May was my first full month in Bogota, and it sure was eventful…
May Day, a public holiday in Colombia (in association with International
Workers Day, not the Celtic calendar holiday complete with may pole dances and baskets), traditionally
sees the most violent protests in Bogota. Riot police abound. Colombia is still
the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist, and this is the
day of the year they take to the streets in mass. I woke up that day and chose
to take a long peaceful run towards the north, leaving the rest of my co-workers to
participate in the protests downtown.
All sorts of groups outside of unions march in the May Day protest. One
that certainly deserves mention this year is the Marcha Patriotica, which is
the new emerging leftist party in Colombia. The Marcha Patriotica draws
connotation to the Union Patriotica, (Fastest Colombian history lesson ever: UP
was the FARC-backed communist political party during the last peace
negotiations. After the negotiations, with the UP as the official political
party, the government systematically killed UP members, leaders and elected
officials. Peace failed. FARC returned to current military tactic.) And while
rumors of peace negotiations abound in the Colombian media, there are several media
reactions to this new emerging party. 1.)
Why would we (the left) set ourselves up for another repetition of what
happened with the UP? 2.) Is the FARC actually backing the MP (clearly in
political ideology that would make sense, but as compared to the UP which was created by the FARC, the MP is a
separate political party). Those on the right tend to equate the two, clearly
dangerous for non-FARC members who are participating in legal leftist politics
(already dangerous in Colombia, obvious by the need for our accompaniment). 3.)
How will this party be different from other parties on the left?
A few things are clear: this new party mobilizes
groups from outside of the capital. In their march last month, it is estimated
that 80,000 participated, the grand majority travelling in from other regions
and rural parts of the country. According to a conference I attended yesterday,
regional leaders and organizers of the party have been killed since that march
(their first mass public demonstration). For good or danger, they have
certainly grabbed the nation’s attention.
Day and Tippy come to town with a full extra suitcase of North Country
contraband. I am still eating fine cheese daily and thrilled about it. We
bummed around the historical downtown and hit the national museum. We hiked
Monseratte and went shopping. We fined dined and market shopped, caught up on
the life and times and chillaxed. It was lovely.
On May 15th, the Colombian- USA Free
Trade Agreement went into effect with a mid-night shipment of flowers out of
Colombia’s port in Cartagena. The port, at midnight, was full of flag-waving
Colombian children. As the BBC reported, “The accord, signed during President George W
Bush's administration, was opposed by US labor groups, who feared job losses. Many
Democratic members of Congress argued that it should not be approved until they
were satisfied Colombia had done enough to stop violence against union organizers.
There was also opposition from Colombian trade unions, who expressed concern
about whether the country was developed enough to compete. Urging Congress to
ratify the deal, the Obama administration warned that further delay would cost
the US jobs and the chance to boost exports.” Needless to say, after
living in Guatemala straight through CAFTA implementation, my heart sank a
little bit on the morning of May 15th.
And then, also on the morning of
May 15th, my heart jumped. A bomb exploded about 10 blocks from our
apartment, shaking northern Bogota. While questions about who was behind the
bomb still go unanswered, there is no doubt that the day chosen was symbolic.
As an organizer who shares our office space lamented to me a couple weeks later
over lunch: “we had a whole press conference about the negative consequences of
the FTA and with that bomb, it was just decided that the news wouldn’t cover
the FTA at all”.
This was the first bomb attack
Bogota has seen in 10 years, and perhaps challenged the recent cover of Time
magazine granted to President Santos. It certainly reminded the inhabitants of
the capital (if not the world over) that there is still a very real and very
dirty war going on in this country. Additionally, it made all of our team
question our security analysis. While we are constantly aware of bombs and
combats in the war zone, the hard truth of the matter is that this particular
bomb exploded closer to our home than any of the ones we heard or saw in Uraba.
Eek.
In an even MORE symbolic relevance
to the bomb: May 15th is International Conscientious Objectors day.
With such rampant violence in this war torn country, I was thankful to have a
string of meetings with the Conscientious Objector group who we accompany here
in the capital. The peace movement is really the only way, says I.
