sisters!"

The rally ended with a rousing speech by Álvaro García Linera who paid tribute to Evo and what he represented to the Bolivian people, especially the Indigenous, campesinos, workers and all other humble people who, after 500 years of subjugation, lifted themselves up and would never bow their heads again. He said both he and Evo would keep fighting for their cause as long as they both lived no matter how hard the racist usurpers who burned the Wiphala try to regain the ground they have lost at the hands of the Bolivian people.

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) extends its congratulations and best wishes to Evo Morales on the happy occasion of his return to Bolivia to continue his work, in a new capacity, for the process of transforming Bolivia which began 14 years ago. Special congratulations as well to the Bolivian people whose courage, convictions and steadfastness in the face of very big odds created the conditions for the return of the historic leader and founder of MAS-IPSP to Bolivia. In so doing they have delivered a sharp and fitting rebuke to the criminal coup forces, many of them now scurrying to leave Bolivia, and to their international backers -- Canada's interfering government among them.


See video clips from Evo Morales' return to Bolivia:

- Midnight rally with miners in Uyuni, Potosí 
- Indigenous campesinos hail Evo's return as caravan passes through Potosí 
- Aerial view of crowd gathered for rally in Chimoré in the Tropic of Cochabamba

(Photos: MAS-IPSP, E. Morales, Resumen Latinamericano, teleSUR, ajplus.)

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New President and Vice President Address
People of Bolivia


November 8, 2020. Inaugural address by President Luis Arce.

TML Weekly is printing for readers' information unofficial English translations of President Luis Arce's inaugural address and the speech of Vice President David Choquehuanca delivered at the Plurinational Legislative Assembly on November 8. Links to videos of the speeches being delivered in Spanish are provided at the end of the text.

Inaugural Speech of Luis Arce,
President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia

Honour and Glory to our ancestors who always accompany us!

Honour and Glory to all the martyrs of the liberation!

Honour and Glory to the fallen in Senkata, Sacaba, El Pedregal!

Honour and Glory to the heroes of the people who recovered democracy!

Greetings to the Bolivian people, to brother Vice President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, and President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, brother, jilata David Choquehuanca.

To the brothers, King Felipe VI of Spain, Felipe de Borbón and Grecia; President of the Republic of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; President of the Republic of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez; President of the Republic of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez; President of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Walter Roger Martos Ruiz; Second Vice President of Spain, Mr. Pablo Iglesias.

To the foreign ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Chile, Almuhamed Al Jasmi, delegate of His Highness, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates.

To the parliamentarians from sister countries, official delegates from other countries who are with us today, General Secretaries of the CAN, Parlasur; the Ibero-American General Secretary; ALBA, Inter-American Development Bank; representatives of international organizations, the diplomatic corps accredited in Bolivia; election observers; the President of the Senate; the President of the Chamber of Deputies; to all the senators and deputies.

National and subnational authorities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia; authorities of the organs of the State; High Military and Police Command; democratic former presidents; religious and spiritual authorities.

Executives of social, peasant, Indigenous and workers' organizations; representatives of political parties, the leadership and members of the Movement Toward Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples.

Greetings to the family of our brother, jilata David Choquehuanca, and a very special greeting to my family -- for my mother Olga, my wife, Lourdes, my children: Marcelo, Rafael, Camila.

My grandchildren and my entire family, whom I thank today from this rostrum for all their patience and support.

During the years that I was Minister of Economy and Public Finance, I sacrificed many years with you, to dedicate myself to serving our country, and today I ask you for five more years of patience and tolerance.

The De Facto Government

I greet with much affection all Bolivian women and men who are accompanying us on this historic day for the Bolivian people.

As of November 10, 2019, after 21 days in which the popular will expressed at the polls was hidden and they came up with a winner, Bolivia was the scene of an internal and systematic war against the people, especially against the most humble.

The two tasks that the de facto government gave itself: pacification of the country and an immediate election call were not fulfilled, quite the contrary. Death, fear and discrimination were sown, racism intensified, and the pandemic was used to extend an illegal and illegitimate government.

The persecution and criminalization unleashed by the regime against leaders of the MAS-IPSP and social movements, against humble women and men of the people, resulted in deaths, injuries, imprisonment, persecution, asylum and exile.

Sacaba, Senkata and El Pedregal are irrefutable proof of the brutality of the regime, but they are also a symbol of dignity and resistance alongside men like Carlos Orlando Gutiérrez Luna, a great mining leader who bravely fought for the recovery of democracy and who will always live in the heart of the people.

