[Scpg] Rwflections on Cochabamba, Part 3: The Inauguration

[Barbara Wishingrad]

This is the third article in the Reflections on Cochabamba series that I am 
posting the full text on the scpg listserv as requested by a friend who said it 
would be easier to read in the body of the email rather than follow the link.  
Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to express what I consider important 
talking points in the arenas of Permaculture and sustainability..
barbara

http://hopedance.org/blogs/reflections-on-cochabamba-part-iii-the-inauguration.html



Reflections on Cochabamba, Part III, The Inauguration
 
I had chosen a hostel to stay in Cochabamba, one that fit easily into  my 
budget.  It was kind of a boarding house; as was common in South  America, 
breakfast was included in the cost of the room.  Daily, we were  served 
processed orange juice, coffee or tea, including the option of  Maté de Coca, 
and a white roll, with butter and jam if we wished.   The  morning of the 
inauguration of the conference I decided to sit down to  breakfast, to be able 
to share that time with those whose rooms adjoined  the same sitting room as 
mine did, or were staying just a few steps up  or down the main staircase.  
Being bilingual English/ Spanish, I was  able to talk with just about anyone I 
wanted to at and around the  conference. At the hostel breakfast table, I met 
indigenous people and  campesinos from Bolivia and Peru, as well as an Italian 
woman who had  lived in Guatemala for almost eighteen years, who was an  
anthropologist.  Someone asked me about life in the US; was it true that  
everyone there had big gas guzzling cars, bought whatever they wanted,  and 
didn’t care about the fate of people in the rest of the world.  I  assured them 
that there were many folks in the States who were conscious  and concerned, but 
that sometimes their choices were limited by archaic  regulations and codes, 
which took time and energy to change.  As an  example, I mentioned that hanging 
one’s laundry on a clothesline was  prohibited by various homeowners’ 
associations and in some towns.  Most  of my compañeros were shocked by this 
revelation.  “Forced to use  dryers”, murmured a man sitting right next to me.  
I wondered if I had  helped or hurt the animosity toward the US by sharing this 
tidbit.   Actually, the prohibition on using clotheslines is pretty shocking to 
me  too; glad I don’t live in one of those communities, because I love to  see 
clothes hung out to dry in the open air, being blown about by the  wind.  Seeing 
white cloth diapers flapping in the breeze, mostly an  anomaly these days, can 
put a big smile on my face.  But back to  Cochabamba…

We set out to catch the free bus that ran between Cochabamba and the  conference 
site in Tiquipaya, about 30 minutes out of town.  In a city  of 2 million 
people, the free buses happened to leave a block and a half  from the hostel, 
something I hadn’t known when I booked my room.  The  ride to the conference was 
always a good way for me to talk to new  people; this morning I struck up a 
conversation with two other women who  were also attending the conference 
alone.  One was a student and the  other was an activist, both from Bolivia.  
When we got to the stadium in  Tiquipaya where the inauguration was to be held, 
my new friends wanted  us to all sit together.  I was glad to feel like a part 
of a group but I  also didn’t want to sit in one place, and a straight back 
chair at  that, while so much was going on in all corners of the venue.  I 
excused  myself and wandered off to explore the scene from various perspectives  
and to see who was out and about.  The air was filled with high energy  and 
anticipation.
There were groups of indigenous gathered in different spots, each in  their 
distinct native dress, practicing or preparing for a variety of  rituals, doing 
interviews and getting their photos taken.  Other people  were waving humungous 
flags, banners, or parasols—the sun at 9000 ft.  was already beating down and it 
wasn’t even 10AM.  The Bolivian National  Guard was lined up in their red berets 
and jackets; Evo would inspect  the troops before speaking to the crowd.

After a while the inauguration began, with an indigenous ceremony,  followed by 
speeches and blessings from indigenous and other  representatives of five 
continents.  I loved how the ceremonious  activities were deemed as or more 
important than the ‘business’ that  took place that day. Nobody rushed through 
them to get onto the other  parts of the program.  Participants appeared to be 
very present and  deliberate. After all, we were here on behalf of Mother Earth 
and her  rights.  Everyone was in a joyous, anticipatory state of mind.

The date was April 20, 2010, and in another part of the world,  unbeknownst to 
conference participants as yet, an oil rig in the Gulf of  Mexico had exploded, 
causing what would be called the biggest  environmental disaster in US history, 
which would still not be stopped  at the time of this writing, over two months 
later.  But there in  Cochabamba that fair morning, people were gathering with 
conviction and  hope, called together by one of the first indigenous Presidents 
of a  nation state, to raise their voices, get to know each other, share their  
struggles and intentions, and come to consensus on many issues  surrounding 
Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights.  We believed that we  could meet this 
challenge, listen to and respect each other, give  Mother Earth the honor she 
deserves, and work together to conceive  documents that would be presented to 
the United Nations and other  gatherings of nations, organizations, and peoples, 
documents created to  represent the voice of many to whom voice had not yet been 
given in the  international political arena.  We the People.  We were 
gathering.  This  inauguration was the symbolic and official beginning of the 
conference,  a ceremony, a place to survey those we were among, to come 
together, to  get inspired and then go forth and do our work.

