Re: On the Settler Question

The racialist Walters who originally argued there were no settlers
then argued there were using as a point of reference what I stated
about the PAC in S Africa (in other words backpeddling like a slimy
politician) seems to assume that what characterises a settler is what
others believe they are. In other words when I stated that despite the
whites being in S Africa for 3 centuries makes them no more African
than an Albanian becomes Greek because he is in Greece for  one and a
half decades. The whites in Bolivia consider the indigenous to be
Indian and seek to distance themselves from them in a racialist
manner. Why shouldn't they be expelled by the  indigenous Indian
nationalists? A revolutionary movement would seek their expulsion and
expropriation without compensation of their wealth.



Crisis in Bolivia after vote for autonomy

=B7 Santa Cruz distances itself from capital and Morales
=B7 Poll echoes hostility to indigenous communities

    * Rory Carroll in Santa Cruz
    * The Guardian,
    * Tuesday May 6 2008
    * Article history

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This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday May 06 2008 on p15 of
the International section. It was last updated at 09:55 on May 06
2008.

Bolivia was locked in political crisis yesterday after Santa Cruz
province declared autonomy and renounced the leftwing policies of
President Evo Morales.

Another three provinces are expected to follow suit over the coming
weeks in an open but so far peaceful rebellion which could cripple the
federal government, a leading member of South America's so-called pink
tide.

Santa Cruz, the richest province in the continent's poorest country,
voted overwhelmingly to distance itself from the capital, La Paz, in a
referendum yesterday. The indigenous majority based in the western
highlands still sup****ts the government.

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Rory Carroll: 'Lynchings here are very, very common'
Complete results were not expected for several more days, but early
official tallies from Santa Cruz, an opposition stronghold, said more
than 84% had voted for autonomy, underlining the polarisation. Turnout
was put at 64%.

"Today we begin in Santa Cruz a new republic, a new state," the
prefect, Rub=E9n Costas, told a victory rally. "Today in Santa Cruz
democracy has triumphed. With your vote, we have begun the most
transcendental reform in national memory."

Pro-autonomy sup****ters draped in the province's green-and-white flag
celebrated under palm trees into the night. The province stopped short
of secession, but demanded the right to raise taxes, run a police
force, protect land rights and control some revenues from its gas
fields.

The vote also expressed hostility to the government's championing of
indigenous communities which scrabble for survival in the highlands, a
very different Bolivia to Santa Cruz and the relatively prosperous
eastern lowlands.

Morales, the country's first indigenous president, used to be a llama
herder, coca farmer and trade union leader.

"My family is voting for autonomy because the Indians want to dominate
us," said Olga Tordolla, a woman in a largely indigenous quarter of
Santa Cruz city known as Plan Tres Mil. "They are racist, they hate
white people."

The federal government rejected the referendum as an "illegal survey"
and an attempt by greedy, paler-skinned Bolivians to continue the
social and economic exclusion of indigenous people which dates back to
the Spanish conquest.

In a televised address Morales, who had urged a boycott, said
abstentions and re****ted incidents of fraud rendered the result
illegitimate. "The referendum failed completely," he said.

The president thanked indigenous communities for s****adic protests
yesterday, some of which turned violent, re****tedly leaving one dead
and 25 injured.

"I want to express my respect for the people of Santa Cruz for their
resistance against this separatist referendum. The people are wise to
defend legality, constitutionality and the struggle for equality
between Bolivians."

With another three eastern states - Beni, Pando and Tarija - due to
hold autonomy votes next month the scene would seem to be set for
serious convulsions which could split the country.