evo, mandela, m l.king jr: human rights in the 21st century

Across the world one can see the progress towards a more democratic inclusive world is slow but finally taking root as arcane, die hard ideas come down and are swept into the heaps of history
by modern liberal democracy and globalization. The worls is one and was always one,however,man's inhumanity to man can only continue up to a certain point, called the departure point. A departure point from which being racist is increasingly a negative towards business, national economies and globalization as a whole. In this sense globalization is a good thing, it is forcing people accross the world to work together and to adapt or perish. Nonetheless human rights has not been an easy goal to reach, it took not only the sacrifice of slaves, indian subjugation etc, but also the initiative of a few such as Martin Luther king jr in the U.S.A., Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Evo Morales in Bolivia to fight for democracy and human rights on behalf of the masses and thus deepen democratic participation. Democracy is only strengtenend when it is inclusive to all not just a few. Evo, Mandela and Martin Luther king Jr., fought for human rights so that people of other color can have a fair shot at life in their society. Thanks to people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther king Junior, and Evo Morales, countless of disenfranchised indians, blacks and others destined by the elites as NOT HUMAN, have finally their chance to access opportunities to a better life. There is a reason for all things. Tragically, human progress is slow because of this, tragedies, war, death, injustice, had to take place before a more democratic society and new era dawns uppon. Ironically, it is injustice, racism, and inequality that helps to promote leaders such as Evo Morales or Nelson Mandela into power. So it can also be said that injustice, racism, exclussion, denial of human rights is what ACTUALLY PROMOTES human rights, more democracy and tolerance... So in essense EVO MORALES HAS TO GIVE THANKS TO THE policies of GONI, IMPERIALISM AND RACISM IN BOLIVIA for allowing his party to win the elections.

emocracy is only strengtenend when it is inclusive to all not just a few. Evo, Mandela and Martin Luther king Jr., fought for human rights so that people of other color can have a fair shot at life in their society. Thanks to people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther king Junior, and Evo Morales, countless of disenfranchised indians, blacks and others destined by the elites as NOT HUMAN, have finally their chance to access opportunities to a better life.

First of all, Evo had done nothing to improve the lives of the poor and indigenous. In fact, they are severely disappointed with him because on top of their already miserable lives, he has now managed to ensure there are more homeless, more jobless and fewer markets for their products. These are not better life opportunities. This situation is creating over 100,000 new poor in Bolivia each year (103,000 new poor in 2008 in Bolivia according to the government's own statistics).

It's all rhetoric my friend and you took the bait. But that's what happens to most people who don't actually live here. It's very easy to believe everything Evo says is true. He's very charismatic. Don't blame you at all for falling for it.

On the ground, Morales is not King, nor is he Mandela, he is just a populist leader with no identifiable virtue. He is not really socialist, he just likes the speech and it is functional to him. He is not doing anything for anyone but himself, yet he has a propaganda machine that would make Joseph Goebbels envy him. He has managed to successfully export his image like very few. Even educated people like your self believe in him and think of him as an equal to these two great men.
I just hope that more and more people have both the curiosity and the honesty to discover his true face and denounce it before it is to late. Let's not forget that having a racist in public office running a country can lead to catastrophic results.

I believe Evo is a murderous thug who will do anything to remain in power. It suits his needs to say that white people are evil, and brown people are good. Almost everyone will agree with him. But with a loss of free speech, and the ability to imprison anyone who runs for election against him, he has become a dictator, whos only goal is to keep power. Having people killed in both Pando and Santa Cruz, and blaming others is his usual operating style. His legacy will be two Bolivias. It is both necessary and inevitable.

Evo can hardly be described as being a murderous thug. Evo is no Hitler, though he is often called names as being communist, dictator, thug etc,etc,etc. Not surprised, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mandela were also called thugs and racists, were imprisoned and one was even killed for speaking out against the elitist conservative establishment. If Evo was a murderous thug, he would have established a Gestapo office in Santa Cruz. There are no mass graves or executions taking place in Santa Cruz. Are there any mass graves or mass executions taking place in Santa Cruz? We do not see any, or at least there is no evidence that mass killings are taking place in Santa Cruz. However, I do think that he was provoked into doing so by the Santa Cruz conservative establishment when they did their own version of Crystallnacht a la Santa Cruz style by the cambas. But Evo is not a murderer so he did not send the military into Santa Cruz. Unlike his predecessors, dictators such as Goni, Evo has shown that he values all life even of those who commit treason. Good Day.

