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Since it defeated all the old political parties in the December 2005 elections, the new Bolivian government has been on a tough learning curve. Having done away with all remnants of the former government, the country is left with leaders many of whom do not have the levels of education truly needed for the responsibilities ahead. But promises the electoral candidates made before the elections on issues of health, education, infrastructures and management of natural resources are being completed for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable of Bolivian society.
Demonstrations and hunger strikes now are being carried out, not by the oppressed poor, but by those afraid of being forced to give up portions of their huge landholdings in the eastern "half moon" of Bolivia. These persons do not wish to support the western part of Bolivia which is now stripped of its resources, and full of poverty and hunger. There is talk of secession, of civil war.
During the Bolivian election of December 2005, the voters not only chose their new government but also called for the writing of a new Constitution. This process is being undertaken in the capital of Sucre and is to be voted on next year. The Joining Hands for Life (Uniendo Manos por la Vida, or UMAVIDA) network has encouraged the citizens of Bolivia to become active participants in the re-founding of the country by becoming directly involved in the Constitutional Assembly (CA) process.
UMAVIDA has supported the first youth summit for the Constitutional Assembly with network youth joining thousands of young people from around the nation in the country's jurisdictional capital of Sucre.
In light of the CA, UMAVIDA's task force on Citizenship and Democracy has set itself as task to:
a) Inform citizens about the process of the CA
b) Encourage citizen involvement through UMAVIDA's institutions
c) Generate spaces for discussion of proposals by our network institutions and with grassroots organizations
d) Publicize, promote and channel proposals for inclusion in the new Constitution
e) Monitor and report to the public on agreements made throughout the CA process
f) Identify players in the process and their positions on issues, analyze and publicize information on them as we go along
g) Continue monitoring and reporting of the process
h) Generate spaces for debate on ongoing and current topics of the moment
North South Relations
In a growing number of countries of Latin America, the poor are becoming aware of the failure of forty years of neo-liberal economic theories, unfair free-trade agreements, and unjust terms of international debt. The new Bolivian government is shifting away from the economic policies that past democratic governments inherited when they succeeded the dictators, or which they were forced to accept by the World Bank and/or the United States.
To improve North South relations, UMAVIDA's Task Force on North South Relations focuses mainly on fair trade and solidarity trade. The Task Fore seeks to:
a) Share information between North and South on Fair Trade
b) Generate spaces for awareness-raising and communication about Fair Trade
c) Elaborate alternative proposals for fair trade/solidarity trade, taking action, having an impact as well
d) Follow-up to the proposals and spread the word
e) Monitor and report on negative actions by the United States and sensitize people in regard to this
f) Build North-South solidarity connections through actions
g) Encourage theological and ethical reflections about North-South relationships
h) Organize visits and actions between institutions: North-South and South-South.
Environment and Natural Resources
UMAVIDA has been present to accompany struggles to fight mining companies' contamination of communities' aquifers, air, soil, lungs and blood. Members of our network last month traveled to Peru to join hands with our Peruvian Joining Hands sisters and brothers working to bring responsible mining and smelting practices to Peru.
The UMAVIDA Task Force on Environment and Natural Resources hopes to:
a) Generate spaces for discussion of proposals for CA related to environment, with network institutions and grassroots organizations
b)Publicize, promote and channel proposals re environment, for inclusion in the new Constitution
c) Identify players in the process and their positions on environmental issues , analyze and publicize information on them as we go along.
d) Continue to monitor and report on the process, especially re environmental issues
e) Generate spaces for debate on ongoing topics and topics of the moment, re environment
Water
The greatest planetary crisis created by humans is upon us: the lack of access to potable water due to global warming. Our primary sources of water, remnants of the last Ice Age are rapidly disappearing, never to be fully recovered. The lack of access to clean water is the primary cause of infant mortality in Bolivia and farmers rely on it.
During the recent UMAVIDA Coordinating Committee meeting the access to clean water was named a "transversal" theme of our work. It will be taken in early February to the General Assembly for approval as a central theme especially for our Environmental task forces North-South. The CC hopes to engage the network and its partners in the fight against the privatization of water to end transnational corporations' buying and selling of it. The network has published booklets, handed out leaflets, and managed stands to raise the consciousness of water as a common good, not a commodity. It was noted that UMA in Aymara means water. VIDA, of course, is life.
A new office
UMAVIDA now has a new office in downtown La Paz. Four computers just this week were hooked up to the internet, a phone line purchased and installed. The national Coordinating Committee met for the first time in its own office with high hopes that the office and the staff to be chosen in early 2007 will improve the communication and coordination between the churches and five ngo's of the network.
Joining Hands
In their accompaniment of UMAVIDA's programs, the Joining Hands partner Presbyteries of San Francisco and Newark have been involved in the promotion and sales of fairly traded crafts from Bolivian women coops of the network and engaged in solidarity action to fight the privatization of water. They also focused on the extradition from the USA of the ex-President of Bolivia Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to face justice in Bolivia for crimes against humanity. This in solidarity with the UMAVIDA network, which had supported "gringos" marching against the US embassy in La Paz demanding the return of de Lozada to stand trial in Bolivia. The Presbyteries further participated in activities for the prevention military intervention in Bolivia by the USA and for close down the School of the Americas.
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NEWSLETTER
