With dynamite and molotovs, Bolivian debtors occupy government buildings

Bolivian farmers began blockading roads in the Altiplano region on June 21, 2001. They are prepared to hold the blockades for up to 90 days.

Compiled by Sean Marquis

Bolivia, July 2— At around 10am on July 2, a group of some 120 Bolivians armed with sticks of dynamite seized control of the Superintendency of Banks building in La Paz to demand elimination of their small- scale debts with the country’s banks and financial institutions.

The protesters blocked the entrance of the building, took hostage nearly 100 employees, and hurled sticks of dynamite whenever police tried to approach.

Two more groups of about 50 debtors each occupied the offices in La Paz of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference and the Defender of the People, and began hunger strikes there. In the Superintendency building, protesters sprayed gasoline on the fourth floor outside the office of the agency’s chief, who was not in the building at the time. The protesters tied at least two high-level Superintendency officials to their chairs and placed cartridges of dynamite on their bodies to prevent police intervention.

Protesters also tied sticks of dynamite to their own bodies and some carried old military firearms.

From the top floor of the building they threw sticks of dynamite into the Isabel la Católica plaza in order to prevent the police from entering. Groups of plainclothes police attempted and failed to retake the building.

At least a dozen activists positioned themselves on the balconies of the fifth floor of the banking authority’s building and gave speeches using bullhorns.

One woman shouted, “We are here because nobody is listening to us. These people are showing the typical hard-heartedness of bankers. We are here because we cannot pay our debts.”

Another communicated her complaint to the police surrounding the place, “For the poor there is no relief, no justice. They have taken everything from us, leaving us sticks of dynamite to eat. Because only the deal-makers have rights, we have been here, living in the street, in the cold of night, with scarcely one meal a day, for more than 90 days. And nobody will listen to us.”

The small debtor’s movement includes 12,000 workers and unemployed people who have borrowed small sums of money.

The debtors say that drought, the enormous economic crisis, and usury have combined to make their debts unpayable. They are demanding total cancellation of their debts, an end to the suits against them, a review of interest payments and an end to the impounding of their property.

Among those leading the debtors’ occupation are members of the anarchist feminist collective Mujeres Creando (Women Creating) one of whom represented some of the debtors at a press conference stating, “We cannot leave while there is no dialogue to solve our problem, and if no solution is found, we are determined to commit suicide right in front of them (the bankers) — because we cannot put up with this situation any longer.”

Ten hours later, protesters released their hostages and left the buildings after representatives of the Catholic Church, the Assembly of Human Rights and the Office of the Defender of the People agreed to act as guarantors to prevent police reprisals, and arranged to mediate a dialogue with representatives of the government, the debtors’ association and directors of the Association of Banks.

An agreement was reached between protesters, the government, and the banks. The agreement includes sanctions against institutions that commit abuses against small borrowers, reconciliation of accounts, investigation of cases of usury, recognition of the anarchists as facilitators in the negotiations, and government payments to the banks for suspension of legal proceedings against debtors.

The agreement allows cancellation of debts for those who can prove they are unable to pay, and that their inability to pay was provoked by a natural disaster that destroyed their property or by a disease-related death in the family. The debtors have seven days in which to present the Superintendency of Banks with proof of their eligibility for debt forgiveness; their requests will then be handled individually on a case-by-case basis.

Negotiations continued on July 3, even as Interior Minister Guillermo Fortun announced that the protesters who occupied the buildings would be arrested and tried for sedition, kidnapping, conspiracy, extortion, criminal association, possession of explosives and other crimes. The agreement arranged by the mediators, under which the protesters were to be protected from legal reprisals, “doesn’t count for the government,” said Fortun.

On July 6, judge Roger Valverde ordered the provisional release of 11 people arrested on July 4 for participating in the occupation of the Superintendency of Banks. Ten of the 11 were released because the Public Ministry brought them into court without presenting any criminal charges or even an arrest order, according to Valverde.

Due to the debt crisis, more than six debtors have committed suicide. Many have been forced to give up all their belongings and live in the street.

