Sunday, April 30, 2006

Quito

La Virgin de Panecillo
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Quito is is a little like the answer to "Why Colombia?": it's complicated. My best friend's younger brother, who has lived there for several years now and is marrying an Ecuadorian woman he met at the university, says it's a nice place to visit but a terrible place to live. The inverse of what most people say about Atlanta. I felt unsafe the entire time we were in Quito, and relieved when we left the city for a smaller town in the countryside. The historic center of Quito is absolutely breathtaking in many ways, but small children, 5 and 6 years old, still pull your heart in 100 directions with their sales pitches that rapidly become pleas to buy gum, buy chocolate, please lady, buy something. Middle class Quitenos insist that giving one of these children even a coin is tantamount to buying them drugs. I don't buy it, but have to admit it's a choice among non-choices. Our tour guide said doing so would just encourage their parents to continue exploiting them, as if the parents were doing anything other than picking between non-choices as well. Few things throw me more than this. The next stop on the night tour of old town Quito was the Panecillo, the Virgin of Quito. I wonder how many prayers she hears, and how many have stopped seeking her protective gaze?
Something Quito does have going for it is Oswaldo Guayasamin. I had seen one or two prints in friends' homes, but was not familiar with his work. The Capilla del Hombre was stunning and rather spiritually taxing. This man had a serious social conscience.















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Conference
The conference was incredibly dense and most of us shut down at one point or another, but it was also incredibly inspirational, which sounds silly but is true. People were interesting and had compelling ideas, not just about their particular projects or areas of study, but about the countries in which they are living in general.

Just from talking with other Fulbrighters I learned about Bolivian indigenous movements, Venezuelan community television, 50 cent scandal newspapers and presidential elections in Peru, Ecuadorian elite attitudes, some Waorani's experience with Belgian reality tv, and potato weevils. I'm a little overwhelmed, but excited to get back to work with a clearer idea of my own project after a week of explaining to people.
The Basilica, as yet unfinished.

Monday, sessions all day, welcome dinner at the historic San Diego convent at night. Tuesday, sessions then a night tour of the historic center of Quito.



Wednesday evening the sessions ended, and Thursday morning we left for Banos, town of hot springs and cascadas. Several ice cream stops later, we hiked to a waterfall full of power and grace, then set up at our (waterless) hostel, set high in the hills over Banos.



Friday was back to Quito, where we stayed in a hostel in gringolandia; Saturday and Sunday spent exploring the city with friends.

We took a cable car up a mountain called Pichincha overlooking the city, climbed to the top of the Basilica, went to a museum, and watched a little Equavolley (a hybrid version of volleyball in which people have been known to lose houses, cars, boats...), then caught the evening flight back to Bogota.
It sounds funny to my ears, but it's good to be home. Who knew?

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Fulbright conference in Ecuador this week

I'm excited about being back in Ecuador! The last time was 11 years ago...I can't believe it's been that long. It was one of those experiences that sticks.

Cotopaxi, Grandfather mountain overlooking Quito:


(from Reiscafe...those Germans really get around!)


Schedule of sessions:
  • Elites y Populismo y el Rol de la Prensa en Latinoamérica, Grace Jaramillo, ex-becaria Fulbright, profesora de la Univ. Andina Simón Bolívar y Columnista de Diario El Comercio
  • Los Dilemas del Presente: Populismo o Democracia, Dr. Pablo Andrade, Ph.D. Ciencias Políticas, Fulbright Visiting Scholar 2006 y profesor en la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar
  • Sustaining the Environment: A Case to Ponder in Ecuador, Dr. Kelly Swing, Ph.D., Director of Tiputini Biodiversity Station, USFQ and Fulbright Scholar.
  • Arts and Performing Arts: Past, Present and Future, Dr. Susan Webster, Ph.D. in Art History, Fulbright Scholar and professor at Univ. of St. Thomas and Dr. Patricia Gallagher, Ph.D. in Theater, Fulbright Scholar and professor at U. of California, Sta. Cruz
  • Obediencia Civil: El Rol de los Militares en Latinoamérica, Dr. Fernando Bustamante Ponce, Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Profesor USFQ, Analista Político y Columnista de Diario El Hoy, Crnl. Luis Hernández, Consultor en Asuntos Militares, MA en Relaciones Internacionales.
  • El Lazo Común: Lo Andino de Nuestros Países, Dr. Enrique Ayala Mora, Rector de la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar y Diputado del Congreso
  • Quehacer y Deshacer: La Mujer en el Mundo Andino, Andrea Pequeño, M.A en Género y Desarrollo, Mónica Hernández, Fundadora y Directora Ejecutiva, Fundación Alternativa, y Dr. Ruth Elizabeth García, Directora, Centro sobre el Derecho y la Sociedad (CIDES).
  • La Salud en el Ecuador en un Contexto Global, Dr. Benjamín Puertas Donoso, MD, MPH, Director, Programa de Maestría en Salud Pública, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
  • Esperanzas y Desesperanzas de la Juventud Ecuatoriana: Conversatorio, Juan Patricio Navarro, Fundador, Impacto Social y miembro de Ruptura de los 25, Juan Sebastián Roldán, Ruptura de los 25, Angel Medina, Presidente, Fundación Qe’llkaj, Josefina Aguilar, Coordinadora de Programas, Fundación Qe’llkaj
  • Visit Eco Parque Monte Selva, Puyo, guided visit of Waterfalls
  • Management of Water Resources, a Current Problem in the Andes, Dr. Gregory Knapp, Ph.D. in Geography, Fulbright-Hays grantee

