Coca and notebooks

The Middle East crisis is pushing my article back. As soon as the Toronto Star publishes it, I will post the link.

Speaking of coca. Saturday night, I had a very bad episode of altitude sickness. Oruru is even higher than La Paz and I was exhausted. Our rent a car was screwed up and if you took your foot off the gas even for an instant it stalled. It meant using my left foot for the clutch and the break and keeping my right foot on the gas. And that meant thinking about how I was driving constantly, not being able to rely on instinct or habit. It was also the first time I have driven in Bolivia and I was tired to begin with…a thoroughly exhausting experience.

Anyway the hotel brought up a big pot of mate de coca or coca tea. I’ve been drinking it ever since I got here. It is one of the best tasting herbal teas I have ever had and it is good for what ails you. It’s a proven assistance with altitude sickness but people here use it like Jewish mothers use chicken soup. And as someone with some considerable experience with drugs from caffeine to whatever, I can tell you with certainty that it is no drug. Banning coca makes about as much sense as it would have to ban grapes during prohibition.

The fact that coca is on the UN prohibited substance list means that the Bolivian government can’t get funding to do the research they need to prove its benefits, which by the way include natural appetite suppression. I am convinced they could be making excellent money exporting it as a tea if it wasn’t illegal. They are prepared to do everything they can to stop what they call narco trafficking but they want to be able to grow and sell coca leaves. This is a key issue for Bolivia and the issue that Evo brought up when I asked him what was the most important thing he had to say to an international audience.

On the way back from Oruro, we stopped at that high place on the road and the boy who asked for a “cuaderno” came down. He recognized me and had a lot of hope in his eyes. When I showed him the note books, his face just lit up. Gracias, he said with a smile that was worth more than I can say. Susan´s friends weren´t cynical about it at all. Each one she told had tears in their eyes to know there are children still who want for a simple notebook.

Oruro

We are leaving La Paz today and hoping to go to Oruro, land of the famous Diablo Carnival http://www.trekker.co.il/english/bolivia/b-diablada-08.htm and of a very rich silver mine now almost entirely gone that created many riches for the Spanish.

We will be in Cochabamba on Sunday for more interviews and a trip to a massive gathering of campesino activists in the campo (country side)

The trip to La Paz has been incredibly intense and enlightening. My interview with Evo Morales will be featured in the Toronto Star on Sunday...I will post the link. And Iwill be writing a more analytic piece for rabble next week.

As you can probably tell, I feel honoured that I could be here for this important moment in history. Whether nor not the MAS can pull off the revolutionary changes they are planning, it is an amazing moment in the history of the global struggle for equality and social justice.

The Wiphala

This is the Parliament Buildings in La Paz and that flag on the right is the Wiphala, the flag of the indigenous resistance.
Here is how David Choquehuanca, Bolivía´s new foreign affairs minister, described the symbol to me in an interview:
"What we want is simply to live well, which is not equal to living better. For us, robbing is not living well. Not to work is not living well. To exploit is not to live well. To attack nature is not to live well. Possibly attacking nature will allow you to live better or exploiting might allow you to live better but we don’t want to live better. We want to live well. And in (reprentative) democracy, the word submit exists, for example, the minority has to submit to the majority. But submission is not to live well. And that’ s why we make our decisions by consensus and not by democracy. In our communities we make our decisions through consensus. And to arrive at consensus, we have a process that includes up to five stages to arrive at an equilibrium that does not exclude anybody. And for that reason we use the Wiphala, made out of little squares. The little squares say that all of us are the same size. That nobody is either superior or inferior. And more than that, it says that all of us have to participate. A Wiphala cannot be without even one little square. And in addition, its square - that means that we are looking for a society that’s balanced and equal. For example the national flag of Bolivia; its sides are not all the same length so it represents the society of inequality. Conventional flags like the Bolvian flag are like that with sides of different lengths. For us that represents inequality, a society of inequality. . The Wiphala demands of us that we keep our promises. The Wiphala is a code. It says to us that we must keep our promises.

Both class and national struggles

One of the extraordinary things about Bolvia and perhaps the aspect of what’s happening here that we can learn the most from is the intersection of class and national identity personified in Evo Morales’s leadership. My interview with Juan de la Cruz Villca (pictured here) who co-founded the MAS with Evo brought me a lot of understanding.

The COB (Las Central Obreira Bolviano) was formed just after the 1952 revolution here and adopted a fairly classic Marxist revolutionary program for a workers and peasants alliance. Juan explains that the miners were running the COB and their idea was that the only revolutionary class was the workers and so the only indigenous people who were actually involved in those days were assimilated professionals.

