From – where else – The Guardian: Bolivia enshrines natural world’s rights with equal status for Mother Earth
“Bolivia is set to pass the world’s first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country’s rich mineral deposits as “blessings” and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.
The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.”
The first comment to the Guardian piece said, “So much for evolution.”
“Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities”.
The law, which is part of a complete restructuring of the Bolivian legal system following a change of constitution in 2009, has been heavily influenced by a resurgent indigenous Andean spiritual world view which places the environment and the earth deity known as the Pachamama at the centre of all life. Humans are considered equal to all other entities.”
Votes for bacteria now!
“Little opposition is expected to the law being passed because President Evo Morales’s ruling party, the Movement Towards Socialism, enjoys a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament.
With the newly-enfranchised bacteria supporting him, I’m not surprised.
“In the indigenous philosophy, the Pachamama is a living being.
The draft of the new law states: “She is sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb. She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organisation.”
Nice to see Bolivia following Britain’s England’s example and instituting an Established Church.
The new Ecuadorian constitution got there first (as the Grauniad article points out). It’s a sop to the electorally not to be sneezed at indigenous movements, as is the Ecuadorian Constitution’s shameful legalization of “native justice”, which basically enforces a kind of apartheid. If you live in Guayaquil and steal, you might get fined or go to jail (if you forget to bribe the judge, that is). If you live in an “indigenous community”, you might get beaten with nettles, drenched in icy water, and/or tied to a stake and have your feet roasted, after being tried in a kangaroo court presided over by a toothless, illiterate old hag, with a policeman standing by in case things get out of hand.
As for the rights of Nature, well, there’s the chance to vote against bullfighting in the forthcoming referendum (as well as the chance to vote in favour of various forms of dictatorship) so that’s all right innit?
Such as livestock?
Are you sure this wasn’t from the April 1 edition?
It’s called Agenda 21 in the USA
It’s called Common Purpose in the UK
I wonder what they call it in Bolivia?
This would be sad if it weren’t so funny.
Either this will have to be almost completely ignored or quickly rescinded as their economy collapses under the weight of lawsuits.
It must be said that Bolivia is much more of a democracy than the UK; it has a very strong local democracy setup which is much superior to anything in the West. I rather admire Evo’s passion and idealism, such a contrast with soulless, effeminate PR men like Cameron.
Whereas the UK is surrendering to the EU and Corporatism, in Latin America there is a wonderful nationalism and asserting of identity after Nazi fascists like Henry Kissinger slaughtered millions across the region.
And at least the country is not overrun with thugs, mercs, and rapists, which make up Colombia’s entire scummy population.
So what? A democratic tyranny is no less of a tyranny than any other kind… but feel free to move there if you want.
When I hear remarks like “I rather admire Evo’s passion and idealism” I reach for my axe. How is ‘passion’ in the service of psychotic green nativist statism somehow more admirable that the inept corporatist statism of Cameron?
Bolivia is on another planet…..
Been waiting for the formation of PETB, People for the Ethical Treatment of Bacteria, for several years now. Seems like the wait is over!
There was a science-fiction novel many years ago about a deadly maze that was discovered on the moon. I think it was written by Algis Budrys, one of my favorite names of all time.
The story described how a new team was sent there to find a safe way through the maze, in the belief that some marvelous discovery waited at the end.
This recent Latin American fascination with marxism strikes me as being a sad variation on the theme of that novel.
Over and over again, the same people who are now boldly “advancing toward socialism” have watched as country after country has tried to find the path to a prosperous society by communal ownership and the corporate state.
As if in the grip of a psychotic delusion, they ignore all the collapsed hopes, all the collapsed economies, and all the destroyed lives, and once again go charging into the maze.
There is no mystery here, waiting to unfold. The results, as they have always and inevitably been, will be the impoverishment of the common people, and the destruction of what little representative government they have managed to fashion.
And useful idiots, just like the one above in these comments, will be aghast, and spend endless hours desperately trying to find some reason why it all went bad that does not place the blame where it actually belongs—on the perverted theories of political and economic and social organization put into practice by the “passionate” saviors of Bolivia.