Prisoners on hunger strike

Hundreds of Bolivian prisoners began a hunger strike on July 3 at Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz to demand that the government finalize a sentencing easement law, and broaden a list of people pardoned in an amnesty to include those imprisoned under tough anti-drug laws. They are also protesting the overcrowding that plagues Bolivia’s prisons.

By July 5, nearly 5,000 prisoners were on hunger strike throughout Bolivia. The hunger strikers include all 320 prisoners at the San Sebastian women’s prison in Cochabamba, along with 215 of their children who live with them in the prison. Nine of the women symbolically crucified themselves on the roof of the San Sebastian prison on July 6, and others warn they will sew their lips together beginning on July 9.

Rural blockades

As of July 7, campesinos in Bolivia’s Altiplano region were maintaining a blockade of major roads which began on June 21. On July 5, eight army tanks headed through the Altiplano toward the town of Achacachi, the hub of the campesino mobilization, near Lake Titicaca, in an effort to halt the blockades.

In Achacachi, the farmers have indicated that they are ready to continue the blockades for 90 days. Until now there have been no shortages because food supplies were arranged before the blockades began.

On July 5 in Chuquina, Oruro department, campesinos began blocking the Oruro-Toledo highway to demand that the Transredes oil company — a Bolivian subsidiary of the multinationals Enron and Shell — compensate them for damages caused by the spilling of 29,000 barrels of oil into the Desaguadero river on Jan. 30, 2000.

Cocaleros mobilized on July 5 in Cochabamba to defend a coca leaf market in Eterazama against military and police troops who tried to occupy it. Leonardo Marca, a leader of the Six Federations of the Cochabamba Tropics, said that the troops surrounded the market area but cocaleros prevented them from entering. The Six Federations, representing cocalero unions in the region, have declared a state of emergency.

Sources: Juventudes Libertarias, www.come.to/jlb, El Diario, Los Tiempos, Hoy. (Translation from the Spanish by Robby Barnes and Sylvie Kashdan)

Laurens, SC police deny anti-Klan protesters’ right to demonstrate

An anti-racist protester confronts an unmasked member of the Klan in Laurens, South Carolina, on Saturday, July 7, 2001. Photo by Cherie Pitre.

By Nicholas Holt

Laurens, South Carolina, July 7— Anti-racist and anti-fascist groups gathered today at the old Laurens County court house intending to protest a rally by the United White Klans of America.

However, local police confiscated protesters’ signs and prohibited them from chanting or shouting at the Klan members.

Ganesh Lal, of the International Socialist Organization, was one of about 20 protesters at the rally. “(I’m here) to stand up against hate, to show that there are people in this region who stand up against racism, sexism, homophobia, immigrant bashing and who want to build unity and solidarity across these lines.”

Lal was frustrated at the actions of police. “The cops are out here protecting (the Klan’s) right to free speech while at the same time, we’re not allowed to hold signs, we’re not allowed to chant, we’re not allowed to do anything, so its only free speech for the Klan, not for the rest of us...(it is) a police force that’s...obviously, blatantly oppressive.”

The four Klansmen at the rally addressed a crowd consisting almost entirely of protesters and police. Standing behind a stone memorial that reads “To the Boys in Gray-Our Heroes... erected by the citizens of Laurens County, 1910”, they berated the mostly white demonstrators as “nigger-lovers, beatniks and trash” and dared them to attack.

The protesters declined the invitation.

Rev. David Kennedy, of the New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Laurens, and a veteran of the civil rights struggle in Laurens County, was also present and felt the actions of the police violated the constitutional rights of the protesters. “They should have the right to peaceful assembly,” he said.

Rev. Kennedy stressed that the anti-Klan demonstrators had not attempted any illegal actions.

Laurens police chief Robin Morse explained that, “Our city ordinance says if they gonna protest or march or do anything of that nature, they have to file a permit first.”

“They certainly have the right to do that,” he added.

However, protesters, who later acquired a copy of the ordinance from police, disagreed with the chief’s interpretation of the regulation. One protester read from the ordinance: “ ‘No person shall engage in, participate in, aid, direct, organize, form, or start any parade unless a permit shall have been obtained.’ ”

“I don’t see any floats...Where’s the parade? What parade did we have?” he complained. “We were not blocking traffic. We were not participating in civil disobedience. What parade was there?”