A tape recorder is a magical thing

NPR: Out of Hiding, Into the World: Thembi's AIDS Diary

Ngubane was 19 when she first met radio producer Joe Richman in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. She was among a group of South African teenagers he interviewed about AIDS in 2004. He gave her a tape recorder, and for a year, she recorded an intimate audio diary that brings listeners into her home, among her family, to witness her daily struggles and triumphs.

Amazing piece. Uplifting, somehow. Ngubane and her boyfriend manage to look at her impending death and laugh. I don't know how to do this, but I learned things listening.

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On a less somber note, I'm interviewing the students here on the question: "Why Colombia?" It's the question I am asked the most - by Colombians and by friends back home. So I want to find out what other people's answer is. I have an inkling it has something to do with US policy, the conflict, our (sometimes unknowing) complicity with what's going on here. But we'll see!

Today I'm also supposed to transcribe an interview FOR conducted with a woman from Cali - I don't know what it contains yet, but the book they are writing is about women's experiences in the conflict: children disappeared, homes destroyed, the urban wanderings of country people. In Bogota, it's a sunny day, and I feel lucky to be alive and well.

The world gets smaller every second, and a tape recorder is a magical thing.

The simple life

National Downshifting Week ~ UK - check out website for tips on simplifying your life. Saturday 22nd to Friday 28th April 2006
The UK is preparing for its 2nd National Downshifting Week. Led by Downshifting Columnist and Broadcaster Tracey Smith, this event has been designed to inspire Individuals, Companies, Children and Schools, by highlighting ways participants can live simpler, happier lives and be kinder to the environment at the same time.
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$100 Challenges and $500 Rebates on Priuses (NYT, 4/22/06)
By ANTHONY DePALMA

As he was running one day, deep into what he calls "head-talk," William H. Hinkle had an environmental epiphany. He had recently sold his wholesale electronic bond trading company and was voraciously reading about global warming. It was not enough merely to worry about the ice caps melting; he had to act. So he decided to put together a list of 500 well-heeled friends and colleagues and try to make them carbon conscious.

He wrote a series of six e-mail messages, each a brief presentation of what he believes is the grim reality of global climate change, and how the rich and powerful make things worse with their limousines, jet flights and big homes. He challenged each recipient to read all the messages and send them to others. He then promised to buy a $100 pass from one of three carbon-offset programs in the name of the first 1,000 people who complied.

"I could have just sent $100,000 directly to the groups, but that would not create leverage," said Mr. Hinkle, 53, as he dashed for a train to his home in Summit, N.J. "My goal is really to get people to look at these three options."

His Web site, www.thehcf.org, lists three carbon-offset organizations to which he will send the $100 proxy contributions. The organizations are www.carbonfund.org, which supports renewable energy projects; www.self.org, which supports solar electrification projects in developing countries, reducing the use of dirty diesel and kerosene for lighting; and the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, www.lomakatsi.org, which restores northern forests.

He has a second carbon-reducing challenge. He drives a Toyota Prius hybrid and thinks everyone should. So he is willing to give $500 rebates to 20 families anywhere in the nation with annual incomes of less than $80,000 that buy a new fuel-efficient Prius before July 31.

The former executive, who spent 22 years on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs, might now sound like he is become a raging idealist, but, in fact, he is still hard-nosed and pragmatic. "I don't expect all this to make a big difference," he said. "But I'd like to be wrong."

Finally, beautiful song - heard at Orishas concert tonight. Listen to a sample from one of the best hip-hop songs ever HERE: "Represent."

Thursday, April 20, 2006

A few days of existential angst, then clarity

Lately there have been days where it's hard to remember what I'm doing here. Somehow between getting to know the city, learning my way around the bakeries, then having to take up jogging again after patronizing every bakery within ten blocks (pretty direct correlation between these last two activities), making friends and attending classes, I'd lost sight of the idea that made me wade through the paperwork, herd professors into meetings, wheedle for recommendations, and revise my proposal 27,000 times. Somehow it all came to a head Tuesday. But a wise friend (thank you, Aimee) made me understand that periods of confusion and upheaval, though not perhaps enjoyable, are often necessary for growth. The time when the seed is still in the dark, damp earth is essential for the plant it will be to bear fruit.

