Another faction of CONAMAQ applauds Morales and his administration for nationalizing natural resources, using the money gained from neo-extractivism to promote social services, and promoting a new constitution that recognizes the cultural rights of indigenous communities. They argue that they have been excluded from development for centuries and now they finally have access to a status of living that has been restricted to mestizo and Creole elites. Furthermore, they are not advocating extravagant living, but rather fundamental facilities such as schools, hospitals, roads, and soccer fields. Hilarión Mamani and his followers believe that they must stand with the CSUTCB, Interculturales, and Bartolinas Sisas (the remaining organizations that compose the Unity Pact) in order to realize the Process of Change. By working with the government, they hope to influence systemic change. President Morales congratulated Hilarión Mamani and CONAMAQ-MAS at the most recent regional Marka Tantachawi. He clarified that, “We all have the right to be leaders, but we don’t have the right to betray our political movement, especially when we are being watched not only by
Bolivia, but by the entire world” (Morales 2015). Morales sheds light on the fact that Bolivia is a progressive country with many rights imbued in the constitution that states would never guarantee their citizens. His administration’s fear of the organic CONAMAQ’s radical behavior is legitimate, as it pushes Morales’ Process of Change to levels that the global elite has not come to terms with.
Morales has congratulated CONAMAQ-MAS’ efforts to reconstitute the modern ayllu, denouncing European colonizers and the capitalist system. The MAS administration hopes to use the organization as a beacon of cultural light on an international scale to legitimize indigenous culture. Many anthropologists have been keen to demonstrate the fracturing image of strategic essentialism by demonstrating how indigenous peoples are involved in extractive industries. They point out that native communities also take part in market-based mechanisms (McNeish 2013). While this is generally used as a critique, it is also indicative of a 21st century reality. A ‘return to our roots’ ideology (as displayed by the organic CONAMAQ) will not always function in light of migration and globalization in which individuals may not identify with those same ‘roots’, or have created their own new systems out of necessity or desire. Many people who have migrated from rural to urban areas do not necessarily want to return to their previous lifestyle. Often they were forced to relocate from their homes because they could not survive as small-scale subsistence farmers, miners, or merchants. Nicole Fabricant recognizes that the ideas of vivir bien and the ayllu system focus on rural realities. Emphasis on how to live in harmony with the environment and how to protect the natural surroundings largely ignore urban realities of over population, poverty, and inequality (Fabricant 2013). Living well in a place like El Alto would be dependent on an entirely new infrastructure.
When speaking with one member of CONAMAQ-MAS he told me how the ‘right-wing CONAMAQ’ (the way that CONAMAQ-MAS refers to the organic branch) is a small portion of the movement that is not acting rationally. He told me that they were jealous of the development that other indigenous peoples were benefitting from, the access to diverse food, the highways, and the soccer fields. He told me a story of an ongoing conflict between his ayllu and seven others that ended nearly 20 years ago. It was a disagreement that had been passed down through generations over territorial borders and bred much resentment between the groups. The ayllus had been separated under the nation state’s political-geographic borders with four positioned in Potosí and four in Oruro. Just a couple years ago, the Morales administration built 3,000 homes for orphans of this conflict. Last year they helped build 2,000 more and several synthetic soccer fields. This man told me that instead of fighting brutally amongst neighboring ayllus, they have begun organizing soccer tournaments. These factors force us to ask whether the government has appropriated CONAMAQ-MAS, or if they are acting as rational citizens in the twenty-first century. Are they following the guise of western modernity in an effort to confront immediate needs? Are they losing their indigeneity? Or are they widening the global perspective of what it means to be indigenous?
Hale concludes that we must find a balance between the impossible subject and the appropriated subject in search for, “creative articulation between these utopian sensibilities and the always compromised, always urgent, struggles for relief from oppression and for modest material wellbeing in the here and now” (Hale 2011). In a concrete sense, Bolivia will need to find a balance between lifting people out of poverty through neo-extractivism, and protecting Mother Nature and the rights of indigenous peoples. By looking at the split between two factions of CONAMAQ, we see the very
real and distinct needs of peoples who have emerged from similar situations. The next step will be for the Morales Administration to legally recognize both of these stances.
CONCLUSION
An indigenous movement can break ties with an indigenous president because there are many ways of being indigenous. The organic CONAMAQ is pushing for societal changes that the president is not in a position to push forth. Morales must appease the needs of many different sectors of society: The Cruceño elite, the mestizo middle class, afro-descendants, lowland indigenous peoples, rural peasants, urban workers, highland indigenous peoples, and everyone in between. It is the role of social movements, outside of state governance, to push the boundaries in an effort to create change and social emancipation.
The dissolution of the Unity Pact marks a crucial moment in Bolivian history. It does not mean that the movement for indigenous rights in Bolivia is losing traction or is incompetent. Instead, it is a clear sign that activists, politicians, and scholars must reconsider how we understand indigeneity. We must recognize that there is not one way of being indigenous, for Morales is an indigenous man, as are members of CONAMAQ, and members of the other organizations that once made up the Unity Pact. Indigenous peoples are not necessarily rural guardians of Mother Nature. They live in urban areas, they rap in Aymara, and design houses in El Alto. They starve themselves in an effort to win the rights of their land that they have been promised. They are enthusiastic and hopeful. They are depressed and defeated. They are determined to create a better world for their children and grandchildren. These realities push us to recognize the plurality of indigenous experiences in order to create a harmonious Plurinational state.
Conclusion
How are indigenous peoples negotiating their cultural, political, and economic autonomy in twenty-first century Bolivia? This thesis has explored one iteration of that struggle, through a case study of the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu (CONAMAQ). I provide an overarching view of how indigenous peoples have resisted histories of exclusion and forced assimilation through state and non-state avenues in order to create spaces for their autonomy to flourish. The Plurinational State of Bolivia under president Evo Morales has accomplished profound institutional shifts in an effort to respect indigenous rights, but I argue that the (neo)liberal understanding of one homogenous indigenous subject continues to drive this project. In order to realize the goals of a plurinational state (in practice, not just in title), the Bolivian government, and non-state actors will need to acknowledge, respect, and listen to the distinct identities and goals of different subjectivities (indigenous/non-indigenous, urban/rural etc.) throughout the country. More specifically, I propose that many conflicts have arisen due to epistemological discrepancies over land use and development and can only be mediated by attention to the diverse identities of many indigenous peoples.