Walsh Afro and Indigenous Life Visions.

7/28/2019 Walsh Afro and Indigenous Life Visions.

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BolivianStudiesJournal/RevistadeEstudiosBolivianos http://bsj.pitt.edu

Vol. No. 18 : 10.5195/bsj.2011.43 /^^E-/^^E-5163 (online)

Afro and Indigenous LifeVisions in/and Politics.(De)colonial Perspectives inBolivia and Ecuador1

Catherine WalshUniversidadAndinaSimnBolvar

Abstract

both within the realm of Afro and Indigenous communitybasedstruggles,andwithintheframeofStateconstitutions,rights,andpolitics.This article looks at what happens when ancestral lifevisions arepositionedascentralprinciplesofStateandofStatepoliticsandpublicpolicies.Canthesephilosophies,rationalitiesandlogicsotherwiseguidetheremakingorrefoundingofsocietyandState,andhow,particularlywhen the authority, organization, and practice of politics and StateremainboundtoWesternframesandcapitalistinterests?

Keywords

AbyaYala,AfricanDescendentKnowledges,ConstitutionoftheRepublicofEcuador,

Lifevisions, Livingwell, New Political Constitution of the Plurinational State of

Bolivia,Plurinationalism,SumakKawsay,SumaQamaa

1 Keynote talk given at the Third Biennial Graduate Student Conference/

/

Latin America

h ersity of Pittsburg, October 2122, 2011.

This conference was organized by Hannah Burdette and Alexandru Lefter,doctoral candidates at the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures.


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Resumen

msvisiblestantodentrodelmundode lasluchascomunitariasAfroeindgenas, como dentro del marco de las constituciones polticas delEstado, de los derechos y de la poltica. Este artculo examina lo quesucede cuan principioscentralesdelEstado,delapoltica,ydelosrdenespblicos.Puedenestasfilosofas,racionalidadesy lgicas,dirigirdeotramanerala renovacin o la refundacin de la sociedad y del Estado,particularmentecuandolaautoridad,laorganizacin,ylaprcticadelapoltica y del Estado siguen vinculadas a marcos occidentales y ainteresescapitalistas?

Palabras claves

AbyaYala, Conocimientos Afrodescendientes, Constitucin de la Repblica del

Ecuador, Nueva Constitucin Poltica del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia,

Plurinacionalismo,SumakKawsay,SumaQamaa,VisionesdeVida,VivirBien

ightbetterrefertoasAbyaYala2

visibletoday,bothwithintherealmofAfroand

Indigenous communitybased struggles, and within the frame of State

constitutions,rights,andpolitics.Thesetwosimultaneousmomentsand

thestruggles,contradictions,andtensionstheyposearethesubjectofmy

reflectionshere.Theorganizationofthesereflectionsisinthreeparts:(I)

the modern,

Western, colonial logic; (II): Collective lifevisions in/of territory and

place;and(III)Politicsadvanced,colonialityrevisited?

2 Abyaz is the name coined by the cunasof Panama and widely adopted by indigenous peoples in 1992 to refer to theterritory and the indigenous nations of the Americas. Of course the problem isthat while this term recuperates indigenous roots, it leaves out the presence andstruggles of African descendants.


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I. 0DSSLQJWKHCRVPRScene: ConstitutionalOpenings and the Modern, Western,

Colonial Logic

References to

cosmocimientos or cosmoknowledges, and cosmoexistencias or cosmo

intheAmericaoftheSouth.Whilesomemightarguethattheyarepart

andparce

insteadthattheyaredemonstrativeoftheshiftthatweareexperiencing

in the region, a shift where the principles and base of struggle andtransformationarenolongersimplyaboutidentity,access,recognition,or

rights, but about perspectives of knowledge that have to do with the

modelandlogicofLIFEitself.

Such shift began to becomepublically evident in the latenineties

and the beginningof this decade,with themobilizations by indigenous

movements against free trade agreements and the posturing of the

project. But it has also been present within indigenous and Afrocommunities themselves, in what the Afroecuadorian leader and

belonging, the building of collective memory, the thinking with the

propio,ourown,asawayto

understand life,ourvisionofhistory,ofknowledges,andofbeingintheworld(WalshandGarca).Suchworkbynecessityalsohastobecarried

outofhouse,casaafuera,tointercedeinand,insodoing,tohelpbuilda

differentvisionandpracticeofhumanity,life,andliving.