I agree with you in your statement about the absence of mass graveyard or even rumors of any, but make no mistake, Morales rose and stays in power with violence and death. If you do some honest yet not very profound investigation you will discover that he is as efficient killing as Goni, which you mention as a dictator. The main difference is that he, Morales, is in power and will stay for some more time and the other has retired.
The fact that he did not act in Santa Cruz as he did in Pando, Sucre, Oruro, Yungas, Cochabamba, etc., probably resides in the fact that these were seen as test balloons of what might happen in a place with a more massive opposition, like Santa Cruz. You may not see much Bolivian TV up there, but we saw an unarmed preacher shot live, and apparently the supposed rescuers just dumped him at the other side of the air strip just to die after half of a day of being shot again several times. This is just one case and it is documented. It so happens that there are plenty more that go back even before he rose to power.
I don´t care, which side one sympathizes in this story as long as he or she tries to honest. One problem in taking sides with a known violent and arrogant politician in the highest public office is that he might read one´s endorsement as an incentive to get bolder in violence and arrogance.
This guy is responsible for about one violent death per month since in office, does one have to wait until this numbers rise to the hundreds, thousands or more to "Scream Bloody Murder" like in Christiane Amanpour´s CNN program. I have worked in western Africa, and I can tell you one thing. Bloody murderers have a stink that can be seen before you even smell them.

Ziad Mubarak wrote:

Evo can hardly be described as being a murderous thug. Evo is no Hitler, though he is often called names as being communist, dictator, thug etc,etc,etc. Not surprised, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mandela were also called thugs and racists, were imprisoned and one was even killed for speaking out against the elitist conservative establishment. If Evo was a murderous thug, he would have established a Gestapo office in Santa Cruz. There are no mass graves or executions taking place in Santa Cruz. Are there any mass graves or mass executions taking place in Santa Cruz? We do not see any, or at least there is no evidence that mass killings are taking place in Santa Cruz. However, I do think that he was provoked into doing so by the Santa Cruz conservative establishment when they did their own version of Crystallnacht a la Santa Cruz style by the cambas. But Evo is not a murderer so he did not send the military into Santa Cruz. Unlike his predecessors, dictators such as Goni, Evo has shown that he values all life even of those who commit treason. Good Day.

Actually, Evo's government is responsible for nearly 50 deaths already. As to mass graves, his version is mass-capture. There are over 200 political prisoners in La Paz who have yet to see a fair trial. Some might say rotting unjustly in prison is not unlike death.

Another form of killing is to spread so many lies and slander about someone that you kill them socially and/or politically. Evo's government has spent over 66 million dollar of THE PEOPLE'S MONEY to pay for smear campaigns on TV and radio (he could have built at least 10,000 houses for the poor with that money)

Oh, and I seem to recall Evo promised, and I quote, "If there is ONE SINGLE death while I am President, I will immediately resign".

Something else he said, "I love to make women cry".

That's the Evo you admire.

Shall I go on?

We are not getting the real news... We are getting the news Evo wants us to get. He is a thug and will do anything to stay in power. They tried this before and the redistribution of wealth did not work. There has to be change in Bolivia but it has to be gradual… They go from one extreme to the other.

Ziad Mubarak wrote:

