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Before MAS, there wasn't really a united mass movement of Marxists/socialists and the rural indigenous population in the country. Bolivian Marxists had focused on the urban proletariat and had largely ignored the revolutionary potential of rural indigenous groups.
This led to indigenous Bolivians being coopted into bourgeois parties such as the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement. As a result, most of indigenous struggles focused on non electoral activities.
MAS grew out of a mass demonstrations against austerity and neoliberalism. They built a base from already existing syndicates such as cocalero unions, which btw were in many ways an extension of precolonial structures.
This movement led to a MAS victory in 2005 and rewriting the constitution in 2009 which included democratic provisions such as:
-Recall elections for all officials
-Judges are elected rather than appointed
-Protections for communal democracy
-Autonomy for indigenous communities
-Recall elections for all officials
-Judges are elected rather than appointed
-Protections for communal democracy
-Autonomy for indigenous communities
My point is, how we should participate in electoral politics is dependent on material conditions. Conditions in the US in 2020 are different than in Bolivia in 2020 which are different than in Bolivia in 2002. The US will never be Bolivia but we can still learn lessons from MAS.
Further reading written by Evo's former VP, Alvaro Garcia Linera - Indianismo and Marxism: The Mismatch of Two Revolutionary Rationales
http://links.org.au/node/264
http://links.org.au/node/264