Although they outnumbered the Klan almost 5 to 1, demonstrators were disappointed in their low numbers. “We should get hundreds of people out and shut (the Klan) down,” said Lal.

Laurens attracted national attention when, in 1996, a resident opened a store called the Redneck Shop in downtown Laurens and began selling racist and pro-Klan bumper stickers, books, T-shirts, and other memorabilia. The store also features “The Worlds Only Klan Museum.”

In a separate incident following the Klan rally, John Howard, the proprietor of the Redneck Shop, exchanged words with members of the protest group who entered his store. He then threatened to beat them, and two AGR staff members present, with a metal pipe.

Some anti-Klan groups, like the Southern Poverty Law Center, discourage protesting hate group events, but those present in Laurens disagree. “I think that’s really dangerous,” said Lal. “because the whole idea that if you ignore them they’re going to go away assumes that they’re just here to get attention. They’re not just here to get attention. They’re here to recruit people, they’re here to organize, they’re here to get legitimacy for what they’re doing, and if people aren’t standing up and protesting and shutting them up and driving them out of the cities that they try to organize in, then we’re losing that battle.”

Rev. Kennedy agreed, attributing the “ignore the Klan and they’ll go away” attitude to fear of African-American empowerment. “I don’t think you’d find a Jew, nowhere in the world, who would say the same thing about (not protesting) a Nazi group,” he said. “It’s only when black people rise to challenge the powers that be in America that you hear those silly statements.”

The protesters, most of whom were from North Carolina, made plans with Rev. Kennedy to better coordinate future anti-Klan actions.

Miriam Des Harnais assisted greatly in the editing of this article.

NAACP leadership scorns Bush

New Orleans, Louisiana, July 9— The head of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization vowed on Monday to fight any effort by the Bush administration to stack the US Supreme Court with “strange conservative-thinking individuals who want to set back the hands of time.”

In his keynote address to the 92nd annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume (pictured above, right, with Julian Bond) also lamented that political conservatives did not generally support the issues to which his organization was committed.

“Wouldn’t it be great if they finally understood, in their pomp and circumstance and their power and position, that the Constitution does not belong solely to one party or one individual?”

Mfume’s comments continued the organization’s criticism of the administration during the annual meeting. They came a day after NAACP Chairman Julian Bond attacked President Bush’s nominees as coming from “the Taliban wing of American politics.” Bond denounced Bush for appeasing “the wretched appetites of the extreme right wing,” and noted that Bush “picked Cabinet officials whose devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection.” In particular, Bond assailed the civil rights records of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Attorney General John Ashcroft. He also criticized the Bush tax cut and his faith-based initiative.

Those comments drew a heated response from the White House on Monday, with spokesman Ari Fleischer defending the ethnic diversity of the Bush appointees and accusing Bond of going “too far” with his criticism.

But Mfume continued the NAACP’s pressure on the administration with his remarks to the convention on Monday, making reference to Bush’s “compassionate conservative” political agenda and his campaign vow to “leave no child behind."

“We’ve heard a lot about compassionate conservatives. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every conservative was compassionate?” he asked. “I welcome the president’s words but I will welcome more his actions.”

“Don’t tell me about ‘leaving no child behind’ if you don’t first want to pick him up,” he added later.

Mfume said he did not understand African-American conservatives who “say ‘I got here on my own.’”

“They got here because others fought and bled for them, with the NAACP consistently manning the front lines,” he said. Secretary of State “Colin Powell wasn’t hatched. He’s here because of your work and the work of others who broke down the barriers in the armed forces of the United States.”

Mfume said he would like to see conservatives commit to ending the world-wide AIDS epidemic, to acknowledge that clean air and water are an American birthright, to support affordable health care and a patients’ bill of rights, equal pay for equal work, a living wage and freedom of choice for women — all hallmarks of NAACP policies.

Source: Associated Press, Reuters