Bulletins and News Discussion from July 1st to July 7th, 2024 - Morales vs Arce - COTW: Bolivia
Bulletins and News Discussion from July 1st to July 7th, 2024 - Morales vs Arce - COTW: Bolivia
Image is of Bolivian President Luis Arce (center, with glasses) face-to-face with General Zuñiga (in camouflage) during the coup attempt.
On the 26th of June, while Hexbear was in an 8-hour hibernation, General Juan José Zuñiga marched 200 troops and some armored vehicles on the government palace in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Luis Arce. This is somewhat reminiscent of Jeanine Anez's coup in November 2019 where she overthrew the socialist president Evo Morales, but while that coup was due to a colour revolution likely orchestrated by the United States and had at least a tiny amount of political/public legitimacy and "followed the rules" in a certain sense (as Morales was trying to abolish presidential term limits, which is only evil if a socialist is doing it), this was a much more naked attempted seizure of power by a military general.
This coup was quickly terminated without even a momentary transfer of power. Democracy was saved.
Despite being in the same party, Morales and Arce have increasingly been in opposition. Morales champions anti-imperialism, rights for indigneous people, and poverty reduction. This last one especially has been threatened by Arce, though it's not entirely his fault, as the Bolivian economy is threatened by the same crisis affecting so many developing economies around the world right now - say it with me now - a lack of dollars and mounting debt. The US Federal Reserve is carrying out a bloody offensive against the world's poor, and this has combined nastily with a rather uninspiring "post"-coronavirus economic recovery in Bolivia, as well as diminishing natural gas production (and thus less exports with which to earn dollars).
While the coup was ongoing, Morales banded behind the government. Afterwards, however, Morales expressed his skepticism about whether the coup was, in fact, genuine, calling for an independent investigation into it, and saying that Arce “disrespected the truth, deceived us, lied, not only to the Bolivian people but to the whole world." This is because General Zuñiga made a series of very interesting statements to his family and colleagues, saying that Arce had "betrayed" him, and saying that Arce had told him “‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity.'" This does check out on the surface level, at least: Arce has suffered increasing unpopularity as the economy has suffered.
Interestingly, Morales' narrative has been supported by the anarchocapitalist leader of Argentina, Javier Milei, who is currently busy completely destroying his own country and stripping the copper out of the walls to give to American capitalists. Milei said that the coup attempt was "fraudulent". Meanwhile, those inside MAS opposed to Morales' accusations of a false coup have accused him of allying with the fascist right and becoming an instrument of imperialism.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Bolivia! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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The bulletins site is here!
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Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
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In Bolivia, Evo's former vice-president preaches left-wing unity and a new lithium strategy
In an interview with the Mexican newspaper 'La Jordada', Álvaro Garcia Linera analyzed Bolivia's political scenario
Article (Translated from Spanish)
In an interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Álvaro Garcia Linera, former vice-president of Bolivia during the presidency of Evo Morales (2006 - 2019), defended the unity of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS). The left-wing coalition is currently divided into currents that support current president Luis Arce and former president Morales as candidates for the country's next elections.
In order to achieve the reforms he considers necessary to pull Bolivia out of the economic crisis it is facing, Linera points out that unity is fundamental if the MAS is to win back the necessary votes in parliament.
"Now we are fractured and to implement this we need both the unification of the popular bloc and pressure for reforms. An attempt by Luis [Arse] to do this on his own is impossible because he is a minority in parliament, we need an agreement with the pro-Evista bloc beyond the candidacy, with a view to how to maintain the majority bloc of the people and implement reforms that will restore to the process the mystique and enthusiasm that has been lost today, there is a silent malaise and apathy."
Among the reforms he believes are necessary to get the country's economy back on track, Linera highlights the need for the state to make progress in regulating the exploitation of lithium in the country, which is the target of foreign interests, such as billionaire Elon Musk, who openly supported a coup in the country.
"Redesigning the lithium issue, we've lost almost five years, a barbarity. First with the coup of 2019 and then with Luis Arce's erratic policies, we have zero more than Evo did. My vision is not extractivist, but of a value chain, we can use the fact that we are the largest lithium reserve in the world as a shareholder contribution to an association of international companies with the state as a partner."
Linera is working to form a replacement generation to lead another moment of mobilization, like the one Bolivia experienced 20 years ago with the emergence of MAS, and he believes that "within the popular national bloc there is a loss of strategic horizon, of the real adversaries to be faced, and an entrenchment in personalized and very petty struggles".
Attempted coup: The barracks began on Wednesday morning when Zúñiga presented himself for the post of army commander despite having been dismissed by Arce on Tuesday night (25). The president's decision came after the high-ranking military officer publicly opposed the candidacy of former president Evo Morales to contest next year's elections. In statements this week, he even said that Morales "can no longer be president of this country" and stated that he would be willing to offer his life "for the defense and unity of the homeland".
At around 2pm, Zúñiga went to Plaza Murillo in La Paz, where he led a coup attempt in an army tank accompanied by other soldiers and 12 tanks.
The coup plotters tried to invade the Casa Grande del Pueblo, one of the seats of the Bolivian government, when there was a verbal confrontation with President Arce, who ordered the general to retreat. As the Bolivian population headed to Plaza Murillo in defense of democracy, the soldier got into his armored vehicle and left the scene.
The Bolivian president then took the oath of office for the new military high command. After Zúñiga's departure, the square became the scene of popular celebrations and a speech by Arce to his cabinet. The president thanked the organizations and said that those responsible should be brought to justice for the thwarted coup as soon as possible.
His short-ish essay, translated and titled as Geopolitics of the Amazon -- Patrimonial-Hacendado power and capitalist accumulation, is one of my first introductions to Bolivian politics that elaborates on the environment-economic development dialectic. I personally also find it a very accessible article in showcasing the role of Environmentalist NGO's in perpetuating neoliberal capitalism.