some thought about Evo Morales, Bolivian president

I heard Prince George CBC reporter Betsy Trumpener's coverage this morning on Daybreak North of the Latino CBC radio announcer who recently spent a couple of days in Prince George, reporting from here. She interviewed this man who came from an Aymaran background and felt connected to the First Nations people in this area, because he said, he too is an indigenous person, from the Andes of South America. I too have observed these strong parallels between the cultures of First Nations peoples in this part of the world and the ancient cultures of the mountain people of the Andes Mountains.

Today, I am thinking back to my time spent in Bolivia. I am thinking about how there my reverance for Pacha Mama, the great Earth Mother, was founded. I first observed widespread respect for the Earth Mother in the Bolivians regular habit of sprinkling some of their drink onto the ground or floor in her honour. There is much to be said about Pacha Mama and what we can learn from cultures steeped in ancient traditions based on respect for this feminine divine presence. In thinking about Bolivia, I am thinking about Evo Morales, the current indigenous president of the country.

I just came across the following submission (excerpt) recently made by President Evo Morales to the UN General Assembly:


"I want to take this opportunity to propose a few themes that are very important to the inhabitants of Mother Earth. For the indigenous movement, not only harmony with human kind, but harmony with Mother Earth is sacred.

Mother Earth gives life, water, natural resources, oxygen and everything that supports the well being of our people. If we talk, work and fight for the well being of our people we first have to guarantee the well being of Mother Earth; otherwise it will be impossible to guarantee the well being of our citizens. Mother Earth, Planet Earth, will exist without human life, but human life cannot exist without Mother Earth.

After hearing many speeches, I’ve concluded that in this new twenty- first century, defending Mother Earth will be more important than defending human rights. If we do not defend the rights of Mother Earth, there is no use in defending human rights. I am willing to debate this concept, but now or later it will be proven that the rights of Mother Earth supersede the rights of human beings. We must protect what gives us life. Coincidently, as we are in the climate change debate, we want to propose, dear presidents, delegates from distinct countries, to the brothers of the world that are listening, a very simple proposal which can be summarized in 3 points.

First: Developed countries must honor and pay the climate debt they owe to mankind and planet earth.

Second: We currently do not have a structured manner in which we can quantify the damages committed by nations. My dear presidents, it is of utmost importance to create a Court for Climatic Justice, in which countries will be tried and punished assuming they do not follow international laws and continue to destroy the earth.

Third: A proposal derived mainly from Indigenous farmers: nations must declare and expand the rights of Mother Earth’s natural regeneration. Nations must also declare rights on behalf of the right to life, a clean life and the right to harmony and equilibrium for all and everything.
Hopefully these proposals will be taken into account and debated in Copenhagen, Denmark. We hope the discussions in Copenhagen will provide us with short and long term solutions over the enormous problems that our distinguished countries endure.

There is much of interest to me in the words of Evo Morales. He is consistent with his reverance for Pacha Mama, Mother Earth. I am so intrigued with what is happening in Latin America these days - how some of these countries are really coming into their own, creating a new way of being with the world and with each other. I am intrigued with Evo Morales' arguments for rights on behalf of the right to harmony & equilibrium for all living things. I agree - whereas rights are important, the time has come to broaden them into the environmental / natural world protection realm at the universal level.

Bolivia will soon be heading to another presidential election (December 6) - Evo Morales came into power in 2005. I was in the country for the previous election, and he narrowly lost that time but was rapidly gaining power in the country as evidenced by the number of marches through La Paz and the Che Guevara flags hung in many windows -- the country then had the feel of a country on the verge of a revolution. And, looking back, I see that it was.

Since coming into power, Morales has introduced a new constitution for the country. It includes a bill of rights with significant provisions dedicated to Bolivia’s 36 indigenous nations. It also put the economy in the hands of the state, limited landholdings and redistributed revenues from gas fields in the eastern lowlands to the country’s poorer areas.

On a related note, Oliver Stone has just released a new movie about the current Latin American leaders. It is called South of the Border. Probably worth a watch.