What the coup against Evo Morales means to indigenous people like me -
The indigenous-socialist project accomplished what neoliberalism has repeatedly failed to do: redistribute wealth to society’s poorest sectors and uplift those most marginalized. Under Evo and MAS leadership, Bolivia liberated itself as a resource colony. Before the coup, Evo attempted to nationalize its large lithium reserves, an element necessary for electric cars. Since the coup, Tesla’s stocks have skyrocketed. Bolivia rebuked imperialist states like the United States and Canada by taking the path of resource nationalism to redistribute profits across society.
This was Evo’s crime.
“My sin was being indigenous, leftist, and anti-imperialist,” Evo said after being coerced into resigning this week.
His replacement, Jeanine Añez Chávez, agreed. “I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous rites,” the opposition senator tweeted in 2013, “the city is not for the Indians who should stay in the highlands or the Chaco!!!” After Evo’s departure, Chavez declared herself interim president while holding up a large bible, though she failed to get the required quorum in the senate to do so.
Next to her stood Luis Fernando Camacho, a member of the Christian far-right. After Evo’s resignation, Camacho stormed the presidential palace, a flag in one hand and a bible in the other. “The bible is returning to the government palace,” a pastor said on a video while standing next to Camacho. “Pachamama will never return. Today Christ is returning to the Government Palace. Bolivia is for Christ.”
In places where the opposition is strongest, Wiphala flags, symbols of indigenous pride, were lowered and burned. Police officers cut the flags from their uniforms. What were symbolic acts quickly escalated into street-level violence.
MAS members’ houses were burned. Evo’s home was ransacked. Masked armed men began rounding up suspected MAS supporters and indigenous people in the streets, loading them into the back of trucks. A handful of protesters have been killed.
[ID:]let’s look at the timeline:
- 8 days ago, Bolivia cancelled agreement with German mining company for lithium reserves
- This Germany company was a supplier for Tesla, as all their batteries are lithium-based
- Coup happens
- Today, German gigafactory announcement https://t.co/vXTPrCzwfU— Bard (Jack Frost) (@NoHoldsStarBard)November 12, 2019
On this day, 23 October 1956, a spontaneous nationwide revolt broke out across Hungary which saw thousands organise themselves into workers’ councils and militias demanding not a transition to capitalism but rather a socialism controlled by the working class itself. This is a great history of the uprising: https://libcom.org/history/articles/hungary-56 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1243273185857829/?type=3
On this day, 29 October 1918, during the night, sailors in the German Navy refused an order to attack the British in the North Sea. The order was given five times, but each time the sailors resisted, despite 1,000 mutineers being arrested. Over the coming nights the rebellion spread, paralysing the imperial fleet, and led to a revolution and the end of World War I. This is a detailed account by a participant: https://libcom.org/library/wilhelmshaven-revolt-ikarus https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1248845745300573/?type=3
Bracelet of Queen Ahhotep I
This bracelet of Queen Ahhotep I is formed with two semicircles. Gold and lapis-lazuli were used to create its beautiful two-color decoration.
The right semicircle depicts Geb, the god of earth, wearing the double crown and seated on the throne. His hands rest on a sign of protection that is on the shoulder and arm of the king kneeling before him.
The other half of the bracelet is engraved with a falcon and a jackal-headed figure representing the Souls of Pe and Nekhen, the mythical ancestors of the rulers of Egypt before unification. Kneeling, their arms are raised in the henu position, typically used in ceremonies and celebrations.
Second Intermediate Period, 17th Dynasty, ca. 1560-1530 BC. From Dra’ Abu el-Naga’, West Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 4684
(via egypt-museum-deactivated2021071)
On this day, 23 October 1901, a general strike broke out in Rosario, Argentina in response to the police killing of anarchist migrant worker Cosme Budislavich during a sugar refinery strike. More info in this article: https://libcom.org/history/bolten-virginia-1870-1960-aka-%E2%80%9Cla-luisa-michel-rosarino%E2%80%9D-louise-michel-rosario
Pictured: a painting of the protest at the refinery, by Antonio Berni https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1243873835797764/?type=3
“Nothing prints more lively in our minds than something we wish to forget.” — Michel de Montaigne, Essais (via philosophybits)
(via philosophybits)
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“Ay reigned for only four years. He had originally intended to be buried at Akhetaten and work had begun on the construction of a tomb there. It contained the only version known of the great Hymn to the Aten. Later, he commandeered for himself a tomb (WV 23) which was probably originally intended for Tutankhamun, near that of Amenhotep III and the mortuary temple at Medinet Habu. In his tomb he is shown in the company of his first wife, Tiy II. Of Ankhesenamun there is no trace.
After the death of Akhenaten and the eventual accession of Tutankhamun, Ay set himself diligently tp erase the memory of the king whom he had served and to restore the power of the priests of Amun. In this he seems to have been notably successful; Akhenaten was execrated as a heretic and the members of the royal family, whose names had been compounded with that of the Aten, were renamed by the substitution of Amun’s name.
When Tutankhamun died, and after an abortive attempt by his queen Ankhesenamun, to secure a foreign prince to succeed, Ay secured the kingship, though he was not of the royal lineage. It has been suggested that he married Tutankhamun’s widow who, as king’s daughter, would have carried the right of succession.”
— Who’s Who in Ancient Egypt, by Michael Rice