erin!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

in other news.

i took the time yesterday night to translate this article for my colleagues - we are running an activity at school about the colombian conflict on monday morning, february 4th - the day of the international march for peace in colombia. wherever you are please check out the following website for info about marches near YoU.

www.colombiasoyyo.org

This article was written for El Pais, one of the main newspapers in Spain, by Joaquin Villalobos, one of the biggest leaders of the Salvadoran Guerrillas in the 1980s and 1990s.

Legitimacy instead of mistreated hostages.
Joaquin Villalobos, JAN 16 2008, “ El Pais”, Spain

When I first began to learn about the Colombian conflict, I found it hard to believe that the leaders of the FARC travelled in air conditioned vehicles and that their camps had many commodities. It also surprised me that many of their commanders were clearly overweight. The Salvadoran civil war was explained by the excessive power of the state, but in contrast, the Colombian conflict is explained essentially by the inability of the state to control their own territory. Colombia has regions where there hasn’t been government control for over 40 years. This space was filled by paramilitaries, guerrilleros, narco-traffickers and bandits that converted themselves automatically into authority, with the indifference or consent of governments.

The Salvadoran guerrillas were fighting in each square meter of our small country against an authoritarian government that was militarily supported by the USA. In Colombia, on the other hand, the FARC have been a sedentary guerrilla force, that have controlled extensive territories where there hasn’t been government presence without much fighting. For this reason, they have been in the mountains for 43 years and some of their leaders have died from old age. Also in Colombia, however, the M-19 Movement (19th of April) was the first Latin American guerrilla group that negotiated political reform, at the cost of many lives. Now, the M-19, as the political party Polo Democratico, is a part of the political opposition in the country. It is possible that the left could win the next elections in Colombia, as in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Some continue to view countries in Latin America as banana republics, where political violence is legitimate. Geographical control, and an increase in money earned from cocaine coincide with the growth of FARC violence in the 90s. Before then, they were a lazy insurgence, and because of that held little relevance. In 1990, when their political leader Jacobo Arenas died, the FARC was left without an ideological base in the face increasing numbers of cocaine plantations in their territories. They began to extort narco-traffickers and ended up in control of the majority of the cocaine production in the world. They transitioned from the last political guerrilla into the first narco-trafficking army, converting themselves into a real challenge to the Colombian state. The governments of the past 20 years have had to strengthen state authority and correct past abuses. First, they made peace with the political insurgents, and later they dismantled the big drug cartels headed by Pablo Escobar. Next, the central government came up with successful ways to combat the culture of violence, and finally they began to regain control of the countryside. They proposed negotiations with the FARC, which failed due to the kidnapping of 12 parliamentarians that were eventually executed in June of 2007. The force of both the military and the police grew, and they became a permanent part of municipal governments of the 1120 municipalities of Colombia. The Paramilitaries were fought and began to be demobilized. The Guerrilla leaders lost their vehicles with air conditioning and their camps with refrigerators. Cornered, they turned to terrorism. One hundred and seventeen townspeople died while taking refuge in the Bellavista church, when it was destroyed by the FARC. A car bomb with 200 kilos of explosives demolished a Bogota club full of families. These acts became the norm, and deaths and injuries of civilians numbered in the thousands.

Now, the FARC´s violence is sporadic. In 2007 they were not able to take hostages within areas controlled by the state. Many of their combatants are demobilizing themselves voluntarily -2400 last year. There is also evidence that some leaders of the guerrilla have regained their comforts and commodities on the other side of the Colombia-Venezuela border.

The FARC does not have a future as a guerrilla force, even though they do have a future as narco-traffickers. The immense Colombian jungle allows them to keep the people they kidnapped in the past hidden and to use them as their last bit of political power. The rough conditions in which they keep these people is evidence of low morale and loss of control among the FARC, supported by the fact that they didn’t know the whereabouts of the child Emmanuel. The FARC have made kidnapping, narco-trafficking and extortion their principal activities. They are the best kidnappers on the planet.