CertainlytheConstitutionsofnationslikeBoliviaandEcuadorhave

to the historical denial and subalternization of indigenous and African

descendent peoples, their knowledges, and lifebased philosophies or

ways of being, these Constitutions afford radical turnaroundsrecognizing,asisthecaseofEcuador,natureasthesubjectofrightsand

ancestralknowledgesasnecessarycomponentsofscience,technologyand

education.OrinthecaseofBoliviaandEcuador,theprinciple,concept,

andancestralphilosophyofvivirbienorbuenvivir,literallytranslatedas


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different society. The excerpts below from the Preambles of both

Constitutionsareillustrative.

FirstEcuador:

RECOGNIZING CELEBRATINGnature, PachaMama(MotherEarth)ofwhichweareathe social struggles of liberation against all forms of domination andcolonialism, and with a profound commitment to the present andfuture,havedecidedtoconstructanewformoflivingwith,indiversityandharmonywithnatureandtoreachelbuenvivir, elsumak kawsay[livingwellorcollectivewellbeing] (ConstitucindelaRepblicadel

Ecuador,2008.Myemphasis).3

CELEBRANDOalanaturaleza,laPachaMama,delaquesomosparte...yqueesvitalparanu frente a todas las formas de dominacin y colonialismo, y con unprofundocompromisoconelpresenteyelfuturo,decidimosconstruiruna nueva forma de convivencia ciudadana, endiversidad y armonaconlanaturaleza,paraalcanzarelbuenvivir,elsumakkawsay].

NowBolivia:

The Bolivianpeople,ofplural composition, fromthe depth ofhistory,inspiredinthestrugglesofthepast,antico basedinequalityandrespectamongall,intheprinciplesofsovereignty,dignity, complementarity, solidarity, harmony, and equity in the(re)distributionofthesocialproduct,wherethesearchforelvivirbien[livingwell]withrespecttotheeconomic,social,judicial,political,and

(ConstitucindelaRepblicadeBolivia,2009.Myemphasis).

[Elpuebloboliviano,decomposicinplural,desdelaprofundidaddelahistoria,inspiradoenlasluchasdelpasado,enlasublevacinindgena las marchas basado en el respeto e igualdad entre todos, con principios desoberana, dignidad, complementariedad, solidaridad, armona yequidadenladistribucinyredistribucindelproductosocial,donde

predomine la bsqueda del vivir bien; con respeto a la pluralidadeconmica,social,jurdica,polticayculturaldeloshabitantesdeesta colonial,republicanoyneoliberal].

3 All translations from Spanish to English are mine.


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MyinteresthereisnottoanalyzetheseConstitutions(somethingI

havedoneelsewhere),butrathertohighlighttheattentiongiventonon

Western life

legaciesofcolonialdominationandWesterncapitalistinterests.Withouta

doubt,suchattentionisreflectiveofthepoliticalepistemicinsurgenceofindigenousandAfricandescendent socialmovements over the last two

decades,aninsurgencethatgoesbeyondresistanceassuch(understood

as defensive opposition) moving toward a proactive protagonism of

creation and construction that leads to new arrangements of thought,

knowledge and of being and thinking, of life, living and societal

articulation. Arrangements that interweave ancestral principles,

cosmogonies, lifephilosophies, and historical struggles against the

persistenceofcolonialimperialmatricesofpowerimposedfromwithoutand within the Nation, including the political project ofmestizaje. And

arrangementsthatareindicativeoftheurgencytorethinkandreconstruct

societyandStatethroughtheguidingprinciplesandpoliticalprojectsof

interculturalityandplurinationalismforsocietyinitstotality.

Certainlythereismuchtosayaboutthecontradictionsandobstacles

present in the region today with regard to these Constitutions, State,

movementinsurgencies,politicalprojectsandongoingstruggle,butIwill

leavethattothethirdpartofthispaper.HereIwanttofirstmakeclearthecentralgroundsofmyposition,thesis,andargument,whichisthatthe

struggles of, openings towards, and interests in Afro and indigenous

ancestral principles, cosmogonies, and lifevisions today, necessarily

cosmoconstructionsinfavorofmodernity,theuniversalityofaWestern

capitalist logic, and what Anibal Quijano (2000) has referred to as

coloniality.ColonialityisunderstoodhereasapermanentmatrixofpowerthatarticulatesracecapitalismWesternmodernityin/forthecontrol

oflabor,knowledge,being,spiritualityexistencelifevisionsnature(fig.

