Marta Harnecker > Quotes

“The people did not come out in opposition to Evo, rather they mobilized to say no to any attempt to govern without consultation, to demand rectification and recognition,” argues Isabel Rauber. In an act of humility, revealing both his great wisdom and his roots, Evo Morales changed course by withdrawing the decree and reiterating his decision to “govern by obeying,” which, in strict terms, is not a question of either governing or obeying, but rather governing together, working jointly on key measures, and sharing responsibility for decisions made and their implementation.”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“out shortcomings, suggest solutions, and collaborate”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“political instrument adapted to the new times,”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“We should always remember that the right only respects the rules of the game as long as it suits their purposes. To date, there has never been a single example anywhere in the world of a ruling group that willingly gave up its privileges. The fact that they agree to withdraw from the political arena when they think a retreat may be in their best interest should not deceive us. They may tolerate and even help bring a left government to power if that government implements the right’s policies and limits itself to managing the crisis. What they will always try to prevent, by legal or illegal means—and we should have no illusions about this—is a program of democratic and popular deep transformations that puts into question”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“Those that are elected to take part in the communal council are called voceros (spokespeople) because they are the voice of the community, and when they cease to be so, because the community no longer feels they are adequately transmitting the ideas and decisions of the community, these people can and should be recalled.”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“We used to trust in criticism and self-criticism, it’s true. But this has become almost fossilized. That method, in the way it was being used, no longer really worked because the criticism tended to be inside a small group; broader criticism was never used, criticism in a theatre, for example, with hundreds or thousands of people. . . . We have to resort to criticism and self-criticism in the classroom, in the workplace and outside the workplace, in the municipality and in the country. . . . We must take advantage of the shame that I am sure people feel.20”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“Hegemony is the opposite of imposition by force.”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“In his last article on the role of the unions, written in January 1922, he went as far as to say that “in no way could the strike struggle be renounced” provided that it was directed against the bureaucratic deviations of the proletarian state. He explained that this struggle was very different from the one waged under the capitalist regime, when the struggle was to destroy the bourgeois state; now the struggle was to fortify the proletarian state by combating “the bureaucratic deformations” of the state, its huge weaknesses, and “all kinds of vestiges of the old capitalist regime in its institutions, etc.”37”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“rather than increasing, corruption decreased. This was not achieved spontaneously, however; instead, a series of measures that were effective in tackling this vice were adopted. Transparency was introduced in law. All documents pertaining to the plan, including the selection of people who benefited from programs, accounts, and invoices were considered to be public documents, open and accessible to any citizen.”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism

“We also have to factor in that candidates do not always compete on an equal footing: those who have access to the media or use the state apparatus for their campaigns have an important advantage in relation to everyone else.”
― Marta Harnecker, A World to Build: New Paths toward Twenty-first Century Socialism