[ad_1]
I return to the topic of reform.
I start with the constitutional reforms announced by Abinader as a priority, which meant postponing for months the so-called fiscal reforms, which have obviously been stuck in limbo for a long time and whose current possibilities are clearly hampered by the contradictions hidden in the rulings of class, the political system and the PRM itself.
The simple constitutional reforms now proposed on the presidential throne do not go beyond a few patches on the current 2010 Bailey-Leoneanist constitution, which was reformed in 2015 to include only successive presidential re-nominations.
The current constitution is a neoliberal, privatizing, conservative, presidential dictatorship constitution that supports and maintains a political system, a party regime, an electoral system, all of which are undemocratic and fraudulent; in addition to an economic and social system plagued by injustices and harmful inequalities.
Such content permeates the text and cannot be overcome by simple patches and fixes;
The country needs a new constitution that draws on, deepens and expands on the democratic and socially progressive features of the 1963 Constitution.
It requires a new constitution, drawn up through a democratically organized, participatory constitution-making process, ending with a Constituent Assembly that is sovereign, open to demanding social movements and independent of the Legislative Assembly, or Congress, elected last May; a Congress whose composition, moreover, looks worse than it has in this period: more conservative and more morally depraved.
The constitutional reforms proposed by Abinader are therefore destined to be discussed and approved in Congress, which is mostly composed of people who are unqualified for such positions and are associated with political clientelism, corruption, and conservative thinking.
Abinader hypothesized and specifically proposed two changes: that the PGRs are not appointed by the executive, that the MPs are “independent”, and that the requirements for changing the terms of re-election are also strengthened (the now famous “lock-in”). Nothing special has happened yet, and these two initiatives remain unenacted.
But it does not end there, because it turns out that the Legislative Assembly, which is responsible for reviewing the Constitution, is sovereign and can submit and approve other proposals that have already begun to be controversial and could worsen the content of this Constitution.
It would therefore be a very dangerous and potentially tortuous course to chart, since it would be a very doubtful Congress that would approve the passage of a law establishing its own reviewing parliament, which determines the provisions to be reformed and decides all matters relating to its reformulation and recommendations of the Corporation; this would mean a continuation of the historic usurpation of constituent powers by the legislative branch, which has repeatedly undermined the process of review and reform, by assuming both functions.
It is therefore offensive that such a delicate issue is subject to the decision of a parliamentary majority composed of the PRM and a group of parties that have turned politics into business and espouse extreme conservative ideas. This is not only offensive but also completely unacceptable.
This must be debated to prevent this from happening, demanding democracy, the establishment of a constituent power alongside the legislative power, opposing censorship of parliament, and convening a sovereign constituent assembly with free elections and universal suffrage.
In this context, we must begin to build our collective consciousness and capacity to strip Congress of the powers it has usurped from the sovereign people.
To this end, it is necessary to promote this transcendental discussion and to support it with persuasive work of precise, simple and understandable ideas…
At the same time, the level of demands and mobilization must be raised…until resistance is overcome; realizing that this transcendent purpose has powerful opponents; starting with the Congress that will convene in August, the established parties, the current government, the unscrupulous capitalist elites, and the conservative church leaders must fight back…until they are forced to surrender.
You have to dare to make the seemingly impossible possible. There is nothing else.
[ad_2]
Source link
