This is an important article from Steven L. Robinson which we all can learn. It was posted o n Socialist Economics and I am reposting it with a forward on Morales background and his commitment to Socialism. Morales I would say in a very poor country has successfully implemented against huge internal and from the U.S. and its regional allies external opposition the kind of program that many hoped Barack Obama would initiate in the U.S., a program that really did constitute, to use Obama's slogan of the past "change we can believie in."
Capitalists generally and reactionaries universally see pro labor and social welfare legislation as leading to fewer jobs and lower incomes, interfering with the natural course of the free market and reducing investment. Bolivia's success is tangible evidence that this is not true
Also, readers of Socialist Economics, Political Affairs, the Peoples World should remember some important things about Morales and U.S. Bolivian relations. Morales comes from the indigenous people of Bolivia and from an impoverished farm family. From the 1980s, when he emerged as a leader of a union of cocoa growers fighting "neo liberal" privatization, Morales has fought consistently for the rights of labor and minority(meaning in Bolivia indigenous people) and against various privatization schemes which deepened the poverty of the Bolivian people in the name of ending poverty. It is also important for all of us to know that Morales in his first re-election campaign in 2009 defined his goals and policies as "Communitarian Socialism" and along with the late Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Chavez successors has represented the most advanced socialist oriented forces in Latin America today
Like Chavez, Morales has also been a major target of U.S. imperialism in the region. it has been alleged that the Bolivian government, responding to U.S. influence, acted to have Morales expelled from the Bolivian Congress on the ground that his rhetoric in demonstrations on behalf of indigenous people had led to the death of two policemen. Morales expulsion in 2002 only strengthened the movement against privatization and for the democratization of Bolivian society.
In his first term as President, Morales launched ambitious campaigns to reduce the Bolivia's huge poverty levels and also gain public control over its most important resource, natural gas. Whereas previously, the "hydrocarbon" industry as it was called provided the government with 18 percent of its profits, Morales government increased that to 82%, which greatly increased state revenues which in turn were used to finance reforms. One could go on and on about the positive achievements of Morales government, from largely eliminating illiteracy in Bolivia, which had previously had the highest rate of illiteracy in Latin America, to establishing legislation and policy to combat the institutional racism faced by indigenous people, to challenges to the World Bank-IMF system. The achievements of his government led rightist forces in Bolivia's Eastern provinces to support at "automony movement" to defeat the government's reforms, one in which Morales was widely denounced as a "totalitarian dictator"(the classic anti-Communist cold war term). In September, 2008, it was revealed that the U.S Agency for International Development had funneled 4.5 million dollars to these "pro-autonomy, anti-totalitarian" forces, leading to a political crisis in which most of Latin America stood with Morales government.
Most analysists believe that there has been some improvement of U.S. Bolivian relations in the Obama years, but very limited improvement. I would say that Morales has done in a very poor country what millions hoped that Obama would do but for the most party has failed to do in the U.S., that is reverse reactionary policies and fight successfully against entrenched rightist forces, bringing about major progressive changes of the kind that Steven Robinson lists, changes that, to quote Obama's slogan, that the poor of Bolivia "can believe in."
We in the U.S. should see the Morales government as our friend and ally and also see the "Communitarian Socialism" that the government advocates as something for us to learn from
Morales Government Generates Massive Jobs Growth in Bolivia
TeleSUR English, January 15, 2015
Since being elected, Bolivian President Evo Morales has carried out policies to create employment throughout the country.
Bolivian Minister of Labor Daniel Santalla announced Wednesday that Bolivia has generated a half a million jobs in both the private and public sectors since 2006.
“There was major increase in employment throughout the country since 2006, according to the data we have, in both the public and private sector have created more the 500,000 jobs in the country,” he stated.
Santalla attributed the increased employment levels to the policies carried out under President Evo Morales' administration, which has aimed to expand employment opportunities, especially for economically marginalized communities.
However, the minister also noted that the creation of jobs must also include the generation of “decent and dignified” forms of labor in which workers should receive benefits from social security.
Since 2005, the Bolivian government has made considerable progress in terms of improving labor legislation, including:
• Prohibiting unlawful firings
• Legalizing strikes
• No longer allows employers to fire women with children less then a year old
• Allows women to have paid day to go the gynecologist
• Providing three months of paid benefits after a worker is fired or resigns
Most importantly, from 2005-2013 Bolivia has achieved an increase in real minimum wage of 104 percent, higher than any other Latin American country, according to the International Labor Organization.
