Fifteen minutes. I had been back in the United States for fifteen minutes when I heard racist comments about Latinos. I had passed through customs in the Houston airport and had boarded a tram that carries travelers between terminals. A recorded voice announced in English and in Spanish the terminal at which the tram arrived. A man with three chins, carrying a book entitled Master of War (the biography of a Civil War general from Virginia who fought with the Union, I discovered when I looked up the title on Amazon.com), mocked the Spanish announcement – “Poooor faaaavor, Muuuuchos Graaaacias” – while muttering his displeasure about having to listen to the announcements in Spanish. The woman by his side, presumably his wife, acted embarrassed and tried to shush him, “Shhh… there are some of them on this train.”
***
During my two months of sabbatical travel in Ecuador and Peru I sought to improve my Spanish language abilities. I also was interested in exploring the intersections of race, culture, and religion. To the degree that racism manifests itself subtly, I certainly missed a lot as I traveled. And yet there was plenty to observe. Billboards selling everything from beauty products to cell phones almost universally depicted men and women with very light skin.
On my third day in Ecuador I went to visit what I thought was the city’s museum of contemporary arts. Actually, that is what it will be. The museum is situated in a renovated military hospital and its inaugural exhibit marked the bicentennial of a violent massacre of those who were trying to bring about independence from Spanish colonial rule. The exhibit included an excerpt from a 1615 sermon by a Catholic priest that warned against racial mixing. According to the priest, only pure-blooded Spanish children were beautiful. The offspring of mixed racial couples were “monkeys,” “bears,” or “Indian slaves.”
In a previous entry I mentioned some of the stereotypes that some of the American and British expatriates I encountered hold about the people of Ecuador.
I also encountered racial stereotyping among Ecuadorians. My visit to Ecuador coincided with a stretch of atrocious play by the Ecuadorian futbol team as they played other teams from South America in a World Cup qualifying tournament. Ecuador managed to defeat Peru, a perennial doormat, but lost key games against Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile. Following the loss to Chile, the final nail in the coffin for Ecuador’s World Cup hopes (I think), one Ecuadorian I spoke with lashed out against the racial composition of the team. The Ecuadorian National Futbol team has a high proportion of Afro-Ecuadorians. The descendents of African slaves brought to the New World by the Spanish, Afro-Ecuadorians make up somewhere between three and eight percent of the population of the country.
The man with whom I spoke characterized Afro-Ecuadorians as gifted in size and speed but deficient in intelligence, work-ethic, motivation, and the passion at the heart of a champion.
***
Comments like these are eerily similar to the racism present in sports coverage in the United States.
Whenever a player is described using terms that might be used at a slave auction such as long, thick, or wide; whenever a player is referred to as gifted, a physical specimen, or naturally talented; whenever an athlete’s performance is described as “effortless”; whenever a player is said to live up to his potential: chances are the player that is being described is African-American.
However, in the United States, whenever a player is described as scrappy or gritty; whenever a player is praised for his work-ethic or his intelligence; whenever a player is described as exceeding his potential through hard work or willpower: chances are the player that is being described is white.
While I was in Ecuador news broke that Rush Limbaugh was a member of a group that expressed interest in purchasing the St. Louis Rams football franchise. Limbaugh soon dropped off of the list of potential buyers of the team, but not before everyone dug up the footage of Rush Limbaugh’s criticism of Donovan McNabb, the African-American quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, who Limbaugh accused of being given too much credit by members of the media who were “desirous that a black quarterback do well.” Limbaugh made these comments in 2003 while serving as a commentator on ESPN. His comments generated a cloud of controversy and Limbaugh resigned. If you listen to the entire segment, it is telling that another white commentator jumped in and framed the discussion of McNabb’s performance as a quarterback who was skilled at “making plays” but lacking when it came to “running the offense.”
Limbaugh’s comments were ludicrous. The NFL had already had several successful African-American quarterbacks including Doug Williams who won a Superbowl 15 years earlier, Randall Cunningham who is the all-time leader in rushing yards at the quarterback position, Steve McNair who was the reigning NFL co-MVP at the time Limbaugh made his comments, and Warren Moon, a prototypical pocket passer, who made 9 Pro-Bowls and ranks fourth in passing yardage in NFL history despite playing his first six seasons in the Canadian Football League.