1).

WhatI refertoasthecolonialityofMotherEarthorMotherNature

has had its roots in the projects of civilization, Christianity and

evangelization, development (understood as modernization and

progress), and education. Projects that have worked at the ontological,

existential, epistemic, territorial, and sociospiritual levels, imposing anotion of a singular world governed by the central binary of humans

(read:man)ental


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because it establishes the dominance of masculinity over nature,4

understoodasfeminine,unwieldyandinneedofprotectionandcontrol.

Inthissense,manisnotpartofnature,buthersuperior.Allassociated

with, or thought to be closer to nature,most especially women, nativepeoplesandblacks,areconsideredinferior,lackinginreasonandintellect,

animallikeandtiedtothecorporalorthebodyratherthanthe

Coloniality of powerIdea of RACE as instrument of

social classification, identity, control of labor:

blancos, mestizos, indios, negros

Coloniality of knowledge Coloniality of beingEurocentrism as the only Control over

perspective of knowledge ontological-existential;Elimination/subordination of other inferiorization, dehumanizationknowledges, logics, rationalities

REASON-RATIONALITWalsh and Garca, 2002Y-HUMANITY

Coloniality of nature or mother earth dominion overApropriation Binary division of humans/nature cultural

Negate relationality of cosmology-spirituality- rationalitiesterritory-knowledge-being & among biophysical,

human, spiritual worldsSystems of LIFE

capitalism

Figure1

4 /d o dominate Nature, to change itinto exportable products, has always been present in this region. In the earlystages of Independence, when faced with the earthquake in Caracas of 1812,^/Ewe shall fight agains

dh

ZEd


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mind. Of course it is with relation to this central binary as well that a

singular world is propagated and put forth; it is world/view that

theworldsofaboveandbelowwiththeearthandwiththeancestorsas

livingbeings,negatingaswellthefeminineforceoflifeandcreation.ThiscolonialityofMotherEarthorNaturehasworkedtonegatewhatSilvia

Rivera Cusicanqui has referred to as the symmetry based in

complementaryasymmetries,aswellasthefluidandopendualitiesthat

have defined Andean cosmovisions.5 However, for reasons of time and

space,Iwillnotelaborateonthishere.6

What Iwish to highlight in closing this first part, is thepersistent

operationofthesemechanismsofpowerinnotonlydehumanizingAfro

andindigenouspeoplesbyclassifyingthemasclosertoorconstitutiveofnature,butalsoinsystematicallytryingtodisarticulatecommunitiesand

cosmovisions, to break the intimate relation of territory, territoriality,

knowledge,andnature,whichasAfrointellectualslikeSantiagoArboleda

Quionez and Juan Garca point out, give base and place to collective

memory.Furthermore,inthewordsofArboledaQuionez,

For Africans and their diaspora, modernity and its narrative ofmodernizationhavemeantperpetualandstraightforwardspoliationor

experienceofAfrtorturouspassfrominexistence n terms, forwhich they continue to struggle(ArboledaQuionez473).

Modernityanditsalterside,whichiscoloniality,haveendeavoredto

underminethe principles, visions and systemsof life ofAfrodescendent

andofindigenouspeoples,whileat the sametimepromotingaWestern

logicandrationality.Itisalogicandrationalitythat,withthedesire/zeal

of civilization, modernity and development, have been assumed by theNationState, and are reflected in its political and social structuresand

institutions. It is for this reason that the transformation of these

structures and institutions, along with the reestablishment of the

communionbetweenhumansandnature,areunderstoodandpositioned

5 See interview with Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui at:

[http://clickgenero.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/entrevista-a-la-sociologa-silvia-rivera-cusicanqui/].

6/ '


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todayintheregionasactsofdecolonizationandliberation,notjustfor

indigenousandAfropeoplesbutforsocietyasawhole.

II. Collective LifeVisions in/of Territory andPlace

InbothindigenousandAfrodescendantcosmovisions,MotherEarth

iscentral.Sheisthemotherthatprotectsherchildren,towhichshegives

naturethatreceivesandgivestheseedoflifeinitsinfinitemanifestations.

