Violence and Discrimination in the Process of the Constituent Assembly

Dear Readers:

Thank you for your patience the past couple of weeks as the holidays and my family’s move has taken attention away from posting here. But we are back, with plenty to cover in the days ahead – from the dialog between the Morales government and the governors to the commemoration this week in Cochabamba of a year since last January’s fatal conflicts over Constitutional reform.

The battles over political change in Bolivia are about not one thing, but many – regional and economic interest, political party power, competing visions of good governance, and without question, race. There are many who will argue here that “race” is being used by some here as a smokescreen to advance other agendas. But the issue of race in Bolivian politics runs deep and requires a clear-eyed analysis, and not analysis by a foreigner, even one who has lived here for a decade.

This Blog post, by Democracy Center team member Leny Olivera, examines the issue of race, gender and discrimination in Bolivia’s political conflicts with a report on a recent meeting on the topic held here in Cochabamba just before the holidays. This isn’t the first thing we have written on this topic and it won’t be the last.

Jim Shultz

Violence and Discrimination in the Process of the Constituent Assembly

Just before the holidays, I participated in a workshop on “Gender and Political Violence”, which looked in particular at the role of those issues in the Constituent Assembly process. Fifty people participated in the event, the majority of which were women. Those attending included domestic workers from five departments of the country; members of feminist assemblies of Potosí, La Paz and Cochabamba; and several young people’s organizations.

The workshop began with an analysis and evaluation of the process of the Constituent Assembly. Then the meeting looked at the forms of political violence in Bolivia from history to present and then we held a roundtable discussion conversation to gather perspectives and proposals of action on a set of issues – the results of the Constituent Assembly, the practices of political and gender violence in Bolivia, and the general political climate.

Political violence in Bolivia has existed since colonization. This violence emerged from groups in power to introduce fear and make the subjection of people easier. Later, during the dictatorships of the 1970’s, the French police advised Bolivia’s dictators how to most effectively intimidate the population. With this type of violence many massacres occurred, such as the massacre of All Saints Day. In the 25 years of democracy since 1985, economic repression replaced political repression. Many workers were fired after the implementation of the new model of capitalist development, which only brought more poverty and unemployment to the country.

One type of violence that is not usually so visible when looking at history is gender violence. Where is its origin? Throughout history all states have been based on a patriarchal system. This is a system of oppression and violence that is displayed in every area of life across relationships of power. Explaining political violence by exploring domestic life is not usually done. Instead, generally we associate the political with the public and the domestic or daily work with the private – which we associate with gender.

Julieta Paredes, a participant from the Feminist Assembly of La Paz gave a clear example of this in her exposition “Women are of the Home and Men are of the Street.” This is a clear example that reflects this division. However, we women are half of the population and all themes of life concern us, not only those related to health and daily life.

In the last months in Bolivia these systems of oppression have been even more in evidence when an indigenous person became president and the privileges of a powerful minority were put into question.

Testimonies of violence and discrimination during the Constituent Assembly

Another participant, Carmen Julia, part of the Feminist Assembly of Sucre, explained that the situation in Sucre now is terrible. People in disagreement with the attitude of the Interinstitutional Committee about moving of the capital are intimidated – their photographs displayed on big posters with their names and addresses; blacklisted from Sucre’s society. In addition, a group of University students studying sociology and history declared themselves Nazis and shaved their heads to demonstrate their ideology. She also explained that the worst violence and discrimination was against indigenous women.

[The photo above pictures Guadalupe Herrera, a staff member of the City of Sucre who was among many indiginous women attacked and insulted during the Assembly process.]

Antonio Abla from Sucre described how one indigenous member of the Assembly, Mrs. Isabel Domínguez, a member of MAS and a Quechua from the region of Cochabamba, was insulted at the beginning of the sessions of the Assembly. When she began to speak in her native Quechua, an assembly member of PODEMOS from Beni shouted: “India de mierda (Indian of shit), to speak, first learn to speak in Spanish.” This violent and racist attitude was seen even before the violent conflicts that drew attention to Sucre. People spat in the faces of many indigenous women and people from the countryside and cast insults like ‘ignorant chola’ (derogatory term for women who wear typical clothing) and ‘llama’.

Julieta Paredes of the Feminist Assembly of La Paz, observed that the discrimination was directed towards indigenous women who were not professionals and were viewed as “illegitimate” among the traditional sectors of power in Bolivia. The discrimination that the women experienced was more heartbreaking in not respecting their right to participate in politics – a right to give opinions and to make decisions on what is done in our communities and our society.

During the Constituent Assembly sessions in Sucre Mrs. Nelida Faldin, an assembly member from a rural community in Beni, commented that for her the sessions were like a landlord and an indentured servant sitting the same table. For many assembly members who came from an upper or upper middle class business background, it was not only a shock to be at the same table, but also to be using the same bathrooms.

In Cochabamba, during marches of the civic committees many people, myself included, were direct witnesses to racial insults like: ‘llama vomit’, ‘ediondo’ (someone who smells bad), ‘foolish pieces of crap’, ‘coca eater’, ‘shit eater’.

Especially after the conflicts of last January in Cochabamba, there has been more open racism and intollerance, from both sides. But this escalation feels like it has been provoked by the leaders on each side, rather than just something spontaneous by the people. There are political interests in Bolivia that want to see the nation divided and openly-expressed racism has contributed to that polarization.

These and many other racist and violent attitudes that many people experienced in public spaces generally were not taken into account throughout the Assembly process. Because of this, participants in the Cochabamba workshop agreed on the importance of including daily life in the political analysis. This helped us to understand the limitations of the national constitution. During the process of change in Bolivia, racist and violent attitudes that have long existed under the surface have been on glaring public display. Some of these were provoked, and others were raised when indigenous people and women acceded to spaces of power as never before. Even if the new Constitution, which is more inclusive and promotes equality for all, is approved, it will take a longer process than this to realize these rights in the reality of daily life.

Written by Leny Olivera