However, the comment made by the other white commentator about the difference between “making plays” and “running the offense” went unnoticed and unchallenged. This odd parsing – it is not possible to do one without doing the other – only makes sense within a racist worldview where African-Americans display physical giftedness required to "make plays" without possessing the intelligence, discipline, or leadership necessary to “run the offense.”
***
Later this week I will post a reflection about racism on my main blog because I’ve been sharply aware of it lately in the cultural and political discourse in the United States. It was chilling to observe, in the context of a discussion of Ecuadorian futbol, the very same racist assumptions that we find in coverage of sports like football and basketball in the United States.
["00:15:00" is a song by the Dallas-based alternative rock group Chomsky.]
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Homeward Bound
This morning I decided to ride the Teleferiqo (gondola) one last time up to the observation area several thousand feet below the summit of the Pichincha volcano in Quito.
I wanted to gaze out across the city of Quito, nestled in the Andes mountain range, one last time. The next time I gaze out across the city will be when my flight takes off tomorrow morning. (An alternate title to this blog post could have been "Leaving on a Jet Plane.") The time after that, who knows?
When I return to Kansas City tomorrow I will get to spend a month working on various projects and I think I've already set my sights too high for what I hope to accomplish.
During my third and final month of sabbatical, here are a few of the things I will be working on:
+ Developing a modest marketing plan for the book I've edited, The Growing Church, which will be published by Skinner House Books in December.
+ Writing several "thought pieces" that I've been thinking about and developing over the past few months and years. One of these pieces will be a treatise on church staffing. Another one will consist of 95 Theses on Membership and Leadership in church life. A third, to be entitled "Dancing on the Heads of Pins, Stepping on Toes" will be a provocative piece about differences between how the vocation of ministry is talked about and thought about.
+ Finally, I hope to write enough to be able to put together a book proposal for a book with a target audience larger than Unitarian Universalists. The subject of the book will have to do with entering the ministry in your early or mid-twenties.
I leave for the airport in a little less than 7 hours. I'm homeward bound.
I wanted to gaze out across the city of Quito, nestled in the Andes mountain range, one last time. The next time I gaze out across the city will be when my flight takes off tomorrow morning. (An alternate title to this blog post could have been "Leaving on a Jet Plane.") The time after that, who knows?
When I return to Kansas City tomorrow I will get to spend a month working on various projects and I think I've already set my sights too high for what I hope to accomplish.
During my third and final month of sabbatical, here are a few of the things I will be working on:
+ Developing a modest marketing plan for the book I've edited, The Growing Church, which will be published by Skinner House Books in December.
+ Writing several "thought pieces" that I've been thinking about and developing over the past few months and years. One of these pieces will be a treatise on church staffing. Another one will consist of 95 Theses on Membership and Leadership in church life. A third, to be entitled "Dancing on the Heads of Pins, Stepping on Toes" will be a provocative piece about differences between how the vocation of ministry is talked about and thought about.
+ Finally, I hope to write enough to be able to put together a book proposal for a book with a target audience larger than Unitarian Universalists. The subject of the book will have to do with entering the ministry in your early or mid-twenties.
I leave for the airport in a little less than 7 hours. I'm homeward bound.
Heart Songs
In my last post I thanked a lot of people who helped to make the two months of my sabbatical that I spent in Ecuador and Peru so special. This post is for those for whom words of thanks are simply not adequate.
First of all, Anne, thank you so much for your constant love and support. I missed you fiercely during these travels. Every phone call and email meant so much to me these last two months.
Samuel, Carlos, Theresa, and Tatiana at Hostal Mia Leticia each did so much to make me feel welcome and at home. You each went above and beyond running a hostal. You invited me into your lives and opened your hearts to me. You are each amazing and I am grateful for your hospitality.
