CNN/AP: Morales seeks blessing in Indian temple

[DeepModem Mom]

Morales seeks blessing in Indian temple
He'll ask Andean gods for guidance on the eve of his inauguration
Friday, January 20, 2006


TIAWANACU, Bolivia (AP) -- In the ancient temple of a lost civilization far from the Government Palace, a barefoot Evo Morales will ask Andean gods for help and guidance Saturday on the eve of his inauguration as Bolivia's first Indian president.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to converge on the archaeological remains of the Tiawanacu civilization that flourished around 5,000 B.C. near the shores of Lake Titicaca, 65 kilometers (40 miles) outside of La Paz.

There, Morales, a U.S. critic who won by a landslide on a leftist platform, will be blessed by Indian priests who consider themselves inheritors of this pre-Incan culture, which had no written language and disappeared mysteriously.

Morales will walk onto the Akapana pyramid, put on a red tunic with gold and black detail, and accept a baton from the priests that symbolizes his Indian leadership. Morales will then walk alone and barefoot into the Kalasasaya temple before coming out of the entrance to greet the crowd....

***

During Sunday's official inauguration (in La Paz), Morales will follow a more modern tradition. He'll be saluted with full military honors outside the Congress, and draped with the bejeweled medals worn by all presidents....


http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/20/morales.temple.ap/index.html

[CottonBear]

1. How cool is that? Andean gods, ancient temples and pyramids! n/t

[Richard D]

2. You can't really judge a person by their picture . . .

. . . but doesn't this look like Evo has a really good spirit?

[mom cat]

3. Wow! That is a face full of light... thanks.

[Peace Patriot]

7. Yes, I've been struck by the light in that face as well--and also in Hugo

Chavez. Both men seem...is happy the word? There seems to be joy and humor in them, that is so lacking in our stressed out politicians with all their deviousness and corruption, or, in some cases, just worry and weariness. This quality in both Morales and Chavez is startling, actually. Maybe it just comes from being leftists (heh-heh) (you know you're doing the right thing). There's more to it, though. Hard to define.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Fine man.He also has chosen to accept one half the traditional salary

as Bolivia's President. Our pResident, on the other hand, has had his salary WILDLY increased.

I hope _Bush will be thwarted when he tries to destroy this good man, and he will try. It's just a matter of time.

[Peace Patriot]

8. As I noted below, in the "guest list" post (bottom of pos), Morales is not

alone! The left has swept South America, and these countries seem determined to cooperate and to give each other political and economic support. There is strength in numbers. And they know it.

[Peace Patriot]

5. This is a very long piece, for CNN to be publishing on a South American

President's Inauguration. Given CNN's far rightwing prejudice these days, I wonder what's up. It's an AP borrow, so they didn't go to a whole lot of personal trouble for it, still it's extraordinarily detailed (see below).

Is this genuine interest in Bolivian culture, or genuine curiosity about a former cocoa grower sweeping the presidential vote (and one who said, "I'm the United States' worst nightmare"), or has the Bush junta clued CNN/AP in that they have some nefarious disruption planned for this big assemblage of South American leaders--most of whom were elected (unlike Bush), most of whom are leftist and consequently representative of the majority and well-liked by their people (unlike Bush, who has hardly seen this side of 40% since his so-called re-election). Most of these South American leaders (also, unlike Bush) have sided with workers and the poor against the giant, often US-based multinationals who would steal their resources and exploit their people. (Bush chooses the big guy thieves and exploiters over us every time.) They have banded together with other poor countries around the world to resist bullying by the rich countries at trade group talks like the WTO--with surprising success (--unlike Bush who prefers the company of bullies and is himself one of the most heinous bullies). Brazil's President Lulu was instrumental in forging the WTO coalition. And Hugo Chavez will be there--hated by Bush because his country has oil that Bush doesn't have any excuse for stealing (but is trying hard to find one)--and leader of the Bolivarian Revolution (self-determination for South American countries).

Neither Republicans nor Democrats (if Howard Dean's remarks hold sway) care for democracy in South America. Dean basically said that leftist governments are not in our interest. For South American governments to be "in our interest" usually means death, torture or other forms of horror for large swaths of South America's people. I'm pretty sure Dean didn't mean it that way, but it was a callous and ignorant remark--and, Bush, with opposition like this, that doesn't know its ass from a hole in the ground on South American affairs, has plenty of room to stage coups and assassinations, destroy democracies and wreak havoc on poor populations that are only just now coming into their own, politically, after 500 years of Euro/US oppression. (Note: I like Dean and supported him for prez, but I'm sorry, his remarks were chillingly stupid.)

Here's more CNN/AP detail...

---------------------------------------


"Then it's party time in the city of Tiawanacu, which prepared a cake, made from the local grain quinoa, large enough to feed 40,000 people. The decoration features Morales' face and the sacred Andean peak Illimani.