Juan told me with a chuckle, “The only role for the peasants was as Secretary for the Campesinos.”

He goes on to explain that the miners only saw the importance of the class struggle and not of the , national, cultural and people’s struggle of indigenous people. His thesis was that they need both class and national struggles. Further he argued that if the COB was to be a workers peasants alliance than one of the top positions had to go to an indigenous campesino. The closing down of the mines and defeat of the miner struggle moved along the understanding that the COB had to go beyond the traditional proletariat

And he was elected as the first indigenous secretary general of the COB.

Even though indigenous people are a majority in this country, the lessons learned here in the left about the centrality of the race, identity and nation and of course I would add gender to any kind of transformational change is in my view critical to new strategies for social change. In the North, globalization has brought these issues to forefront in every country. We have much to learn by how they have been handled here.

I got the interview with Evo Morales so watch for the Toronto Star on Sunday, www.rabble.ca
at the beginning of the week and right here for more info.

We know alot about democracy

A peasant leader from the Santa Cruz whom I met in the waiting room of a government office asked me what I was interested in about Bolivia. I told him I was interested in how we can democratize our societies and that I thought Bolivia had some things to teach the rest of the world. He responded, “We know a lot about democracy here. In our unions we are very democratic. The problem is that our government has not represented us. Now we are hopeful it will change.”

And therein from what I have learned so far is the secret of what is happening in Bolivia and it is extraordinary. It is not only that Evo Moralis is the first indigenous president in the Americas in 500 years; it is also that campasinos (peasants) and indigenous leaders are running pretty well all the government departments. As the assistant to the minister of agrarian reform told me, “we have taken the movement leaders and made them directors of our departments.” Who knows better than the Cocaleros, the problems of Coca and who better to solve them. The problem,” he added, “is technical and legal issues. So we hire technical people to assist these leaders but it is the movement leaders who are in charge.” When I asked him how the transition is going, after all it is a big leap to go from leading a movement to running a government department. He answers, “bien.”

His job is as he puts it, is to make friends, with the various social movements who are probably better organized in Bolivia than anywhere I have seen. Everyone is in a union from the street vendors to the elementary school children. Campasinos have always had traditional collective organizations and they moved easily from those into unions. Most extraordinary, they are all in the same union federation.

Yesterday I met the first indigenous president of that union, Juan de la Cruz Villca. He also founded the MAS with Evo Morales. That’s him in the pic. He says simply that what has happened is that the majority, the Quechua and the Aymari have taken control of the government. In that sense what is happening is very like the election of the ANC in South Africa. An oppressed and marginalized majority (they are 70% of the population) takes power and like the ANC, the MAS is more like a social movement than a political party.

Of course it is not so simple. Juan says that he understands even though they have taken control of government doesn’t mean they have power. Remberto Cardenas, a left-wing journalist says the problem is that while the MAS (Evo’s party) is changing the personel of government, the structure remains the same and he doesn’t see what they are doing to change the structure. And of course the opposition is organizing. The agrarian reform they are proposing is quite extensive and almost everyone I have spoken is concerned that the big land owners will defend their land possibly with arms when the land distribution starts..

Two faces of poverty

Yesterday Susan and I drove to La Paz in a rented Nissan Jeep. It was a beautiful drive. At the highest point, we stopped and took the picture you see here. For those that don’t do metres, it is a little less than 15,000 feet. Three children, the oldest a boy of about 8 came down from a group of adobe houses on a hill near by. As many children here, they were poor but looked healthy. He was with his sisters, one about six and the other three or four. I asked if I could take their picture. “No photo,” he replied firmly. Susan asked if he wanted some money for photo. “No photo,” he repeated. She gave him some money anyway. The three of them look at us with a fierce determination and considerable dignity. Then he said, “cuaderno.” I didn’t understand so I called Susan over, “cuaderno,” he repeated. “He wants a notebook,” Susan explained. “so he can go to school.” It was a heartbreaking moment. Here was a little boy who wanted nothing more than a notebook and we didn’t have one. He was clear that he didn’t want to be exploited by a gringo taking his photo. He didn’t ask for money. All he wanted was to be able to go to school. He put his arm around his little sister. I guess she was a little afraid. We said we didn’t have notebook. As we left I waved good bye and after a moment’s hesitation, he waved back. No smile, no chatting, just a simple request.

In a few minutes, Susan and I decided we would buy three notebooks in La Paz and stop on our way back. If they don’t come down, we will leave them for him, pretty sure he will get them. Susan said her friends here will think we are foolish to do that. “If my friend asks, “what difference will it make? I will respond. ‘Who knows, this little boy might become the next Evo Morales.” Or not, I thought but at least we can give him a notebook and that will make some difference to his life.