Action helps. Wednesday and Thursday were productive days. Wednesday I worked out some details of my project - decided to focus in on who participates at a particular level - the Juntas Administratives Locales, which are local adminstrative boards that have control over a pot of money for community use. I want to look at who participates, what compells them to do so, and whether who participates (demographic-wise) has changed over time. I think these boards might be a good model for the direction Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Unit system should take. As they exist today, the NPU's have very little power, and lots of paperwork. They also, not surprisingly, have an extremely low participation rate in most neighborhoods, although where the NPU is more powerful there is greater participation. I want to also compare this in Bogota - how does participation by the so-called "popular communities" that house most of the displaced population vary from the more properous localities?

(I need to find a synonym for participate.)

Thursday I met with the director of the Center for Social Studies (Centro de Estudios Sociales) at the National University (UN). He's the friend of a Fulbright professor, and he offered me a role on a project the university proposed as part of a national competition for funding. The proposal examines various aspects of the construction of citizenship in modern Colombia, focusing on civic education, what citizenship means to traditionally excluded groups, and citizenship within the context of displaced communities that have been terrorized by violence -- it seems like a great fit.

(And maybe for citizenship too.)

He also asked me to help organize a series of encounters between Fulbright students and Colombian students at UN. So exciting!

Finally, he suggested I attend a conference on gender that was taking place on campus. I went, and I'm so glad I did. Among the speakers was Maria Emma Wills, one of Colombia's foremost feminists and current director of the political science department at Los Andes. The woman sitting next to me, a teacher at a girls' school, got to talking about a project she wants to start with her students: a longitudinal take on what happens when girls are given feminist instruction from a young age. This sounds very 1970s to U.S. ears, I know, but in the Colombian context it's different. Here just showing up in a classroom full of girls and saying, I decided to finish my education before having kids is a minor relevation. At the same time, Colombia is a better place to be a strong woman than many other Latin American countries. Maria Emma said at one point in her talk, "Just because we're better off than women in many parts of the world doesn't mean we should be content with our lot."

I'm hoping to read at least part of her dissertation while I'm here: Las trayectorias femeninas y feministas hacia lo público en Colombia (1970-2000) ¿Inclusión sin representación? [Feminine and feminist paths towards the public in Colombia (1970 -2000): Inclusion without representation?]
The aim of the dissertation is to understand the way Colombian women fought for their full citizenship in two public domains –the political and the academic—from 1970 till the year 2000, and how their claims were fought back or institutionalized in both spheres. The research starts from an analytical distinction between two dimensions comprised in full incorporation to public life: presence and representation.

Ah, there's the rub. Presence, yes, we can have that. But power? So far in world history, that's been another story entirely.

Whorls of dust in the light

Do you recall this moment? I do - I was maybe three, maybe four. My world had not yet been invaded by swarms of screaming (and loving) siblings, and I had the time and disposition to sit in sunbeams on my mother's favorite quilt. Just sit.
He closed his hand gently around a cluster of glowing motes, knowing they couldn't be captured and taken out of their beam of light. He wondered if they passed through the flesh of his hand to escape or simply flowed around his fingers. He opened his hand, his fingers together, and instantly a whole colony of sparkles was snuffed out in a column of shadow within the sunbeam. He turned his hand sideways, and a new generation only lived a moment, as some larger shadow outside swept them into nothingness. [From Daniel Quinn's novel The Holy.]

Last night we went to hear a panel discuss the effects of the conflict in Colombia on public health. The speakers included the head of Medicos Sin Fronteras (Doctors Without Borders), a Alfredo Molino (well known journalist and author of book The Dispossessed: chronicles of the desterrados of Colombia, dismissed by an acquaintance as "just a bunch of stories"), the president of group of displaced communities, and a Jesus Abad, a Colombian photojournalist.

He was the only, journalist willing to travel with members of the peace community San Jose de Apartado to the scene of the massacre last year. Didn't look like he'd be much for public speaking, but he started out, after a dramatic pause: "Yesterday I became ill. I was infected by a fear of the public -- I never know who I will encounter at these engagements." He spoke like a man at his own wake. Yet the candles he lit with his words and photos would not be snuffed out - it was quite simply the most chilling yet invigorating talk I've ever heard.

[Translated from his comments:]
This is a country of fear, where many journalists cover our mouths, cover our eyes. We cultivate mediocrity.

[What his friends say to keep him from speaking out against the complicity of the state] "Memory is more important than one day's scandal."

[His response] The press is complicit with this complicity - of the public forces with the paramilitaries.

In one way or another, everyone in this country ends up with a family member in one or another of the armed actors.

Killing the people is not revolution.

Do not allow the truth to be camouflaged.

His work is technically great, soulful, thematically important, sometimes more than one can stand to look at, and absolutely worth seeing. When images of a child's drawings appeared on the screen in front of us -- drawings of a man kneeling in front of a tree, gun held to his head, while bodies floated, a country's debris, down the river -- the room gasped. Did we breathe again?