An insurgent group can negotiate for political legitimacy in many ways that are just, however, to demand legitimacy in exchange for mistreated hostages and death threats is equivalent to asking for respect for being evil. The anti-neoliberal ideals of the FARC do not justify exploiting the pain of the hostages or their families. If Chavez were helping rescue hostages only to do something positive, it would be a good thing. If his political recognition of the FARC revives the violence in Colombia, however, it opens the doors of his country to the drug trade and turns him into a guardian of these cruel narco-terrorists.

take a think, march on monday.
no more FARC. no more paramilitaries. no more violence. we want peace.
colombia soy yo.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

aqui estoy.

mirando al sur

reflejo de luz, que al anochecer
brilla sobre el mar, con su proprio encanto
mitigando heridas, no encuentro salida
noches de pasion, que dibuja un canto

canto que atropella me inquietud
pareciendo estar en plenitud
corriendo en el tiempo
mirando al sur

se corre el rumor que vas a volver
no me pidas tanto
que mi corazon quiere explotar como un volcan
que te esta esperando

extranjero, voy queriendo encontrar
alguien como tu que le pueda dar
rumbo fijo a un lunatico demente

aqui estoy
delirando una vez mas
con tu piel
que secretos guarda?
que será
lo que esconde tu mirada lastimada
quisiera sanar tu corazon
poder ser la cura de tu dolor

esclavo de voz, vivo lo que soy
pecado mortal, ocultando llanto
sentir que algun día, vuelves a ser mía
pobre ingenuidad, al seguir pecando

extranjero, voy queriendo encontrar
alguien como tu que la pueda dar
rumbo fijo a un lunatico demente

aqui estoy
delirando una vez mas
con tu piel
que secretos guarda?
que será
lo que esconde tu mirada lastimada
quisiera sanar tu corazon
poder ser la cura de tu dolor

-s.a.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

de vuelta.

i am in the toronto pearson int'l airport waiting for the plane to bogotá and thought that since i am paying to use inet in this wireless world where everything costs something, i should take some time to blog it out. also, as some say, i don't write for 2 months at a time... i guess it is trueish. i just sometimes am not sure if i have exciting things to say or not. i guess in the big pic it doesn't really matter.

so toronto. it took awhile to get back here, but that seems to be the name of the game i've been playing for the past 4 weeks. delays in manizales, pereira, no flights out of toronto to get home to ottawa, ended up on the train to kingston without my bags an they were missing for one week. batteries in cars dying, snowstorm on the way back from andrew's farm, train delays because 1 million uni students were trying to get back to school, and finally the january thaw which made ottawa into the foggy city and nothing could fly for 2 days - which ended up delaying my flight 2 days as well. great success!

i had the treat though of being on a secret ottawa retreat for the duration of my delay, went to see juno which is wONDerful (you should see it, you'll cry) and had dinner with my family and paloma last night.

holidays have generally been a really happy time - this year was no exception and the wonders of eff-book have really opened the lines of communication between many many friends. it was busy. almost too busy. i had to take a few breaks, but in general, the time was well spent with close friends in various places: ot-wa, quebec city, lucas's farm, kingston, carlson's farm and toronto.

highlights include trying to see scott speedman at a hip toronto joint called ideal, brunch with alpal and ktq, phone calls with carito, vic hall rules at andrew's, things in a box, scooter's mom, highschool reunion, juuuunnooooo, the wild oat, playing pianah and guitar, paloma´s surprise visit, wonderchild baby andrew in a poncho, claire's house and pearson crew, no lines at the chairlift, new duds (ech i'm so shallow, but seriously, this was a highlight. oh ew.), snow!, love!, friends! that's probably it.

now i am going back to colombia a little bit late, feeling ready for the last go-round at school with my lovely students. trying to figure out what the summer and fall will bring is going to be a challenge - but i'm feeling positive. and excited.

feriaS. feriAs. fErias.

chaopues.

snowtrain

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

la merienda.

last night i had the strangest dream.

in fact. i don´t think it was a dream. it was me lying awake and thinking about the events of the evening.

yesterday afternoon i stayed after school to run an NHS NJHS activity with kids from gr. 7-12. we cooked arroz con pollo for 100 people, plus panela with milk to drink.

we then all sat together, ate a little bit of it, put ourselves and our creations on a bus and went downtown. it was around 7pm.

first stop was parque caldas, which is a mall downtown. we met up with a contact gustavo, who does merienda downtown all the time and knows every homeless person in manizales by name. i´m not kidding.

he runs this awesome merienda organization where he has organizations donate meals when they can, to bring to various locations in manizales to feed people who live on the street. he and his compañera run it like a classroom. the people sit quietly in a line, and are marked with an x so they don´t repeat. they have to sit and eat their servings where they are, they can´t take it with them, or trade it, or sell it. they have to clean up when they´re done. if the rules are broken, they are "grounded" of sorts and won´t get food the next merienda. the food is free, delicious, everyone eats, no one pays, and that is that. simple. beautiful.

