Photo of Peruvian strikers blocking the road by Flickr user Christian Haugen (Creative Commons)

The strikes were launched by the ex-Civilian Self-Defense Patrols (PAC) paramilitaries. While the PAC was officially dispersed in 1996 by the Peace Accords, the group has since re-established itself as a political entity seeking reparation for their allegedly forced participation in the civil war. The PAC is composed of men and boys who were recruited from almost every village, armed, and told to combat guerilla insurgents. Human rights groups blame these informal paramilitaries for some of Guatemala’s worst war crimes, including rapes, massacres, and torture.  However, many ex PAC’s claim that the army forced them into service, under the threat of death.

There were road blocks set up all over Guatemala, and in the past, ex PAC strikes have turned violent. The last round of protests, the Guatemalan government contracted members of the group to do reforestation projects as a means of compensation for their service, but has yet to pay them. And this round of protest, the PAC is claiming that the government owes them US $53.1 million in pay. The trouble is, the government claims ex PAC workers have yet to finish their projects, and the ones completed are poorly done.

There are always two sides to the story, especially in Guatemala. While it’s difficult to discern just who is in the right, I generally come down on the side of strikers if only because these protests can serve as a healthy exercise in civic participation and political self-expression (provided they don’t turn violent). Nevertheless, I’d rather not be stuck in Guatemala City. Healthy, maybe, but still very inconvenient.

Kate Bennett is currently researching nonprofit effectiveness in Guatemala. For more about her experiences, check out her blog.

This last week, I witnessed (and smelled) the proletariat taking a stand. In response to pay cuts and layoffs, the garbage workers of Buenos Aires protested by not collecting trash for 72 hours. This may not seem too bad, but the city severely lacks dumpsters, so residents and businesses put bags of trash on the street to be picked up. As the strike wore on, bags of trash piled up on sidewalks and street corners, slowly baking in the sun, reminding those who walked by how much society needs its public servants.

As I investigated the strike, I found that this was not an isolated incident. Protests are very common in Buenos Aires; you can find people organizing and picketing for a cause almost daily. The protests aren’t limited to workers, either. Last week, people protested the killing of a young man who died during a confrontation between railroad workers and leftist party members. I even found an article on a group called “Feo” who protest the beautiful people in Buenos Aires. It seems like people here are ready to fight literally every injustice and inequality.

At first the trash on the street really bothered me, but I came to appreciate the meaning behind it. I think it’s really admirable that people here are so willing to take a stand and fight for what they believe in. During the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003 I saw some protesters in the U.S., but for the most part I think Americans are more concerned with the stock market or what’s going to happen next on “The Hills” than they are with making a stand for something they believe in.

The next time your trash is picked up, or your mailman delivers your mail, stop and give them a heartfelt appreciation. We really should be thankful for these people in our lives, because you don’t really know how important they are until there gone.

Noah Sidman-Gale most recently moved to Argentina from California.  For more on protest and revolution in Latin America, check out “I Called the President at 12:18 p.m.” and “Removal is a Social Crime!” by Jamie Worms, “Cicovía: A Car Free Revolution” by Matt Aaron and “Strike Season” by Flora Lindsay-Herrera.

There are occasional strikes here anyway, mostly of the transit kind, and mostly in response to violence — such as when rowdy soccer fans roughed up about thirty buses after the national soccer championships. August, however, saw the implementation of strikes across the public sector to influence the allocation of the national budget: health workers, teachers, and even state bureaucrats raised their signs. Not everyone is the biggest fan of this – it’s inconvenient to be sure – but they knew it was coming and they are dealing.

Union rally downtown

Some American English teachers I know here are also a bit dismayed, as some of them work at the IPA, a teacher-training institute which has been occupied by the students for several weeks now. The students are lobbying to have the education budget increased to 6% of the GDP. With the occupation rumored to continue into September and the U.S. teachers’ contracts ending in November, that doesn’t leave them much time to do what they imagined coming here to do. The strikes do, however, provide didactic lessons of a different sort. How important it is to check the news, before you find yourself waiting at a bus stop forever. How to resign yourself to the gap between your plans and hopes and those of co-workers with a much longer time horizon. How to fill suddenly empty days. How institutionalized strikes here are a form of redress.

I don’t know much about labor movements back home in the United States, but mention strikes and I come up with: the baseball strike. The Hollywood writers strike. The hockey lockout. All entertainment based. Good things did come out of them for the benefit of the nation: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog comes to mind, and the boost Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court bid got from her reputation as “baseball’s savior.” But I don’t really watch sports or T.V. I do use public transportation, as did the millions affected by the New York Transit Strike of 2005, which is probably why it got resolved a lot more quickly. I’m sure I’ve forgotten other strikes.