Along these lines, Josh sent an article from Human Rights Watch Colombia: Uribe Must End Attacks on Media.

Colombia and the U.S. share more than a drug problem, it would seem.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

buses burned

This is just sad: Buses used in pro-immigration rally burned.

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But this, now this is funny! Never ran in the AJC, though -- the editors pulled it. Guess who won ANOTHER Pulitzer for political cartooning recently? He may be a crotchety old man, but damn he's good.

We just can't keep the safety on

Georgia shoots itself in the foot, again.

Rep. Melvin Everson, R-Snellville, who introduced a bill in the House to cut off public benefits to illegal immigrants, said an influx of illegal workers is draining social services budgets. He cited as an example the additional teachers Gwinnett County schools have been forced to hire to teach English to newly arrived Hispanic children.

“The last time I checked, America was the land of English, not Spanish,’’ he told the crowd during Monday’s rally.

I love it when they say things like this - some day their kids are going to come across these quotes and just shake their heads sadly, and say, "Ay papi, pero porque?"

But Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said the new law will hurt the state economically in the long run because it will hurt industries that rely on illegal-immigrant labor. He listed farming, poultry, textiles and construction as prime examples. “It’s sending the wrong message to immigrants considering coming to Georgia, that they’re not wanted or welcome,’’ he said. Gonzalez said the law also will damage Georgia’s efforts to attract the headquarters of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas to Atlanta.


Hey, maybe there's some third-rate trucking museum we can throw lots of money at...

And by saying it ain't so, GA (nearly former) governor Sonny Perdue reassures Georgians we're still a backwater state, and will be for as long as he has any say about it (Mexico slams Georgia migrant law).

He's playing the classic Southern Scapegoat Somebody lower-on-the-totem pole game. Will he pay for it? Hard to say.

Conventional wisdom says Gov. Sonny Perdue is a shoo-in for re-election. Big business loves him. He has avoided making any daring decisions or creating any innovative initiatives. He has shied so clear of controversy that it's hard to see how he will be beaten. Still, one gets the sense that parts of rural Georgia, which gave him victory four years ago, are a little fed up. He's too cozy with corporate Atlanta. The anticipated Kia auto factory notwithstanding, too many good-paying jobs have moved out of non-metro Georgia. At the same time, the voter-rich ring around Atlanta also may have had enough of Bubba. Wearing circus ringmaster costumes and castrating dogs, even for a good cause, haven't solved many suburban problems. Don't be shocked if a Democratic candidate upsets the conventional-wisdom applecart (Bill Shipp at Gwinnett Daily Post).

Good ol' Sonny "never met a gimmick I wouldn't try once, or twice if no one notices the first time" Perdue.

By the way, I'm officially nominating Dan McLagan for ambassador to Oman. That guy's got a silver tongue with spikes a foot long. I've got to give it to him - he's a Cosby special waiting to happen: "Small-time spokesman says the darndest things."

And he's got his finger on the pulse of the most pressing issues facing Georgia today: Perdue Spokesman Crusades Against Drinking Problem At Cato Institute (if you don't click any other link today, do yourself a favor and click this one. You can thank me later.)

Monday, April 17, 2006

We just keep doing what we've been doing

Monserrate from our kitchen window:

Tonight, two thoughts, as much for me as for anyone out there:

One, a change is gonna come. It may not be the change we're looking for, it may not be the occasion for joy and fulfillment, but it will come. Know that, and you can be free.

Two, At the heart of the modern age is a core of grief. Once we accept the reality of life here, today, on this planet, and recognize what stage we're at in the grieving process, we can start to put the change in action.
Don't take the problems of the world personally, or blame yourself for them. Understand that at the heart of the modern age is a core of grief but don't let that grief consume you. If news or failure to accomplish something gets you down, go out and do something you enjoy. Eat healthy and stay fit, but don't make a religion of it. Learn how to prevent illnesses instead of waiting for them to occur. Spend time with people who like you, and accept their compliments warmly. Love yourself, realize that you can do anything you want to do. Appreciate that you're part of the solution, and that makes you extraordinary. (Dave Pollard)

So if you're doing something you don't like, and you don't know why, stop. Just stop. Go outside, look up, and picture yourself doing something else. If you're thinking of buying an SUV, say (gee, don't know where I came up with this one, JULIA...), and you don't know why, stop. Think about it. Add up your values and the direction you think we should be moving in as a bunch of people hanging around on this planet, and make a decision - live by your latent but unenacted beliefs? Or give in to whatever pressure it is inside or out - to conform, to not deny yourself things, to consume, to show up in style?

I'm not saying I'm immune to those pressures, far from it. But it seems being outside of the states has released me from some of their force. I've noticed I buy less, eat fresher food, walk more, take the bus more, listen to people more deeply and often, and consider more deeply, than I did with my "busy life staying busy" back home. Then again, all this time to think has made me at times panicky for something to DO. So I aim, like all of us, for balance.

