Evo on the verge

Sure, Evo Morales' overwhelming recall victory and the subsequent fragmentation of Bolivia's 'opposition' are real, inspiring signs of the growing hegemony of indigenous democratic socialism in that country. But it's almost even crazier to read the Washington Post reporting the situation as such on the verge of a potentially page-turning referendum win for Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party. What can this possibly portend?

And then there's asides like this coming out of Evo: "Brothers and sisters, we have to guarantee this democratic revolution with Evo Morales or without Evo Morales.” Without slipping into anti-Chavez talking points, it's very hard to keep from contrasting Evo's call for "democratic revolution" with Chavez' relative inability to move "his" revolution past his own personality cult. Being who I am, I'm more prone to sociological/political explanation than moral/psychologial ones - even if I start sentences with essentialist statements like "being who I am" - but whether Chavez cannot or will not mobilize his socialist project beyond his own iconography, it does seem like he could take a lesson or two from the Evo/Alvaro-led MAS. [In my wildest dreams, David Plouffe would be watching these developments, aussi.]

[update, 1/26/2009: good guys win!]

(George) Strait Talk re: Bolivia

Alright, listen. I know I'm the guy around here who writes the things that "don't make any sense." I am one opaque mother, I know, absolutely. (And thanks for having me, I don't say it enough.)

Because I know this, I don't know who would possibly be on board with my erratic references to the situation in Latin America - let alone Bolivia. So often buried beneath shout-outs to Tom Scharpling, Ric Flair, Vin Novarra, et. al... well I just don't feel confident that anybody's wading through all of that, at least not more than mebbe, like, twice.

But, should such people (as those outlined above) happen to exist, I now happily present to them this very interesting clip (text or video) Forrest Hylton discussing how "the fight is not over by any means but [Bolivia] has entered a new phase."

So this really represents in some ways a closure of that process that was initiated when people began to demand a new constitution and a new constitutional assembly through mass direct action in the streets, which was capable of overthrowing two presidents.