While on a boat like the Sagitta or while staying at a place like the Samona Lodge in the Amazon, it is natural to bond with the others on the trip with you. I so enjoyed the presence of my fellow travelers. I wish each of you safe travels and the best of luck.
During my two months abroad I have met a whole host of amazing people. Thank you to each and every person I met on a plane or a bus, on a hike or at a hostal. Thank you for your conversations, your stories, and your smiles.
To the beautiful people of Ecuador and Peru, I am deeply indebted to you for sharing your country and your culture with me. I have tried each and every day to be a respectful guest, to understand and appreciate, to be patient with the things I don't understand, and to try not to butcher your native tongue. Thank you for your patience with me, for being quick to forgive sentences that came out badly, for your wonderful hospitality, and for sharing the beauty of your country with me. Thank you!
Finally, to my wonderful parents: Mom and Dad, I am so glad that you finally made it to Ecuador. Mayra, Alex, Sofia, Kevin: You’re next!
[“Heart Songs” is a beautiful song by the band Weezer from their most recent self-titled album, the one with the red cover.]
First of all, Anne, thank you so much for your constant love and support. I missed you fiercely during these travels. Every phone call and email meant so much to me these last two months.
Samuel, Carlos, Theresa, and Tatiana at Hostal Mia Leticia each did so much to make me feel welcome and at home. You each went above and beyond running a hostal. You invited me into your lives and opened your hearts to me. You are each amazing and I am grateful for your hospitality.
While on a boat like the Sagitta or while staying at a place like the Samona Lodge in the Amazon, it is natural to bond with the others on the trip with you. I so enjoyed the presence of my fellow travelers. I wish each of you safe travels and the best of luck.
During my two months abroad I have met a whole host of amazing people. Thank you to each and every person I met on a plane or a bus, on a hike or at a hostal. Thank you for your conversations, your stories, and your smiles.
To the beautiful people of Ecuador and Peru, I am deeply indebted to you for sharing your country and your culture with me. I have tried each and every day to be a respectful guest, to understand and appreciate, to be patient with the things I don't understand, and to try not to butcher your native tongue. Thank you for your patience with me, for being quick to forgive sentences that came out badly, for your wonderful hospitality, and for sharing the beauty of your country with me. Thank you!
Finally, to my wonderful parents: Mom and Dad, I am so glad that you finally made it to Ecuador. Mayra, Alex, Sofia, Kevin: You’re next!
[“Heart Songs” is a beautiful song by the band Weezer from their most recent self-titled album, the one with the red cover.]
Kind and Generous
Today is my final day in Ecuador. Tomorrow I return to the United States. I haven’t written everything on this sabbatical blog that I had hoped to write. I will continue to post about my trip to Ecuador and Peru and also let you know about how I plan to spend the final month of my sabbatical. But I couldn’t leave Ecuador without first saying thanks. (Check out this post’s “twin” here.)
Here are some people and businesses that I want to send my special thanks to:
First of all, I have to express my gratitude to the members of the wonderful congregation I serve, the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church. Thank you for affording me this fantastic sabbatical opportunity and for being supportive of my growth, development, and learning during each of the 6+ years I’ve served as your minister thus far. You are too many to thank individually, but I especially want to thank the staff and the board for stepping into new roles while I’ve been away. I also need to thank both Linda T. and Carla D. for their devotion and commitment to the worship and pastoral care programs. Along with them I thank all the Preaching Practicum graduates, the members of the worship committee, and our lay ministry team.
Thank you as well to my colleagues who took a Sunday or two in the pulpit in September, October, and November: Vern Barnet, Fritz Hudon, Ron Knapp, Thea Nietfeld, Kate Rodhe, and Lisa Schwartz.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Natalie Gulbrandsen Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Unitarian Universalist Association. I am grateful for a grant from this fund that has greatly assisted me with my sabbatical travels.
In Quito I stayed at Hostal Mia Leticia. This gorgeous hostal became a home away from home to me. I cannot recommend it strongly enough!
Thank you to all the baristas at the Coffee Tree in Mariscal Foch in Quito. You not only have the fastest internet connection in the country; you also always made me feel welcome.
