Came across this excellent radio documentary which briefly reviews the current hardships Mennonites in Bolivia are experiencing as their way of life intersects with the current Bolivian political reality.
From the CBC:
Forty years ago, a group of Canadian Mennonites packed up and headed for Bolivia. They went in search of good farm land and isolation. And that’s what they got. But now, their quiet, comfortable existence has been caught up in a fierce political debate.
According to one study, the majority of arable land in Bolivia is concentrated on just 700 farms leaving many of the country’s indigenous people with little or nothing. Evo Morales has vowed to change that. He’s Bolivia’s first indigenous leader and he’s proposing a series of new laws on land ownership as well as a new constitution that Bolivians will vote on in two weeks. And if those laws pass, the Mennonites — and there are nearly ten thousand of them — could see their way of life disappear.
Freelance broadcaster Sarah Richards traveled to eastern Bolivia to visit these reclusive Mennonite communities. And she’s prepared this documentary about their uncertain future. It’s called God’s Land.
As expected, the conservatives have finally released the attack ads aimed at making Dion and the Liberals look like they are “taking power” by getting in bed with the ’separatists’. Never mind the fact that the Liberal- NDP- Bloq coalition is following constitutional and democratic processes.
FIgure out which one is which. Harper, Chavez, Morales.
What a week it has been! Canada is close to a transfer of power from the Conservative party to an opposition coalition while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seeks to eliminate constitutional limits on presidential terms and Bolivian President Evo Morales has started to officially target his opposition on charges of terrorism.
The good: Canada abides by its constitution and could see a legal transition of power in take place in accordance with the law and without violence or turmoil. Many Canadians will experience a democratic process that occurs once in a lifetime if the opposition parties manage to form a coalition government, further consolidating the notion that constitutions are the law of the land and that democratic institutions allow for power struggles to occur within a peaceful setting. Prime Minister Stephen Harper may not be happy with where this week has lead and with the prospect of losing power, but he is still playing by the rules.
The Bad: Following municipal and regional elections, Hugo Chavez made it clear in Venezuela that he is not leaving. The president said Sunday that he would seek changes to the Constitution that would lift his term limits, allowing him to run for indefinite re-election. The move, which would have to be approved by a nationwide referendum, is expected to polarize the country further, coming a year after voters rejected a broad constitutional overhaul that included a similar measure.
The Ugly: Bolivia’s government said on Sunday it was preparing to charge a top leader of an autonomy movement with “terrorism”. The government of President Evo Morales said Branko Marinkovic, who helped lead an autonomy push by Bolivia’s four richest provinces, would be charged for instigating attacks in which at least 17 people were killed. The evidence is sketchy and he just happens to be a prominent political figure that is outspoken in his opposition to Morales. Evo has also targeted Governor Ruben Costas as a person of interest in relation to other “crimes”, the leading opposition figure in the department of Santa Cruz. Opposition leaders are claiming this is political persecution by the Morales government.
According to Reginald Stackhouse from the Globe and Mail (Canada), politics needs to be confrontational and the recent excitement over bipartisanship is not necessarily a positive steps. The article is about parliamentary systems but has some interesting thoughts that can be easily applied throughout most forms of democratic government.
Somehow I refuse to believe that the constant bickering and posturing is just what our democracy needs, but the article makes a good point.It makes for decent read on a Friday afternoon.
Came across this excellent radio documentary which briefly reviews the current hardships Mennonites in Bolivia are experiencing as their way of life intersects with the current Bolivian political reality.
