Bolivia: Autonomous Mesa 18, The Fly in Evo Morales’ Soup

by Carlos Crespo / Bol Press

translated by Earth First! Journal

Two weeks earlier, if people had asked about Mesa 18, the response from Cochabamban movements and national contacts probably would have been negative : there was no money, there was fear of criminal prosecutions, fear of in-fighting, that is, totally adverse conditions. Nonetheless, there was motivation to make it happen.

In this manner, collectives, social organizations, activists, academics, several people from the 2010 Mesa 18, all got together, made calls, created the program and found a place in Tiquipaya to hold the event.

The agreement was to organize, similar to 2010, an autonomous space to “denounce Evo Morales, his extraction policies which destroy nature and commit genocide against indigenous peoples and local communities.” We wanted to highlight the diversity of local resistance movements. At the same time, we wished to “discuss and reflex collectively about the other worlds we are building, other ways of relating with each other and with nature. An autonomous zone, for people, indigenous and non-indigenous, urban and rural.” We wanted to organize horizontally in a space of happiness, celebration, but also, of indignation.

In terms of organizing the “renewed” Mesa 18 was based on an efficient, collaborative, horizontal, non-partisan network.

“They are watching us. Act normal.”

The Mesa 18 was subject to, since the beginning, intense scrutiny and sabotage by those in power. One case in particular occurred 24 hours before the event’s inauguration, when a shop owner informed us that for health reasons, we were unable to continue renting that space. Afterward, we found out that one of the owner’s family members worked for the “masista” Mayor of Tiquipaya. For the next two days, members of the government’s intelligence agency, dressed as health and municipal workers, monitored the new space which we had been forced to relocate to.

The dry law in Tiquipaya, which extended throughout the duration of the World People’s Summit on Climate Change and Defense of Rights for Mother Earth, only showed the double standard of “process towards change” because they forbid the sale of chicha, which generated many protests from the syndicates, while Coca Cola and other corporate toxic beverages were flowing freely throughout the event.

“We are the strike that announces the imminent storm.”

We were the table of truth. In a country where lies and misinformation are the politics of the state, our testimonies and expositions all emphasized the need to speak the truth against the intolerant government. They had been spoken in vain, with no one to hear them, until now.

Mesa 18 was full of passion, discussions, pain. The testimonials of the repression in Takovo Mora moved many to tears. Also they provoked courage, allowing us to realize that our environmental struggles in Bolivia are being spearheaded by women: of TIPNIS, Mrs. Silvia de Vandiola, the women of Poopó, and a young Takana leader.

Those in power who seek to further transgenic foods need to be worried, for Mesa 18 also hosted an emerging mass of consumers who are seeking healthy food. The antinuclear movement in the southern part of La Paz was also a surprise at Mesa 18. Their resistance serves as inspiration for all the places where the government is expecting to relocate the projects to.

Mesa 18 brought together all those who have lost their fear of the intolerant government. There were people of all lifestyles and backgrounds, including leaders and intelligentsia who face repercussion from the government for their participation at Mesa 18, but are willing to go to battle.

The presence of politicians and intellectuals, disenchanted by the MAS and Evo Morales’ government were notorious, but Pablo Solón’s presence stood out, as Bolivia’s ambassador at the UN and chief climate change negotiator. His convincing data on the country’s lies and manipulations regarding struggles against climate change destroyed the government’s ideological rhetoric.

The press wrote about Mesa 18 and primary news agencies covered it, too, which exceeded our expectations. We won the battle for media coverage.

Finally, there was a non-partisan, diversified, congenial space. We had build an autonomous free zone.

“We have no demands. We are the demands.”

The existence of Mesa 18 in and of itself is noteworthy, beyond the conclusions and content. The feelings, arguments, shared passions, are all base of the network’s structure of cooperative resistance. The consensual need to unite, to connect resistance movements is observed in the document’s conclusions, with key points such as the call for “Alliance for Life.”

The controversial conclusion rejecting Morale’s reelection would have given it a partisan tone, something which right-wing manipulators accused us of. We must understand that that resolution emerged from the rage of all those present: the destruction of towns and nature throughout Bolivia in the name of progress, and “right to progress” can only be stopped by impeding the reelection of “Big Boss” and his accomplices.