During the days I spent in Lima, I stayed at the lovely El Faro Inn in Miraflores. Less than a 5 minute walk from a park overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it is a great place to stay!
Thank you to the captain and crew of the Sagitta for doing so much to make the trip my parents and I took to the Galapagos so special. The Sagitta is owned by Angermeyer Cruises.
As well, I am grateful to the whole staff of the Samona Lodge in the Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuador. You are a treasure inside of a treasure.
Thank you to Veronica at Andando Tours and to Angel at Happy Gringo travel. You were each very caring, professional, and helpful beyond words.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all!
[“Kind and Generous” is a song by Natalie Merchant.]
Here are some people and businesses that I want to send my special thanks to:
First of all, I have to express my gratitude to the members of the wonderful congregation I serve, the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church. Thank you for affording me this fantastic sabbatical opportunity and for being supportive of my growth, development, and learning during each of the 6+ years I’ve served as your minister thus far. You are too many to thank individually, but I especially want to thank the staff and the board for stepping into new roles while I’ve been away. I also need to thank both Linda T. and Carla D. for their devotion and commitment to the worship and pastoral care programs. Along with them I thank all the Preaching Practicum graduates, the members of the worship committee, and our lay ministry team.
Thank you as well to my colleagues who took a Sunday or two in the pulpit in September, October, and November: Vern Barnet, Fritz Hudon, Ron Knapp, Thea Nietfeld, Kate Rodhe, and Lisa Schwartz.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Natalie Gulbrandsen Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Unitarian Universalist Association. I am grateful for a grant from this fund that has greatly assisted me with my sabbatical travels.
In Quito I stayed at Hostal Mia Leticia. This gorgeous hostal became a home away from home to me. I cannot recommend it strongly enough!
Thank you to all the baristas at the Coffee Tree in Mariscal Foch in Quito. You not only have the fastest internet connection in the country; you also always made me feel welcome.
During the days I spent in Lima, I stayed at the lovely El Faro Inn in Miraflores. Less than a 5 minute walk from a park overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it is a great place to stay!
Thank you to the captain and crew of the Sagitta for doing so much to make the trip my parents and I took to the Galapagos so special. The Sagitta is owned by Angermeyer Cruises.
As well, I am grateful to the whole staff of the Samona Lodge in the Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuador. You are a treasure inside of a treasure.
Thank you to Veronica at Andando Tours and to Angel at Happy Gringo travel. You were each very caring, professional, and helpful beyond words.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all!
[“Kind and Generous” is a song by Natalie Merchant.]
Paint it Black (List #17: Socialist Graffiti in Ecuador)
Before I set out to Baños, I passed a few hours doing a piece of photo-journalism featuring different graffiti slogans I’ve seen in Quito. Many of these slogans, especially the more charged ones, get painted over with black or white paint, only to have the graffiti slogans appear some time later. In this list I’ve intentionally focused on scrawled slogans. I could just as easily have taken pictures of beautiful murals. What strikes me about the graffiti of Ecuador is how politically and ideologically charged it is. By comparison, graffiti in the United States seems nihilistic and juvenile, with the exception of witty spray paint works like the famous “If this [car] were a lady…” billboard vandalism.
Here are a few of the slogans I saw around Ecuador:
10) “Estudiante tu lucha es junto al obrero”
The fight of the students is with the workers.
9) “Radicalizar el proceso hacia el socialismo”
Radicalize the progress towards socialism!
8) “Pobre Ecuador en manos de los ñaños”
Poor Ecuador, in the hands of brothers. I discussed this saying here.
7) “Defender los derechos laborales.”
Defend the rights of the workers.
6) “Cambio base de coca por base Yanqui”
I exchange coca fields for Yankee bases. (I guess someone has a strong opinion about one of the companies in this building.)
5) “El Che Vive, La Lucha Sigue”
Che lives; the struggle continues
4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Perhaps because Ché Guevara is difficult to paint.
3) "Las Comidas del Ejido estan en Parque el Arbolito"
Even though this is most likely a sign indicating that the food vendors are on the other side of the park, I prefer my more questionable interpretation: The food of the communal land is in the Arboretum. This sign was discussed here.