From Pollard's list of things we can DO:
Listen, Learn, and Teach Others: Have the courage to talk openly to people about things that really matter to you. Ignore the raised eyebrows and comments about your seriousness and intensity -- you'll find most people care, too. Then listen, don't preach. Leave behind one practiced, important (to you), articulate idea or thought with the other person, like planting a seed. Learn to tell stories -- it's the only effective way to teach. But share what you know. When you're talking to someone who strongly disagrees with you, listen, don't try to convert them. There's a reason why they feel so differently from you -- ferret out and really understand what that reason is (don't assume they're ignorant or stupid). Then sow a single seed of doubt. And read quickly and selectively, but don't let it keep you indoors, or away from people. The real learning is outside. So travel when you can, but forget the hotel chains and chain restaurants. Live with the locals, talk to them, try different things, listen and learn.

Lately I've been telling myself I need to get started seeking out people who know things...this may sound vague, but it's much clearer in my head, I promise! So tonight I sent out an email to a group of ONGs I'd like to interview about the public participation process as it's experienced in Bogota.

Here's one example:
Fundepublico means "Foundation for the Defense of Public Interest". Its mission is to protect Colombian collective rights and interests, and provide legal representation to those members of society in particular disadvantage, whose rights have been breached by actions or omissions produced by the Nation or common citizens.

Finally, since I'm learning from others tonight, I'll let Pollard close it out:
Infect Others With Your Spirit and Passion: Love openly, completely, as many people as you can. Be emotional, except in those very rare occasions when dispassion is needed. Smile excessively.

But refuse to tolerate cruelty, suffering, unfairness, bullying, jealousy, apathy, despair, cynicism or hate, in yourself or others -- alleviate it, disarm it, discharge it, whatever it takes to stop these negative emotions and activities, and appreciate that they're signs of sickness, not evil.

This is something we all have the ability to do. It's something we've all done at one time or another. If you've stopped, ask yourself why. Then start again.

The sun sets on Monserrate.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

A first bird

The lights in the church stayed lit all night. That wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't been for the drums. Finally, at 6 AM, mass ended and the revelers spilled out onto the street, still playing those damn drums. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry - it was almost time to get back to defrosting the bird, and I'd slept maybe a couple of hours. I finally opted to laugh after staring out the window at them down below for a while. The church doors opened on a surprisingly unwrinkled and unbowed crowd - heck, I was exhausted just listening to them all night, yet there they were, pleased as could be with themselves, laughing and joking like it was 6 PM and they'd just gotten off work.

The bird was a harsh mistress, but she finally gave up and turned a nice golden brown, and just in time - the crowd assembled was starting to look like mutiny. It was only 2 hours later than advertised, and we had a hungry bunch. We dove into that bird and emerged, silly and content, a few hours and multiple pies later. The feast lasted seven hours and was one of the happier and fuller Easters I've had, although I missed my folks. Only one thing could have made it any better...and it's no use wishing for that, better to be grateful for all I have been given. Come to think of it, the bird wasn't the only thing today that felt like thanksgiving.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Gee, couldn't they have protested in their hearts?

Business owners interviewed by the Times are of two distinct perspectives on this past Monday's rallies against various anti-immigrant bills at the local and federal levels.

In at least one instance, nearly 200 fired workers in Wisconsin were reinstated, demonstration leaders said, after the leaders met with employers, discussed the significance of the protests and threatened to identify the companies publicly.

"I have no problem with the demonstration, but this is a business," said Charley Bohley, an owner of Rodes restaurant and fishmarket in Bonita Springs, who fired the 10 workers there after posting a note warning employees that they could not miss work for a rally on Monday. "Couldn't they have protested in the morning before work? Couldn't they have protested in their hearts?"

I bet they didn't think of that...

HR 4437, sponsored by Rep James Sensenbrenner (R-WI):

HR 4437: Any person or organization that “assists” an individual without documentation “to reside or to remain” in the U.S. without regard to the individual's legal status would be liable for criminal penalties and five years in prison. This could include church personnel who provide shelter or other basic needs assistance to an undocumented individual.

The Department of Homeland Security would be required to erect up to 700 miles of fencing along the Southwest border. State and local law enforcement are authorized to enforce federal immigration laws. State and local governments that refuse to participate would be subject to loss of federal funding.
The diversity lottery program, which allows 50,000 immigrants each year from countries around the world to permanently reside in the U.S., is eliminated.

In Georgia, SB-529, sponsored by Chip Rogers (R-who cares), is sitting on Perdue's desk. The bill's sponsors want us to focus on the increased penalties it would impose on coyotes and human traffickers, but the real meat of it lies in prohibiting access to health services and education for undocumented people above the age of 18.

