The Colombia/Ecuador/Venezuela Mess or Let's Place Bets on How Long Before the U.S. Backs a Colombian War With Venezuela

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I don't know, term limits are super important.

Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 05:24 (four years ago) link

Good/interesting thread on some of the complexities at work (and the difficulty of sorting social media takes)

People need to trouble their liberal (mis)understanding and (mis)use of identity. Here's an example:

Tomasa Yarhui is an indigenous Quechua political "voice" from Bolivia. She's also a center-right Christian Democrat, here mourning the death of a violent coup-supporting cop. https://t.co/har2g9pVOk

— #HandsOffBolivia (@OLAASM) November 12, 2019

Simon H., Wednesday, 13 November 2019 05:39 (four years ago) link

I’m mostly sympathetic to Morales, I hope his party can thrive, but really I don’t think anyone should be the head of government for more than 14 years

Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 05:43 (four years ago) link

What was the response of pro-Morales voices re: him ignoring the results of the 2016 referendum?

groovemaaan, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 06:04 (four years ago) link

Maduro retweets post mocking the crudeness of Bolivian interim president-designate Áñez's new video calling for the Bolivian army to intervene, with the tweet remarking they never would think they would ever see a "more improvised and crap production than those of Juan Guaidó". pic.twitter.com/5QKUQvt3zX

— Séamus Malekafzali (@Seamus_Malek) November 12, 2019

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 06:58 (four years ago) link

Does anyone know what was wrong with Alvaro Garcia Linera since he never got to run?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 09:12 (four years ago) link

I generally trust the OAS but reports that the head of electoral commission turned herself to the police to report irregularities is much more damning.

Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 18:24 (four years ago) link

A far-right supporter of failed Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaido got punched in the face by an Afro-Brazilian today when he tried to invade and occupy the Venezuelan embassy in Brazil with other Guaido supporters. pic.twitter.com/rMzOkswJyb

— redfish (@redfishstream) November 13, 2019

I love this pic

calzino, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 22:40 (four years ago) link

One thing I notice over and over again is how "anti-government protestors" in e.g. Bolivia and Venezuela read as "normal folks" to American eyes, when in reality their North Face and Nike reflects extraordinary local wealth.

anti-Morales protestors:
https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/0ea3e96ac5754cbfab60d95f8c46e359/1000.jpeg

pro-morales protestor:
https://i.cbc.ca/1.5358740.1573687837!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/bolivia-protests.jpg

I remember Venezuelan protests a few years back where every protestor looked like they had just dropped a thousand bucks on camping gear at L.L. Bean.

Dan I., Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link

https://systemicalternatives.org/2019/11/11/what-happened-in-bolivia-was-there-a-coup/"> https://systemicalternatives.org/2019/11/11/what-happened-in-bolivia-was-there-a-coup/

Good article

It is by a source you can trust, and he dispels both typical left/right narratives by eager western commentators but still details how this is a horror show. Available in sopanish and french too.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:37 (four years ago) link

I wouldn’t take a few carefully selected photos as a source for anything.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:38 (four years ago) link

I love this pic

idk the MLK t-shirt makes it a little incongruous

Οὖτις, Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link

Sorry writing from phone on a bus.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:40 (four years ago) link

I mean, no doubt, but it's pretty consistent. What's remarkable to me is not so much the difference between the two groups as how the American eye (mine, at least) tends to just slide right over the expensively-clothed right-wingers in photos and scan them as "normal", when they're really not

Dan I., Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:43 (four years ago) link

That article seemed pretty one-sided to me, and the site in general kinda seems like a Catholic-backed propaganda outlet

How could Áñez become acting president without a parliamentary quorum?

Dan I., Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:49 (four years ago) link

4. The government has treated the mobilisation as a fascist and racist coup. It is true that the sectors of the reactionary right have celebrated the protests. In Santa Cruz, the main leader of the Civic Committee, Luis Fernando Camacho, comes from an ultra-right organisation called the Union of Cruceño Youth. However, in other cities, there have been quite different articulations by independent groups with politicians from right and left leading the protests. In Potosí, the opposition to the government radicalised before the elections due to the signing of a 70 year contract without payment of royalties for the production of lithium hydroxide in the salt flats of Uyuni. In the case of La Paz, the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy counts among its main leaders two Ombudsman who served under the Evo Morales government and had denounced human rights violations such as the repression of the indigenous march of TIPNIS in 2011. For his part, Carlos Mesa, who was vice president during the neoliberal government of Sanchez de Lozada, and became the main electoral opponent of Evo Morales does not have a structured party base and was more a vehicle for opposition at the ballot box then a key organizer of the protests. The rebellion which Bolivia is experiencing is largely a spontaneous act led particularly by young people against the abuse of power.

