On Monday August 2, former President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, presented RUNASUR’s Decalogue, as a set of guiding principles for this mechanism of pluri-national integration between indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, social organisations, trade unions, territorial and social movements in the region. RUNASUR, created by self-convocation, aims to resolve the historical debt that the peoples of the region face in a context of economic, social, cultural and, above all, life crisis.

The Decalogue is as follows:

Our destiny…

PLURI-NATIONAL AMERICA

Sisters, brothers, peoples of Abya Yala:

We are experiencing multiple crises in the world, it is time for unity, to build and forge our Plurinational America, our identity, with dignity. Therefore, from the South of the continent, we propose a Decalogue to guide our path, our Qhapaq Ñan.

1. We shall defend the Self-Determination of the Peoples. Pluri-national America fights against all forms of domination, against interference and racism, to consolidate the self-determination and identity of the peoples. We propose the process of reconstruction and re-foundation of the States where the primordial thing is not capital or wasteful consumption, but human beings and nature, where governments are of the peoples and for the peoples, a State without discrimination or classes.

2. We shall strengthen democracy, human rights and collective rights. Pluri-national America is the expression of plurality and recognises all democracies that respond to the will and sovereign exercise of the peoples. We promote full respect for the individual rights men and women who live in our vast territory, as well as the collective rights of indigenous peoples and/or Afro-descendants. We promote dialogue among peoples, under common principles that allow us to build an alliance to articulate joint processes that strengthen our voices. We must make freedom of expression emancipatory so that the truth of the people can speak.

3. We shall strengthen the Integration of the Peoples. Pluri-national America is the expression of the indigenous movements, the different social and workers’ sectors, with political-ideological clarity, principles and values that have been our instruments of resistance and struggle since colonial times. The integration of our peoples is unity with solidarity as a bloc of struggle, defense and vindication of our historical rights. Our purpose is to strengthen the integration organisations in order to consolidate our unity as a movement that promotes the liberation of the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the world.

4. We shall reaffirm our Pluri-nationality, Pluri-culturality and Pluri-lingualism. Pluri-national America is unity in diversity, it is the reunion of millenarian and contemporary natives. We are diverse peoples; the knowledge, ancestral wisdom and identity of our peoples are our wealth.
 

Pluri-national America is to recognise ourselves as equal human beings, with the same rights and obligations.

5. We shall consolidate the anti-imperialist struggle. Pluri-national America is the response of the peoples, social movements and organisations, against all forms of interventionism and interference. We reject the actions of imperialism and capitalism that impose economic sanctions, organise coups d’état and promote fascism and racism that threaten the sovereignty of the peoples.

Pluri-national America defends natural resources, redistribution of wealth and solidarity among peoples. We reject capitalism and consumerism as a failed system that causes inequality, death and destruction.

6. We shall build peace with social justice. Pluri-national America promotes the right of peoples to peace, as well as cooperation and solidarity between states and regions of the world. We reject military interventions that use the pretext of seeking peace. Peace is built with more democracy and more development, with basic services, with education, health, housing, where wealth is redistributed in favour of equality.

7. We shall promote Vivir Bien or Buen Vivir (Living Well). Pluri-national America proposes the recovery of Sumaq Qamaña, Sumaq Kawsay, Ivi Marey as a form of coexistence, wellbeing and development, as opposed to the better living of the few. Living Well seeks to achieve harmony between peoples and with Mother Earth, where we all exercise our rights and fulfil our obligations.

8. We shall strengthen the defence of Mother Earth and her rights. Pluri-national America promotes and encourages the rights of Mother Earth. Indigenous peoples always live in interdependence with nature. The human being without nature cannot live, nature without the human being can perhaps live better.

9. We shall recover our millenary principles of life, let us accelerate Decolonisation and Depatriarchalisation. Pluri-national America is the expression of the peoples that recovers, revalues and promotes the millenary knowledge of our peoples, fights against all impositions inherited from the colonial era, promoting the processes of decolonisation at the continental and intercontinental level, to guarantee our liberation.

Plurinational America fights for depatriarchalisation in order to build fairer and more equitable societies, where women’s rights are fully recognised; equality between women and men also means greater development for our peoples.

10. We shall develop a Plural and Social Economic Model. Pluri-national America promotes the fair distribution of wealth among peoples. Individual and collective property are part of the historical constructions of our societies, therefore, we must recognise and respect them. The ultimate goal of the economy should not be the accumulation of capital but the well-being and ‘Vivir Bien’ of human beings and Mother Earth.

FOR OUR IDENTITY… FOR OUR DIGNITY… FOR THE UNITY OF THE PEOPLES…

JALLALLA PLURI-NATIONAL AMERICA!!!!

- Evo Morales Ayma, Constitutional President 2006-2019. Pluri-national State of Bolivia