I watch the same process in my own country, and around the world, and weep bitter tears.
Someday, and that day will not be far away, all of us will again confront the words of flame written on the wall—Mene, mene tekel upharsin.
You have been weighed in the scales, and found wanting.
I assume Gary’s comment (“I rather admire Evo’s passion and idealism”) is in jest. Let us not forget that this is a man who is on record as stating that his Bolivian ancestors “fought against the Roman Empire”, and that eating chicken will cause men to become “deviant in their manhood”. The guy is, let’s face it, barking mad. However, one thing Bolivia has got going for it: the pic in the Guardian has it nailed. Ask yourself what the gal on the left is chewing.
As I hinted before, the country will not “collapse under the weight of lawsuits”, for the following reasons:
1) Neither llamas nor colonies of salmonella are skilled in the art of legal wrangling, nor do they have money to pay lawyers;
2) As in the rest of the ALBA countries, the Constitution is carefully designed so that government can hit you with it, but you (even if you’re an animal) can´t hit back;
3) The Pachamama thing is a cynical propaganda stunt to get the indigenos arguing about who’s nativer than whom. Nobody expects it to make a blind bit of difference to anything. It hasn’t here in Ecuador.
“nor do they have money to pay lawyers”
What, you never heard of a “contingent fee”? Or a court-appointed (and -paid) guardian ad litem? You will, soon enough.
This whole nonsense is an example of what happens when people accept the idea that there is an “intrinsic” value to something, such as a forest, lake, rocks or whatever. It is often presented as a self-evident fact that we should preserve Nature for its own sake; some of these “Deep” Greens actually hate what I might call “free market environmentalism” because they object to the idea of humans deciding what sort of trade-offs to have between material wealth as created by humans changing the stuff of nature, and Nature, itself. As far as the ultras are concerned, we don’t have the right to make such a trade off.
Humans, being the kind of rational creatures we are, live by using our minds to shift the stuff of nature so we can survive and thrive. Essentially, what these people want is for that freedom to be suppressed. They are anti-human. Some of the worst, such as the ghastly John Gray (a LSE academic), even talk of humans as a sort of disease or plague. The nihilism and childishness of these people is extraordinary.
That is why it is essential to attack environmentalism at its philosophically nihilist roots. And we need to stop condescending to people in places such as Bolivia or wherever, and stop pretending that people who live up trees are somehow cuter than a middle class family living in Suburbaville, or wherever.
Oh, those silly Latin Americans with their democracies, why won’t they do as told and just accept Uncle Sam’s scumbag puppets?
Evo may be somewhat wacky and I disagree with large chunks of what he says but he’s not a vile pedophile pig like US stooge Hugo Banzer. He has a spine, and unlike many Western politicians he has actually done a day’s work (David Cameron, who looks more like a CGI render than a human being, has no experience of the real world; he has not worked for anything in his life and is a shallow PR man).
So, you prefer the CIA-Backed Clowns who murdered and raped their way across Latin America for decades? All solely for the benefit of the United Fruit Company and their little whores the Dulles Brothers. What’s the slaughter of hundreds of thousands in Guatemala compared to the profits of the United Fruit Company and their corporate welfare sugar daddies, the CIA, eh?
Videla the child stealer, who murdered thousands, you think he was a good man? Bravo to the Argentines for shoving the scumbag into jail.
Or maybe the Fascist, rapist and torturer and US/IMF puppet Pinochet? Both buddies of that sub-human scumbag Kissinger.
Or maybe you’re a fan of Stroessner? Mont? Batista? Papa Doc?
The US government expanding control into foreign nations via treasonous puppets like Pinochet, Videla, Aribe, etc. is the very essence of Big Government, Stalin would have been proud of US foreign policy in the region; it is the ultimate expression of Statism at its most wretched, the meddling in foreign nations.
As Ron Paul has said, who other nations elect as their leaders is none of America’s business.