Humanbeingsareanexpressionofnature,her children.As such, and in

contrast to Western ways of thinking, there is no division betweenhumansandnature;theequilibrium,development,andsurvivalofsociety

restsinthisharmonicrelationofintegration.

Indigenous andAfro cosmo or lifevisions are holistic in that they

conceivelifeandlivingwithregardtothetotality,unitethematerialand

spiritualandpromoteapracticeofco

difference. Yet while both challengeWestern fra

principles fromwhich these lifevisions are conceived and constructed

arenotquitethesame.7

Sumaqamaa or vivir bien inBolivia, and Sumak kawsay or buen

viviran

Andeanindigenouscosmovision,basedinfourcentralprinciples:

1.Thefirstandmostbasic,fromwhicharederivedtheothers,istheprincipleofrelationality.Itaffirmstheintegralcoexistenceofthe

cosmoswithallofitsconstitutivevariables,includingtheaffective,

ecological,ethical,aesthetic,productive,spiritual,andintellectual,

amongothers.

2.Thesecondis correspondence:thecorelationof the cosmic, thehuman,andtheextrahuman,theorganicandinorganic,lifeand

death,goodandbad,thedivineandthehuman,etc.(Medina69

72).

3.The third is complementarity, which gives specificity to theprevious two. This principle affirms that no entity, action, or

occurrence exists isolated from the other, that there exists a

7 D

regarding the ways that globalization hides the specifics of place and locality,perpetuating the homogenization and normalization of histories, difference, andsocial struggles.


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complementary duality, a complementarity of opposites and of

difference,theinclusionofwhichconstructsthesocialtotality.

4.The fourth principle is reciprocity or ayni, the pragmaticexpression of correspondence and complementarity in all

interactions: among humans, between humans and nature, andbetween humans and the divine. In this sense it puts forth an

element unthinkable for Western rationality: that is an ethics

based in cosmic as well as human dimensions, a kind of cosmic

obligation(Estermann131132).

Thesefourprinciplestakentogetherareexpressedintheconceptsof

qamaaandkawsay,orLife.8Theyexpresstheexperienceandprofound

meaningoflivingasproductoftheharmonioustensionofpolaritiesthatemergeininterculturalcolivingandcoexistence.Sumakkawsayorbuen

vivir, and suma qamaa or vivir bien then, are the foundations of an

Andean lifevision in all its aspects and activities, including the social,

cultural, spiritual, economic and environmental, among others, in the

harmonic, equitable and solidaritybased relations among humans and

with nature, and in the necessary interrelation of beings, knowledges,

cultures,rationalities,andlogicsofthinking,acting,andliving.

While this integralway ofunderstanding and beingpresent in the

world is also part of Afrodescendant lifevisions, their experience is

distinct,aspeoplesstolenfromtheirnativelandsandforcedtoconstruct

communityelsewhere.AsJuanGarcanotes,

Todayaftersomanyyearsandsomanydreamssketchedbyothers,wethedescendantsoftheformerenslaved,continueherelivingpoorbutwithmuchdignity.Anchored intheancestral right thatourancestorswon,butwithoutforgettingthecommitmenttomaintainalivetheforest

and healthy the mother earth. Our tradition teaches that theseterritories fedourenslavedbodies and planted inourheartstherealsignificanceoffreedom(Garca2007,2).

Thisbondamongpeople,theancestorsandMotherEarthconstitutes

temporaltotalityofexistence,aslifewithrespect

tothetotality.Freedomisbornandgrowswiththisbond;itisthevital

forcethatsustainsandgivesreasontoexistenceandhumanity.9

8 These principles also form the foundation and organization of the Universidad/ W E / t

Ecuador.9 For a broader discussion see Walsh (2009, 220225).


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For Afrodescendant communities, existence and living are not

individualorworldlyconcerns.Theyarethoughtfromthetotality,from

therelationsandinterconnectionsbothhereonearthandwithrespectto

the larger order (a perspective not unlike that of indigenouscosmovisions).Theworld,societyandthecommunityareconsideredto

bethepluralityofcoordinatedforces.Womenandmenarenothingmore

than products of nature. Such lifevision is sometimes referred to,

particularly inEcuadorandbasedon the teachingsof JuanGarca,asan

byandtransmits;thatreinforcescollectivebelonging:anaffiliationwith

10ItisalsoknownintheAfrocolombiancontext

asmunt,unde11Thatis,as

Familyasthesumofthedeceased(theancestors)andtheliving,unitedby the word to animals, trees, and minerals (earth, water, fire, andmost exploited peoples in the world, the Africans, give back to theEuropean colonizers without bitterness or resentment. A vitalphilosophyoflove,happiness,andpeaceamongmenandwomenandtheworldthatnourishesthem(ZapataOlivella362).

