Hey y'all
Since I've last written, I´ve learned about Culture of Peace, finished my regular classes, spent 9 days in El Salvador, started my independent study project in Managua and Estelí, been a nervous wreck tracking the 2008 US elections, swam in a giant fresh water lagoon next to former President Arnaldo Aleman's house, hiked through a tropical forest to look down into a volcano, and survived a very tense Nicaraguan municipal election. It's been a lot, and though I'm exhausted, I'm doing well.
Classes ended well. I did my final Spanish project on a book on the Latin American legacy of Paulo Friere, which prepared those in my Spanish class for the tour of the museum of the 1980 literacy campaign. The tour was amazing, and I have pictures that I will post when I return, even though I don't have a connection that will allow me to do so right now. The literacy campaign is still one of the things that I'm most excited about, and the museum's demonstration of the power of people coming together to make great change brought tears to my eyes. You can read what the United Nations has to say about it or the shorter version at Wikipedia.
After our Spanish classes ended, we went on our comparitive excursion to El Salvador. It was whirlwind 9 days of testimonials, history lessons, tours, community visits, and work that I'm still reeling from. It was one of the most affecting 9 day periods of my life. We began in San Salvador, where we went to a wonderful popular education organization called Equipo Maíz where we learned about the bloody history of El Salvador and the context for the Civil War (I was unable to find a good short explanation online, but here's what Wikipedia has, which is ok) We got testimonials from former FMLN guerillas, met with civil society organizations focused on the women's movement, migration, gangs in El Salvador, and more. In the evenings, we watched a few movies, including Romero and Voces Inocentes, both of which I recommend to better understand human rights struggles in Latin America. We visited the site of assassination of 6 Jesuit priests at the Universidad Centroamericana San Salvador, the sister university of the UCA where I study in Managua. This, along with the El Mozote massacre which we also learned about, is a famous instance of the brutality of School of Americas graduates which is marked by the annual protests at Fort Benning, GA each November. The accompanying museum, photos, poems, and memorial were a shocking a heart-wrenching experience. We visited the National Cathedral and the tomb of Oscar Romero along with his home and site of assassination, the Divine Providence. It seems trite to attempt to put into words the feeling of agonizing loss and pain that these sights represent, that eminate from them when you are there.
After a few days in San Salvador soaking in the history and social atmosphere, we went to the northern community of Santa Marta, which was a community in exile for 7 years in the 1980s due to persecution by government death squads before returning to their homes in 1988 while the civil war still waged. There, we stayed with families for three days and worked at the local popular radio station, Radio Victoria. I stayed with a former FMLN guerilla who taught me a few songs on the guitar and told me about his military service amongst hours long conversations about history and global politics, about which he was better informed than most of the students and probably even professors at Willamette. The town was still quite poor, with very little development, though they did have electricity and some running water. While at Radio Victoria, we worked on news shows, political analysis, entertainment spots, and I was even asked to sing a few songs, so now I've been broadcast in El Salvador and Honduras, singing both English and Spanish! It was wonderful to work with the youth who ran the radio station, and we learned a lot about current events from our time there, including the 2009 Presidential Elections and the FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes, though Radio Victoria is non-partisan.
When we returned to San Salvador, we were able to attend classes with students at the National University. I spent a day with a few students hanging out on campus, attending panels at a human rights conference, admiring the popular art, discussing current events, philosophy, and sociology, and learning about student movements on campus. It was a fantastic day that helped me remember why I was still excited about college and made me eager to return to campus in the spring.
We also got to visit the National Assembly and speak with deputados from both the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional) and the right wing ARENA (Alianza Republicana Nacionalista). The meeting with the FMLN deputada was pleasant and uneventful, with a lot of politically correct hedged opinions, but the meeting with the ARENA deputado was filled with grand, sweeping boasts about his party that defied statistics that we'd heard and occured in the "Great Roberto d'Aubuisson Memorial Room." D'Aubuisson was the founder of ARENA and also a major death squad leader in the 1970s and 80s. The room's presence and reverence by the ARENA controlled National Assembly seemed a slap in the face of the memory of the tens of thousands of innocent victims of the governments ruthless tactics.
Overall, the trip was yet another experience that defies articulation. I wrote a short Op-Ed for the Willamette newspaper afterwards expressing the need to counter US policy that is the reason for Nicaragua and El Salvador's dire situations. You can find it at the Collegian website or on my blog I strongly encourage those of you who are interested to check out the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador for more information about what you can do to help the desperate situation there.
After returning from El Salvador, we studied Culture of Peace. We went to the Center for International Studies, where we were able to work with Zoilamerica Narváez, a major Nicaraguan feminist human rights activist. We also discussed the link between peace and justice with Jesuit Priests and non-violent campesino activists, and met with the non-violent movement for justice for banana workers exposed to the toxic pesticide Nemagon by US corporations like Dole and Chiquita. We also met with the Promoters of Peace, former contra and Sandinista soldiers working together against violence and for a more positive peace. It was a great weak that seriously challenged my preconceptions of peace and violence and I can't wait to discuss it with y'all upon my return.
Now, I was a wreck for about two weeks before the US elections. I was terribly nervous that there would be violence, voter suppression, homophobic attacks, or some sort manifestation of the infamous "Bradley effect." Thankfully, Obama won by a sizable margin, though four anti-queer pieces of legislation passed, including in my home state of California. I was simultaneously elated, shocked, unimpressed, and feeling disconnected on election night here in Nicaragua, even at our little election party gathering of US folks at the SIT office. I cried during Obama's acceptance speech, especially at the sight of a quarter of a million people in rapturous political celebration (the likes of which I had only seen in videos of South Africa when they elected Nelson Mandela) in Grant Park, where police beatings had torn apart the Democratic convention forty years ago. It was beautiful, and I was especially affected by Obama's line "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change." How right he is, and I hope we all listen. At the same time, Prop 8 and the rest of the discriminatory laws were cutting me deep. Does California really care more about chickens than queer folks? And what's all this bullshit about attacking the black voting bloc and the Mormon church!? The white gay voting bloc has never been attacked for it's racist bullshit before, and the focus should be on the folks whose rights were taken away, not the bigoted religious fundamentalists who spearheaded the campiagn. They are not the point. The point is justice. But I digress.
This email has turned out to be just as exhaustingly long as the last one, so I'll be brief with the rest of it. I'm currently in my independent study period, studying the relations between US organization Witness for Peace and Nicaraguan justice organizations. It's been a great first week of study, with a lot of rich information and new friends, and I've also used my more fluid schedule to travel a little bit. The coolest thing I've done this week was going to the Masaya Volcano National Park, and hiking through the forest to look down into the Volcano. Inside of it. Of an active volcano. And, unfortunately finding out what volcanic gas is (it smells bad and tastes like a multi-vitamin). It was a great day. I have pictures of that too.
I head up to Estelí to work more with Nicaraguan organizations up there on Thursday. It's weird to think that my time here is winding down, but I'm happy with the fact that my project is the focus of the rest of my time here. I hope that everyone is well, and know that I'm excited to see every one of you when I return to CA in December, Willamette in January, DC (hopefully) in February, or as soon as I can get to where the rest of y'all are.
Be well, do good work, and stay in touch,
Sam
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