How can you not applaud the people of Latin America for standing up to the anti-democratic crooks of the IMF? (Contrast that with the pathetic weakness of the Greeks and the spineless Irish, now being screwed by Strauss-Kahn and his unaccountable pen-pushing cretins.)
Its very clear that foreign influence needs to be purged from Latin America for the sake of its security; the CIA and the totally discredited IMF, and recently Honduras, are proof enough of that.
Its no coincidence that as US and IMF influence has waned, the region has experienced huge economic growth (Brazil and Argentina especially; their growth is a whopping 10 times that of the UK’s failing and dying economy, which languishes on a laughable and humiliating 1%. I despise Chavez but admire Lula and Cristina for creating huge growth and jobs, which makes them both successful by any criteria and vastly superior to any of their mediocre Western counterparts), largely because it has governments which mostly (regardless of political hue) actually have a tendency to act in the national interest.
See if you can name a European leader who has a personality. There aren’t any, because they are all spin-driven, soulless robots.
The one with the blue jungle aliens?
Don’t forget to breath, Gary.
Although, that idea about Cameron being a CGI render is worth looking into – could explain a lot…
Politicians empowered by laws they have written representing the interests of mother earth no longer need to represent mere fleshy voters.
Which is more important – protecting every last sod of earth and blade of grass or having accountable politicians who know the rightful limits and nature of their authority? The latter. Always.
The push for a centralised regime of environmental protection and environmental corporatism is overturning democracy wherever the two causes come into conflict. It is the state squatting on the land rather than simply seeking to protect private property rights.
Gary, on another thread, claimed it was a sign of fascism that we overthrew Saddam. Oh, he also suggests we can solve all defence problems by carrying handguns, or something.
Quite entertaining, but he needs to time his punchlines better if he wants to get onto the networks
Gary the CIA mostly backed the moderate LEFT in Latin American – for decades.
For example, they backed the social democrats in Peru, Chile (and many other nations).
However, “oddly enough” the social democrats (with their fiat money inflation and general statism) led to chaos, and the Marxists benefitted from that.
So the Marxists came to power (in nation after nation) and the only people left to oppose them were the military. Who were just as brutal as you describe.
So the American CIA policy of backing the moderate left (AGAINST conservatives) in Latin American, indirectly led to them being forced into at least tacitly backing the military – in the end. Although the military were not always “rightwing” (for example in Peru they were on the left in the 1960s – and in Argentina they mixed Progressive, big spending, economics with endless corruption and brutality).
El Salvador is a textbook case of poor American policy
The Carter Administration backed the coup against President Romero in 1979 (and Romero was no wonder of wonders either).
The new President (who claimed that Romero had cheated him of the Presidency by rigging elections) was the social democrat (in the phony language of Latin American a “Christian Democrat”) Duarte.
Durate nationalized the banks and many other companies, and broke up (stole) many of the large landed estates.
The economy COLLAPSED – output fell by 50% in the period 1979 to 1982.
This was not a recession (as with the rest of the world in the period).
This was like the Great Depression in the United States.
The Communists (who had been active – but not dangerious in the 1970s) turned into a massive fighting force perfectly capable of taking over the country.
So the Carter Administration was led (step by step) to at least turning a blind eye to the only people really capable of fighting the Communists.
Not Duarte and his 9 to 5 on weekdays and weekends off, supporters (who could not fight their way out of a paper bag), but the Death Squads.
Yes the Death Squads – the people who (amongst others) killed Archbishop Romero in 1980.
They were the only people left who could and would fight.
That is where a policy of supporting “reform” leads – a pathetic social democrat dominated government that can not fight anyone.
So one ends up depending on hard line (indeed border line lunatic) forces. Perhaps not “supporting” them – but depending on them just the same.
Because there is no one else left – the traditional insitutions of the country having been undermined (by one’s own “reform” policy).
Very retired.
The Latin American interest in Marxism is not “recent”, indeed I know of only one university in all of Latin America that is actually anti Marxist (it is in Guatemala)
Leftist thought perminates everywhere.
For example, in the FDN (the so called “Contras”) in Nicaragua “of course the cement industry must remain under the control of the people” was official policy.