But, as Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, that socialist leader assassinated in another coup in 1980, would say, it is not hatred that drives our actions, but a passion for justice.

A New Stage

This November 8, 2020, we begin a new stage in our history, and we want to do so with a government that is of all and for all, without discrimination of any kind.

Our government will seek at all times to rebuild our homeland in unity to live in peace.

On this path, democracy is a fundamental value of the peoples and it is the one that unequivocally expresses the will of the population and is also an organizing axis of our institutionality and of our society.

Democracy is not only the vote to elect authorities at all levels, but also open, fair elections. It is the participation of everyone without the exclusion of anyone, even more so of the social and national cultural majorities. It is the protection of civil and political rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of organization. It is political pluralism.

All these requirements to qualify a system as democratic were mutilated in one year of a de facto government. For months their mouths were filled with democracy for some, while trying to outlaw not only the MAS, but the people as a whole.

Since the recovery of democracy in Bolivia in 1982, which was the product of the Bolivian people's struggle, never until now has there been evidence of a democracy mutilated of its central contents. An immense multinational majority faced the danger of proscription, criminalization and persecution.

Social movements, peasants and Indigenous peoples, and workers were stigmatized. We were called savages, seditious, terrorists. Women in polleras were humiliated, our Wiphala burned, which is like burning ourselves, like burning our roots. From minority sectors of the population, as was evident in the elections last October, they wanted a democracy only for a few.

In fact, these minority sectors raise the flag of democracy only when it suits them, and when not, they resort to destabilization, violence, and coup d'états to seize power.

Unfortunately, some groups want to return to an exclusionary democracy, mutilating our plurinationality, in which those majorities who with the effort of their work make the Bolivia of every day possible, do not participate.

However, despite these adverse conditions, despite the fact that the people's participation was threatened by the violence of the de facto government and paramilitary groups in the October 18 elections, we obtained a historic victory at the polls with more than 55 per cent.

"We Are the Majority"

We are the majority. This means that the Bolivian population voted for peace and stability, for hope and dignity, for the reunion of all Bolivian women and men.

That 55.10 per cent vote does not belong to Luis Arce or David Choquehuanca. This vote is the product of the consciousness and organization of a people that does not want freedom for a few, but for all.

It is the vote of a people that does not want wellbeing for a few, but for all; who does not want happiness for a few, but for all.

We assume this mandate that the population gives us -- the people -- to work tirelessly and humbly for the reconstruction of our Homeland, and we commit to rectify what was wrong and to strengthen what was right.

In October 2020, intercultural democracy triumphed, democracy that permits deliberation and organization from below triumphed, and democracy that translates that will, that creative force through voting, triumphed. But democracy is also the materialization of the rights contained in our Political Constitution of the State.

It is useless to elect the authorities by voting if, at the same time, the people to whom democracy is owed are deprived of fundamental rights, such as access to health, education, work, income and housing.

Democracy is having the right to enjoy the wealth that is for everyone and not for a few, as we upheld during 14 years and that we are going to deepen in our Government: the redistribution of income.  The bonds will always go hand in hand with our economic policy.

We are going to work together to recover the growth levels that the de facto government shattered, and we will do so by reducing poverty, as well as economic and social inequalities. These are the principles that guide our productive community social economic model to which we will return.

The "Triple Crisis"

Today our country faces a triple crisis that began in November 2019 with the coup d'état and deepened with the pandemic.

The political crisis generated by a government that did not come out of the ballot box or respect the regulations of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, much less its adherence to the Political Constitution of the State.

The health crisis resulting from the emergence of the global COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia, and to which the de facto government was unable to offer an adequate comprehensive response.

The economic crisis derived from the inability of the Government to generate stability and growth with social justice. In one year all the gains of the Bolivian people receded.

There are those who have argued that the current situation is solely and exclusively the product of the action of that silent enemy called COVID-19, but wanting to blame the pandemic for this situation is not right. The crisis had been forming on the horizon since the coup d'état, after the abrupt change in economic policy and was exacerbated by the effects of the health crisis.

Today our national economy is in the middle of a deep recession; currently there is a drop in the GDP of 11.1 per cent.

According to data published by the National Statistical Institute, in the second trimester of this year our country went from leading the economic growth of South America for six years in the period between 2006 and November 2019 to presenting the biggest fall in the economy in the last almost 40 years. In the same way the fiscal deficit projected for 2020 reaches 12.1 per cent and becomes the highest since the period of the UDP [Popular Democratic Union]. The deficit of the financial public sector as of September already reaches 5.6 per cent.