AsZapataOlivellaarguesinanumberofhistexts,whilemunthasits

roots in the African philosophy of bant, it is a lifephilosophy

reconstructedandreconstitutedonthesoiloftheAmericasnotjustfor

thoseofAfrican descendant but asa contribution to other civilizations,

including that responsible for the coloniality and enslavement still

present.12

Bysustainingthebeliefthatwearebrothersandsistersconnectedby

a greater order13

differences are not valuative in the sense of superior and inferior, this

cosmovision,philosophyorlifevisionlookstolinkanduniteratherthan

fragmentanddivide. The functionofwomenandmen then,besidesthe

social,istomediatebetweenthedivineandtheinanimate,takecareofthe

10 Personal conversations. March 2004.11 The practices of the ombligada in communities of the Pacific is one concrete

example of this philosophy. See Arboleda Quionez and Zapata Olivella in the

list of works cited.12 See Branche for a related discussion with relation to the concept and philos-ophy ofmalungaje.

13 Illustrative is the fact that in some communities of the Pacific and in places likeel Palenque de San Basilio in the Atlantic Colombian coast, people refer to elbuen morir, or dying well.


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natural environment, including the land, rivers,waters, animals, and all

visibleandnonvisiblebeings.Itisforthisreasonthattheprotectionof

natural resources is understood as an ancestral mandate, as a central

elementinthenotionofAfrocollectivewellbeing(Walsh2009).

As Arboleda Quionez points out, such perspectives groundcommunitybased plans in the Pacific region for the autonomous and

harmonioushandlingofancestralterritories.Anexcerptfromoneofthese

Plansisinstructive:

Black ancestral communities of the rivers of the Pacific possessknowledges that guarantee life and the development of their societywithoutdetrimenttothenaturalbaseofecosystems.Thissignifiestherecognitionofthedynamics,cycles,andculturalknowledgesasabase

of conservation of the mountains, hills, rivers, mangroves and otherspacesofuse(ArboledaQuionez477).

FromthebaseoforaltraditioninEsmeraldas,JuanGarcaidentifies

four basic elements that help understand the ways that the ancestral

weaveswithcollectiveterritorialitytobuildandorderalifeprojectand

vision.

1.Thefirstelementishistory,thatis,theestablishmentofancestralsettlements from which a collective life project is built over a

periodnotlessthanfourgenerations.

2.Thesecondelementistheestablishmentofa communalspaceofancestral occupation, that permits social, cultural, biological

reproduction and the realization of individual and collective

activitiesthatencourageadignifiedandharmoniouslife,including

activitiesrelatedtotheprotectionofknowledges,spiritualityand

nature.

3.The third interrelated element has to do with coexistence or

makesnecessarytherecognitionandrespectforothers;theliving

withdifference,insolidarityandsharingwhatonehas.

4.Thelastelementisthehandlingofnaturalresources,anancestralmandateassumedbythepresentgenerationsasanattitudeoflife

that is nourished by a universe of symbols and norms that

encouragetherespectforharmoniousrelationsbetweenhumans

andnature.

Together,these elements construct a cosmovisionorphilosophyof

lifeandlivingthatisradicallydistinctfromthatwhichorientsthemodern,

Western capitalist mode of life. Its base is in a diasporicancestral


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understandingofMotherEarth,interritorialstrugglethatisnotjustabout

physical survival but also about cosmic and ancestral existence and

subsistence. AsAbuelo Zenon14 once

said:

Whenthecommunitylosesitsancestralterritory,whenthemountainthewateroftheriversstopsbeing the fountainoflifeforthetangiblebeings and refuge for the intangible ones, then the spirit of theancestors crosses the sea and looks for the earth of the mothercontinenttorest(Garcan.d.).

