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News > Latin America

'Socialism is the Radical Transformation of Democracy,' Says Bolivian Vice President

  • Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera pushes for citizen empowerment at this year's ELAP conference (Sept. 28-30).

    Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera pushes for citizen empowerment at this year's ELAP conference (Sept. 28-30). | Photo: EFE

Published 29 September 2015
Opinion

Vice president says Latin America does not want to follow the model of the “false democracies of the North.”

Democracy is in need of a major overhaul and the socialist movements of Latin America are the ones to deliver it, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said Tuesday.

Speaking at the Meeting for Latin American Progressives conference in Quito, Ecuador, the Bolivian leader criticized the way democracies operate in the world today.

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The vice president listed two main areas of concern: a lack of citizen participation in decision making processes and the monopolization of power by elites.

“In many societies, not even 2 percent of the population participate in making decisions,” said Garcia Linera. These include the “false democracies of the North ... and it is not a model we want to imitate or follow,” he added.

In his two hour talk, the vice president “assessed” the last 15 years of governance in Latin America, praising the socialist revolutions in places like Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina, which have all taken major steps in eradicating poverty, increasing access to education and healthcare, and improving infrastructure in the region.

According to Garcia Linera, the struggle for socialism is not over however. The vice president demanded that people seek empowerment, participate more in communities, government and the decision making processes that affect their society and lives.

Above all, added Garcia Linera, people must fight for sovereignty and the right to participate in making decisions that affect their surroundings and not be controlled by other foreign powers, particularly global neoliberal interests, said the vice president.

“The state is a thing but it's more than a thing. It's an institution, it's a norm, it's a process, but it's more than that,” said Linera.

“The state is a relationship between people, a way to link one another on a daily basis with others around us ... We have to take that relationship! We have to conquer that relationship,” added the vice president, who was met with a roomful of applause.

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He went on to ask the audience to remember countries such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia before socialism came to fruition, when people were controlled by external interests – when private companies controlled their water and other resources, international companies exploited their environment, and foreign investment controlled government decisions.

“The socialist governments of Latin America want profound participation, especially in the streets,” he said, adding, “Socialism is the radical transformation of democracy.”

The Bolivian vice president was joined by dozens of other known progressive political actors in the region, such as Colombia’s Piedad Cordoba and members from the recently released Cuban Five at the three day conference.

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