Read what GALEO director Jerry Gonzalez has to say about it, then call the gov up and let him know what you think. Governor Perdue's Office Phone: 404- 656-1776.

I know from personal experience what it does to a high school senior to find out that he can't go on to college with his peers, no matter how hard he's struggled with a small-minded and often racist education system just to make it to graduation, and I don't believe it's the message we want young people to hear. Regardless of how you feel about the parents' decision to emigrate (isn't immigration control all about saying, "I got mine, now screw you" - if we're really being honest?) young children have no say in the matter, and to severely restrict their life opportunities to make a stupid point is just that -- stupid. In what world is pushing kids away from education a positive policy decision?

Restricting education to combat illegal immigration is like using a machete to give a haircut. Dangerous.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Bogota

It's like Christmas Eve here, all week. Yesterday I bought ham for our picnic from our butcher downstairs, and every eye in the shop turned to stare. Here they eat no meat all week, and probably are fasting today. It's an odd thing to go from being one of a very few Catholic kids in my public high school, since the South is a historically very Protestant place, to living in a country that is still, despite the gains made by evangelical outfits, for all intents and purposes a very Catholic place. Even the humor (see post below) often relies on religious references.

As an acquaintance was telling me the other day, although she is more modern and less devout than her parents or grandparents, seeing people dancing, for example, on Good Friday comes as a shock. That doesn't really happen in Bogota, Colombia's most conservative city.

I went jogging last night in the rain, after a day of waiting it out with no success, and felt like the only person in the world. Then I ran past one of the most lovely churches I've ever seen, built right into the facade of shops and apartments, and the line for confession was a block long, stretching outside the entrance, past stray dogs and round a few lonely vendors. It was a sight to see.

Colombia in the news

Today's humor headline in Eskpe: "Important scientific magazine reveals document that proves JuD.A.S. was Colombian."
This requires some explanation, but is absolutely hilarious, in a very dark way. The D.A.S. (Department of Security) has been rocked by scandal recently (and also not so recently, as you might imagine in Colombia). The former director, Jorge Noguera (pictured above), now ambassador to Italy, stands accused of allowing electoral fraud in the 2002 elections as well as the assasination of union leaders during his tenure as head of the intelligence agency.

This is all tied up with the upcoming presidential elections - Uribe has harshly criticized media outlets for covering the story. I don't have to hit you over the head with these parallels, do I?
President Alvaro Uribe assured today that the denunciations made by Colombian magazines Semana and Cambio about supposed cases of electoral fraud and administrative corruption in the administration of the DAS, the Colombian Institute of Rural Development (Incoder) and the Fund for Agricultural Sector Financing (Finagro) 'harm the stability and democracy of the country.' (from Terra)

Interesting how politicians tend to think it's the news of corruption and misdeeds that harm a country's image, not the acts themselves.

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Opponents accused Colombian President Alvaro Uribe of bullying the media on Wednesday after he made a fierce attack on a magazine that reported allegations of vote fraud and links between officials and illegal militias.

[Semana] had published an interview with a disgraced ex-member of the Administrative Security Department -- Colombia's equivalent of the FBI -- accusing a former boss of organizing electoral fraud to help Uribe in the 2002 election, maintaining links with far-right paramilitaries and plotting against Venezuela's left-wing president, Hugo Chavez.

In television and radio interviews, the popular but famously short-tempered Uribe dismissed Semana as "frivolous" and portrayed its editor as a high society fop.

"It seems appalling to me that freedom of the press is used to portray a government as illegitimate without checking facts properly," Uribe said.

His main rival in the upcoming election, Horacio Serpa of the left-leaning Liberal Party, accused Uribe of "intimidating our country's free press." Carlos Gaviria, presidential candidate of the left-wing Alternative Democratic Pole, said Uribe was questioning "freedom of the press." A Gallup poll in March gave Uribe 64 percent voter support compared to 20 percent for Serpa and 10 percent for Gaviria.

Also today, British newspaper The Independent calls Colombia the real victim of the war against drugs. This is an excellent and fairly short article, by the way, and well worth a read:
Thirty-five years into the US-funded "War on Drugs" and supply of the industrial world's favourite stimulant remains steady. In Bogota, Sandro Calvani, head of the UN's Drugs and Serious Crime unit, said eradication was simply making the traffickers better at farming. "In the last five years there's been a significant reduction in hectorage ... But the narco-traffickers have responded by caring for the coca plant better. They're treating them like tea plants."

As a result, the plants, though fewer, are producing more.
The logic of Washington's war, endorsed by Britain, is to limit demand by choking the supply line. Billions of Washington dollars have been spent every year on spraying tens of thousands of hectares with pesticides, but there has been little or no impact on the street value of cocaine, according to this year's US State Department narcotics report.

