To this old Latinomericanista hag, Evo Morales [1] is nothing short of a miracle. I spent a good 10 years of my life working on several different degrees in Latin American Studies : My BA was done through NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, my MA is in Hispanic American Studies and my ABD was in Latin American Literature & Culture. Not once through all of my years of stuydying and teaching my region's history, languages and cultures did I ever expect to see an Aymará man elected president of any country in Latin America, especially Bolivia.
The history of Bolivian indigenous people is intertwined with the displacement of miners and other laborers during the 1980's as well as with the agrarian reform movement. To say that the government of Bolivia unleashed a wave of brutal repression, torture and disappearance throughout the land is to put it mildly.
I had the luck to listen Domitila Barrios de Chungara talk at a conference back in the 80's of the plight of Bolivian indigenous people's during those years of corporate funded tyranny. She had become the voice of the new labor movement in Latin America, but a lonely one. A coup happened while she was out in Sweden speaking about the human rights abuses of the Bolivian government and she was forced into exile. If you want to read a heart wrenching story of how one woman unleashed her power as the leader of the Organizacion de las Amas de Casa (the Housewives Collective) you need to read
My life and my focus on all things latinamerican changed and so did the region. We had Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula elected presidents of Brazil. Puerto Rico had their first woman governor. Daniel Ortega left the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan government in infamy, only to be born again and elected to office as a new Christian.
Then we had the atrocities of Exxon in Ecuador, teachers and labor union protests in Oaxaca. Who would have thought that a guerrilla leader such as a Comandante Marcos would be such a marketing genius and quite the new media junkie as well. A woman was elected to office in Chile while their former dictator languishes of dementian in a British hospital. We had the little Elian become a puppet in the political farce still going strong between Cuba and Puerto Rico. We had the horrible civil war in Haití and the Dominican explosion in New York City. César Chavez happened. So did Evo Morales.
Evo is such a breath of fresh air.
He is authentic in the way he manages his image, his style, his demeanor but more importantly, his mandate. When you watch this clip, pay close attention to his clothes. That jacket is absolutely symbolic and I am not the only who has noticed how Evo uses his clothes as a way to establish himself and his politics as not only different but fundamentally Aymara. The jacket is made of wool (he is a former wool farmer) and the colors are typical of Aymara clothing. I particularly love the knitting that adorns his lapeless jacket. He looks hip, modern and yet fundamentally Bolivian and Aymara.
As to the clip, I think Jon did a wonderful job and Evo really kept it real, cool and underhandedly funny. That tip of his head was hysterical and right on cue.
The interpreter gets a C-. He totally fucked up the translations of Jon jokes.
Oh. Evo? I'd totally hit that.
Some links to check out :
'Evo Fashion' arrives in Bolivia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4630370.stm [2]
Domitila, The Forgotten Activist
http://www.newint.org/issue200/domitila.htm [3]
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