Evo Morales: The REAL 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Originally posted on TPM-- Dec 12, 2009 -- 12:17 PM


Photo: Courtesy Wiki

President Evo Morales of Bolivia, we are honored to have you here to accept the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace. As the first person of indigenous decent to occupy the democratically elected position of President of Bolivia, your tireless work on behalf the poorest citizens in your country for equality, fighting poverty, pushing for economic fairness and land reform initially brought your nomination before this committee.

President Morales it was your opposition to repression, your outspoken criticism of militarism and violence, your unwavering support of the democratically elected President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya in the face of the illegal, heinous coup and your efforts for peace that have inspired the world. These are the actions, President Morales that have brought you here tonight.

At great personal risk, you have time and time again battled military juntas and European descendant oligarchies within your own country and militarily and covert assaults from the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power. You have been a long time farmer and union farm activist highly respected among your peers.

You have answered the call of your people time and again to public service. In that public service, you have remained true to your principles and held a moral compass by implementing the very policies to your people that you have campaigned upon. Promises of "change," duplicity, bait and switch politics and Faustian bargains for power know not Evo Morales.

There was a sign by a member of the public at the recent summit in Copenhagen, "Politicians talk, Leaders act." While others are lauded for their fine speeches, you President Morales are a leader who not only speaks with wisdom but acts with wisdom.

President Morales, your bravery has been steadfast in your support of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya who was removed in a coup close to home instigated by dominate multinational companies and the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power. Even while under continued terror from the same apparatus throughout your presidency beginning in January 2006, you have remained an outspoken proponent of democracy in Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and El Salvador and every country in Latin America.

As a farm union activist, you have defended the right of indigenous farmers to grow coca for the traditional use in teas and herbal remedies that have been part of the culture of the indigenous peoples for thousands of years. You rightly recognize that it is the western cultures' chemical perversion of the natural coca plant and their hedonistic consumption of a perverse narcotic that is the problem. You further recognize that the "war" on this natural plant is in fact an excuse for a war of imperialism on the energy resources of countries like Bolivia by the world's corporate
hegemonic power.

As you stated before the UN General Assembly in September 2006:

"I should like to take this opportunity to speak of another historical injustice: the criminalization of the coca leaf. This coca leaf is green, not white, like cocaine. The coca leaf is symbolic of Andean culture, of the Andean environment and of the hopes of peoples. It is not acceptable that the coca leaf be legal for Coca-Cola and illegal for medicinal consumption not only in our country but throughout the world."

President Morals, your 2008 expulsion of agents undermining your democratically elected government, masquerading as "diplomats" of the world's corporate hegemonic power has been internationally vindicated by the Italian courts. Italian courts have convicted 30 agent provocateurs of the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power
operating out of their embassy in Italy. The exposing by Italian justice of the criminal activates of kidnapping and torture by these agent provocateurs have shown your decision in expelling several "diplomats" of the embassy in your own country was fully justified.

Your exposing of the diplomatic corps in this embassy as housing a nest of spies under diplomatic immunity with the intent of carrying out violence and fomenting insurrection by means of state sponsored terrorism was a bold move risking your personal safety by the tentacles of the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power.

President Morales, your economic reforms on behalf of the indigenous populations have met with success and the betterment of conditions for Bolivians as a whole. According to the internationally well respected Centerfor Economic Policy and Research:

"Bolivia's economic growth over the last four years has been higher than at any time in the last 30 years with projected growth for 2009 the highest in the Western Hemisphere - due to a series of government initiatives in recent years that have helped Bolivia to cope with the impact of the world recession."

"The Bolivian economy has done very well under President Evo Morales, and government policy has been key. None of this would have been possible without the government's regaining control of the country's natural resources."

None other than Joseph Stiglitz, the recipient of the Nobel Laureate and Memorial Prize in Economics Science winner in 2001 has stated:

"He (Morales) moved quickly away from the neoliberal policies of his predecessors to try to help his community, the vast majority of whom live below the poverty line.

In a time of skyrocketing commodity prices, Morales earned the ire of the oil companies and the envy of other Presidents in the region by renegotiating outdated energy contracts to earn more money for the country's coffers -- a portion of which he put toward increased health-care and social spending. He has resisted the temptations of his high position in favor of a low-key manner."

Resisting the temptations of your high position, President Morales, is a testament to your guiding ethical principals and your steadfast moral compass. The fate of those leaders who dare challenge the profits of the dominant multinational energy companies of the world's corporate hegemonic power is adverse and well known in world history.

This committee only need look at the failed military coup against the democratically elected government of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in 2002 by the European descendant elites fomented and financed by the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power and of the fate of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq of Iran. Both state sponsored terrorist actions involved the control of the energy resources by the dominant multinational energy companies of the world's corporate hegemonic power.

In 1953 after nationalizing Iran's oil for the benefit of the Iranian people at the expense of British Petroleum and the dominant multinational energy companies, the "seven sisters," the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq was overthrown in a violent coup by the centralized security apparatus of the world's corporate hegemonic power in an act of state sponsored terrorism.

This act of anti democratic fascism by the world's corporate hegemonic power then installed one of the most vicious and brutal dictators in Iran for the next 25 years. Prime Minister Mosaddeq was arrested by the agents of the centralized security apparatus, imprisoned for 3 years and kept under house arrest for over a decade until his death. The world's corporate hegemonic power is responsible for installing a dictator who murdered and tortured thousands of innocent Iranians.

President Morales, by challenging the dominant multinational energy companies on behalf of your people, you have demonstrated unwavering bravery and commitment to the promises you made to your people for change. You have not shirked the promises of change you made to your people during elections, you have embraced the challenge and responsibilities that the burden of your promise of change brings. You have risen to the occasion President Morales. You have not faded in the face of your promises of change.

At further risk to your own safety, you have defied the multinational companies of the world's corporate hegemonic power, returning the fresh drinking water of Bolivia to your own people from the clutches of the privatizing schemes of the European descendant oligarchy at the behest of dominant multinational companies of the world's corporate hegemonic power.

President Morales, you pushed for land reform at the expense of the oligarchy decedents of Europeans that have exploited and impoverished the indigenous peoples of Bolivia. You have bravely faced down insurrection and treason by this oligarchy operating as clients of the world's corporate hegemonic power. You have tirelessly fought against the opposition to your programs of fair land reform and wrestling the rights of Bolivia's own natural gas resources away from the profiteering of your elite oligarchy and the multinational energy companies that dominate and direct the military force and intimidation of the world's corporate hegemonic power.

Evo Morales, you have never wavered from your commitment to the indigenous people of Bolivia, your commitment to equality and fairness. You have operated with ethical concern and moral guidance throughout your public life. Your commitment to peace, your actions for land reform and equality and your outspoken support of social justice movements throughout Latin American and the world brought your nomination before this committee.

President Evo Morales, you have inspired people throughout the world by your words and especially your deeds. We are honored to present you with the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace.

 
Photo: Courtesy AFB, Getty

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Cartoon: Courtesy Patrick Corrigan, The Toronto Star