AchumaniBoliviaCallacotoEvo MoralesKathmanduLa PazMaoistsminersSan MiguelstrikeTeachers UnionZona Sur
Strike in La Paz: Takin' It To The Streets
Last week I was finally compelled to miss my first day of work due to protests.
This is lightweight compared to Kathmandu, where you were likely to miss weeks at a time. Here in La Paz, it's a little more complicated.
La Paz itself does not have that one omnipotent central road that will shut down a city if blocked. The city here is spread out over numerous mountains over a greater area. Many important buildings are in different important places, so occupying one road would be downright counter-productive.
So far, the roads to be blocked are the ones leading to the airport or the main highways into the city. The objectives here are clear: cripple commerce and force the government to negotiate or whoever the opposing party happens to be. This was also the modus operandi of the Maoists in Kathmandu. Bringing pressure to bear on the local economy will not necessarily guarantee the desired results, but will at least ensure that there is a dialogue.
Since the main highways in La Paz do not intersect with either the roads leading to the Embassy or other government buildings, there has never been any need to call off work.
Until now, that is.
The protesting party here is the Teacher's Union, who have come from the outlying rural communities to occupy the city and force the government's hand. The Teacher's Union would prove to be very systematic in its chosen routes, thereby causing the desired effect of maiming traffic which in turn causes hundreds of people to stay at home. They will march through one sector at a time, first in the center of the city, and then work themselves down to the Zona Sur, our area, where they would block the roads in Callacoto, San Miguel, and Achumani, among others.
With the roads blocked, the only alternative would be to weasel your way around the roadblocks and maybe walk to work, not an option if your workplace is seven to eight miles away and forces you up a steep incline for most of the way. To make matters worse, you are not even guaranteed to make it to work by that rationale, either. In fact, the Teacher's Union could just as easily have 1,000 marching in the Zona Sur and another 600 downtown. Here you would have to pick your poison.
And if people also assume that these are peaceful marches, then they will quickly stand corrected the moment the riot police shows up. Taunts will fly back and forth, from somewhere a knucklehead might throw a rock, and the game is on. To keep the protests away from government buildings, the police will use tear gas and water cannons quite frequently.
The reasons for these protests are nearly identical in their demands: an increase in wages, since the cost of living has gone up here in the past year considerably.
Whereas you would have to like your chances if you're the riot police facing the teachers, you will need to proceed with extra caution when dealing with another labor group, the miners.
Whereas teachers will use sticks and stones to make their feelings known, miners will use something that is more common in their profession: dynamite.
Although these protests haven't nearly reached the dimensions achieved when President Morales announced he would scrap gas subsidies around New Year's Day, they are nonetheless a not so subtle reminder there are still unhappy people in this country who could set off a powder keg at the drop of a bowler's hat.
Both the locals and visitors need to beware and keep their distance when these clashes do happen.
We've learned that part a continent ago.
This is lightweight compared to Kathmandu, where you were likely to miss weeks at a time. Here in La Paz, it's a little more complicated.
La Paz itself does not have that one omnipotent central road that will shut down a city if blocked. The city here is spread out over numerous mountains over a greater area. Many important buildings are in different important places, so occupying one road would be downright counter-productive.
So far, the roads to be blocked are the ones leading to the airport or the main highways into the city. The objectives here are clear: cripple commerce and force the government to negotiate or whoever the opposing party happens to be. This was also the modus operandi of the Maoists in Kathmandu. Bringing pressure to bear on the local economy will not necessarily guarantee the desired results, but will at least ensure that there is a dialogue.
Since the main highways in La Paz do not intersect with either the roads leading to the Embassy or other government buildings, there has never been any need to call off work.
Until now, that is.
The protesting party here is the Teacher's Union, who have come from the outlying rural communities to occupy the city and force the government's hand. The Teacher's Union would prove to be very systematic in its chosen routes, thereby causing the desired effect of maiming traffic which in turn causes hundreds of people to stay at home. They will march through one sector at a time, first in the center of the city, and then work themselves down to the Zona Sur, our area, where they would block the roads in Callacoto, San Miguel, and Achumani, among others.
With the roads blocked, the only alternative would be to weasel your way around the roadblocks and maybe walk to work, not an option if your workplace is seven to eight miles away and forces you up a steep incline for most of the way. To make matters worse, you are not even guaranteed to make it to work by that rationale, either. In fact, the Teacher's Union could just as easily have 1,000 marching in the Zona Sur and another 600 downtown. Here you would have to pick your poison.
And if people also assume that these are peaceful marches, then they will quickly stand corrected the moment the riot police shows up. Taunts will fly back and forth, from somewhere a knucklehead might throw a rock, and the game is on. To keep the protests away from government buildings, the police will use tear gas and water cannons quite frequently.
The reasons for these protests are nearly identical in their demands: an increase in wages, since the cost of living has gone up here in the past year considerably.
Whereas you would have to like your chances if you're the riot police facing the teachers, you will need to proceed with extra caution when dealing with another labor group, the miners.
Whereas teachers will use sticks and stones to make their feelings known, miners will use something that is more common in their profession: dynamite.
Although these protests haven't nearly reached the dimensions achieved when President Morales announced he would scrap gas subsidies around New Year's Day, they are nonetheless a not so subtle reminder there are still unhappy people in this country who could set off a powder keg at the drop of a bowler's hat.
Both the locals and visitors need to beware and keep their distance when these clashes do happen.
We've learned that part a continent ago.
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