Posts tagged bolivia
finding and pambana
[re]claiming revolutionary musings
after reading “to hell with your good intentions” by ivan illich (probably the most radical piece of writing offered in the super problematicness that is almost all study abroad programs (especiall “service-learning” ones) i want to talk about how travel can be an incredibly revolutionary act. i am a super believer in the MAGIC and trans-spacial trans-temporal (space and time are just western thangs) cultural abilities of oppressed peoples. i mean enVISIONing a better world through the current damaging realities, spreading Truth and putting spells on folk by song that moves through waves (thinking Black working class Blues women some of whom were/are queer), creating safe spaces. magic. “the people could fly”. afrofuturistic back to africa through the stars stuff. traveling as a queer Black woman actively challenging the imperialist discourse about amerikkka and Black women, and also the environmental and capitalist ramifications and sources of some travel. sitting on a plane, as the only Black woman (even to a currently/formerly majority Black and Brown country) illuminates my privileging from the system and also a revolt against the system. actively [re]connecting with other oppressed peoples of the world, understand that at different times in different places our relationship to power varies, sharing our knowlege systems and beliefs. is super radical. ways to travel with few economic resources and a reliance on the connections between people and place. hitchhiking, sharing rides, cyberspacetravel, in our dreams. how do we stay safe and create safety. things thoreau antimexicanwar never thought about. and June Jordan doesn’t stop. in her skin there is Palestine there is Lumumba there is Zimbabwe. how we have travelled. we weren’t meant to survive we weren’t meant to move. and i imagine Audre Lorde on a whiteplane BlackandBrownbuilt whitemaleonlypiloted and think about how a new discourse is created in her smile in Grenada. where everyone knows what ZAMI means. and the sounds and the smells and the faces are part of us.
la frontera entre bolivia y chile
making you dinner, making the bed for you, i’ve lost the desire to have sex with you.
-mujeres creando, bolivia
Ni las mujeres ni la tierra somos territorios de conquista. -Mujeres Creando
Neither wimmin nor the earth are territories for conquest- Wimmin Creating
currently in la paz, bolivia and about to go to the march against the building of the highway through the selva (and the homes of many people, history, culture) aka the construction of a highway to benefit big multi-national business and the murdering of people in their homes for profit. today there is a national strike in bolivia. amazing energy!
Bolivia bans cars for ‘Day of the Pedestrian’
Cars and buses were taken off the streets of Bolivia as the country held its first “National Day of the Pedestrian”. All motorised vehicles, including public transport, were banned in cities across the country on Sunday. Bolivia’s government says it wants to raise awareness about the environment. It comes at a time when President Evo Morales’ government is facing criticism over plans to build a highway through the Amazon rainforest. The recent protests against the highway have been an embarrassment for Mr Morales, who is a prominent advocate of indigenous rights and the protection of “Mother Earth”. Two million cars were taken off the streets on Sunday in nine cities, according to officials cited by Reuters news agency. In Bolivia’s main city, La Paz, the BBC’s Mattia Cabitza was engulfed by a sea of young people taking part in a marathon, and the usually congested streets were instead occupied by street artists and other performers.
(Source: BBC)
