In the News

Just a quick note-

So I´m back at work after a two day hiatus brought on by a national and local transportation strike run by what is arguably the strongest union in the country. And what was this fantastic display of worker power and union strength put forward in the name of? In support of the liberty to drink and drive. Well ok, that´s an obvious over simplification. But in short, Evo just announced a new law which would punish entire transportation companies and their drivers with extreme measures whenever a driver in their employ is caught driving drunk. I definitely think it´s a great idea- there´s a serious amount of drunk driving here and the bus and traffic accidents which tend to occur as a result are really terrible. I would like to feel better about being on the roads. And in order to build a real culture against it, yeah, you have to take some serious steps, and yeah, the companies and other drivers are gong to have to know that they will suffer the consequences as well if you want to create any kind of positive peer pressure. The blockades were pretty intense. And politically it´s been really strange- folks in Santa Cruz and the eastern parts of the country, who are usually really against all things Evo, have been really supporting the law. Some of their companies even broke with the union decision, as did a few companies hyper loyal to Evo in the areas around La Paz. And Evo asked his supporters, largely the campesinos, to support him by countering the strike, which lead to a lot of violence and fights breaking out between strikers and campesinos. The whole thing has just been strange. And after spending so much of my life stoked on workers´rights and union power it´s a little disheartening to see the way that power can go...

Photo: El Alto, Agencia de Prensa Alteña

Another strange political moment is unfolding at the Martadero, a really cool cultural center here in Cochabamba. They just opened an art exhibit of... pictures of Obama´s face. They have all the graphic design campaign contest images up. Which is just so, so strange to see here in the middle of Bolivia. At the same time, yesterday they began free screenings of the Obama Deception, a new film that´s either promoting anti-Obama conspiracy theories and crazy extremist opinions, or a film that deals the problems of corporate and financial power and the lack of differentiation between political groups and the lack of any real change in America... depending on what you read. Which is unfortunate, because the political discourse is actually interesting and positive, but the smear campaign aspect makes the whole thing more of a destructive waste. Even for a cynic like myself it seems like the worst idea ever to show a film like this, in the center of a country already filled with hate and mistrust for the US, when so much more could be done to build positive relations... At the same time the US has decertified Bolivia once again, primarily as a means of basic political chastisement toward an ¨unfriendly¨southern neighbor. And recently I saw this mention of Hillary Clinton expressing ¨deep concern¨over Venezuela. It would be nice to see some ¨deep concern¨over the assassinations taking place in US supported Colombia or in US affirmed Honduras. It might do some good for us as far south as Bolivia.

Anyhow, just a note on things over here. Saludos-