We read a lot of news. A friend at Witness for Peace drew my attention
to an extremely disturbing Trident gum advertisement in Colombia’s weekly political
magazine, Semana. This ad has me currently
writing my first personal consumer complaint letter to a corporation in years.
The basic concept is that Trident gum produces healthy smiles, which, in turn,
provoke other smiles. The image is two individuals hugging and smiling over
trident gum. Sounds fine, until you take a closer look and see that the
individuals are 1.) a US Border Patrol agent and 2.) a Latino (presumably illegal)
immigrant. Apparently Trident hasn’t considered the implications of making
light of the current US-Mexican border situation, but I am taking it upon myself
to make them consider said implications. I read this particular issue of Semana the same week I received No More
Deaths (NGO documenting Border Patrol abuses of migrants at the AZ-Mexico
border) newsletter. And BAM!: Complaint letter content filled.
I have now officially and deliberately stopped reading my crisis alerts
from parts of the world outside of the Americas. I feel a threshold. Guatemalan
news alone breaks my heart everyday and Colombian news is a required part of my
job. And that is only the tip of the Americas iceberg. Sometimes it all seems
so overwhelming, even though peace seems so obvious. And then a friend sends me
this uncited quote with the caption ‘why do we do the work we do?’:
“It’s
impossible,” says pride.
“It’s risky,”
says experience.
“It’s pointless,”
says reason.
“Give it a try,”
whispers the heart.
Lee comes to town! While she works for the IRC and much of our
conversation ends up being political and work-related, we also got up to a good
amount of shenanigans around the capital. We even took an impromptu day-trip to
the Zipaquira salt mines outside of
Bogota. These salt mines have ben turned into the stations of the cross
underground and are lit in psychedelic colors, making the whole scene seem like
something straight out of Jesus Christ
Superstar. Lee and I reveled.
Lee left a basil plant, and paired with the sprouting lavender seeds Monica
sent me in her package last month, the urban garden is on the grow. In other
happy capital lifestyle related news: Emily and I have been cooking from
scratch. We have been dancing lots of salsa. We have been running the ciclovia,
a highlight of my every week.
At work, May was full full full! There was a conference on the ongoing (and
government ignored) issue of violent forced displacement, and our team’s final
push to publish our Drug War Pop-Ed booklet (second in the series on
“Demilitarizing Life and Land”). There were embassy meetings and accompanier’s protests
and reports to be written and urgent
actions to be taken.
What a month! Protests and resistance and oppression and violence! (Not
to mention research on protests and resistance and oppression and violence!) It’s
not easy, sometimes, and Baker London’s album release also brought a good
reminder to me this month: “when the soul
needs reviving, though shall reach out for some help”. And thus I continue
to reconnect with dear friends and family in far corners of the globe. It feels
good and I am so thankful for my support system sending me love from afar.
The sounds of the city pump my everyday life with rhythmic noises. The
traffic and horns of cars on busy streets. A man sings operetta outside of a
music store, seemingly directly addressing the guitars inside the window. Peddlers yell, vending everything from orange
juice to tamales outside our windows and on my walk to work. Our (new!)
pressure cooker whistles over black beans. Bikes shift gears on the Sunday
ciclovia. Blenders mix delicious passion
fruit juice for my constant consumption. The sunny Bogota mornings make me wake
thankful for every day and sometimes, walking home from the salsa studio late
at night, I catch a glimpse of the moon over the buildings. It draws my
attention and I just can’t look away. It reminds me of my close connection to
nature in Uraba. I revel in patches of trees when walking cross-town and deep
breathe on the top of Monseratte. The smell of grass at the Usaquen market reminds
me of summer. I miss the clean air and outside lifestyle of La Union, while
simultaneously feeling so much more whole now that I am in frequent
communication with dear friends. And I think again about just how adaptable we
are.
June has a lot in store. Next week both the Montreal jazz ballet and Lila
Downs come to town (tough personal budget decisions!). By the end of next month
we will have a new team member, David. With a trip home on the horizon in
August, paired with the sensation that I just arrived in Bogota, I can’t help
but feel like time will fly this summer.
I have renewed my contract with FOR through March of 2013 and honestly
feel there is no work I would rather be doing; there is nowhere else I would
rather be.