2) "La Fé no es Negocio Fuera"
Faith is not business. Or, Faith is not the business it was.
1) I so deeply wish I had been able to take a picture of a graffiti slogan I saw on the wall of a school in Otavalo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera handy at the time. Imagine for a moment what youth in the United States might spray paint on the walls of their school. However, painted on the school wall in Otavalo was this message:
“Educacion de Calidad y mas Maestras.” Quality Education and More Teachers!
[“Paint it Black” is a song by The Rolling Stones.]
Here are a few of the slogans I saw around Ecuador:
10) “Estudiante tu lucha es junto al obrero”
The fight of the students is with the workers.
9) “Radicalizar el proceso hacia el socialismo”
Radicalize the progress towards socialism!
8) “Pobre Ecuador en manos de los ñaños”
Poor Ecuador, in the hands of brothers. I discussed this saying here.
7) “Defender los derechos laborales.”
Defend the rights of the workers.
6) “Cambio base de coca por base Yanqui”
I exchange coca fields for Yankee bases. (I guess someone has a strong opinion about one of the companies in this building.)
5) “El Che Vive, La Lucha Sigue”
Che lives; the struggle continues
4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Perhaps because Ché Guevara is difficult to paint.
3) "Las Comidas del Ejido estan en Parque el Arbolito"
Even though this is most likely a sign indicating that the food vendors are on the other side of the park, I prefer my more questionable interpretation: The food of the communal land is in the Arboretum. This sign was discussed here.
2) "La Fé no es Negocio Fuera"
Faith is not business. Or, Faith is not the business it was.
1) I so deeply wish I had been able to take a picture of a graffiti slogan I saw on the wall of a school in Otavalo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera handy at the time. Imagine for a moment what youth in the United States might spray paint on the walls of their school. However, painted on the school wall in Otavalo was this message:
“Educacion de Calidad y mas Maestras.” Quality Education and More Teachers!
[“Paint it Black” is a song by The Rolling Stones.]
Sympathy for the Devil
With the last couple of posts being more on the serious side, I thought I’d post something a little more entertaining. For part of my last week in Ecuador I traveled to the beautiful town of Baños. By far my favorite activity there was renting a bicycle and taking a 20 kilometer downhill bike ride that passed dozens of waterfalls. (Some cyclists continue on an additional 40k to the town of Puyo.)
The bike ride followed a road that had beautiful scenery: mountains, the river, and, of course, the waterfalls.
Along the trail, the most popular waterfall is called Cascada Pailon del Diablo, the Devil’s Cauldron. This waterfall is not particularly tall, but it is strong. The water winds up in a swirling pool at the base of the falls. Supposedly, if you look hard enough you can see the face of the devil somewhere. I didn’t see any such thing.
I have a theory that if you name your local attraction after the devil you significantly increase the number of people who want to visit it. The city of Riobamba is a few hours from Baños. Riobamba’s main attraction is a train ride through the cliffs. One precarious section of the train track is known as La Nariz del Diablo, the Devil’s Nose. I didn’t take this train, but it seems like tourists travel for hours and hours just to ride a train across the Devil’s nose. Would a tourist attraction by any other name be as popular?
The path you walk down to the Cascada Pailon del Diablo is privately constructed and contains frequent signs that combine admonitions to care for nature with pithy and odd theological statements.
"Let's demonstrate education, let's care for nature."
"God loves you and looks for you in the silence of nature."
"Are you ready for a surprise?? God exists!!!"
Another sign proclaimed that the Cascada Pailon del Diablo is, in fact, the 8th Wonder of the World. I would fully accept the claim that this waterfall is the 8th best waterfall in Baños. (And, just for the record, viewing this waterfall had no impact whatsoever on my beliefs about God’s existence.)
I can’t end this post without mentioning one of the coolest features of this waterfall. There is an extremely narrow crawl space through the rock that brings you up to a little path and takes you behind the waterfall. Here I am getting thoroughly soaked.
[After titling my previous two posts after a song by the Grateful Dead, I had an irresistible urge to title this post after the song by The Rolling Stones.]
