Bolivian President Isn’t Radical Enough for Corporate Media

[eridani]

http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/07/09/bolivian-president-isnt-radical-enough-for-corporate-media/

Perhaps the strangest part of Vox's critique is its accusation that Morales is a phoney radical. Vox cites Morales' support of foreign investment in the mining industry, Bolivia's high corporate profits and lack of strong environmental regulations as evidence of Morales governing in a "downright boring" manner. While it is true that some on the left–such as James Petras, a scholar whom Vox would be unlikely to be quoting if he were praising rather than criticizing a left-leaning leader–argue that Morales' economic policies are inconsistent with his radical rhetoric, there is another side to this argument that is entirely left out of Fisher's piece.

As Bolivian journalist Fernando Molina (Links, 7/14/13) wrote of similar takes on Morales: "These criticisms have the same defect. They emphasize what the government is not doing or has not become, but they do not faithfully observe what it has done and what it represents." Bolivia has seen tremendous economic growth under Morales–as Molina (Nueva Sociedad, 5-6/13) argues, "thanks to the expansion in public spending, from about $6 billion in 2005 to more than $20 billion. The state now has 50,000 more employees than it had in 2006 (an increase from 75,000 to 125,000)."

Morales’ administration has increased the number of employed family members per household and raised the national minimum wage rate by 127 percent. The rural extreme poverty level dropped from 63 percent to 43 percent, while extreme urban poverty fell from 24 percent to 14 percent in 2013.

Fisher also fails to acknowledge what is possibly Morales' most radical action to date: the legalization of coca production, as Ryan Cooper of The Week (6/27/14) pointed out. A former coca producer himself, Morales supported poor indigenous farmers’ need to grow and sell the product.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Viva Evo Morales! n/t