Naupax Manpuni [Watching the Past Aiming at the Furture]: Indigenous Protagonism in the Popular Struggles of Bolivia (from Community to State)

Abstract

Abstract: The election of Evo Morales in 2005 opened a new horizon of meaning to reflect on the indigenous issue in the continent, because, for the first time, the barriers of a colonial, racist and patriarchal state were broken in favor of the self-represented indigenous movement, thus redefining the Social Pact in force, making Bolivia a Plurinational and Community State. The purpose of this article is to analyze, based on the decolonial theory – more specifically linked to the perspective of the “decolonial giro” –, how a long-lasting, millennial time that dates back to the structuring of the indigenous community is articulated, and the short-term, conjunctural period, in which there was a growing process of ethnicization of politics and indigenous protagonism in defining the directions of an entire country. Between changes and permanences, I reflect on the process that led to the rise of the Evo Morales Government and some of its subsequent contradictions.

Keywords: Bolivia, State, social movements