Monday, January 23, 2006

Bolivia's new president

The new President of Bolivia is Evo Morales, the first indigenous person elected President, and the first in decades to form a majority government, his election not requiring ratification by their parliament.

A couple different takes on Morales' election and inauguration:

Walter Mingolo, in the Orlando Sentinel, assures us that Morales' election is anti-colonial, rather than a vote in favor of alternatives to the dominant economic and political trend of globalization of capitallism.

But the New Zealand alternative news source Scoop tells us that Morales is head of the Movement Toward Socialism Party.

I just heard on NPR that Morales' inauguration featured several indigenous languages, and he was wearing an alpaca garment. I think that's the coolest thing about it.

Imagine the odds of an indigenous person being elected President of the United States!

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