Later that day we saw another side of poverty. Our car stalled going up a steep hill in La Paz and the alarm went off. We couldn’t shut it off. We asked a man who was walking by if we could use his cell phone to call the rent a car company. It didn’t go through so he offered to help. He disconnected the battery but not before reaching over the passenger side to try and start the car, which I though was kind of weird. After he left promising to return with a mechanic, I realized my wallet was gone. He was so nice and helpful and I guess I can’t blame him for taking the opportunity.

The problem got sorted out but not before I pretty well freaked out because I had to take a taxi to the hotel to get help while Susan stayed with the car and in the stress of the moment my Spanish deserted me entirely and I had written down the name of the street she was on incorrectly. I never felt quite so incompetent. I’m usually great in a crisis but this time I was hopeless. Luckily Susan was calm, has enough money for both of us to make it through the trip and the hotel did help as did my unfailing sense of direction. In the end I lost about 100 dollars and the hassle of cancelling credit cards.
Traveling in such a poor country, especially living so closely with the people rather than traveling as a tourist, you realize the immense privilege we have in the North. More about that in a later post.

Last day in Cochabamba

Today I moved out of my family´s house into a hotel in Cochabamba. It feels like pure luxury. Had my first bath in two weeks. Cool showers were all I could have there. I have grown quite fond of this town and of Mercedes whom I stayed with.

You may have heard of Cochabamba. The photo is from my friend Bob (he´s the one with the red shirt in the photo) whom I met at the Rockwood leadership institute. He was here during the water wars when the whole town rose up against privatization of water here again from the Democracy Center are some articles about the water wars. http://www.democracyctr.org/waterwar/ Outside of Bolivia they are widely seen as one of the most important struggles that led to the victory of the MAS in the last election. Here we find it is a bit more complicated. I will be meeting with Oscar Rivera, a leader of the struggle who is quite well known outside of Bolivia when I come back here next week.

Tomorrow it is off to La Paz. Still hoping for an interview with Evo who is currently in Argentina at the Mercosur meetings. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Mercosur_UN_Venezuela.html
The Mercosur is a trading block of South American countries. Surprisingly, or not, this is the only article from a North American newspaper I could find on the meetings. Needless to sayreports are all over the papers here.

Just discovered (thanks Charlotte) a web site promoting a film about Coca and Bolivia
http://www.dwdtv.org/home.html

Street vendors

Last day of school

The pic is of a the grandmother of Mercedes´s ( the woman I am staying with) cousin´s grandmother. The bowler hat is quite common here.

No-one here has digital cameras so it´s quite a hit to take someone´s photo and show it to them immediately. The street vendors above loved the photo so much they asked me to make a copy for them and it was the first time I had ever gotten a digital photo printed.

Today the media released a poll and not suprisingly to me after talking to people Evo (that´s what everyone here calls him) is the most popular leader in Latin America. He has 81% support.

Today the news is all about secularizing the schools. Given the power of the Catholic Church here it is a bold and courageous move. I hope to find out more about it when I talk to people.

Tomorrow is my last day at school and I am looking forward to the change.

Of flowers and politics

This is one of the incredible tropical flowers I saw in Chapare. This one is not quite in bloom and I´m pretty proud of the photo. It is a cultivated flower, not a wild one but the wild flowers are as large and beautiful as cultivated flowers we get in Toronto. The cultivated ones are, as you see, beyond belief.

I just got the news that I will be leaving for La Paz on Sunday. So my interviews with government people will be next week. Look forward to these posts as I will try and post short summaries of what I find in my interviews.

One of the people I had hoped to interview is the Vice President of Bolivia, Alvaro Garicia Linera. But it looks like he will be leading Bolivia´s first delegation to the U.S. So here is a talk he gave to some social movement leaders in Cochabamba recently. It is on a blog written by an American, Jim Schultz who works with the Democracy Centre. No idea of their politics but the report seems pretty straight forward. http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2006/01/how-it-looks-to-bolivias-new-vice.html

Via Tunari

The photo on the left will give you an idea of how the jungle looks outside of Villa Tunari where I went last week end. The hotel, El Puento is in the middle of the jungle and has twelve natural pools in the river. It was really beautiful and well worth the six hour bus ride there and seven hour bus ride back.

The man who runs the hotel asked me why I was learning Spanish when the majority of people in Bolivia speak either Quechua http://www.ullanta.com/quechua/ or Amaryi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aymara_language
I told him I was learning Spanish for all of Latin Americ not just Bolivia but it gives you an idea of the importance of the indigenous languages here. He was a tin miner before the mines closed down and now he runs this hotel. He says it was like going from hell to paradise.

