So, I may not have realized when I worked so hard to achieve this privelege, but ....
Having spent weeks of my time, having visited offices all over la paz, and finally having achieved the privelege of bolivian residency, I arrived at the airport only to discover that the privelege of Bolivian residency afforded me the opportunity to pay fifty dollars more leaving the country than I used to as an illegal.
There are two things I can't figure out. One is why Bolivians pay more than tourists to use the airport. The other, and I am still working away on the book about anthropology of the state, hoping it offers some kind of insight, is why the fees associated with operating legally are higher than the penalties for operating legally.
I am not even saying that it's cheaper to bribe officials, I am saying that the full penalties, completely transparent, are higher. One of life's little mysteries.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
No News is No News
The much anticipated referendum to revoke the mandates of Bolivian President and the departmental prefects went off yesterday with many fewer hitches than Florida or Ohio has been able to manage for the last 8 years. And nothing has changed in any way. Okay, a handful of the most corrupt prefects lost their jobs, but aside from that, the basic division of power is the same today that it was Saturday.
The highlands back Evo, and the East is against (to oversimplify drastically). There are a lot of reasons for that, but the most important may be that the government is presented, and in fact presents itself, as a government of the indigenous poor, which feeds right into the right's strategy of amplifying Santa Cruz's non-indigenous self-perception and feeding racism.
So the referendum confirms exactly what we already knew, that the country is in a stalemate, with two regional poles of power that still haven't figured out how to compromise on anything.
The highlands back Evo, and the East is against (to oversimplify drastically). There are a lot of reasons for that, but the most important may be that the government is presented, and in fact presents itself, as a government of the indigenous poor, which feeds right into the right's strategy of amplifying Santa Cruz's non-indigenous self-perception and feeding racism.
So the referendum confirms exactly what we already knew, that the country is in a stalemate, with two regional poles of power that still haven't figured out how to compromise on anything.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
One other tidbit
I am, after how many years as a wetback in Bolivia, finally a legal resident. The tramite for my residency visa was, as I have noted earlier, a pain in the neck and a little absurd.
Nevertheless, having vanquished the beast, I have to admit that there is something of a sick pleasure in tramites. It's like a game. It rewards persistence, patience and, especially, good humor. It helps to remember that nobody on the other side of the desk is in any way obliged to help you, but they might if they like you. That joke you tell them in the first thirty seconds might make all the difference.
Still, though, You never know when you're going to get stuck with starting over ten spaces back, or jump five spaces ahead. You step into an office, and you never know what office they will send you to next, or whether that will be the right office. What it is, really, is a twisted, real life game of shoots and ladders.
Nevertheless, having vanquished the beast, I have to admit that there is something of a sick pleasure in tramites. It's like a game. It rewards persistence, patience and, especially, good humor. It helps to remember that nobody on the other side of the desk is in any way obliged to help you, but they might if they like you. That joke you tell them in the first thirty seconds might make all the difference.
Still, though, You never know when you're going to get stuck with starting over ten spaces back, or jump five spaces ahead. You step into an office, and you never know what office they will send you to next, or whether that will be the right office. What it is, really, is a twisted, real life game of shoots and ladders.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Where I've been the past two months
I've been out of touch for a while. I just got back to La Paz after a trip to the Alto Beni, where we were working on a doc about the indigenous group the Mosetenes. The Mosetenes are the owners of the a large communal territory, which is one of the largest and most accessible forest reserves in Bolivia. This should put them in a position to be able to manage their forest resources for the benefit of the whole community, providing a source of income and work opportunities.
But, as you know by now, Bolivia is more complicated than that. For a range of cultural, economic and historical reasons, the Mosetenes find themselves trapped in a cycle of debts owed to the merchants that buy wood from them. The system works like this:
The merchant and the Mosetén agree in advance on the price for a certain amount of wood. The Mosetén almost certainly doesn't have the capital available to extract that wood, so the merchant delivers goods from his (or her) store at inflated prices. These goods include chainsaws, food, gasoline, transport by boat and anything else that the Mosetén might need to extract the wood.
When the Mosetén delivers his wood to the merchant, he usually finds that he owes more than he earns. The merchants are obviously well aware of this.
So the project aims to explain this system of debt enslavement.
But, as you know by now, Bolivia is more complicated than that. For a range of cultural, economic and historical reasons, the Mosetenes find themselves trapped in a cycle of debts owed to the merchants that buy wood from them. The system works like this:
The merchant and the Mosetén agree in advance on the price for a certain amount of wood. The Mosetén almost certainly doesn't have the capital available to extract that wood, so the merchant delivers goods from his (or her) store at inflated prices. These goods include chainsaws, food, gasoline, transport by boat and anything else that the Mosetén might need to extract the wood.
When the Mosetén delivers his wood to the merchant, he usually finds that he owes more than he earns. The merchants are obviously well aware of this.
So the project aims to explain this system of debt enslavement.
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