Across the world one can see the progress towards a more democratic inclusive world is slow but finally taking root as arcane, die hard ideas come down and are swept into the heaps of history
by modern liberal democracy and globalization. The worls is one and was always one,however,man's inhumanity to man can only continue up to a certain point, called the departure point. A departure point from which being racist is increasingly a negative towards business, national economies and globalization as a whole. In this sense globalization is a good thing, it is forcing people accross the world to work together and to adapt or perish. Nonetheless human rights has not been an easy goal to reach, it took not only the sacrifice of slaves, indian subjugation etc, but also the initiative of a few such as Martin Luther king jr in the U.S.A., Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Evo Morales in Bolivia to fight for democracy and human rights on behalf of the masses and thus deepen democratic participation. Democracy is only strengtenend when it is inclusive to all not just a few. Evo, Mandela and Martin Luther king Jr., fought for human rights so that people of other color can have a fair shot at life in their society. Thanks to people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther king Junior, and Evo Morales, countless of disenfranchised indians, blacks and others destined by the elites as NOT HUMAN, have finally their chance to access opportunities to a better life. There is a reason for all things. Tragically, human progress is slow because of this, tragedies, war, death, injustice, had to take place before a more democratic society and new era dawns uppon. Ironically, it is injustice, racism, and inequality that helps to promote leaders such as Evo Morales or Nelson Mandela into power. So it can also be said that injustice, racism, exclussion, denial of human rights is what ACTUALLY PROMOTES human rights, more democracy and tolerance... So in essense EVO MORALES HAS TO GIVE THANKS TO THE policies of GONI, IMPERIALISM AND RACISM IN BOLIVIA for allowing his party to win the elections.

Cocha wrote:

We are not getting the real news... We are getting the news Evo wants us to get. He is a thug and will do anything to stay in power. They tried this before and the redistribution of wealth did not work. There has to be change in Bolivia but it has to be gradual… They go from one extreme to the other. <quoted text>

Now they are going to redistribute the land - again. By sending people from the Chapare to live in Pando. Juan Ramon Quintana today said they will send 2000-3000 families from each of the Chapare's coca growing unions to live in Pando and give all the families land. That's 6 unions so 12,000 to 18,000 families who will be given free land in Pando. To do what? To grow more coca.

I read a while back that Evo had proposed building a super highway straight North from Chapare to Pando and into Brazil. For what? It would cross the most desolate region of Bolivia. Then someone pointed out that straight North of Pando and continuing on through Brazil leads directly to Colombia's prime cocaine producing region.

Hmmmm...

So instead of investing in a super highway just move the coca producers to Pando. Makes sense. If you're into narcotrafficking I mean.

Not to mention that Evo is redistributing his followers into the departments where he LOST the vote and is doing so right before elections in December so he can be sure he gets enough votes to win in each department.

Just saying.

Most nations would agree, human settlements in desolate parts of their territory is a national security issue. Population transfers within their borders is what many countries do to protect their borders and the security of the country. A few countries who practice human population transfers today for security reasons are: Israeli settlements,Russian Murmansk region and in Manchuria where the russians move ethnic russians to protect their borders from China and Japan. Historically speaking, the United States forcibly removed thousands of Indians from Oklahoma, Wyomming (trail of tears) and also send settlers to occupy what was then Mexican territory. Bolivia it looks will make large pupulation transfers to the oriental region of its territory for the same purposes, settlers, settlers and more settlers. Any country involved in securing international borders is always aimed at national sovereingty. Probably it looks like what Evo has in mind is the security of his country more than mere coca plantations. Evo is no drug dealer mafioso thoug,the stigma is there because just because people grow coca in a country doesnt mean their leaders are cartel leaders. It cannot be assumed that just because marijuana growth is high in California or Colombia their leaders are cartel owners. An objective and in-depth look is necessary before making judgements free of sentiments or political discourse, for a mere generalization. But judgements against any leader from George Washington to Obama, Mandela or Evo is understanble since politics is dirty and any politician today can be judged in the most profane manner or called whatever name his opponents adhere to without making the least objective analysis. One man's hero is not another man's terrorist, though truth is deeper than this.

WTF??? So you are saying that Uncle Evo is transferring people in the interests of national security?*guffaw*

Forgive me if I see around this argument into the words and actions that have been preceding the movement of folks (many of which actually have no idea how to successfully farm or utilize the land they are being given).

...and I'm not even getting into the drug thug stuff you talk about later in your post. I just am trying to figure out if you are serious about this "resettlement" being purely out of concern for securing the borders of Bolivia. Really?

Morales is not worried about Bolivias national security, he just cares about perpetuating him self in power. In power of what, or at what cost? He doesn´t really care. I am convinced that anyone trying to explain him otherwise is either blind or doing his job. This man does not care for Bolivia nor any Bolivian other than him self. Corruption has many face, intellectual corruption in my eyes is probably the ugliest one.

