17 October 2021
Strikes. The pot calling the kettle black
The previous Sunday I had promised to write about another of the speakers, JH Chang, from the 14th meeting of economists organized by the Central Bank of Bolivia. The political situation forces us to speak of the civic strike and its economic impact. I apologize. I’ll leave the Cambridge University Professor’s article on industrialization for next week.
The Government, outraged, has denounced that in the one-day strike the economy would have lost 112 million dollars. We fully agree that this social and political practice does enormous harm to the country, regardless of who is promoting it.
But let’s look at a bit of history and let’s make a recount of who were the people responsible for hundreds of days lost due to strikes or work stoppages in the past. In this perspective, we are going to see how the old saying is applied to this case: The pot calling the kettle black.
According to the Observatory and Analysis of Social Conflicts in Bolivia, of the Center for the Study of Economic and Social Reality (CERES), in the period 1970-2010, there were 13,897 conflicts. The bulk of these conflicts had the participation of groups, unions, actors, or people who are now within the Government. It is they who are crying out to heaven for the recent strike on October 11.
In 40 years of economic and social history, there was practically one conflict per day; this result comes from dividing the 13,897 conflicts between 40 years, which records 347 strikes or work stoppages per year; that is to say, every day someone, in all this time, was protesting with good or bad reasons.
Let’s suppose, very conservatively, that only 5% of these social conflicts (rounded to 14,000) involved a one-day stoppage. There may be cases in which there was a general strike, or joining various social problems, they are equivalent to a day’s work stoppage. Let us modestly accept that we lost 700 days in 40 years and if we multiply this by 112 million dollars, the loss figure reported by the Government is equivalent to 78,400,000,000 dollars today. It reads: seventy-eight thousand four hundred million “Washingtons”. An 11-digit figure. In other words, we lost twice the size of our current GDP through strikes and work stoppages. Whoever has a glass or thatched roof should not throw stones at the other.
In the democratic era, the administration of the Government of Hernán Siles had the record of strikes, work stoppages, and other events: 1,825. Again, let us suppose that only 5% of these social problems involved the loss of a day, this is equal to 91 days. As I have mentioned, the Government affirms that in a one-day strike –in 2021– 112 million dollars are lost. But, it should be clarified that this is equivalent to 33 million in the 80s. Therefore, during the Siles Government, we lost 3,003 million dollars of that time.
During Paz Estenssoro’s administration, there were 1,180 social problems. Here the neoliberal period began. Again, only 5% was a day of loss. It means that during the Paz Government 59 days were lost, which in 1987 dollars would be equal to 59 times 47 million, equal to 2,773 million missing dollars.
Paz Zamora had 968 strikes. Same reasoning: 5% equals a one-day loss. That is, 48 days times 54 million, equals 2,592 million dollars of loss to the period’s value.
In the first Government of Sánchez de Lozada, 631 conflicts were verified. 5% is equivalent to 32 days times 64 million dollars in 1997, equivalent to 112 million in 2021. Loss: 2,048 million greens (dollars).
The democratic Government of General Banzer had 1,364 conflicts, the same as before 5% of these social problems. This translated into the loss of 68 days, which multiplied by 72 million dollars per day, is equal to 4,896 million dollars in 2000, which vanished.
Jorge Quiroga 355 and the second Government of Sánchez de Lozada had 518 strikes and social demonstrations. 42 days lost multiplied by 72 million, is equal to 3,024 million dollars of the period, which went down the drain.
The Government of Carlos Mesa also registered a high conflict rate with 1,042 events. 5% of the total of 1,042 days lost is 52 multiplied by 82 million per day, it is equal to 4,264,000,000 of economic loss.
The short administration of President Eduardo Rodríguez recorded 248 social problems. 12 days lost multiplied by 82 million dollars per day in 2005 is equivalent to 984 million dollars that disappeared.
Ugh, what a way to pull the rug from under them! Right? Now, the new owners of power who caused turmoil in the past, before they tear their hair out due to the last strike, they should put their hands to their chests –or is it their pocket?– and ask themselves: What percentage of these 78.4 billion dollars of economic loss at today´s value is the responsibility of Evo Morales and the coca growers, other social movements, the Bolivian Workers’ Union (COB), the various unions, civic committees, and other actors? I guess those who still have blood on their faces will turn red. Others will say that they were making the revolution. This is not intended to criminalize or discredit the social protest. The conflict is part of a democratic society, but it must be resolved through institutional means and not always in the streets. But, without a doubt, when authoritarianism shows its face, strikes and work stoppages are not an expense but an investment in democracy, justice, and freedom.
Source: https://www.paginasiete.bo/opinion/gonzalo-chavez/2021/10/17/paros-cuando-el-muerto-se-rie-del-degollado-312393.html?fbclid=IwAR1TsyUiehgh6lv5-X-qMY0AH9fgVs7NnH9_ZiZWA1Ih0EwLsRWi6SlWxu0