The bike ride followed a road that had beautiful scenery: mountains, the river, and, of course, the waterfalls.
Along the trail, the most popular waterfall is called Cascada Pailon del Diablo, the Devil’s Cauldron. This waterfall is not particularly tall, but it is strong. The water winds up in a swirling pool at the base of the falls. Supposedly, if you look hard enough you can see the face of the devil somewhere. I didn’t see any such thing.
I have a theory that if you name your local attraction after the devil you significantly increase the number of people who want to visit it. The city of Riobamba is a few hours from Baños. Riobamba’s main attraction is a train ride through the cliffs. One precarious section of the train track is known as La Nariz del Diablo, the Devil’s Nose. I didn’t take this train, but it seems like tourists travel for hours and hours just to ride a train across the Devil’s nose. Would a tourist attraction by any other name be as popular?
The path you walk down to the Cascada Pailon del Diablo is privately constructed and contains frequent signs that combine admonitions to care for nature with pithy and odd theological statements.
"Let's demonstrate education, let's care for nature."
"God loves you and looks for you in the silence of nature."
"Are you ready for a surprise?? God exists!!!"
Another sign proclaimed that the Cascada Pailon del Diablo is, in fact, the 8th Wonder of the World. I would fully accept the claim that this waterfall is the 8th best waterfall in Baños. (And, just for the record, viewing this waterfall had no impact whatsoever on my beliefs about God’s existence.)
I can’t end this post without mentioning one of the coolest features of this waterfall. There is an extremely narrow crawl space through the rock that brings you up to a little path and takes you behind the waterfall. Here I am getting thoroughly soaked.
[After titling my previous two posts after a song by the Grateful Dead, I had an irresistible urge to title this post after the song by The Rolling Stones.]
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friend of the Devil (Part 2)
In my last blog entry I briefly discussed the political history of Peru over the past 40 years. Peru’s current pro-capitalism policies stand in marked contrast to present day Ecuador. Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, is currently serving his second term, a rare occurrence in a country that seems to believe that few leaders are worth re-electing. According to one person with whom I spoke, Correa ran for office as a moderate promising to eliminate corruption. This person, no friend of Correa’s, claims that Correa has continued in the country’s tradition of political corruption.
Before assuming the Presidency, Correa was Ecuador’s Finance Minister. From the outset of his presidency he has assumed an oppositional stance to the World Bank. In speeches he has called much of Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate because it was assumed by illegitimate governments that preceded his. Whether his bold statements about wiping Ecuador’s debts off the book are real threats or just political grandstanding, they have certainly led to economic volatility. Critics accuse Correa of yanking the economy around for his own gain. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” sang the band The Who.
Correa is a socialist and has aligned Ecuador with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Iran. Chavez, Castro, and Ahmadinejad have attended Correa’s inaugurations. Correa has been brash in his dealings. He declined to sign an agreement giving the International Money Fund access to Ecuador’s economic plan, declaring that the IMF will not dictate Ecuador’s economic decisions. He kicked a guest of the United States’ State Department out of Ecuador because he had tried to obtain Correa’s permission for the US to hold veto power over Correa’s appointments to the Ecuadorian agency that combats drug trafficking. At Ecuador’s invitation the United States was supposed to close an air force base it maintained in Ecuador in September though I do not know whether the base was closed or not.
Correa has also enjoyed a troubled relationship with the media, threatening to bring charges against a newspaper that criticized him. (Now that I think of it, maybe I should wait to publish this blog post until I return to the United States.)
During my time in Ecuador I’ve had the opportunity to witness three aspects of political turmoil in the country. The first of these began about a year and a half ago when Colombia launched an attack across the border against a FARC encampment. The FARC is a Marxist guerrilla group in Colombia that is highly active along the Colombia-Ecuador border. This led each nation to dispatch armed forces to the border and to a lot of aggressive rhetoric between the leaders of each country
The instability in the south of Colombia has led a flood of Colombian refugees to cross into Ecuador. According to one source, Ecuador has the highest refugee population of any country in South America. While on my way by plane and bus to the Cuyabeno rainforest I met a woman from Argentina who is a United Nations employee. She was headed to the region to help monitor the refugee situation. (In fact, my trip to Cuyabeno took me closer to the border than I had hoped. At least it took me close enough that we traveled with an armed military policeman on the bus.)
