This is cathartic reading about the choking-off of nuanced discussion about #Bolivia and Evo's fall. A few quotes I've taken the liberty of translating:
"For part of the left, the only valid position regarding what is happening in #Bolivia is a complete closing of ranks."
"If anyone dares to criticize the Morales government's policies or echo popular discontent--which is also contained in the protests against him--they can only be serving Yankee imperialism."
"They are accused of 'legitimizing' the coup or, worse, of bearing responsibility for the recent deaths."
"Either you're with me or you're against me--a classic. [García Linera] proposes that we 'choose' between his increasingly authoritarian state populism and a savage neoliberalism with post-fascist characteristics."
"We are to 'pick' the least bad option, thus erasing the movement for Morales' overthrow that came from below."
"In the current conflicts of international politics, a line has been drawn with a ruler, and we are required to join one side or the other. Any ambiguity is punished with furious attacks."
"There is no nuance. US imperialism or the geostrategy of world powers become the easy answer that impedes critical thought: oil explains Venezuela, lithium explains Bolivia, and thus everything is explained."
"It is true that what were called 'revolutions' in Latin America entailed, for a time, a hope for those of us who were looking for alternatives to neoliberalism. Many of us went to work there--to Venezuela, in my case--committed to those very processes that are now faltering."
"The lack of alternatives, today as before, brings extra difficulty in taking a stance publicly, but it also gives the governments in power excuses to erase from the map any opposition from below."
"Today in Bolivia, we recognize the face of that violent opposition and its new style, linked to the worldwide postfascist turn...it seems like we can only support 'the other side.' But what is the other side?"
"In Bolivia, workers' organizations like the Bolivian Workers' Center (COB) and the Union Federation of Bolivian Mine Workers (FSTMB)--who once contributed to Morales' victory--and indigenous and feminist movements--who are now fighting on the front lines against the coup--..."
"...were the first to denounce both the problems of the extractivist economic model and the fact that Morales had stretched Bolivian democracy, which has helped smooth the path of the post-fascist coup that is taking place today."
"The closing of ranks is becoming more imperious just now that Latin American populism, which was once a model for some European parties and movements, is, in fact, in crisis."
"It is important, then, to defend the role of criticism. We're not talking here about thoughts formed in a library or in the ivory tower. We're talking about protests that are born from below and from within social processes."
"The enemy is dangerous, and it is urgent, both in Europe and in Latin America, to look for situations that help resolve conflicts."
"A deep analysis of what is happening is a first step toward looking for an exit from the labyrinth and coming together to build radical, democratic alternatives to a present destroyed by neoliberalism."
@nu_alabao's article here encapsulates much of the reason why I feel alienated from a good chunk of the left, even though I can envision no other political home. Nuanced analysis is *exactly* what is needed right now, but many on the left treat it as treason and golpismo.
