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The new Constitution, among other things, proposes to give Nature itself legal standing.
Chevron-Texaco inflicted the Ecuadoran rainforest with a bigger toxic spill than the Exxon Valdez--a humongous mess that several indigenous groups sued Chevron-Texaco for. The indigenous are winning this lawsuit. But what if the death threats against them, and their dire poverty, had prevented them from pursuing the lawsuit? With this new provision in the Constitution, the government or other parties could have stepped in and sued Chevron-Texaco on behalf of Nature itself.
Latest polls showed 60% approval of the new Constitution. It is very likely to win big. I think the legal standing for Nature is a first in the world.
The Constitution also gives its lovely young Adonis of a President, Rafael Correa, sufficient power to smite the bastards who have let things like the Chevron-Texaco spill occur, with impunity, and who have run Ecuador like Bush-Cheney have run the U.S.--as a private looting ground for their rich cronies.
I sometimes dis "personality politics." But I think I'm going to make an exception with regard to Sir Lancelot Correa. If his charisma can straighten out Ecuador, so be it. Sometimes we need heroes, champions, gods. It just a fact of our make-up, which is not entirely (and may be only just a little bit) rational. He is the very image of the NEW Latin America: young, nut-brown, vigorous, in love with Nature, close to the indigenous, but also suited up with a U.S. education as an economist. Also has a good sense of humor. When he was asked, during his campaign for president, what he thought of Chavez's remark to the U.N. that Bush is "the devil," replied: "It's an insult to the devil."
I've never figured out if it was coincidence or not, but he was running only 50/50 with the banana magnate in the race of president, at the time, and, after this remark, his numbers soared. He won the election with 60% of the vote (the prediction for the Constitutional referendum of today). Ecuadoran voters certainly didn't punish him for it. I think his personal popularity is running at about 80%--topped only by the new leftist president of Paraguay (92%!).
The left in Ecuador criticizes Correa for things like not giving the indigenous veto power over development projects (although the new Constitution does give them the right to participate--and that's a first). It's rather like the left here who criticized JFK for being a "Cold Warrior." They don't seem to grok the power of the Corpo/fascist opposition to anything resembling democracy, and nitpick away at a charismatic leader who may not be all that we want, but who can inspire people, as JFK did, to get involved, to empower themselves, to re-think everything, and to produce a monumental social revolution such as occurred in the late 1960s. Charismatic leaders ride waves, but they also produce waves. And this Correa-produced wave of legal standing for Nature may just save the planet and the human race with it.
Viva la revolución!
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