It is important to be clear that there are indigenous peoples and workers on both the government and opposition side. The government clearly has more support in rural areas, but the opposition also includes coca producers from the Yungas, peasant leaders, mining workers, health and education workers, and above all young students, both middle and working class. Contrary to what happened in previous conflicts, it was the government that exacerbated the racism, saying that the protests were trying to take away the rural indigenous vote made in support of the government. During the conflict, there have been racist attacks from both sides. The burning of the wiphala, the flag of the Aymaran and Quechuan peoples, is absolutely deplorable. However, it is also notable that on social media, there are many groups who are part of the protests who challenge these attacks and defend the wiphala.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:50 (four years ago) link

both sides

Dan I., Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:52 (four years ago) link

The supreme court equivalent accepted that she was next in line and only gave her an interim mandate. The same dumb supreme court who judged term limits were a human rights abuse, if I understand correctly. It seems new elections will be happen in late January. This is MAS’ moment to shine and prove they are stronger than just one dude, I don’t think boycotting will resolve anything.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 18:59 (four years ago) link

Genuinely hope they hold elections and that they're fair! Have right-wingers in power ever held free and fair elections after toppling a left-wing government before? (honest question, maybe they have)

Dan I., Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:07 (four years ago) link

Sometimes it is both sides. Don’t know how else to say it. From what I understand large swaths of indigenous people have good reasons to be pissed off at Morales but also fear Camacho/Anez/Mesa with obvious good reasons. This is how some civil wars start, with both sides making unreasonable demands

Also the whole ‘both sides’ narrative is just what is is, a narrative, and I find narratives to be unhelpful. On top of it, ‘both sides’ is lifted from a specific critic of US media in a specific political moment and I really wonder how useful it is to force it unto the present Bolivian reality.

I am going to trust Pablo Solon over many american commentators on this issue.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:07 (four years ago) link

I guess Brazil might have elected Bolsonaro fairly, for all I know, although he benefited from massive propaganda and an arguably railroaded opposition.

Dan I., Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:09 (four years ago) link

I genuinely doubt the next elections will be fair and free, but I sure hope so. And I am worried neither side is going to recognize the results now that all of that happened. I do take solace in that MAS has been able to build a strong coalition in the past and people seem to genuinely love Salvatierra.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:11 (four years ago) link

Also Canada has not recognized Añez. I think this what europeans countries should do too. Put pressure on the notion that is really just an interim moment.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:14 (four years ago) link

This business about how Morales is the true racist for saying that the opposition is anti-indigenous rings a little false when the current president is on record as saying that the indigenous population are satanists who should leave the cities and go back into the mountains.

JoeStork, Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:21 (four years ago) link

He doesn’t say that, and even if he did I don’t see how two instances of race fear mongering can be mutually exclusive, even when one is much more intense than the other.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:31 (four years ago) link

when the current president is on record as saying that the indigenous population are satanists who should leave the cities and go back into the mountains.

this was from a fake tweet I believe

Simon H., Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:32 (four years ago) link

Bolsanaro was absolutely fairly elected. Or, that is, the whole thing was a sham meant to benefit the conservative right, but it seems to have disgusted the populace enough to go with a third choice, the fascist. So those he kinda beat fair and square. Lula, not so much.

Frederik B, Thursday, 14 November 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link

xp oh really? Thanks for the update, sorry to spread bullshit.

JoeStork, Thursday, 14 November 2019 20:55 (four years ago) link

Regardless of the veracity of the tweet, we can all agree that she is a racist shit head.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 22:29 (four years ago) link

"Bolsanaro was fairly elected" except the candidate who could've beaten him was jailed 🙄

xyzzzz__, Friday, 15 November 2019 09:24 (four years ago) link

Not even Boris has come up with that ploy yet.

