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Junio 20, 2005
Evo Website
In a similar vein to the fake George W Bush campaign website in 2004, a new satirical Evo website was launched in order to make fun of the man who wants to be President. Upon first glance, it appears to be a site supporting Evo's bid, but clearly it lampoons the party leader, even suggesting that all indigenous are uneducated and unable to know what they're deciding.
The website may have had the right idea, but clearly a lot of the language crosses the line into the territory of racism. Venturing into the forums shows some pretty awful racist attitudes out there. Sure, Evo is full of contradictions and uses rhetoric to polarize the entire country. However, rational and intelligence arguments would do the country more good than a lot of garbage that is out there, especially in anonymous fora in cyberspace.
It's okay to disagree with Evo because of his policies and tactics, but we're at a point in time where many disagree with Evo because he is an "indio". Such generalizations and the lumping of all indigenous people as uneducated and irrational can further divide the country. The Evo for President website defends the actions of the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz and includes Carlos Mesa as one of Evo's allies. The website contact info is "indio@evopresidente.com", which clearly shows the website designer's sensitivity.
If Evo Morales and his party were truly serious about winning the election and implementing relatively moderate policies (in comparison to others out there), he would allow someone else to be the Presidential candidate. Much like the Cochabamba mayoral race, where centrist and non-controversial figure, Gonzalo Lema narrowly lost the election, MAS will never again capture the "protest vote" from the middle class and urban working class that they did in 2002. Instead of bringing people in, he is a divider, not a uniter (sound familiar?), and now those who may agree with nationalization would never vote for such a polarizing figure like Evo.
Posted by eduardo at Junio 20, 2005 04:00 PM
Comments
I agree. Evo is a terrible candidate. But *not* because he's "indio" (is he? really?), rather because his kind of Troskyite syndicalism is out of sync w/ 21st century realities.
Posted by: miguel (ciao!) at Junio 20, 2005 09:45 PM
Yes, I do think he is considered "indio" by most people, even if he is now part of the political "elite", as some of labeled him.
Posted by: eduardo at Junio 21, 2005 03:02 PM
Of course he is thought of as indio. Bolivia is a very racist, and thus, divided country. However, racism stems from both sides, not just from the light skinned Bolivians.
One thing that scares me is people like el Mallku, who think of themselves as victims and thus have the right to do the same to their enemies.
Posted by: Miguel (MABB) at Junio 21, 2005 03:41 PM
I think it was Bernard Shaw that said: "nationalism is the belief that your country's the best, because you were born in it".
Posted by: miguel (ciao!) at Junio 21, 2005 07:22 PM
The site is not online anymore.
Posted by: Miguel (MABB) at Junio 22, 2005 06:27 AM