Suchis thestruggle,aswewillseeinthethirdandfinalpartof this

paper, of Afro communities today, particularly in the Pacific region,Quionez

asa result of the armedconflict, the national and transnationalpolitics

and practices of extractivism, including that of lumber, mining, and

AfricanPalm,narcotraffickingandthecomplicityamongallthree.

It is from this perspective of the struggle for existence that Afro

communities speak of collective wellbeing, a lifevision that in away

similar

of complementarity relationality and unity in diversity, and to selfdetermination, solidarity, and the fundamental connection between

society and nature. In this sense, both lifevisions should not be

conceptions of life constructed from a particularity and place, but

conceivedwithrelationtothebroaderuniverse.Itisinthiswaythatthey

can be considered, on t

valuableforallofusstrugglingtothinkwithandthroughotherlogicsand

totransgresstheWesternframe.Butinabroadersense,andontheotherhand, they can be thoughtof as pedagogies that disrupt and invert the

colonial matrices of power that cross knowledge, being and nature,

pedagogical strategies and postures that challenge and counteract

decolonialpaths.

14 Abuelo or Grandfather Zenon, maternal grandfather of Juan Garca, is animportant figure in Afro Ecuadorian oral tradition. He is recalled frequently inthe process to rebuild and maintain alive the teachings of the ancestors.


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III. Politics Advanced, Coloniality Revisited?Whathappenswhenancestrallifevisionsarepositionedascentral

principles of State and of State politics and public policies? Can these

philosophies,rationalitiesandlogicsotherwiseguidetheremakingorre

foundingofsocietyandState, and how,particularlywhen theauthority,

organizationandpracticeofpoliticsandStateremainboundtoWestern

framesandcapitalistinterests?

In this sense, are these lifevisions becoming little more than

discursivestrategiesthatgivetheappearanceofchange,whileatthesametimepromotingintereststhatfurtherfragment,coopt,anddefyancestral

collectivities,knowledges,territoriesan

of modernization, progress and development? And how are we to

understandall this inthe current contextofBolivia andEcuadortoday?

For reasons of space, I will highlight just some of the many emergent

contradictionsandtensions.

buen vivir is the organizing

nationalpolitics,includingintermsofdevelopment,developmenttodayis

definedasinterchangeablewith buenvivir.However,suchequationmade

in a not totally dissimilar way in Bolivia), takes less meaning from

ancestral lifevisions, and more from the alternative visions of

developmentemergingintheWesternworld:

understoodasindividualagency,willpower anddetermination, andonsocialinclusionandcoexistenceascomplimentarycriteriathatpermitthe

linkingwiththesocial.15Ofcourseitcannotbeamerecoincidencethat

these criteria and that this perspective of development are the base of

policiespushedforthinLatinAmericatodaybytheUNDP(UnitedNations

Development Programme)16 and by the European Union Cooperation,

15

For a detailed discussion of this problematic, see Walsh (2010).16 It is not to forget the millions of dollars that the UNDP invested in Bolivia in

20072008 producing texts, television programs, and a documentary film allwith the motive of trying to influence the Constituent Assembly and sway thepublic away from the idea of a Plurinational State and distancing from the globalmarket economy (see Walsh 2009).


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International Development Bank, and CEPAL (Economic Commission of

LatinAmerica),withthesupportoftheWorldBankandtheInternational

Monetary Fund. Indeed some warn that the real agenda of these

institutionsandpoliciesisarecolonizationoflandsterritoriesandtheir

naturalresources(Delgado).17

Buttheotherconcern,withrelationtodevelopmentas buenviviris

the centrality of State. It is the State that signifies in technocratic,

economistic,andhumanistictermswhatisdevelopmentandbuenvivir.In

this sense, buen vivir as development is the State. The possibility of

soflife

not centered in the individual is noticeably absent. As such we might

critically ask if this new binary buen vivirdevelopment enables a deenvelopment of the developmentalisms present and past and a

disentanglementofthecolonialmatrixofpower?Orifratheritsuggestsa

newmore complicated envelopment of institutional arrangements and

colonialentanglements?

As furtherillustration, letslookatonemoreexample.Thisisthe

contradictionbetweenthenamingofnatureasthesubjectofrightsinthe

2008EcuadorianConstitution(thefirstcountryintheworldtodoso)and

21st

centuryneoextractivism.IntheConstitution:

NatureorPachaMama,wherelifeisrealizedandreproduced,hastherighttothe integralrespectof its existence,andthemaintenance andregeneration of its vital cycles, structure, functions and evolutionaryprocesses (Art. 71).18 Nature has the right to its restoration orreparation(Art.72).