my little ones obviously were a bit anxious but had the experienced highschool students help them out. and when the first student gave away the first plate and said "we made this for you. we hope you like it. merry christmas" - the ice was broken and we sat and talked and learned. We talked to old folk, young folk, kids, women, men, teenagers - all living on the street and all with their own stories, own families and own lives. some of them had studied. others no. most of the kids were in school but couldn´t go most days because they were working selling things on the street. some of them were drug dealers. some of them drug users. some were working selling artesanias or candies. some were just wandering, carrying their things, and some were sitting by the church, claiming they were listening to the mass when there was in fact no mass going on. gustavo told me later that they were deaf. anytime they sat by the church they were "listening to mass".

many funny questions - are you from argentina? no, i´m from canada. do you know where that is? nope. oh.
you look like my sister. really? no.
are you going to school ? yes. are you studying hard? no. why not? we´re in vacations right now. oh.
you speak english? yes. but you speak spanish. yes. woah.

anyway. my kids played a bit of soccer with one of the girls. the other girls were hugging my students, asking them to stay, to play, to take them with them. cry.

one boy just sat, silently, alone, and ate his food. i asked him if he liked it. he answered, si señora. and then he disappeared. he was about 11, but looked like he was 7. i wish i knew where he was going. but maybe i don´t.

anyway. it was a night for reflection. for me these kinds of things, as wonderful as they are, are so difficult. i was awake for most of the night thinking about all these people and their stories. why is it that there can be so much wealth and abundance in one place while so much need and poverty in another? everyone has a story. everyone deserves to tell it and to be listened to. everyone deserves dignity - and really, as gustavo said, that´s what we were bringing them - the opportunity to exist, even just for that moment, eating with us, in dignity.

and as we were going home, a beautiful sofia said to me

"they´re just like us. we walk by them on the street and we don´t even look at them. not even to say good morning or good afternoon. they all have their stories. good and bad decisions. we can help them like this.

we should do this more often."

and today, i was broody and the students were beaming. i´m glad they learned so much and enjoyed the experience. but i guess this is my place, for now - to show these kids life outside of granadino and motivate them to make changes in their communities. but just for now.

Monday, November 26, 2007

set list. american thanksgiving 07.

neeko and i celebrated thanksgiving by rocking out with some of our closest buds.

it went like this.

1. special request line: thanksgiving song by adam sandler. yeeeck!

2. van morrison brown eyed girl ( in special dedication to the performance we had seen on friday from our lovey grade 10s - who somehow managed to portray pilgrims dancing to vanmo - who knew?)

3. always a use - madeleine peyroux

4. folk version of a colombian vallenato hit - esta vida

5. cheese factory: your body is a wonderland by none other than my dancing partner john mayer

6.rounded off with some offensive song by tenacious d, erin as jackblack and nick as kyle. awesome!

here is a cute picture from lunch two weekends ago.

Maybe ain't no use in sayin' what I want it to be (D, G)

Maybe ain't no use in playin' a tune (D, A)

Maybe ain't no use in singin' my blues (D, G)

But there's always a use in you and me (D, A, D)

Maybe ain't no use in watchin' through the window (same)

As the towns and our lives roll on by

Maybe it ain't worth all the trouble in thinkin'

But there's always use in you and I

We can make it true (G)

We can work on it too (G7)

We can be what we want it to be (D)

We can be together (G)

As two or as three (G7)

'cause there's always use in you and me (E, A)

Maybe ain't no use in sayin' what I want it to be (same)

Maybe ain't no use in playin' a tune

Maybe ain't no use in singin' my blues

But there's always a use in you and me

We can make it true (same)

We can work on it too

We can be what we want it to be

We can be together

As two or as three

'cause there's always use in you and me

Maybe ain't no use in watchin' through the window (same)

As the towns and our lives roll on by

Maybe it ain't worth all the trouble in thinkin'

But there's always use in you and I.

-mp

everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you.

anecdote from a monday afternoon.

while camly discussing important themes in cell division with my grade 9 students around 3pm, some students who were haphazardly outside ( possibly having class, possibly not... ) began to yell earthquake. earthquake. earthquake. my kids peered out the door to grade 10 students falling all over the place, and what ensued might have been the funniest thing that has happened so far this week. desk shaking, holding on to one another, cries of fear, hiding under any reinforced structure imaginable (desk, doorway, chair, friend, teacher), one student standing on a desk yelling teerrreeeemmotoo. and then silence. no one moved. and then the laugher began and it didn´t really stop until 3.20.

because throughout this whole mess their hadn´t even been one slight vibration of the earth. terremoto, my bum.