When the Ortaga family (the Communists) recently took back control of Nicaragua – in some ways it made only a limited difference.
Take the country in Latin America that has had the longest war against the Marxists that is still active.
Colombia.
They have faught the Communists all my life – every year thousands of died (on both sides), so the Constitution of Colombia is going to be real hard core free market is it not?
Not at all.
It is a “Christmas Tree of Rights” – “rights” defined as benefits from the government.
Not Marxist (I grant you that), but utterly unsustainable and absurd.
And, of course, the Communists (the FARC and so on) can TRUTHFULLy say that the government is not providing the rights the Constitution promises the people.
Because it is utterly impossible to do this.
The last time when many (by no means all) governments in Latin America were limited (not free market – just at least theory limited) – did not have endless regulations and did not promise people endless “rights” was the 1920s.
One or two nations (such as Honduras) carried this on into the 1930s – but since World War II all of Latin America (without exception) has been statist to the core.
However, Bolivia has perhaps been the worst of all.
“I rather admire E….” says Gary.
He would cut your skin off your body – you do not believe me but he would.
But the problems of Bolivia go way back.
It lost the war with Paraguay and then went into massive statism in the 1930s (not that it had ever been a very free market place), nationalizing the oil and gas industry.
Latin American countries keep doing that (nationalizing “natural resources”) various places did it even in the 19th century.
The govenrment then runs the operations into the ground – and sells the operations back to private companes, who gets things running again. Then another government years later……..
Anyway Bolivia – the statism of the 1930s and 1940s were replaced by the ultra statism of the 1952 Revolution.
Viturally everything was nationalized. And farms divided into penny packet peasant plots (a similar policy was followed by Nasser in Egypt – with similar results).
Fast forward through the endless coups (just like in the 19th century – Bolivia tends to have a revolution or a coup every other year, a bit like the Tin Tin in South America comic).
Ducking military bullets and rampaging civilian mobs is not an ideal climate for long term business investment.
And the endless confiscations (and FORCED bribes) never get into the “tax as a percentage of GDP” stats that make morons think that Latin America is a small government place.
Over time larger farms have again emerged in Bolvia (as they have done after almost every Latin American confiscation and “distribution”), because larger farms make sense and peasant plots do not.
Just as private enterprise emerged in Bolivia again after the 1952 Revolution – because the state ran into the ground everything it took over.
Now the new President is busy repeating all the mistakes of the past.
And the “Progressive” support him.
Lastly the new Constitution – the alliance of the Red and the Green.
A “right to life” for all animals and plans (and so on).
Fair enough – so all humans starve to death.
The logical conclusion of leftism, just more open this time.
Of course if people actually wanted to protect the environment they would support the only cultural institution that can really do so in the long term…..
PRIVATE PROPERTY.
However, that would be a “no no”.
So much better to have “access rights” (not private property rights), and slash and burn farming, and government roads, and government banks providing assistance, and ranchers told they have the “use” (but not the real OWNERSHIP) of land.
This has worked so well in Brazil and other nations over the last few decades.
Yes I am being sarcastic.
“So you prefer the CIA-backed clowns”
I get that every day. It’s as if, back in the USSR, one were to oppose mass deportation to the GULAGs: “oh, so you want to bring back the Tsar?” Gimme a break.
“who other nations elect as their leaders is none of America’s business”
So true. However, who is elected in my country of residence (Ecuador) might be my business.
Talking of “vile pedophile pigs”, you do know that Daniel Ortega was accused of 20 years of repeated rape and abuse against his stepdaughter Zoilamerica Narvaez, then 11 years of age, and that rather than attempting to rebut this allegation, he invoked parliamentary immunity to avoid it going to court?
“Oh, those silly Latin Americans with their democracies”
Those brave souls who actually advocate real democracy tend to end up in jail. This is as true here in Ecuador as it is in Venezuela. One-party populist fascism – coming soon to a banana republic near you!
“See if you can name a European leader who has a personality”
Oh, I see. For a moment I thought we were talking politics. Well, let’s see… my vote goes to that there Van Rumpy. Crazy name, crazy guy!!1!??!!