Back at school now and learning the verbs. Whoever said Spanish was easy if you knew French didn´t learn all the irregular verbs I am sure.

On Monday for the first time I saw President Evo Moralis on TV. He was playing soccer against a team of women. Very cool. Interesting that I have been here ten days and it´s the first time I have seen him on TV. The fellow I am staying with says that Evo doesn´t like populism so he doesn´t do the kind of media that other leaders do. Can´t wait to meet him which will hopefully be next week or the week after.

Abortion

With all the progressive politics in Latin America we forget about where they are still reactionary and abortion is the worst. It is completely illegal here in Bolivia and as far as I know across Latin America.

A terrible story has been in the news here. A ten year old girl raped by a ten year old boy got pregnant (children here reach puberty earlier) : Her parents have gone public through their lawyer demanding that she be given an abortion. The doctors refuse becuase it is against their professional code of ethics and the law. But it is so clear to almost everyone that she should not be forced to go through the trauma of pregnancy and birth. Turns out there is a nine year old in Nicaragua in the same situation.

It has been discussed for hours on the news so one can hope that this case, as tragic as it is, might convince the government to open up abortion laws at least a little bit.

I am off to the jungle now so wait for some great pictures on Monday.

Spanish and Politics in Cochabamba

It´s the third day of classes here and my Spanish is getting better. My teachers seem to enjoy discussing politics with me. Yesterday my teacher Betty, who describes herself as not political, told me why she supports Evo Morales (whom everyone here calls Evo). Three reasons:

• Nationalization of the energy sector
• Cutting the salaries of everyone in Parliament and government including himself in half from 20,000 pesos to 10,000. Evo explained that when he was a campesino he got on by 1,000 so politicians should be able to get by on 10,000. It was a powerful symbolic action but of course whatever the symbol it was tough on the people who lost half their income; nevertheless no revolt
• The land reform. Here she explained that things were more difficult. Fifty families in the Santa Cruz area (what they call here "the Orient") own tons of land that they were given during the dictatorship in the 1960´s and 70´s. Evo wants to take back the land. Of course the landowners are fiercely oppposed.

The news you might have heard a couple of weeks ago about the election to the Constituent Assembly and autnomy was really all about this land reform. The landowners in Santa Cruz want autonomy so they can keep their large tracts of land and their riches. This is the richest part of the country and not surprisingly the whitest. People here in Cochabamba that I have talked to so far do not see the election as a defeat for Evo as reported in the Western media because a number of the smaller parties elected will side with him on key issues.

The photo above is another picture from the Fiesta I went to on the week end. Notice the fabric around the pots. Women here use these clothes to keep things warm and to carry things including their babies. Weaving is an important craft in Bolivia.

Fiesta in the countryside

On Sunday the family with whom I am staying and two of their friends took me about 35 kilometres outside of Cochabamba for a Fiesta. On some levels it was very much like a country fair back home. Alot more food and all of it hot. The food specialty of the area is duck and rabbit. The rabbit looked a little too much like rabbit for my taste but the duck was great. Most of the people here are of indigenous descent and almost all of the servers and vendors dress traditionally.

The other specialty of the region is chicha, a drink made out of corn. You can see in the pic how they drink it. The guy with the bucket is clowning around by drinking from the bucket. They bring it in a bucket and share it around drinking from a kind of gourd, see the guy on the right. And boy do they drink. While we were watching the World Cup on TV, they finished off about 3 buckets for five people and that was after they already had two buckets and two pitchers at lunch. I had one taste and decided it was way too strong for me. Guess I better get my drinking up to speed if I am going to hang out with Bolvians

First Day in Bolivia

I just arrived in Cochabamba after travelling all night through Lima, to La Paz and the to Cochabamba. This area is famous for the successful struggle against water privatization in 1999
http://www.democracyctr.org/waterwar/

I am staying with a family here. When I walked in the door I felt right at home. On one wall was a drawing of Che and on the other a photo of Evo Morales. I knew I was among friends with Mercedes and Johnny.

But the house is freezing cold. I was warned how cold it gets here in the morning but the stone house really keeps in the cold. As I write this it´s afternoon and quite hot so it s weird to a Canadian to go out to get warm.

The house is near the school where I will be studying Spanish for the next two weeks. http://www.runawasi.org/en/index.html It is in a barrio in the outskirts of Cochabamba where the tin miners live.

The weirdest coincidence is that when I arrived at the airport whom should I meet but Janet Conway and Lee who are studying Spanish as a different school here. They were on their way to Santa Cruz.