For its part, the General Treasury has budgeted for a deficit of 8.7 per cent, mainly explained by the increase in current spending, since the current deficit of the Treasury has reached 8.1 per cent in the current administration. These figures show that in only one year of economic management by the de facto government things went from an economy that privileged public investment and income redistribution, to having the need to contract public debt to pay the wages and salaries of the public sector. There was also a drastic increase in the public debt.

Between November 2019 and October 2020 the transition government indebted the country for more than 4.2 billion dollars between the internal and external debt. Of particular note is its contracting of a debt with the Central Bank of Bolivia for approximately $1.9 billion and 800 million through public auctions of General Treasury bonds. In the area of foreign debt, foreign credits were incurred for more than $1.5 billion. To close the year, they programmed an additional debt of 4.4 billion bolivianos in the domestic market.

Net international reserves decreased by $881 million between November 2019 and October 2020, representing a fall of approximately 13 per cent as of November 2019.

International reserves stood at $6.459 billion, and as of October of this year they are only $5.578 billion. Only in the month of October the reserves decreased by $777 million.

The de facto government leaves an economy with figures that were not seen even in one of the worst crises that Bolivia suffered in the UDP government in the decade of the '80s of the last century; unemployment, poverty and inequalities have increased. We have before us the great challenge of rebuilding our economy, of generating certainty, of generating growth with income redistribution, of reducing economic and social inequalities, but we are sure that working together with the people we will once again overcome adversity.

A Message of Hope

Today we are here to send a message of hope to all the nations that make up Bolivia, to those brave women and men who go out every day to fight to overcome this difficult situation. They are the example for a political class that must turn this dark page of its history, to look at the present with responsibility and commitment and the future with optimism, focusing on a single objective: that each and every Bolivian can live well.

That is why we will give continuity to the construction of a plural and diverse economy that recovers, strengthens and promotes all the potential that we have, initiatives and capacities of Bolivia from the community of native peoples and peasants, the State, the private sector, cooperatives and the broad cultural diversity.

For months we have planned a series of actions to activate our economy and stimulate the internal economy. We have great projects that we are going to gradually launch in the coming months, thus fulfilling our campaign commitment with the people, because every day that passes without taking action, is a day that the situation in Bolivia becomes more complicated.

Our country today more than ever requires effort and synchronized mobilization between civil society and all State organs, between the public sector and the private sector; just like between the different political groups.

Despite the differences, we are obliged to measure up to the people, who demand unity, peace and certainty.

Unity and complementarity between east and west, between the country and the city. We are all Bolivia, we must put an end to fear in Bolivia.

I believe in justice, not in fostering an environment of resentment and revenge, that does not respect diversity of thought, where being from another party or political colour makes you the object of hatred.

That must end. I believe and support the reinforcement, the institutional framework of the State and in generating a safe and stable environment where the only ones who should be afraid are the offenders, criminals, violent people and those who commit acts of corruption.

Our government will work oriented in the present and future, serving the Bolivian people, for collective interests and not individual petty interests.

"We Are a Sovereign Nation"

From this rostrum where the democratic will of our people is concentrated, I also want to address the international community, the sisters and brothers from other countries who visit us today. We are a sovereign nation, with a government born in the ballot box and our will is to work for a multipolar world, in which there is no supremacy of any power and in which all States and human beings live without fear, without wars, without hatred, without looting our natural resources; without exploitation, without racism and discrimination; without threats, without pressure of any kind.

We strongly assume today more than ever the principles of self-determination of peoples, non-intervention, the non-alignment and full legal and political equality of all States without any form of subordination.

We are committed to an emancipatory and non-subordinate integration that considers all areas of life, from health and education to commercial economics.

We demand South-South integration in a globalized world that does not impose designs from the North.

We advocate the political unity of the diversity of Latin America and the Caribbean. CELAC is the best way to realize such a noble and historic cause.

We are once again in keeping with our CELAC resolution of 2014, when we declared Latin America and the Caribbean as a territory of peace.

We raise the flag of the peoples' diplomacy for life and a world without walls. We must put an end to everything that prevents us from recognizing ourselves as equals, as sisters, as brothers.

In our sub-region, we propose the recovery of Unasur as a space for integration and a mechanism for political dialogue in which we all participate, regardless of the political orientation of our governments.

"I Assume the Presidency with Humility"

Dear Bolivian people, I am in front of all of you today with great emotion, but with an enormous sense of responsibility that is born from the love I have for our country, our roots and the people, but also the promises made before this political campaign. That is why I want to reaffirm from here my commitment to honour each one of them.

