Evo Morales didn’t resign; he was overthrown by a coup d’état.
As of today, Evo Morales, the Indigenous president of Bolivia, was forced to resign the presidency. His Vice President, (Alvaro Garcia Linera) also resigned, as did Adrianna Salvatierra, the President of the Senate, who was supposed to assume the presidency in Morales’ absence. At the time of this writing, the Wiphala Indigenous flag, has been lowered throughout the country by the opposition. Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president, is the standard bearer of generations of Indigenous socialists. His removal represents the return of the old oligarchy. This is a coup against the arrival of the Indigenous peoples of Bolivia to the forefront of history.
For weeks, rightwing protestors have targeted Morales’ party, the Movement Toward Socialism (or MAS in Spanish). They have burned down party members’ homes and offices, attacking their supporters. Recently Patricia Arce, mayor of Vinto, was kidnapped by a mob. They cut her hair, threw paint over her body, and forced her to walk barefoot, publicly humiliating her. The mob has blockaded the headquarters of Bolivia TV and the Patria Nueva radio station. At the time of this writing, right wing forces are ransacking and burning President Morales’ home and are trying to arrest him.
This is not a resignation. No one resigns with a gun to their head.
Bolivia’s political and economic elite support this violence, as part of a resurgence of the far right in Latin America. Activists on the ground are currently getting smashed by these forces. We, the undersigned, denounce this violence, and preemptively denounce the violence that will inevitably escalate in the street. We call on the United Nations to make a statement denouncing the undemocratic nature of the coup and the strong-arm tactics of its backers.
Co-Drafters
Christina Heatherton, Assistant Professor of American Studies, Barnard College; Co-Director of the Racial Capitalism Working Group, Center for the Study of Social Difference, Columbia University
George Ciccariello-Maher, Visiting Scholar, Decolonizing Humanities and Modern Languages and Literatures, College of William and Mary
Jordan T. Camp, Director of Research, The People’s Forum; Visiting Scholar, Center for Place Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center; Co-Director of the Racial Capitalism Working Group, Center for the Study of Social Difference, Columbia University
Manu Karuka, Assistant Professor of American Studies, Barnard College; Co-Director of the Racial Capitalism Working Group, Center for the Study of Social Difference, Columbia University
Melanie Yazzie (Diné), Assistant Professor of Native American Studies and American Studies, University of New Mexico, Co-Founder of The Red Nation
Nick Estes (Lakota), Assistant Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico, Co-Founder The Red Nation
Vijay Prashad, Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Co-Signers
Adalah Justice Project
American Indian Movement of Central Texas
American Indian Movement Colorado
Lisa Armstrong, Program for the Study of Women and Gender, Smith College
Samia Assed, Palestinian-American Human Rights Activist and Organizer, Board of Directors of The Women’s March
Benjamin Balthaser, Associate Professor of Multi-Ethnic U.S. Literature at Indiana University, South Bend
Joanne Barker (Lenape), Professor and Chair of American Indian Studies, San Francisco State University
Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder, Code Pink
Bruno Bosteels, Professor of Latin America and Ibertian Cultures and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University
Kevin Bruyneel, Professor of Politics, Babson College
Jodi A. Byrd (Chickasaw), Associate Professor of English and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Rosa Clemente, Organizer, Political Commentator and Independent Journalist
Coalition to Reorganize Workers
Vanesa Contreras Capó, Co-founder of La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, Puerto Rico
Glen Coulthard, (Yellowknives Dene) Associate Professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program and the Departments of Political Science, University of British Columbia
Andrew Curley (Diné), Department of Geography, University of North Carolina
Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness, University Of California, Santa Cruz
Jennifer Nez Denetdale (Diné), Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico
Jaskiran Dhillon, Associate Professor, Global Studies and Anthropology, The New School
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States”
Jodie Evans, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Code Pink
Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and American Studies, City University of New York, Graduate Center
Dallas Goldtooth (Dakota/Diné), National Campaigner, Indigenous Environmental Network
Sandy Grande (Quechua), Professor of Education and Director Center for the Critical Study of Race and Ethnicity, Connecticut College
Ramon Grosfoguel, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Gerald Horne, Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies, University of Houston
Indigenous Environmental Network
Indigenous Women Rising
Sarah Jaffe, Author and Journalist
Vashna Jagarnath, Deputy General Secretary of Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Change University of Johannesburg
Irvin Jim, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and National Chair of Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party
Walter Johnson, Professor of History and Director of Charles Warren Center, Harvard University
K’é Infoshop
Robin D. G. Kelley, Professor, Department of African American Studies, Distinguished Professor of History & Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in United States History, University of California Los Angeles
Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe), Executive Director of Honor the Earth
Dr Keri Lawson-Te Aho, Professor of Psychology at the University of Otago, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Uahikea Maile (Kanaka Maoli), Assistant Professor of Indigenous Politics, University of Toronto
Adam Miyashiro, Associate Professor of Literature, Stockton University
Glenn Morris, Associate Professor, Political Science; Director, 4th World Center for the Study of Indigenous Law and Politics, University of Colorado, Denver
Mahtowin Munroe, Director, United American Indians of New England
National Political Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America, signs on collectively and unanimously
Michael Neocosmos (PhD), Emeritus Professor in Humanities, Rhodes University, South Africa; Distinguished Visiting Scholar University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, United States; Visiting Professor, WISER, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Network in Solidarity With Guatemala
Pania Newton, Māori sovereignty organiser at Ihumātao, environmentalist, and human rights advocate
Mbuso Ngubane, Regional Secretary of National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)
Gary Y. Okihiro, Professor Emeritus of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and Visiting Professor of American Studies, Yale University
Palagummi Sainath, Indian Journalist and Founding Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India
Palestinian Youth Movement
Anya Parampill, Journalist, The Grayzone
Richard Pithouse, Associate Professor at the Wits Institute of Social Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Editor of New Frame, and Co-ordinator of the Johannesburg Office of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Prabir Purkayastha, Indian Journalist
Pueblo Action Alliance
The Red Nation
Boots Riley, Filmmaker
Thea N. Riofrancos, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Providence College
Dylan Rodriguez, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of California, Riverside
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
South African Shack Dwellers Movement
Linda Sarsour, Palestinian-American Activist and Co-Founder of The Women’s March
Audra Simpson (Mohawk), Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation”
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, Union Theological Seminary
Christy Thornton, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Harsha Walia, No One Is Illegal and Author of “Undoing Border Imperialism”
Tyler Wall, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Robert Warrior (Osage), Hall Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture, University of Kansas
Gregory Wilpert, Managing Editor at The Real News Network
Ret. Col Ann Wright, former U.S. Military and State Department
S’bu Zikode, Abahlali base, Mjondolo
Andile Zitho Regional Secretary National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and National Treasurer of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP)
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