The highlight of the inauguration, for me, and for many others I  believe, was 
the speech by Evo Morales.  Indeed, even the President’s  entrance was a 
highlight, judging by the reception he got. I for one was  thrilled to be in his 
presence.  Then, when he got onstage and started  talking, I was impressed with 
the way he spoke to his audience, very  informally and warmly.  He was humorous 
and engaging. Afterwards, when I  read other accounts of what he had said that 
day, I was surprised.  The  things that had impressed me the most got little or 
no comments from  other reporters.  Evo may have talked about the need to get 
rid of the  capitalistic system, but not with a vengeful tone, and he did not 
dwell  on it, at least not that morning.  He taught by telling stories, sharing  
about his life, and relating to the life of the common people in  Bolivia and 
elsewhere.  He focused on individual actions that can make a  difference in the 
world, ways we could each Live Well.  Evo encouraged  us to use handmade clay 
dishes instead of plastic (although he  erroneously, I believe, said that the 
lead in the clay was not as  dangerous to humans as plastic is for Mother Earth; 
I’m sure that there  are glazes that could be used that do not contain lead, so 
that we could  choose personal health as well as protecting the environment).  
He  talked about wearing ponchos made of wool and hand woven by local women,  as 
his poncho had been woven by his mother, instead of using plastic  ponchos from 
the US.  They keep one drier and also last much longer. He  also mentioned the 
importance of not eating meat and poultry to which  hormones were added, and 
avoiding crops grown with GMOs.  He lamented  the consumption of Coca Cola and 
told a story about a time he had gotten  sick from drinking Coke
.
It was a speech that empowered people to make a difference, to feel  camaraderie 
with others with similar convictions, and to move forward  with the agenda set 
up for the next three days of working and planning  together.  In another part 
of the world, unbeknownst to conference   participants as yet, an oil rig in the 
Gulf of Mexico had exploded,  causing what would be called the biggest 
environmental disaster in US  history, which would still not be stopped at the 
time of this writing,  over two months later.  It would be a direct result of 
our dependence on  oil extraction to keep our systems functioning, especially in 
the  Global North. But we didn’t know this yet, and Evo had been sowing the  
seeds for this conference since he took office as President in 2006, and  even 
before, in speeches he had given to the UN and other political  bodies, in his 
actions and proclamations as leader of Bolivia, and in  the way he included 
union leaders, indigenous elders, and other citizens  in decision making about 
issues that affected their daily lives.  By  the end of the conference, there 
would be 35, 000 of us attendees,  sharing the experience in one way or 
another.  The inauguration ceremony  ended at midday, and the next thing on the 
agenda were working group  meetings, which had been started online a couple of 
months before our  gathering.  With the blessings of the holy men and women in 
our hearts,  and the words of Evo Morales in our minds, we went on to our 
collective  work.

A Permaculture designer, water harvesting advocate, and longtime   environmental 
steward, Barbara Wishingrad, attended the Peoples’ World   Conference on Climate 
Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19-22, 2010,   along with 35, 000 other 
people. She also traveled with a delegation   from SOA Watch to Venezuela to 
visit clinics, schools, cooperatives,and   other social programs under the Hugo 
Chavez government. Barbara has   worked as an herbalist, homebirth midwife, 
street artist, interpreter,   and with special needs babies, among other things; 
she is currently   organizing a Water Harvesting Co-op in the Santa Barbara 
area.   Barbara   has lived and worked among indigenous artisans and midwives 
and has   made sharing indigenous wisdom an important part of her life work.  
She   is founder and President of Nurturing Across Cultures, formerly The   
Rebozo Way Project: http://www.nurturingacrosscultures.org .

This article is copyrighted by a Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, 
distribute, transmit and adapt this work and other essays in the Reflections on 
Cochabambaseries by this author under the following conditions:
  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/





 "Be aware of the influence humans have on the health and 
viability of life on earth. Call attention to what fosters or 
harms earth's exquisite beauty, balances and 
interdependencies. Guided by Spirit, work to translate 
this understanding into ways of living that reflect our 
responsibility to one another, to the greater community 
of life, and to future generations."


~ Orange County Friends Meeting 
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Santa Ana, California



      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.permaculture-guilds.org/pipermail/southern-california-permaculture/attachments/20101008/3a28c127/attachment.html>