I assume the Presidency of the Plurinational State of Bolivia with great humility, with great honour and with great gratitude for the trust placed in us.

We will govern with responsibility and inclusion, representing all of you, facing the necessary changes with the aim that Bolivia return to the path of stability as soon as possible.

Today we face the enormous challenge of having to write together with the letters that will define the next five years of our history, hoping to be remembered as the government in which the Bolivian people rose to recover democracy, dignity, peace, growth and social justice.

We will work tirelessly, serving the Bolivian people. We will defeat the pandemic, we will triumph over the crisis as we have done in previous years, because we are a fighting, persevering and courageous people who look without fear and with optimism and with the strength of knowing that we are capable of achieving.

In my travels through all of Bolivia, together with brother jilata David, I have felt the pain, but also the hope of millions and millions of Bolivians.

I will never forget the tears, the hugs, the smiles, the words of strength that they gave me at all times, nor the personal stories that they shared with me in each place I passed through.

We will not forget the hopes of those who have been so affected in this fateful year marked by the blow to democracy and by this cruel pandemic.

Their faces, their voices, their love and hope will always be present with me today and will accompany me at all times for the next five years.

By your mandate, dear sisters and brothers, I assume with great humility and responsibility the Presidency of the Plurinational State.

I look at the past, everything we have lived through and overcome. I lift my eyes and see that a better Bolivia is possible, with the participation and work of each and every Bolivian.

Let's walk in peace, side by side to achieve it. We will move forward!

Long live the Plurinational State of Bolivia!

Honour and glory to the Bolivian people!

Thank you very much.

Inaugural Speech of David Choquehuanca,
Vice President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia

With the permission of our gods, of our older brothers, of our Pachamama, of our ancestors, of our Achachilas, with the permission of our Patujú, of our rainbow, of our sacred coca leaf.

With the permission of our peoples, with the permission of everyone present and not present in this chamber.

Today I want to share our thoughts in a few minutes.

It is an obligation to communicate, an obligation to dialogue, it is a principle of living well.

The peoples of millenial cultures, of the culture of life, have sustained our origins since the dawn of ancient times.

We children have inherited an ancient culture that understands that everything is interrelated, that nothing is divided and that nothing is outside.

That is why they tell us that we all go together, that no one is left behind, that everyone has everything and no one lacks anything.

And the well-being of all is the well-being of oneself, that helping is a reason to grow and be happy, that giving up for the benefit of the other makes us feel strengthened, that uniting and recognizing ourselves in everything is the path of yesterday, today, tomorrow and always, from which we've never strayed.

The Ayni, the Minka, the Tumpa, our Colka and other codes of ancient cultures are the essence of our life, of our Ayllu.

Ayllu is not only the organization of a society of human beings, Ayllu is a system of organization of life, of all beings, of everything that exists, of everything that flows in balance on our planet or Mother Earth.

During centuries the civilizing canons of Abya Yala were destructured, re-semanticized and many of them exterminated; original thought was systematically subjected to colonial thought.

But they could not extinguish us, we are alive, we are from Tiwanaku, we are strong, we are like stone, we are kalawalla, we are cholke, we are sinchi, we are Rumy, we are Jenecherú, the fire that never goes out; we are from Samaipata, we are jaguar, we are Katari, we are Ainus, we are Maoris, we are Commanches, we are Mayans, we are Guarani, we are Mapuches, we are Mojeños, we are Aymara, we are Quechuas, we are Hopis, and we are all the peoples of the culture of life who awaken our Larama -- Larama that is equal, rebellious, with wisdom.

A Transition Every 2,000 Years

Today Bolivia and the world are living through a transition that is repeated every 2,000 years, within the framework of the cyclicity of the times, we go from no time to time, beginning the new dawn, a new Pachakuti in our history

A new sun and a new expression in the language of life where empathy for the other or the collective good replaces selfish individualism.

Where we Bolivians see one another as equals, and we know that united we are worth more, we are in the times of being Jiwasa again: it is not me, it is us.

Jiwasa is the death of egocentrism, Jiwasa is the death of anthropocentrism and it is the death of eurocentrism.

We are in the times of returning to being Iyambae, it is a code that our Guarani brothers have protected, and Iyambae is the same as a person who has no owner. Nobody in this world has to feel they are the owner of anyone or anything.

Since 2006 in Bolivia we began hard work to connect our individual and collective roots, to return to being ourselves, to return to our centre, to the taypi, to the pacha, to the equilibrium from which the wisdom of one of the most important civilizations of our planet emerges.