“So you prefer the CIA-backed clowns”
I fully prefer CIA- backed clowns
CIA backed clowns murder, kill when someone tries to take their power.
CIA backed assed clows also only existed because KGB assed clowns.
Your KGB, Communist backed assed clows are much worse murder even if someone tries to make their own life without trying to take their power.
Communist thugs like you support are always upset by the private vegetables of senor Pablo.
I hope Japan has an extradition treaty with Bolivia, because Mother Nature just committed mass murder and nuclear terrorism on a bunch of Japanese citizens. Shall Mother Nature pay for the crimes against Japan and its citizens who what She did to them? Or will the Bolivians shelter her like Saddam sheltered Abu Nidal?
And say Japan goes to a civil trial to seek monetary damages for the earthquake and tsunami. Do these ‘blessings’ count in any way towards paying the comepnsatory damages, or will the good people of Boliuvia have to fork over their tax dollars on behalf of Mother Nature?
The law of the jungle is “might makes right”. The way I see it, there are in theory 3 kinds of man-made laws: those that attempt to limit the power of the mighty and the powerful, those that are designed to enhance it, and those that are indifferent. That’s my theory, and on the face of it laws such as those Bolivian ones described here seemingly belong to the third kind. However, I think that in reality the third kind is incompatible with nature (human or otherwise), and so is forever destined to remain purely theoretical. Those Bolivian laws sure don’t belong to the first kind though.
This is pure patronage- who gets the tax money and power for protecting, administering, and suing on behalf of nature?
Cui bono? Cherchez l’argent.
Everyone’s ignoring the how-to-get-rich angle here! Sue pharmaceutical companies that sell cough drops and medical cures! They’re profiting off the murder of millions of living beings! We can all thank Gaia for the Bolivian Government! Justice at last!
The CIA got rid of Arbenz in Guatemala purely in the interests of the United Fruit Company. The Dulles brothers, obviously fans of Mussolini, used the CIA to enrich the UFC. Corporate Welfare.
Dulles was on the board of UFC. Shows you what really motivated him.
Arbenz was moderate left, and the United Fruit Company was not even using the land.
Arbenz also sold his own land to his people, making him that most rare phenomenon; a politician who was not a hypocrite.
If the UFC wanted to protest, it should have done so using its own money instead of sponging off the US taxpayer, because it was Mr. Taxpayer who paid for the corporate welfare coup. The Dulles committed treason IMHO by using the American taxpayer to enrich a foreign entity (UFC).
Also, let me point out to you that the International Monetary Fund destroyed Argentina’s economy (50% in poverty). Guess what happened to Argentina after it kicked out the IMF. It’s economy grew.
As I said, contrast the pathetic spinelessness of the Irish in contrast to the Argentines who showed that the IMF is wrong about everything and is an utter irrelevance and has no place in the world.
Argentina has 10% growth, whereas Ireland is now a laughing stock. When the IMF is through with asset-stripping them, they won’t even have potatoes.
The moral of the story is don’t let foreigners control your economy or your country.
This is Rumania crazy.
No, check that, this is Zimbabwe crazy.
Nope, missed it again, this is North Korea crazy.
Bolivia is about to stop playing well with others. Expect the forced migrations and mass executions within five years.
For the hard-of-attention-span, your cut-out-‘n’-keep guide to the delightful “personalities” of the Latin American Left as of 2011:
Ortega: child rapist
Castro: tyrant
Chavez: thug
Rousseff: pathological liar
Correa: drama queen
Lugo: oily religious hypocrite
Kirchner: clothes horse
Morales: batshit
A meeting of this lot would run like a sequel to The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. If these are “personalities”, then God help us all.
I notice you avoid my point about the United Fruit Company’s using taxpayer’s money and the CIA to advance its own interests. Seems you approve of it.
Well, you won’t have much choice, because Corporatism, the religion of Lockheed (the Kings of Pork), Goldman Sachs, and GE, Big Pharma, the Agriculture industry, and all the other welfare spongers, is now unstoppable.