This random violence and territorial conflict has driven entire communities out of rural areas and into Colombia's chaotic cities. Unofficial estimates put the number of displaced people at more than three million, an internal refugee crisis rivalled only by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also, given the political realities of Bolivia and Peru, much of the growth is expected to shift to those countries. I don't know how long it's going to take, but one of these days we're going to realize the futility, not to mention injustice, of attempting to inflict the consequences of our own society's addictions on smaller, less prosperous nations. It's just sad. Back in the states, no less conservative and respected a magazine than the Economist said recently, "
The drug trade itself undermines democracy, but so do heavy-handed American efforts to contain it. As long as rich-country governments insist on imposing an unenforceable prohibition on cocaine consumption, Andean governments will continue to be faced with the thankless task of trying to repress market forces.

Cocaine: the facts (also from The Independent)
* Price per kilo: Colombia £1,100; US £20,700; EU £22,800
* Colombia produces 80 per cent of the world's cocaine
* Cocaine accounts for an equivalent of 1 to 3 per cent of Colombian GDP
* One hectare of the crop produces 1.45kg of refined cocaine
* Cocaine use has stabilised in the US, but has increased in the EU
* Nine million people in the EU, 3 per cent of all adults, have tried cocaine, while up to 3.5 million are likely to have used it in the past year and 1.5 million took the drug in the past month
* In Britain and Spain, more than 4 per cent of 15-34 year-olds consumed cocaine in the past 12 months
* 75 per cent of those who try cocaine become addicted
* Although the US accounts for just 4.5 per cent of the world's population, it accounts for 60 per cent of the world's drug consumption
* Each day 5,000 more people worldwide will try cocaine
* Between 2.5 and 4 hectares of rainforest have to be cleared to produce 1 hectare of the drug
* Each dose of cocaine destroys 0.7 square metres of rainforest

Thursday, April 13, 2006

A rare sunny moment in the park

My friend Joy and I were planning a day trip out of the city, everyone canceled (you know who you are...) So instead we took a picnic to this lovely public park. We sat and soaked up the rare Bogota winter sun, enjoyed our lunch, and left when it started to rain, as we had to know it would!


Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Photos

Thought I'd share a few pictures Josh took while he was here. This first set is of the Botanical Gardens, one of my favorite places in the city...sure I've said this before, and I'll probably say it again.



After the gardens, we walked to the central park, Simon Bolivar, where we found a great running trail that I've been using regularly since then. We watched these two patiently watching a bird feed for a very long time.



To round out the day, we hiked over to the Virgilio Barco library, which you've also heard me talk about, um, let's just say more than once. I had to do a bit of fast talking to prevent the guard stationed atop the library's snail-like roof from erasing all of Josh's photos! We agreed (vaguely) to go get the required permit downstairs, which the guard assured me was nothing really, then reasoned that if it was nothing, really, there was no good reason to get it. As far as I can tell the librarys roof's security wasn't compromised (much).

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

NPR series on poverty, civic education in Bogota

I was skeptical about poverty simulations when I first heard about them in this NPR story of the day: A City Steps Up: Savannah Confronts Poverty (listen here). But then I listened to a Savannah banker describe his reaction:
I had no clue....I was totally blown away. I had no clue as to what a person in poverty deals with until I went through this simulation...what was surprising to me was what those people deal with on a daily basis. You've gotta get some place before it closes but your only transportation is the bus, and the bus may not get there before then. You run into another person in your neighborhood; he holds you up because he needs the money for his family.
He is asked what he did when he left the simulation: "...I contacted some of the simulation leaders, and I said, we can't leave it here -- what is the next step?" As part of a city effort to deal comprehensively with poverty, he joined a team charged with solving basic problems, in his case setting up accredited daycare centers with the help of business leaders.

For more information about poverty simulations, click here and scroll down.
Facilitators say significant attitude changes can occur during the brief but intense simulations. Many participants report that they gain a better understanding of the obstacles faced by low-income families. --------------
A friend told me recently a little about her experiences in a reconciliation class that trains mediators here in Bogota: "In the classroom, you have professionals in the same course with people who are essentially illiterate. Yet everyone has the same right to express their opinions, no matter how 'important' or 'humble' they may be." I wonder what long-term effects, if any, these courses will have on the social fabric of Bogota. This woman, a middle-class professional in her thirties, was visibly excited by the prospects. She invited me to attend a class with her in May, so I'll have a better idea of how it works then. We seem to have given up on adult civic education in the states, whereas in Colombia people latch onto the concept as having the potential to resolve conflicts that often escalated into violence.

I read today that one cause of urban violence being perpetuated over generations in Colombia is abusive child-rearing methods. I have seen/heard some of this, I'm sad to say, and it seems fairly pervasive. People who have been displaced from other parts of the country because of the conflict (or civil war, if we're really going to call it like it is) are more likely to be abusive towards their children as a result, thus bringing the cycle with them to the city, already not exactly a peaceful haven.

Although I should note the news in El Tiempo today that Bogota experienced its safest trimester in seven years: during the first three months of 2006, there were 310 homicides in the city, 128 less than the same period during the previous year.