ZIAD MUBARAK wrote:

Most nations would agree, human settlements in desolate parts of their territory is a national security issue. Population transfers within their borders is what many countries do to protect their borders and the security of the country. A few countries who practice human population transfers today for security reasons are: Israeli settlements,Russian Murmansk region and in Manchuria where the russians move ethnic russians to protect their borders from China and Japan. Historically speaking, the United States forcibly removed thousands of Indians from Oklahoma, Wyomming (trail of tears) and also send settlers to occupy what was then Mexican territory. Bolivia it looks will make large pupulation transfers to the oriental region of its territory for the same purposes, settlers, settlers and more settlers. Any country involved in securing international borders is always aimed at national sovereingty. Probably it looks like what Evo has in mind is the security of his country more than mere coca plantations. Evo is no drug dealer mafioso thoug,the stigma is there because just because people grow coca in a country doesnt mean their leaders are cartel leaders. It cannot be assumed that just because marijuana growth is high in California or Colombia their leaders are cartel owners. An objective and in-depth look is necessary before making judgements free of sentiments or political discourse, for a mere generalization. But judgements against any leader from George Washington to Obama, Mandela or Evo is understanble since politics is dirty and any politician today can be judged in the most profane manner or called whatever name his opponents adhere to without making the least objective analysis. One man's hero is not another man's terrorist, though truth is deeper than this.

Coca farmers plant coca. They don't plant bananas. Anyways, they already said that when they get there they will be planting coca. Now coca itself, we all know, is not a drug. The problem is, Bolivia has already surpassed BY THOUSANDS OF HECTARES its OWN legally established limits. Although coca is used to produce many legal and delicious foods and used in traditional ceremonies and rights (heck I even like the occasional cup of coca tea) the amount of coca being produced in Bolivia FAR SURPASSES the ability of the Bolivian people to consume it in legal forms. It is already known the coca is being used to produce cocaine. If national security were truly the preocupation here, Evo would do all in his power to CURTAIL the production of more coca, not provide people the ability to produce more.

In addition, national security will be severely THREATENED as poverty in Pando is rampant and Pandinos are questioning why, if the government has so much land to give away, it isn't being given to the poverty-stricken Pando natives first.

I suppose if tomorrow Obama were to declare he was moving 18,000 families into your neighborhood in Virginia (a US state that has a very high poverty level) you would protest and ask the land be given to poor Virginia natives too. Wouldn't you?

I agree 100%, couldn´t have put it better. But in this case I feel it´s time wasted.

Well as a follow up to your comments, I agree that it would not be acceptable to simply transfer people for economic reasons. However, I see this taking place when the security of a country is at risk. A clear example of what I am trying to get across is what happened in Yougoslavia, a state which no longer exists today due to different ethnic groups quarreling with each other to the point of war, and worse ethnic cleaninsing. Can any country today afford this? Yugoslavia was a deeply divided country along ethinic and religious lines. If we ask ourselves why? Surely there is nothing wrong with having a different religion or ethnic background yet in Yugoslavia some ethnic groups did not want to be part of Yugoslavia and you could even argue they never felt or identified with what Yugoslavia stood for so they went ahead and declared their own country as a result Yugoslavia no longer exists. However, does any country today want this to happen to their country? I do not think there exists any country which wants to brake up into smaller states. Not even the European union. My point is, Bolivia is in danger of running the same fate as Yugoslavia and I think Evo has been reading the minds of his opponents in the oriental region of Bolivia who no longer feel LOYALTY to the Bolivian state and would glady declare independence given the chance to do so, or at lest are introducing the seeds of division. Autonomy is the first step to division, however, it does not always leads to independence no one can predict history, itis a phantom. The fates of nations are decided on simple and it appears that Evo knows what may happen if he does not take steps to keep his country together,and it is a careful balance. Yet most countries from Israel, China, Russia and even the U.S. today, I believe, will take steps to reduce the risks of secession along ethnic lines and will work towards maintaining unity with democratic institutions.

