'Neoliberalism ends here'

[Judi Lynn]

'Neoliberalism ends here'
Bolivia's bold new constitution empowers the country's ethnic communities with access to education and healthcare

Benjamin Dangl guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 27 January 2009 20.30 GMT

After Bolivia's new constitution was approved in a national referendum on Sunday, thousands gathered to celebrate in the central Plaza Murillo in La Paz, the country's capital. Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, President Evo Morales, an indigenous, former union organiser, addressed the raucous crowd: "Here begins a new Bolivia. Here we begin to reach true equality."

The event was underscored by the fact that just over 50 years ago, indigenous people were prohibited from entering that same plaza. Bolivia is South America's poorest country, with 62% of the population self-identifying as indigenous, and about the same percentage living under the poverty line. Many who support Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party see the new constitution as granting long-overdue rights to the indigenous majority.

On referendum day, when the news spread that the constitution had been approved, fireworks, cheers and horns sounded off sporadically across La Paz. By evening, Morales was already giving his victory speech: "I want you to know something, the colonial state ends here. Internal colonialism and external colonialism ends here. Sisters and brothers, neoliberalism ends here too."

Among many other changes, the new constitution empowers Bolivia's indigenous and Afro-Bolivian communities, establishes broader access to basic services, education and healthcare, limits the size of large land purchases, expands the role of the state in the management of natural resources and the economy and prohibits the existence US military bases on Bolivian soil.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jan/27/bolivia-referendum-constitution-evo-morales