Bolivia's majority Indian population was always excluded, politically oppressed and culturally alienated. Our national wealth, our raw materials, was plundered. Indios were once treated like animals here. In the 1930s and 40s, they were sprayed with DDT to kill the vermin on their skin and in their hair whenever they came into the city.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the historical oppression and mistreatment of Indigenous people in Bolivia.
Evo Morales reflects on the deep-rooted injustices faced by Bolivia's Indigenous population, emphasizing their political exclusion, cultural alienation, and the dehumanizing treatment they received. He draws attention to a disturbing historical context where national resources were exploited, and Indigenous individuals were subjected to acts of cruelty, illustrating systemic oppression that continues to resonate in contemporary society.
In practice
During a discussion on social justice and human rights, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of recognizing and addressing historical injustices.
It's easy for people in an air-conditioned room to continue with the policies of destruction of Mother Earth. We need instead to put ourselves in the shoes of families in Bolivia and worldwide that lack water and food and suffer misery and hunger.
The peoples of the Andes believe in the concept of 'living well' instead of wanting to 'live better' by consuming more, regardless of the cost to our neighbors and our environment.
We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.
I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.
Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons.
Politics disappears; it vanishes. What remains constant is human life. So I try to develop a perspective in my writing where politics is just one of the pieces of furniture in this furnished world. It is not the purpose. It is not the goal.
Before I got here, I thought for a long time that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend that it did not exist, to build a small, self-sufficient world in the back corner of the endless maze and to pretend that I was not lost, but home.
It would be naïve to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems ... However, with faith and perseverance, ... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace.
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