Ziad Mubarak wrote:

Well as a follow up to your comments, I agree that it would not be acceptable to simply transfer people for economic reasons. However, I see this taking place when the security of a country is at risk. A clear example of what I am trying to get across is what happened in Yougoslavia, a state which no longer exists today due to different ethnic groups quarreling with each other to the point of war, and worse ethnic cleaninsing. Can any country today afford this? Yugoslavia was a deeply divided country along ethinic and religious lines. If we ask ourselves why? Surely there is nothing wrong with having a different religion or ethnic background yet in Yugoslavia some ethnic groups did not want to be part of Yugoslavia and you could even argue they never felt or identified with what Yugoslavia stood for so they went ahead and declared their own country as a result Yugoslavia no longer exists. However, does any country today want this to happen to their country? I do not think there exists any country which wants to brake up into smaller states. Not even the European union. My point is, Bolivia is in danger of running the same fate as Yugoslavia and I think Evo has been reading the minds of his opponents in the oriental region of Bolivia who no longer feel LOYALTY to the Bolivian state and would glady declare independence given the chance to do so, or at lest are introducing the seeds of division. Autonomy is the first step to division, however, it does not always leads to independence no one can predict history, itis a phantom. The fates of nations are decided on simple and it appears that Evo knows what may happen if he does not take steps to keep his country together,and it is a careful balance. Yet most countries from Israel, China, Russia and even the U.S. today, I believe, will take steps to reduce the risks of secession along ethnic lines and will work towards maintaining unity with democratic institutions.

Ah, my friend, you've fallen for Evo's propaganda like everyone else "Eastern Bolivia wants division" "Eastern Bolivia wants ethnic cleansing" blah blah blah.

First let's clear one thing up - Pando is NORTH.

I think you've got zero understanding of what autonomy is. You do realize, don't you, that you live in a country where ALL 50 STATES ARE AUTONOMOUS??????????

So what gives you the right to live in an autonomous state and not Bolivians??????

Ziad Mubarak wrote:

Well as a follow up to your comments, I agree that it would not be acceptable to simply transfer people for economic reasons. However, I see this taking place when the security of a country is at risk. A clear example of what I am trying to get across is what happened in Yougoslavia, a state which no longer exists today due to different ethnic groups quarreling with each other to the point of war, and worse ethnic cleaninsing. Can any country today afford this? Yugoslavia was a deeply divided country along ethinic and religious lines. If we ask ourselves why? Surely there is nothing wrong with having a different religion or ethnic background yet in Yugoslavia some ethnic groups did not want to be part of Yugoslavia and you could even argue they never felt or identified with what Yugoslavia stood for so they went ahead and declared their own country as a result Yugoslavia no longer exists. However, does any country today want this to happen to their country? I do not think there exists any country which wants to brake up into smaller states. Not even the European union. My point is, Bolivia is in danger of running the same fate as Yugoslavia and I think Evo has been reading the minds of his opponents in the oriental region of Bolivia who no longer feel LOYALTY to the Bolivian state and would glady declare independence given the chance to do so, or at lest are introducing the seeds of division. Autonomy is the first step to division, however, it does not always leads to independence no one can predict history, itis a phantom. The fates of nations are decided on simple and it appears that Evo knows what may happen if he does not take steps to keep his country together,and it is a careful balance. Yet most countries from Israel, China, Russia and even the U.S. today, I believe, will take steps to reduce the risks of secession along ethnic lines and will work towards maintaining unity with democratic institutions.

By the way, if what you're saying in true, then Obama should put every Texan alive in jail.

He'd never catch us ;)

Callate wrote:

He'd never catch us ;)

Hahahahah. I know, I was just making the point that regionalism is not the same as secessionism. Neither is autonomy.

The guy above has bought into the whole propaganda thing that because Santa Cruz wants autonomy it wants to secede. The two are not the same thing. Of course there must be some people here who would love that, but most cruceños, benianos and tarijeños are FAR from wanting to secede.

And if he were right, then Texans would have been called secessionists looooooong ago - we're always talking about the Republic of Texas etc. Hee hee.

Evo Morales is the hero of freedom and democracy and charismatic leader determined to stop the exploitation of Latin America by the facist neo con companies from North America looting Latin American citizens. The neo cons and their facist allies in the Honduran congress have seized control of Honduras in a brutal military coup led by the elite facist dictator Micheletti and his henchman SOA torture trained General Romeo Vasquez. Hey Zelaya give the facist dictator Micheletti the famous Bush Texas 3 stomp. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Hurray for Mel Zelaya and Evo Morales.