A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

USING DEMOCRACY AND GIVING IT ANOTHER SENSE
So as not to restrict the understanding of Good Living to its philosophical
dimension, it is important to take into account how indigenous peoples
managed to achieve political citizenship for their values and practices.
After trying to find other ways for more than five hundred years of colonialism
and of invariably incomplete post-colonialism, including the revolutionary
insurrections in Bolivia and Mexico, they decided to make use
of the formalities of democracy as an alternative to redefine the foundations
of that which was established in their own countries. In the case
of Bolivia, after realizing that a candidate politically committed to the life
projects of indigenous peoples would never be elected a second term,
given the fact that this would always be defined in the National Congress,
always controlled by the elites, they decided to struggle so as to
obtain the victory in the first term by guaranteeing more than 50 % of
the votes and trying to elect more than half of the members of Congress
as well. That was absolutely necessary to introduce the practice of direct
democracy, by means of referendums and plebiscites, as the path to
consolidate Bolivia on other foundations. After months of debating and
of a search for a dialogue, the innovative moment to achieve this consisted
in the decision of the exclusive Constituent Assembly that it was
its sovereign mission to create the Bolivian State again with other foundations;
in fact, to institute democracy as real popular practice.
In the experience of Ecuador, the process is similar, but it was mediated
by an economist, Rafael Correa, and not by a native. The natives reaffirmed
themselves on electing him, even more so when they had the
opportunity to choose, by means of a plebiscite, and they were able to
determine their representatives to the exclusive Constituent Assembly.
Once more their way of living, their values and their ways of political organization
were recognized and incorporated, although partially, in the
new Constitution.
In other words: for what reason are all of us, and so many other persons
and organizations, debating on the meaning of Good Living? This is due
to a historical fact: indigenous peoples present themselves as citizens,
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