It should be noted that all evil derives from the belief that the end justifies the means. Stalin, Hitler, Kissinger, Mao, Pinochet, Suharto, Franco, Kim Jong Il, Pol Pot, Mont, etc…all driven by the same contempt for humanity and belief that their aims justified anything they did.
Ultimately all ideologies, like all religions, are failures and you have to be very, very stupid to believe in any of them. They’re all crap in their own special ways.
Chavez is indeed a demagogue who squandered his early promise, his original nationalism (good) has been clouded by the disease of ideology (bad). The others are varying mixtures and shades of Chavez-lite, but Rousseff and Kirchner (a Keynesian) are pragmatists who undeniably preside over booming economies whose growth exposes the economic incompetence of their Western counterparts. Clearly the West needs more clotheshorses and “pathological liars”.
Let’s look at recent/current Western leaders and politicians:
Cameron: PR man, never worked in a proper job. No comprehension of real world or its complexities; lives in a upper middle-class fantasy land. Smug.
Brown: Mishandled everything, managed to pick out all the worst elements of various ideologies and meld them into a cluster of idiocy.
Sarkozy: A vain man married Carla to enhance his image. Personifies everything people despise about the French male.
Merkel: Asexual frumpy bore. However, only Western leader with economic success.
Obama: Careerist, corporate whore, like pretty much all US Presidents. Bush Lite.
Bush II: Never worked in a proper job, Corporate Welfare sponger. Jobs and wages stagnated and fell under Bush. Plagiarist; Used Google to write his memoirs.
Nick Clegg: Daddy got him a job. Shallow and two-faced. Unfair to single him out, though; he’s the same as everyone else on this list, motivated by vanity and ego.
Berlusconi: Corrupt, egotistical, vain, stupid, greedy, like many of the above has never done any real work. Everything Silvio does is purely for his own benefit. Vile.
Barroso: Pen pusher.
Dominic Strauss Kahn: Unelected, elitist autocrat, heads anti-democratic, elitist organization, a tool of the bankers. Adulterous, arrogant, cowardly, overpaid.
Brian Cowen: Utterly incompetent, obedient servant of the bankers. Presided over a nation which doesn’t make anything, and so won’t be doing anything. He has stocked up on potatoes.
BTW Seeing as some are so quick to comment on utterly absurd laws, what about the Price Anderson Act?
Or are some so-called Libertarians here going to defend that?
Endivio, thanks for that handy guide. FYI, apparently there is already a sequel to The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra”. Who knew?
Hey Gary, you forgot to mention “imperialist running dogs”.
Gary – you do not have a clue about Guatemala (or anywhere else).
John Foster D. (and his brother Allan) had many faults – but basing policy on the interests of the United Fruit Company was not one of them.
You just do not have a freaking clue.
When I was young I would have tried educating you – but at my age I no longer care about morons such as yourself.
One day you may understand it all – but only when you have first hand experience of the rule of some of your Marxist hero figures.
Of course one of the people who had high hopes for Marxist influence in the regime in Guatemala was “Che” himself.
No doubt he was just lying about them being Marxists as well – he was really on the board of the United Fruit Company.
Although, of course, I am wasting my time.
Just as I would be wasting my time (in the case of Gary) by talking about the Soviet Block arms shipments to Guatemala, or the fact that the President admitted to being a Marxist – was fond of telling the story about his darling wife had introduced him to Marxism by leaving “The Communist Manifesto” on the pillow of the marital bed…..
Yes I was out of line by using sharp language on Gary – I APOLOGIZE for that.
But I can not stand Marxism – especially not vulgar Marxism (“United Fruit company influence led to ……”) and as they have murdered over 150 million people over the last century, I beg for a pass (over my bad temper) when someone comes up with Marxist B.S.
At least we did not have the “Dulles boys were Nazi’s” Marxist agitprop that exists over at wikipedia.
Any adult who has the time to spend thinking up this sort of twaddle must be spending his or her life hunched up, head-between-knees, inside a womb.