Another aspect of political turmoil I have witnessed is massive protests by indigenous tribes who live in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. These tribes are protesting the government opening up more rainforest land to oil industries and other commercial interests. In one incident, protesters occupied a bridge halting all traffic to and from a region of the rainforest. I also heard an account of someone getting run through with a spear, though I’ve not been able to confirm this story.
Besides the environmental impact of increased natural resource production from the rainforest, these developments are culturally and anthropologically meaningful. They serve to demonstrate the dramatic contrast between the experiences of Native American tribes in the continental United States and the experiences of Amerindian tribes in Ecuador and other South American nations.
In the United States, less than 0.7% of the population is Native American. Ecuador is 25% Amerindian. Plus, another 65% of the Ecuadorian population is Mestizo, that is, a mix of Spanish and Amerindian. One of the big differences between the two countries is that in the United States, 99% of the population trace their ancestry to those who arrived after 1620, regardless of whether they arrived under their own free will, in shackles, or due factors that compelled them to come. In Ecuador, it is precisely the opposite. At least 90% of the population traces their ancestry to those who were there long before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the early 1500s.
I admit that there is great piece of knowledge that I am missing here, but I do not believe that Ecuador has ever had anything like a system of reservations like what Native Americans in the United States had and have. What is ironic is that even though Ecuador has followed a “melting pot” model, the cultural and linguistic practices of many of the Amerindian tribes have survived and even thrived. Rafael Correa’s fluency in Quechua was an enormous boon in his election. By contrast, the survival of the languages and cultural practices of Native Americas in the United States seems much more uncertain. Feel free to correct me if you have a different perspective.
So, back to the question of oil drilling in the rainforest: Do the Amerindian tribes that sparsely inhabit the region have a claim to the land? It is a complex question. The situation is very different than if, say, some fantastic natural resource was discovered on the reservation of the Navajo nation. That land is legally owned by the Navajo people. Of course, the United States has a long history of breaking the treaties with indigenous people. Just ask yourself why the church I serve is located in an area known as “Shawnee Mission” but the Shawnee have not lived there for over a century.
All this brings to mind one other important consideration. Ecuador has 40-some-odd protected natural areas. Similarly, the United States has an extensive system of National Parks, National Forests, and so on. However, as Bill Bryson points out in A Walk in the Woods, there is a lot of logging that takes place in National Forests in the United States. National Forests are controlled at the Federal level and the US Government can decide what to do with the land, including selling logging rights. The situation in Ecuador appears to parallel this.
Finally, I might mention a third struggle facing Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. He faces the fallout of appointing his brother to the position of the nation’s Finance Minister. This appointment, for many, undermines Correa’s professed commitment to eliminating corruption. There have been large protests against what is seen as Correa’s nepotism and corruption and a frequent graffiti slogan has lamented, “Pobre Ecuador, en manos de los ñaños.” Poor Ecuador, in the hands of brothers.
Before assuming the Presidency, Correa was Ecuador’s Finance Minister. From the outset of his presidency he has assumed an oppositional stance to the World Bank. In speeches he has called much of Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate because it was assumed by illegitimate governments that preceded his. Whether his bold statements about wiping Ecuador’s debts off the book are real threats or just political grandstanding, they have certainly led to economic volatility. Critics accuse Correa of yanking the economy around for his own gain. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” sang the band The Who.
Correa is a socialist and has aligned Ecuador with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Iran. Chavez, Castro, and Ahmadinejad have attended Correa’s inaugurations. Correa has been brash in his dealings. He declined to sign an agreement giving the International Money Fund access to Ecuador’s economic plan, declaring that the IMF will not dictate Ecuador’s economic decisions. He kicked a guest of the United States’ State Department out of Ecuador because he had tried to obtain Correa’s permission for the US to hold veto power over Correa’s appointments to the Ecuadorian agency that combats drug trafficking. At Ecuador’s invitation the United States was supposed to close an air force base it maintained in Ecuador in September though I do not know whether the base was closed or not.