'Skills' Wallace (Tom D.), Friday, 15 November 2019 09:30 (four years ago) link

Thanks xyz, that's an accurate condensation of my post. Now go fuck yourself.

Frederik B, Friday, 15 November 2019 09:35 (four years ago) link

I heard there is a new Star Wars film at Xmas. Maybe that's more your level.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 15 November 2019 10:17 (four years ago) link

wait........what

I bring this up because Bolivian coup agent Daza is a member of Leto's spooky cult Echelon, and from the looks of it appears to have been (be?) a leader of the Echelon cult in Bolivia. (There's a LOT more if you search Echelon, but here's just a few screens for example) pic.twitter.com/YmTY34CWyI

— bak (@measure7x) November 14, 2019

Simon H., Friday, 15 November 2019 11:01 (four years ago) link

Immanentizing the Bolivian echelon

Mordy, Friday, 15 November 2019 13:55 (four years ago) link

Chilean singer Mon Laferte staged a protest at last night's Latin Grammys. Photo is NSFW, so search it up for yourself, but she wrote the words "En Chile Torturan Violan Y Matan" on her chest and dropped her top on the red carpet. (She later won Best Alternative Album.)

shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 15 November 2019 14:15 (four years ago) link

wait........what

I bring this up because Bolivian coup agent Daza is a member of Leto's spooky cult Echelon, and from the looks of it appears to have been (be?) a leader of the Echelon cult in Bolivia. (There's a LOT more if you search Echelon, but here's just a few screens for example) pic.twitter.com/YmTY34CWyI
— bak (@measure7x) November 14, 2019
― Simon H., Friday, November 15, 2019 6:01 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

30 seconds to MAS

Van Horn Street, Friday, 15 November 2019 18:15 (four years ago) link

An interesting Twitter thread dismantling a popular conspiracy theory about the Bolivian coup.

Been so busy with work I missed this whole theory that the Bolivian coup was over lithium. Let's walk through it. pic.twitter.com/hqWS1uT6j6

— Mike Caulfield (@holden) November 17, 2019

shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 17 November 2019 13:38 (four years ago) link

*Intellectuals at ilxor dot com screaming A FOURTH TERM?!*

The reality:

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/26/bolivia-rightwing-military-dictatorship?

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 26 November 2019 15:29 (four years ago) link

Also Canada has not recognized Añez. I think this what europeans countries should do too. Put pressure on the notion that is really just an interim moment.

― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 bookmarkflaglink

Lol

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 26 November 2019 15:29 (four years ago) link

This is entirely predictable but still sickening. https://t.co/1lMUGYsuzM

— Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) November 29, 2019

xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 November 2019 11:51 (four years ago) link

i bet bolivians have more on their mind than the status of their symbolic relationship with a country in the middle east

Mordy, Friday, 29 November 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link

*Intellectuals at ilxor dot com screaming A FOURTH TERM?!*

this seems like an awfully roundabout way of asserting that ilxor dot com has no intellectuals

A is for (Aimless), Friday, 29 November 2019 18:28 (four years ago) link

two weeks pass...

i bet bolivians have more on their mind than the status of their symbolic relationship with a country in the middle east

― Mordy, Friday, 29 November 2019 bookmarkflaglink

Symbolic huh?

As expected, the Bolivian post-coup junta plans to privatize the economy and reverse the gains of the last 13 years.

The junta has already expelled 700 Cuban doctors, removed RT & Telesur from airwaves, and requested Israeli training of its military. https://t.co/Xfq7lhY0eQ

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 16, 2019

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 17 December 2019 09:04 (four years ago) link

Also Canada has not recognized Añez. I think this what europeans countries should do too. Put pressure on the notion that is really just an interim moment.

― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 14 November 2019 bookmarkflaglink

Just an interim govt, yeah

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 17 December 2019 09:05 (four years ago) link

Just ignore the fascist and his propaganda, you're not going to be accurately informed. He has this fantasy going on where he is a right-thinking strongman disciplining the weak of mind. He is just an idiot.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 17 December 2019 09:23 (four years ago) link

Fred, can you stop this, you're only going to get banned again.

Soup on my lanyard (Tom D.), Tuesday, 17 December 2019 09:24 (four years ago) link


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