[La naturaleza o Pacha Mama, donde se reproduce y realiza la vida,tiene derecho a que se respete integralmente su existencia y el

mantenimiento y regeneracin de sus ciclos vitales, estructura,funcionesyprocesosevolutivos(Art.71).Lanaturalezatienederechoalarestauracin(Art.72)].

17 The fact that the United Nations earmarked in 2009 148 million dollars for therealization of buen vivir in Ecuador (Galarza), leads us to further question

whether what we are witnessing today is its strategic use and cooptation.18 Translation: Widener Environmental Law Center. The Blog:

[http://blogs.law.widener.edu/envirolawblog/2011/07/12/ecuadorian-court-recognizes-constitutional-right-to-nature/].


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Despite this advance, and less than three months after the new

Constitutionwasapproved,aMiningLawwaspassedthatsystematically

favorsminingcompaniesby:

GivingthemNationalTreatment; Allowing the expropriation of land without the consent of its

owners;

Guaranteeing rights and access to mining companies overcollectiveandancestralrights;

Callingforparticipationandconsultationonlyafterconcessionshavebeengranted;

Criminalizingthosethatdisruptminingactivities; Givingthefreedomtoprospectwithoutcommunitypermission.

inAfroterritories.AsJuanGarcaproclaims:

This government has only worked to strengthen miners, palm

cultivators, loggers, and to accelerate the destruction and socialandculturalcontrolofourrivers,ourfincas(GarcaandWalsh).

Notunrelatedisthefactthatmorethan27,000hectaresofancestral

landintheNorthofEsmeraldashavebeensoldorconcessionedinrecent

yearstoAfricanpalmcultivators,15,000oftheseintheancestralterritory

oftheCayapasSantiagoCommune.Duringthepresentgovernmentand

the National Bank of Public Works (Banco Nacional de Fomento) has

financed credit to palming companies for 16,655 hectares, more than

double that financed previously. That is to say, with the present

governmentcreditforpalmcultivationhasincreasedmorethananyother

timeinhistory,bothintheamountofmoneyandtheamountofancestral

(Roa).

Also contradictory is the proposedWater Law,whichwouldgiveopen access to mining and other extractivist interests. In the massive

protestsin2009and2010ledbytheindigenousmovementagainst this

andtheMiningLaw,thecriminalizationofprotestbegan,withinwhichthe

indigenousmovementanditsleaderswerenamedbygovernmentasthe


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infantile proindigenous movement and the infantile ecological

189 indigenous leaders have been accused of terrorism and sabotageagainst the State, an accusation never before used in Ecuador, even in

For Alberto Acosta, formerMinister of Energy and Mines and ex

presidentofthe200708ConstituentAssembly,thecontradictionisclear:

from old politics, orient

Thehandof21st

Centuryneoextractivismdoesnotpausebeforeanything(Acosta2011).

The case ofBolivia is alsoone of tensionsand contradictions. The

most recentmanifestation: the march in defense of Mother Earth and

against the building of a highway that would link the regions of

Cochabamba and Beni, going through the middle of the Indigenous

TerritoryandNationalParkIsiboroScure(TIPNIS).TIPNISisoneofthe

largestareasofbiodiversityinthecountrywithover700speciesoffauna

and 400 species of flora (Kenner). It also reported to have oil andsignificant hydrocarbon reserves. The TIPNIS march is the longest in

Boliviashistory,coveringover600kilometers,beginninginAugustinthe

lowlandsofTrinidadandarrivinginLaPazonOctober19 th,2011witha

reception of over a million supporters. Among the 16 demands are,

besidesthesolutionoftheTIPNISconflict,the saneamiento

Chaco tarijeo, and respect for la consulta, the consultation by

governmentandoutsideentities,requiredbynationalandinternational

law.

The issue of building a road that will go through the TIPNIS is

complex, for 3 reasons in particular: (1) its support by colonos and

campesinos,includingthecocagrowersofChaparefortheaccessitwould

give them to the La Pazmarket, (2) its connection with an aggressive

national plan of exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons (730,000

hectares were identified in 2010 for exploration) and (3) its foreign

interests:theprojectisfundedbyBrazil,aspartofalargerpackagethat

willenablethiscountrytoconsolidateitshegemonyintheregion,through

megaprojects, extractivism, and other capitalbased initiatives (Miriam

Garca).

The government has argued that the highway will lead to

development for the indigenous communities in TIPNIS, and for the


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regionsofBeniandCochabamba(Kenner).PresidentMoralesalongwith

otherofficialshaverepeatedlystatedthatwhethertheindigenouspeople

wantitornot,theroadwillbebuilt.Theirresponsetothemarch:thatit

neoliberalism and a conservative government. The argument then was

thatpolicebrutalityandrepressionwerethusjustified,althoughitstillis

notclearwhogavetheorder.

With several hundred wounded, the death of a child, failed

dialoguesduringthemarchandtheresignationoftheministersofdefense

(Cecilia Chacn) and government (Sacha Llorenti), one has to wonder

aboutthehealthanddirectionofthegovernmentproject. AlfredoRada(formerministerofgovernmentfromJanuary2007 January2010)stated

recently,thatthegovernmentgrupodecompaerosthat

wasmarchingtopreventthebuildingofahighwaythroughtheTIPNIS,

was looking for the overthrowof the government. I believe that was a

19

OnOctober24,2011,PresidentEvoMoralessignedoffthelawthat

centraldemand.WhilethissigningsuggestsapossiblereturnofMorales

Constitution, the direction of the government as awhole, andMorales

withinit,isstilluncertain.

In essence what TIPNIS reveals is the still present stillcolonial

strugglebetweenlifevisionsandtheunderlyingthemeandmeaningof

development. The struggle between, on the one side, the extractivist

model that sees the exploitation and export of natural resources as

income, progress and development and, on the other, perspectives

wealth.20 As a newspaper editorial in Quito recently stated (Luna), so

similararebothnationsandhistoriesand,wemightadd,sosimilarare

thetensionsandcontradictionsbetweenlifevisionsandStatepolitics.

19 Interview with Alfredo Rada in ERBOL, Oct. 12, 2011.20 For an excellent analysis of the problematic and the particular role of Vice

President lvaro Garca Linera see the interview with Silvia Rivera Cusicanquiavailable at:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCqVJNnefcw&feature=share].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCqVJNnefcw&feature=sharehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCqVJNnefcw&feature=share


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Inclosing,whatthepresentscenarioinBoliviaandEcuadormake

increasinglyclearisthatthehopeforandthemakingofanewsociety,

ableandwillingtoconfrontcoloniallegaciesandpatternsofpower,andto

visionsandlogics,includingbuenviviror collective wellbeing, are not in governments or politically elected

officials,norprobablyintheStateitself,butinsteadinthecommunities,

movements,andpeoples.Inthissense,thewordsofAbueloZenon,the

voiceofAfroEcuadoriancollectivememory,seemparticularlyfitting:

Wecannotforgetthatourrighttoliveintheseterritoriesisborninthehistoric reparationof the damage/harm thatmeant the dispersionofourAfricanbloodthroughAmerica,dispersionthatthroughthewillofotherwehadtolivethesehundredsofyearsbeforetheconfiguringoftheStateswhichnoworder/regulateus.

Whatwearetodayaspeopleiswhatweneverwantedtobe,becausewhatweare todaydoesnotdependsolelyonourwillordesiretobe.TodaywearewhatthelawsoftheStatedirectanddictatethatwewillbe(AbueloZenoncitedinGarca2010,66,67.

[Nopodemosolvidarquenuestroderechoavivirenestosterritorios,nacedelareparacinhistricadeldaoquesignificladispersindenuestrasangreAfricanaporAmrica.Dispersinqueporlavoluntadde

los otros tuvimos que vivir estos cientos de aos antes de laconfiguracindelosEstadosqueahoranosordenan.

Loqueahorasomoscomopuebloesloquenuncaquisimosser,porqueloqueahorasomosnodependesolamentedenuestravoluntad.AhorasomosloquelasleyesdelosEstadosnosordenanynosmandanqueseamos].

Assuch,itseemsevermorerelevanttoaskifwhatwearewitnessing

incountrieslikeBoliviaandEcuadortodayisnotacolonialityrevisited.

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