"Back in La Paz, where dozens of presidents and dignitaries are expected to witness the inauguration, the highway leading from the airport has swarmed with workers hanging Bolivian flags, filling potholes, covering graffiti and repainting lanes. Roughly 10,000 volunteers joined a downtown cleanup, polishing statues and scraping off ubiquitous campaign posters.

(snip)

"... the former coca growers' union leader also arranged his own touch: Along with 8,000 police guarding the streets will be crowds of miners volunteering additional protection to Morales in a gesture of solidarity.

"And it's not just the men in miner's hats giving the swearing-in ceremony a proletarian feel -- surrounded by dignitaries and heads of state dressed in suits and ties, Morales himself plans to wear something more casual -- although exactly what hasn't been revealed.

"'Most Bolivians don't wear a tie and I'm part of this majority,' said Morales, who has been both applauded and criticized for wearing the same striped sweater to meet presidents and royalty on his preinaugural world tour. "It would bother me, it's so tight around your neck I would feel like I was being hung.'

"Many Bolivians also wonder if their new leader will make the traditional sign of the cross while being sworn in, or take the oath more rebelliously, with a raised fist, as his ally Edmundo Novillo, the new president of the house of deputies, did just days ago. The raised fist here can symbolize atheist beliefs or the leftist struggle.

"A critic of U.S. foreign policy and close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Morales has promised to fight corruption, and improve the lives of the poor Indian majority by securing more profits from Bolivia's natural resources, including its vast natural gas reserves.

"But he's also softened his rhetoric since his election victory, and said he even had a positive meeting with the U.S. Ambassador David Greenlee. 'He told us it's time to flip the page to have good relations,' Morales told the Associated Press Friday. 'He said we have to keep fighting drug trafficking and we'll keep supporting that work'."*

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/20/morales.temple.ap/index.html

------------

*(Note: Morales campaigned against the U.S.'s murderous "war on drugs" (war on poor peasants) policy, but since that policy is one of favorite boondoggles of rightest elements of the U.S. military/police establishment, a major funder of illicit and nefarious U.S. political activity in South America, and a means of CIA spying and black ops, it's possible he got threatened and had to back off. Our usual pals in South America are drug lords, rightwing death squads and military junta types.)

[Peace Patriot]

6. Guest list, from the CNN web site:

ARGENTINA: President Nestor Kirchner.
BRAZIL: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
CHILE: President Ricardo Lagos.
COLOMBIA: President Alvaro Uribe.
ECUADOR: President Alfredo Palacio.
EUROPEAN UNION: foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES: Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza.
PANAMA: President Martin Torrijos.
PARAGUAY: President Nicanor Duarte.
PERU: President Alejandro Toledo.
SLOVENIA: President Janez Drnovsek
SPAIN: Crown Prince Felipe of Asturias.
VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez.
UNITED NATIONS: Jose Antonio Ocampo, undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs.
UNITED STATES: Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon.

----------------

Note: Virtually the entire map of South America has gone "blue" over the last several years, with leftist governments getting elected, in some cases by big majorities, in Brazil, Chile, Argentina (center/left), Uruguay, Venezuela and now Bolivia. Chile just elected its first woman president (a leftist). Transparent elections seems to be the key. Sigh.)

[Judi Lynn]

10. I hope they know how much the right-wing here would love to see

them all blown to smithereens, just like the Cuban "exile" ex-CIA employee, airliner bomber, mass murderer, Luis Posada Carriles attempted to do when he and his fellow "exile" would-be assassins hauled all their plastic bomb paraphenalia down to Panama to blow up the auditorium where Fidel Castro was scheduled to address a huge crowd, until they were caught.

_Bush is still protecting Posada Carriles from the consequences of his mass-murder on the Cubana airliner passengers.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Ah, the fine hand of the driven propagandist hard at work!

This claim is also retained in shortened versions of this AP piece found elsewhere:

The raised fist here can symbolize atheist beliefs or the leftist struggle.

Engaging the gullible in slack-jawed amazement they are claiming "atheists" have their own hand signal!

I'll be damned. Duh. Drool.

So it looks as if they're building an assault on this man, too. He is either a polytheist, a savage, an atheist, or some scary combination of all of them. I'm skeered o' atheists. What about you?




_Bush, stop the insulting propaganda lies. Shame. You can see some deviant came up with this idea to plant the idea in the feeble minds of right-wing xenophobes to start shaking in their boots when they see Morales raise his hand for the rest of his Presidency, looking for "evil" signs.



Atheists, or just leftists?

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,1765549_4,00.jpg

Evo Morales and Argentinian soccer star, Diego Maradona.

[Peace Patriot]

13. Nice catch! Re: that raised fist is atheist or pagan. It didn't occur

to me that it was disinformation. I just thought it was kind of weird, maybe a South American thing.