Monday, April 10, 2006

“Today we march, tomorrow we vote!”


I'm so proud of Atlanta! A two-mile long stretch of 50,000 people marched for what the Guardian called the "21st century civil rights movement" in the streets of Atlanta, hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. My mom was there - if it's a march for anything that matters, she generally is.

Apparently in Tuscon, Arizona Sunday a group calling itself the Border Guardians burned a Mexican flag outside the Mexican embassy. I'm trying to picture the equivalent - what if a group of pissed off Mexicans were to burn a flag in front of the American embassy in Mexico City? I imagine there would be some international hand-wagging over that! I hate to generalize, but I'm also guessing this border gang might be made up of the kinds of guys who don't take too kindly to anyone burning the American flag. Just a guess.

This could end up being the series of events that creates an immigrant consciousness in the states. Josh, watching coverage in the laundromat tonight, saw a guy interviewed who said, I'm illegal, and I'll probably lose my job tomorrow, but I'm here because I'm an American too.

Sunday dinner

You know how sometimes you see things coming but are powerless to stop events as they unfold? This was the result today:



I went with friends to the finca just outside Bogota for an asada, or barbecue, this afternoon. The taxi driver decided to stay for a while, after much insisting, and we all ate way too much meat with our fingers.

After we ate until we could eat no more and the dogs were perfectly round and content, we said goodbye to the taxista and went for a walk, or so it was advertised. Cesar brought my guitar along and we half-invented, half sang songs, stumbled through potato fields in the dark, got slightly electrified by an errant fence, and just stared at the sky, which was gorgeous. A hour later, completely soaked and exuberant, we found the house again.



Several hours later, we were back in Bogota. Yes, we had to walk a bit and it wasn't clear at several points whether we'd be walking all the way back to the city or catching the late bus, but in the hands of friends and acquaintances, with that little bit of extra patience I've been cultivating, we made it, freezing, wet, and feliz.

Saturday, April 08, 2006


Villa de Leyva's colonial architecture, relaxed pace, and gorgeous mountain vistas make it a must-see for any traveler to Colombia. There - if I ever really need the money, I could always write for some travel rag! But the trip to Leyva was among the best parts of Josh's visit, we agreed. We took a bus from northern Bogota, not really knowing the exact route or where we would end up, but open to the options. There was a slight hitch along the way, when a police checkpoint got a bit hairy, as I had advised Josh not to carry the original of his passport. I was able to confirm that my Spanish is not so good under stress, which I suppose is good to know. It all worked out, though, as the police/army/whatever they were finally decided to view my nervous attempts to explain how Josh only having a copy of his passport was all my fault as funny rather than suspicious. Whew! And that wasn't even a close call -- I'm going to have to work on my poker face here.

We switched buses in Tunja without a hitch. Even inter-city service here is quick and easy - we waited all of fifteen minutes for our "bus" (more like a small van) then had a breathtaking ride down into the valley of Leyva. When I say breathtaking, I mean there were moments at which I thought I might take my last breath. But it was stunningly beautiful as well. Straight dropoff cliffs you're staring down tend to be, as a kind of compensation. We decided to take a different route back, which ended up being much more relaxing and enjoyable. Plus the name of the city it passed through, Chiquinquira, is lots of fun to say. Especially if you're stocked against the trip with a box of margaritas. I have no further comments on this subject.

Villa de Leyva itself was one of the nicer places I've ever been - the main plaza is enormous, even larger than the one in Bogota, but it has a neighborly feel. By the end of the week, as the good people of Bogota started pulling into town in their SUVs and taxis, we enjoyed a few smug smiles at their attempts to hobble along the cobbled streets in heels and boots, feeling like old-timers although we'd only been in town for a few days. My knitting friends had asked for some yarn, so we spent some time in the artisan shops admiring the loomwork and searching for a precise tint and texture of red wool.



Most of our time was spent tramping happily through the countryside surrounding Leyva. We looked in vain for "El Fosil," found a nice river and ostrich farm instead, located a supposed astronomical observatory of the Muiscas, decided it was slightly suspicious and spent lots of time hanging out around some grand rocks on a hilltop instead. Josh was able to identify lots of shards, and I found a few fossils in the dirt. Thunder began to threaten, and we headed down again to wait out the storm in a promising-looking old building whose sign simply read, "Hotel Pool Beer." All three were absolutely true, and we were treated as well to the proprietor's prize possession: a fossilized heart. It is perhaps true that organs can't fossilize (as Josh pointed out later), but it would have been truly heartless (argh...) to disabuse the guy of this particular conceit, so we kept our mouths shut. There was a fossilized femur in his wall, though, partly making up for the ruse.


On the way out of town, crammed like soccer fans into a TransMilenio bus, a simple line appeared on the graffitied walls: Leyva = Paz. In our short time there, it was true.