I don’t have the statistics on how influential the strikes here in Uruguay are, and I imagine at some point their predictability undermines their efficiency. But I do find it interesting how something so overtly part of the political landscape here occupies such a sporadic place in the U.S. these days – or at least, because of the size of the U.S. and the smaller likelihood of stumbling over a massive rally on your walk home, it feels that way.

Flora Lindsay-Herrera is currently a Fulbright Fellow in Montevideo, Uruguay. For more about her experiences, check out her blog. For more on politics in Latin America, check out “Loaded Questions on Wheels: Politics and God,” “Coming to the U.S. Sin Papeles,” “Day in the Life: Elections in a Foreign Land,” “An Avalanche of Human Rights for Same-Sex Couples,” and “Can English Really Open Doors?”

About two hundred men, women, and children —representatives from several communities — gathered in front of City Hall with t-shirts, signs, protest songs, and elected speakers who took their turn in front of the megaphone.

Why? The City Department of Housing has officially announced that 119 entire favela communities, totaling at least 12,196 homes, will be removed by 2012. The city cites reasons of “risk” to justify their removal. According to the officials, “risk” means that these communities exist in places prone to flooding, landslides, or overall need for environmental protection.

However, not all of the communities threatened with removal are at risk. One such community is Vila Autódromo, whose only crime is existing in the very location where the city plans to build the Olympic Training and Media Centers. People do not want to go!

The argument is sound. If there is no environmental risk and if the community is safe and law abiding, the residents feel as if the city is simply cleaning up their city to make way for international tourists who are expected to flock in record numbers for the Olympic Games and World Cup. Residents feel like the city is once again trying to displace and exploit the voiceless poor because their houses aren’t pretty. Instead of helping them upgrade, the city wants them gone.

After years, and in some cases decades, of residence in these locations, where are they expected to go? One protest sign asked just that. Other signs read:

“There is so much vacant space is Rio, why displace us?”

“We’re asking for respect!”

“Say no to removal, Cariocas against social segregation!”

“Removal is a social crime!”

“We’re Rio’s chance to show that we have serious policy — Urbanization”

“Why do our news media give voice to the City and not the Community?”

Despite the peaceful and very orderly protest, City Hall closed its gates which, apparently, are always open to the public. In fact, I had walked through those very gates on my way to the protest just a few hours earlier.

In the end, a small handful of community leaders and journalists whose names were on a list were allowed past the gates of city hall to talk with the city officials. I personally hope for successful negotiations.

Jamie Worms is currently a volunteer with Catalytic Communities and Calle. To learn more about favelas and life in Rio de Janeiro, check out some of Jamie’s past posts.

Flash mob - Rio

On September 21, I participated in my first protest ever, locally called, Cariocas Ligando para o Clima (Cariocas Calling for the Climate). This protest was a global climate wake-up call organized by Avaaz and the TckTckTck campaign.

The purpose of the protest, dubbed a “flash mob,” was to inform the public and encourage our elected leaders to participate in the climate conference in Copenhagen scheduled for December this year. The climate conference will attempt to revise and improve the Kyoto Protocol which is set to expire in 2012. Currently, the Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty legally recognizing the commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses and other gasses emitted by industrialized nations.

At 12:18 p.m. (also the date of the final day of the conference), cities from around the world protested. I met with approximately 25 others, in the rain, on the steps of the city council in Cinelândia, Rio de Janeiro. Together we called Presidente Lula (Luiz Ignacio Da Silva), asking him to attend and to sign a new treaty that is fair, ambitious, and binding.

Caling for the climate

The significance of the event hadn’t sunk in until I got home and uploaded my pictures of the event on the website. As the site updated, there was a *ding* with every additional photo and comment. The noise was constant. It wasn’t just our protest. We weren’t even the only group to protest in Rio or in Brazil! There were several other protest groups ranging in size from one person to groups of more than 50. Photos were coming in from ALL over the world (Sweden, China, and Germany are my personal favorites). Check them out by clicking on the highlighted links below:

Phone numbers

Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, England, Australia, Tahiti, Italy, The United States, Portugal, Germany, Iceland, France, South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, Bolivia, Denmark, Norway, India, Israel, Lebanon, Belgium, Panama, Hungary, Austria, The Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Slovenia, Romania, Kenya, Ireland, New Zealand, and China.

All in all, there were approximately 2200 locations registered in 128 countries. People took to the streets, train stations, metro stations, parks, schools, libraries, art galleries, and government buildings. The undertaking was massive, the turnout  impressive, and the protest incredibly simple in design.

Even though our group was not able to talk with the President himself, others were able to leave a message. Our message was the following: This is your wake-up call! Acorda! The time to do something about global climate change is now!