Leftism/progressivism vs. the Catholic Church is an interesting topic re South America. The top guys--cardinals, bishops tend toward fascist/Opus Dei. Those are descendants of Conquistador prelates out to tame the "savages"--often brutally. Cardinal Castillo Lara (Vatican toady; corrupt business dealings; spent most his career in the Roman Curia--and hates Hugo Chavez) is a good example, although the other Venezuelan bishops AND the Vatican have tried to distance themselves from Castillo (who now resides in Venezuela). But the lower layers, priests and nuns, are often radical and side with the poor and the indigenous (advocates of "Liberation theology"--which the Vatican has tried to squelch). Huge swaths of the populations of these countries are Catholic, but it's Latin Catholicism (and I don't mean old Latin--I mean, South/Central American brand of Catholicism). I know in Mexico, for instance, Our Lady of Guadalupe is an amalgam of Mary and Ix Chel, ancient Mayan Goddess of Women. This religion is warmer, more forgiving, more in touch with indigenous roots, more colorful, and much more attractive than some manifestations of Catholicism. I also have a feeling that something is going on with Chavez, religion-wise. I think he takes Jesus' teaching very seriously ("love thine enemy," "turn the other cheek," "give all you have to the poor").

None of these new leaders are typical of, say, 1960s/1970s revolutionaries (who were moved by communist analysis, very hostile to religion). For one thing, they are entirely peaceful, and wherever there are rich/poor conflicts, are trying to work them out fairly. The Bush junta tried to topple Chavez with a crippling strike, for instance, but it wasn't of the poor workers. It was the rich oil tech workers--engineers, professionals. He had to fire them all--after which their U.S. tech partner, a CIA operative for sure, sabotaged all the oil business computers--but Chavez didn't jail them or harm them. He just did what he had to. Anyway, I think what is at work in these movements is a fascinating combination of leftist/progressive beliefs and Catholic and indigenous religion. (Chavez has some indigenous and some African blood, and has implemented some strong new measures to protect the lands of remaining indigenous tribes and return control of the land to them). I think Chavez and Morales are highly intelligent men, in the obvious and overt ways, but also at a deeper level. The intelligence of instinctively knowing the right and ethical way to do things.

Or, maybe it's just that OUR leaders are so-o-o bad, these South American leaders shine by comparison, but it's really just normal human goodness.

[killbotfactory]

11. OMG HE IS PAGAN! WE MUST DESTROY HIM

- Pat Robertson, some future point in time.

[IndianaGreen]

12. I hope Morales does not make the traditional sign of the cross

Many Bolivians also wonder if their new leader will make the traditional sign of the cross while being sworn in, or take the oath more rebelliously, with a raised fist, as his ally Edmundo Novillo, the new president of the house of deputies, did just days ago. The raised fist here can symbolize atheist beliefs or the leftist struggle.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/01/20/morales.temple.ap/index.html

Christianity has been bad for the indigenous people of Latin America and the world. It has been an instrument of oppression and subjugation. African slaves brought to America were Christianized, spiritual castration, that cut their ties to their ancient religions and cultures, and turned them into slaves to their adopted white god, and their white masters.

[Peace Patriot]

15. "Many Bolivians also wonder....." I wonder where the AP writer got that

statistic. (??)

[bkcc]

14. This is cool.

But does anyone have the slightest doubt that he's going to get offed by political enemies or the CIA? Sorry to be a pessimist, but history shows that leaders who speak for the people don't have extraordinarily long lifespans.

But I would love to be wrong about this one.

[Peace Patriot]

16. As I said above, Morales is not alone. The entire subcontinent has gone

left. They are banding together for political and economic self-determination and security. And they have allies all over the world. For instance, EU election groups and the Carter Center, as well as the OAS, helped calm down the situation in Venzuela, after the US-backed coup attempt against Chavez (which, basically, the poor of Caracas brought to a halt). They helped insure spotless elections, which Chavez has won, hands down. I really don't think that the usual kinds of interference can be effective in South America any more. Not to say they won't be tried. The Bush junta has tried just about everything in Venezuela--a coup/kidnapping (probable assassination attempt), a crippling oil strike, funding Chavez's oil elite opposition, funding a recall election, and more. It's all failed. The Bolivarian Revolution is deeply rooted, and I think unstoppable--and the general movement for self-determination and majority (leftist) policies is huge.

[Peace Patriot]

17. About Morales and sign of the cross vs. raised fist. He would be wise to

to do both. It would be in keeping with the spirit of unity and peaceful but deeply revolutionary change that is sweeping the region.

[IndianaGreen]

18. Morales won't do the sign of the cross

He is a socialist to begin with and his party, Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), is opposed to the Catholic Church for they have aligned themselves with the elites, as they aligned themselves with the Spanish Conquistadores.

[xchrom]

19. blessed be morales!

you're gonna rock:yourock: