The Coca Fair
Readers:
Here's a quick announcement about an event being held next week in La Paz – the Coca Fair. If you are the area and interested have a look.
Jim Shultz
The Coca Fair
The Fourth Campaign for Coca and Sovereignty will take place in La Paz, Bolivia between October 23 and 29, 2006, sponsored by the Colectivo Coca y Soberania and the Comunidad THOA. The weeklong event includes a fair exhibiting coca and its products, a two-day seminar on depenalization of the coca leaf, and various art and music-related events.
The fair will display different types of coca and lejia and a variety of art pieces associated with coca. Coca producers and artists will be on hand to present their various wares. The accompanying two-day seminar (October 26-27) will look at the struggle for depenalization of the coca leaf, including advances made with the Constituent Assembly and strategies for preparing a platform to address this issue at the UN’s meeting on drug policy in Vienna, Austria in 2008.
For details on the events planned, including their locations and times, click here.
Here's a quick announcement about an event being held next week in La Paz – the Coca Fair. If you are the area and interested have a look.
Jim Shultz
The Coca Fair
The Fourth Campaign for Coca and Sovereignty will take place in La Paz, Bolivia between October 23 and 29, 2006, sponsored by the Colectivo Coca y Soberania and the Comunidad THOA. The weeklong event includes a fair exhibiting coca and its products, a two-day seminar on depenalization of the coca leaf, and various art and music-related events.
The fair will display different types of coca and lejia and a variety of art pieces associated with coca. Coca producers and artists will be on hand to present their various wares. The accompanying two-day seminar (October 26-27) will look at the struggle for depenalization of the coca leaf, including advances made with the Constituent Assembly and strategies for preparing a platform to address this issue at the UN’s meeting on drug policy in Vienna, Austria in 2008.
For details on the events planned, including their locations and times, click here.
posted by The Democracy Center at 11:17 PM
The Democracy Center, based in Cochabamba Bolivia and San Francisco California, works globally to advance human rights through a combination of investigation and reporting, training citizens in the art of public advocacy, and organizing international citizen campaigns. If you like the Blog, consider becoming a subscriber to The Democracy Center's free e-newsletter by sending us an email at 
22 Comments:
Going to Austria will be a waste of time. Only North Korea doesn't subscribe to the accord and no country will legalize coca w/o having something in return and we have nothing to offer. Best case scenario, hearings might be had after a decade of lobbying. Actual legalization not gonna happen. Save the $$$ and build another monument to Evo.
Would Jim care to comment on the MAS official that confessed that less 10% of the coca goes to "traditional" uses? of course not.
Jim, an honest question here: Why do you think they want to grow more coca? Who do you suppose will be their primary customer for coca leaf?
THe Primary customer? Well that would be Tony Montoya.
come one guys. The U.S. and European drug problems are not Bolivia's. If foreign countries can't get their populations to follow their own laws, it doesn't mean that they get to make more laws for Bolivians to follow.
The U.S. makes more light arms (guns) than any other country in the world nad they end up in many many countries in which guns are illegal. No world leaders, however, has been elected or empowered on an "Arma Cero" campaign. With major industries in the U.S. dwindling (cars mainly, but I see others on their way out), an eradication campaign of all gun-producing factories in the U.S. would crush us even more. That would be a more than poetic justice.
Let Bolivia produce as much coca as it wants. If there is a buyer, then they should sell it. Why should Bolivians care where it goes. They're politicians have been addicted to neoliberalism ever since rich countries stopped playing by the rules (The U.S. has many subsidie, but requires other countries to get rid of theirs). If rich countries are addicted to Andean products, anyone with problems only with this is quite a hypocrite.
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/world_drug_report.html
Actually I checked the United Nations report on drug consumption and Bolivia's use of cocaine is highest in South America and catching up to the use in the US. (2.8% US compare 1.9% Bolivia). This is espically interesting considering the differences in financial resources.
If Bolivia were to take the stance that you suggest (If there is a buyer, then they should sell it. Why should Bolivians care where it goes.) How will Morales justify his constant railing against US imperialism and who would then complain if the US wages war on Bolivian production?
Marcello M.
*Tony Montana
*Inigo Montoya
Norman, who else could it be? The CIA!
Marcello M.
I can’t believe I am even responding to you. You made a gross misinterpretation of the figures. 1.9% of Bolivia’s population (as the UN doc refers to- not 1.9% of the cocaine) is a tiny amount compared to 2.8% of the U.S. population. As you mentioned about the income differential, yeah it might make sense that the few in Bolivia that have the money to spend it on cocaine actually do (a cheap swipe I know). But this is a minuscule amount of the world market of cocaine, especially Bolivia’s. It might make sense to look at of a country’s population, but should it really matter to the UN that 150,000 people in Bolivia use cocaine, while 8.5 million people do it in the U.S.? Plus these statistics would make some sense if we took into account the amount of people that would use cocaine if it was produced (along with the leaf from which it’s extracted) in the U.S.
The fact is that little of Bolivia’s coca gets made into cocaine for sale in the U.S. anymore. Most of it gets sent to Brazil and Argentina for transport to Europe or use their (The Andean Information Network has done loads good work on this).
Your last two points don’t make any sense at all. Coca policy is only one of the things that justify Evo’s anger at the U.S. A boat-load of other economic policies that ultimately sabotaged the Bolivian economy’s ability at self-help are also on the list. And my point is that the U.S. should not wage war on Bolivian production if it is their own problem.
Once again, I feel it is overstepping the U.S.’s national bounds to force the existence of laws in other countries, laws that affect the populations in a variety of different ways, simply because the U.S. has a drug problem. The UN hasn't made an "arma cero" law at all. Plus, cocaine is really not the world’s worst drug or its biggest problem. In fact, if the U.S. really believes it has a drug problem, it might think about apologizing for the trafficking it did of cocaine during the Contra-war in Nicaragua. This is not really a conspiracy theory, in case that was your first instinct. John Kerry prosecuted people in court for these offenses and they were not acquitted.
I was responding to your statement that "The U.S. and European drug problems are not Bolivia's. " Percentage of usage in the population gives relative impact on the society. Thats why the UN uses it.
If the same number of Bolivans used drugs as in the US, every Bolivian would be a junkie!
To the second point I made to you, I was simply pointing out the bad strategic position it would put President Morales in. How could he complain about imperialism if he took an imperialist stance with regards to drugs? Thats why he still makes some effort to show that he is trying to do something about illegal production.
Marcello M.
so I think one problem some of us have is coming to this conversation thinking that everyone else understands what we do. It would help if we drew out our arguments were better put together- mine included.
So, assuming I’m a beginner, what is imperialist about Evo’s coca policy? I’m expecting that we’ll have different definitions of imperialism.
Ben
I meant it in the marxist meaning :"the highest stage of capitalism." In response to your "Let Bolivia produce as much coca as it wants. If there is a buyer, then they should sell it. Why should Bolivians care where it goes." Of course I could use the old definition of obtaining and occupying colonies and dependencies, which would then be hard to apply to anyone without streching the definition these days. After all Evo does not force citizens of other countries to use cocaine, he just would be saying to the world I am going to sell my product no matter what the effect you percieve on your economy and people. Do you see how this situation would damage his ability to denounce US imperialism? This is what I meant.
Marcello M.
Sorry for coming back in late. Ben, I get tired of this argument; but the US is bad too, they make weapons! I won't even debate whether there are legitimate uses for weapons versus legitimate uses for cocaine. Often I have to think back to the basics my mom taught me: "Two wrongs don't make a right". If you don't like the US making weapons, cigarettes, alcohol, crystal meth, or Kellogg’s Froot Loops, by all means work to get it stopped. The fact that it has not stopped does not mean that cocaine production is not a bad thing.
Regarding the US making Bolivian law; it does not. Bolivians make Bolivian law. The US, as does any other nation, attempts to influence other states through carrots and sticks. The US provided incentives to Bolivia to encourage them to take up a responsible position concerning drug policy. The US “blackmail” that Evo so often refers to is the US explaining that if Bolivia ceases to be responsible in counter-drug efforts, the incentives will be reduced or eliminated.
Ben, cocaine is a bad thing, ok. Bolivia’s production has no great impact on the US, but the US is still willing to pump millions into the Bolivian economy if Bolivia is willing to make a serious effort at stopping this bad thing. Now Bolivia is looking to substantially increase coca production. Excess coca will lead to a significant increase in cocaine production. This will have a detrimental effect of Bolivia, Brazil, and the European community. Why would you defend this?
I think most Marxist, dependency, and world system theorists might argue that it would be BAD for Bolivia to increase its coca production. Coca isn't cocaine. Which means that coca is a primary product (like, say, sugar or coffee or bananas). It is not a technologically intesive secondary product (like, say, televisions or washer/dryers).
So. What would an increase in Bolivian coca production mean (in terms of dependency theory)? It would make the Bolivian export economy increasingly dependent on the export of cheap primary goods while important more expensive industrial goods. This creates a trade imballance (more wealth goes out than comes in) which produces a pattern of developmental dependency. A drop in the demand for the product (coca, sugar, coffee) would be disastrous, as would a drop in supply (a bad crop yield, for example). Likewise, a drop in consumer demand even for economic reasons (coca isn't as necessary as bananas or milk or corn) would also devastate the coca production sector.
Really, there's no good reason to increase the export of coca. Not in capitalist terms (because it's not a high-value export, at least not until it's processed into cocaine). And certainly not in Marxist economic terms (because it continues to bind the Bolivian producers into a network of dependence relative to industrial producers).
So. Other than a defense of coca as an "autochtonous" product (on par w/ truffles, chorizo, proscioutto, or shark fin), what is the reason to increase coca production? It seems a lackluster short term strategy, and a long term production strategy that only perpetuates economic imperialism. I think Wallterstein (world systems theorist), Cardoso (dependency theorist), and others would heavily disagree. After all, they encouraged third world countries to abandon primary export production (like coca) and focus intead on industrial production (like transistor radios, televisions, or other industrial products).
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Anonymous is wrong about the drug use in Bolivia. In many cities there are drug problems but in Bolivia it is very minor. There is an extremely low percentage of people who use drugs. It is rare to find drug dealers in Bolivia because they can sell it at higher prices abroad in countries where people have more money. The coca leaf is a medicinal and traditional used plant. Anonymous do you live in Bolivia?
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