Evo's return to power is one of the fleeting glimpses of a better world
South America has been on a tear the last few years.
Can't help but think climate change has something to do with it.
If I remember correctly, isn't Lenin's analysis that it is not that imperialism is when a country invades another country but rather that imperialism is when the contradictions of capitalism within a country rise to such a point that the country has to export capital and capitalism abroad in order to prevent civil conflict at home. If we go with Morales' definition then we're saying that there is nothing different between imperialism in feudalism and imperialism in capitalism.
Yeah I mean let's not forget, it's extremely important for Bolivia to maintain a good relationship with China and Russia. It's part of their participation in global capitalism, you choose the lesser evil (and Chinese finance deals are better than the US right now) always. No prominent leader in South America is just gonna go hard in public against them, even if it's objectively true they are part of a global system of inter-competing financial empire. The unfortunate thing is that it's not really viable imo for challenging global capitalism, it gives no path forward.
Also note though that Russia and China just don't have the capability to project imperial power like the US does. They can at best do it to their immediate borders, so it's not like Bolivia sees the imperial boot of Russia like the Caucuses does. Bolivia's most imperial territorial conflict is with Brazil (in fact there was some rather severe strain between MAS and PT over it like 10 years ago).
It's not like China or anyone would turn them down or something if he said they were imperialist. Also, if it's the Bolivian government asking for economic relations with them on their own volition to improve their own economy, it could hardly be called imperialism. He's right that there's basically no "bullying" from Russia and China (no military bases, no structural adjustment), which you see so often from the west.
Yeah Russia certainly does, just not on a global scale yet. AFAIK they're principally active in the parts of Eurasia close to Russia and the other former soviet republics.
Are you sure you're not getting Brazil mixed up with Chile? I know of no big Brazil-Bolivia border dispute.
IIRC it was not a border dispute but a dispute over some cross border power generation or some other industry. However there is also an ongoing dispute regarding pacific ocean access with Chile (this was actually one of Moraeles big public policy blunders during his last term btw, he way overhyped Bolivia's chances of getting a good ruling in the Hague).
but rather that imperialism is when the contradictions of capitalism within a country rise to such a point that the country has to export capital and capitalism abroad in order to prevent civil conflict at home.
Not quite. It's that as finance capital in developed capitalist countries becomes a monopoly and has so much to invest that they need to export capital abroad seeking greater profits, then the governments of those countries, acting on behalf of that finance capital, interfere in the countries where the investments have been made to protect them (typically, with the military). So it does involve invasion, but also other means of coercion like (as Evo mentions) using the IMF to force austerity, coups assassinations and other black ops, etc. I'd say Evo is pretty close to accurate with his answer.
I don't think you disagree with me then. Finance capital or capital in general going from its competitive phase to its monopoly phase is the contradiction of capitalism within a country. And the way to alleviate that contradiction temporarily is to export capital to less developed countries.
I agree with Morales in what he's doing with the hand that Bolivia has been dealt. This is the best way for Bolivia to develop given the options open to them. US funded development is a complete dead end.
Imperialism is when you have a military and an economy at the same time.