We are in the process of recovering our knowledge, the codes of the culture of life, the civilizing canons of a society that lived intimately connected with the cosmos, with the world, with nature and with individual and collective life; to build our Suma Qamaña, from our Allin Kawsay, from our Suma Akalle, which is to guarantee the individual good and the collective or community good.

Chacha-Warmi

We are in times of recovering our identity, our cultural roots, our sapi. We have cultural roots, we have philosophy, history, we have everything, we are persons, and we have rights.

One of the unshakeable canons of our civilization is the inherited wisdom around the Pacha. Guaranteeing balance in all time and space is knowing how to manage all the complementary energies, the cosmic one that comes from the heavens, with the earth that emerges from under the earth.

These two telluric cosmic forces interact, creating what we call life as a visible (Pachamama) and spiritual (Pachakama) totality.

By understanding life in terms of energy we have the possibility to modify our history, matter and life as the convergence of the Chacha-warmi force, when we refer to the complementarity of opposites.

The new time that we are beginning will be sustained by the energy of the Ayllu, the community, consensus, horizontality, complementary equilibriums and the common good.

Historically, revolution is understood as a political act to change the social structure, in order to transform the life of the individual. None of the revolutions has managed to modify the conservation of power, to maintain control over the people.

"Our Revolution Is the Revolution of Ideas"

It was not possible to change the nature of power, but power has managed to distort the minds of politicians; power can corrupt and it is very difficult to modify the strength of power and its institutions, but it is a challenge that we will assume from the wisdom of our own peoples. Our revolution is the revolution of ideas, it is the revolution of equilibriums, because we are convinced that to transform society, the government, the bureaucracy, the laws and the political system, we must change as individuals.

We are going to promote opposing coincidences to find solutions between the right and the left, between the rebelliousness of the young and the wisdom of the grandparents, between the limits of science and an unyielding nature, between creative minorities and traditional majorities, between the sick and the healthy, between those who govern and the governed, between the cult leadership and the gift of serving others.

Our truth is very simple: the condor takes flight only when its right wing is in perfect equilibrium with its left wing. The task of forming ourselves as balanced individuals was brutally interrupted centuries ago, we have not concluded it and the time of the Ayllu era, community, is already with us.

It requires that we be free and balanced individuals to build harmonious relationships with others and with our environment, it is urgent that we be beings capable of sustaining equilibrium for ourselves and for the community.

We are in the times of the brothers of the Apanaka Pachakuti, brothers of change, where our fight was not only for ourselves, but also for them and not against them. We seek the mandate, we do not seek confrontation; we seek peace, we are not from the culture of war or domination; our struggle is against all kinds of submission and against the single, colonial, patriarchal thought, wherever it comes from.

The idea of the encounter of spirit and matter, heaven and earth, of Pachamama and Pachakama, allows us to think that a new woman and man will be able to heal humanity, the planet, and the beautiful life that is in it and return the beauty to our Mother Earth.

We will defend the sacred treasures of our culture from all interference, we will defend our peoples, our natural resources, our freedoms and our rights.

"We Will Return to Qhapak Ñan"

We will return to our Qhapak Ñan, the noble path of integration, the path of truth, the path of brotherhood, the path of unity, the path of respect for our authorities, for our sisters, the path of respect for fire, the path of respect for the rain, the path of respect for our mountains, the path of respect for our rivers, the path of respect for our Mother Earth, the path of respect for the sovereignty of our peoples.

Brothers and sisters, in conclusion, Bolivians must overcome division, hatred, racism, discrimination among compatriots, no more persecution of freedom of expression, no more judicialization of politics.

No more abuse of power, power has to be to help, power has to circulate, power, as well as the economy, has to be redistributed, it has to circulate, it has to flow, just as blood flows within our body, no more impunity, justice, brothers and sisters.

But justice has to be truly independent. Let us put an end to intolerance, to the violation of human rights and of our Mother Earth.

The new time means listening to the message of our peoples that comes from the bottom of their hearts, it means healing wounds, looking at one another with respect, recovering the homeland, dreaming together, building brotherhood, harmony, integration, hope, to guarantee the peace and happiness of the new generations.

Only in this way can we achieve living well and govern ourselves.

Jallalla Bolivia.

For the full video in Spanish of the inaugural speech of  President Luis Arce click here and for that of Vice President and President of the  Plurinational Legislative Assembly, David Choquehuanca click here.

(Ministry of the Presidency, Plurinational State of Bolivia (President's speech) and Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, November 8, 2020. Translated from the original Spanish by TML. Photos: Bolivian Ministry of Communication.)

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