Correa has also enjoyed a troubled relationship with the media, threatening to bring charges against a newspaper that criticized him. (Now that I think of it, maybe I should wait to publish this blog post until I return to the United States.)
During my time in Ecuador I’ve had the opportunity to witness three aspects of political turmoil in the country. The first of these began about a year and a half ago when Colombia launched an attack across the border against a FARC encampment. The FARC is a Marxist guerrilla group in Colombia that is highly active along the Colombia-Ecuador border. This led each nation to dispatch armed forces to the border and to a lot of aggressive rhetoric between the leaders of each country
The instability in the south of Colombia has led a flood of Colombian refugees to cross into Ecuador. According to one source, Ecuador has the highest refugee population of any country in South America. While on my way by plane and bus to the Cuyabeno rainforest I met a woman from Argentina who is a United Nations employee. She was headed to the region to help monitor the refugee situation. (In fact, my trip to Cuyabeno took me closer to the border than I had hoped. At least it took me close enough that we traveled with an armed military policeman on the bus.)
Another aspect of political turmoil I have witnessed is massive protests by indigenous tribes who live in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. These tribes are protesting the government opening up more rainforest land to oil industries and other commercial interests. In one incident, protesters occupied a bridge halting all traffic to and from a region of the rainforest. I also heard an account of someone getting run through with a spear, though I’ve not been able to confirm this story.
Besides the environmental impact of increased natural resource production from the rainforest, these developments are culturally and anthropologically meaningful. They serve to demonstrate the dramatic contrast between the experiences of Native American tribes in the continental United States and the experiences of Amerindian tribes in Ecuador and other South American nations.
In the United States, less than 0.7% of the population is Native American. Ecuador is 25% Amerindian. Plus, another 65% of the Ecuadorian population is Mestizo, that is, a mix of Spanish and Amerindian. One of the big differences between the two countries is that in the United States, 99% of the population trace their ancestry to those who arrived after 1620, regardless of whether they arrived under their own free will, in shackles, or due factors that compelled them to come. In Ecuador, it is precisely the opposite. At least 90% of the population traces their ancestry to those who were there long before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the early 1500s.
I admit that there is great piece of knowledge that I am missing here, but I do not believe that Ecuador has ever had anything like a system of reservations like what Native Americans in the United States had and have. What is ironic is that even though Ecuador has followed a “melting pot” model, the cultural and linguistic practices of many of the Amerindian tribes have survived and even thrived. Rafael Correa’s fluency in Quechua was an enormous boon in his election. By contrast, the survival of the languages and cultural practices of Native Americas in the United States seems much more uncertain. Feel free to correct me if you have a different perspective.
So, back to the question of oil drilling in the rainforest: Do the Amerindian tribes that sparsely inhabit the region have a claim to the land? It is a complex question. The situation is very different than if, say, some fantastic natural resource was discovered on the reservation of the Navajo nation. That land is legally owned by the Navajo people. Of course, the United States has a long history of breaking the treaties with indigenous people. Just ask yourself why the church I serve is located in an area known as “Shawnee Mission” but the Shawnee have not lived there for over a century.
All this brings to mind one other important consideration. Ecuador has 40-some-odd protected natural areas. Similarly, the United States has an extensive system of National Parks, National Forests, and so on. However, as Bill Bryson points out in A Walk in the Woods, there is a lot of logging that takes place in National Forests in the United States. National Forests are controlled at the Federal level and the US Government can decide what to do with the land, including selling logging rights. The situation in Ecuador appears to parallel this.
Finally, I might mention a third struggle facing Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. He faces the fallout of appointing his brother to the position of the nation’s Finance Minister. This appointment, for many, undermines Correa’s professed commitment to eliminating corruption. There have been large protests against what is seen as Correa’s nepotism and corruption and a frequent graffiti slogan has lamented, “Pobre Ecuador, en manos de los ñaños.” Poor Ecuador, in the hands of brothers.
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