Join the new world

This is a dance of celebration. Click the image to hear our song played by the Bolivian band Alturas:



I am extremely proud to say that I fought in Chuquisaca and Tarija Tuesday night and Santa Cruz Wednesday night. Each morning after, I awoke, and the Paraguayan flag had been burned to the ground and replaced with the red, yellow, and green of Bolivia waving above our company’s heads. Bolivia is free again, they are on the map, and should this new regime survive until the next Congressional elections, they stand a chance to create a complete government and to solidify power.

The hope is for this set of victories to jumpstart a downtrodden community that has had a long history of PTO’s and invasions. Going to their national IRC channel, the country is buzzing, and leadership is accessible and looking to get more Bolivians involved. There is a spirit dwelling here, a new generation looking to take its hold of power, and with these victories, they now have their chance.



You have to be rooting for this group. The odds are very much against them. Of their five neighbors, two of them (Peru and Paraguay) had split Bolivia between themselves and held it off and on for some time, two others (Argentina and Chile) have a long history of invading and PTOing the country, and the fifth, Brazil, is always a possibility. They have never been good at picking alliances, currently they sit with a small MPP network but are not aligned with anyone. This is a feel-good story. Only a soulless ghoul couldn’t appreciate it.

Please embrace this new Bolivian generation. Don’t look upon it through the arrogant prism of alliances. Appreciate it in and of itself, without prejudice, and without mockery. Consider them friends to be made, not upstarts needing to be knocked down a peg. Let them build a greater Bolivia, let it be the best Bolivia this world has yet to see. Nurture them. Give them a fighting chance to be somebody. Before you renew the vain and vile belief that the smaller and weaker countries of this game were born solely for the bigger and stronger to gobble up, let them grow, let them give you a challenge down the road. Truly, the world will be a better place with a new competitor. So please, give them the time to, for perhaps the first time in their existence, develop.

Looking at this through a macro-political lens, part of me thinks the Bolivian victories the last few days were a result of the US’s foolish balls-to-the-wall war against Serbia, straining the credibility of the CoT and testing the patience of its member nations. Honestly, quite a few Americans fought for the Bolivian resistance Tuesday night, doling out tens of millions in damage. I certainly did not find any trite chants of WE FIGHT FOR OUR ALLIES, because, as predicted in this newspaper a few days ago, such a notion gets conveniently tossed out the window when the feces hit the propeller. Paraguay got royally screwed, and not only Bolivia was able to take advantage, but also Argentina, who seized Central East Chaco yesterday and is currently winning the campaign in Paranena. Paraguay can kiss their mini-empire goodbye, and if Bolivia and Argentina continue their winning ways, they could very well be wiped. As I said, without American assistance, Paraguay is nothing to brag about. Their demise is an indirect result of the US recklessly attacking Serbia. It is also proof that CoT is not only sick and starting to convulse, but that alliances are fluid and will always be forgotten when they become inconvenient.



This is a day, however, to not gloat and rub our victory in the faces of others, but to celebrate something good and decent. Wouldn’t it be so much better to see those who have fought against us, directly or indirectly, come to their senses and realize it’s so much better to dance with us after an honorable victory, than to mock us and plan to stomp us back into the hole we’re just coming out of?

May we have many more dances like this.