Returning
I returned to L.A. Saturday evening - the last few days were pretty harrowing. On Thursday we had a supper meeting with the human rights officer from the CUT the labor rights organization. I didn't know this during dinner but he had to bring along 2 or 3 bodyguards because of frequent threats of violence and a few attempts on his life. It's hard to image living like that.
On Friday we went to visit the Minister of Social Protection, a government agency meant to safe guard the rights and safety of workers, among other things. The Labor Ministry was eliminated under Uribe and all things labor were thrown into the Ministry of Social Protection's basket.
About 15 minutes into the meeting I was turning green and heading for the bathroom. Thank god for my trusty minidisc, cause from what I hear from the others it was a pretty impressive show of flailing hands, indignation and excuses from the somewhat (ok, very) flamboyant Minister (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Then reinforcements were brought in in the form of an attractive young woman (hey, were was the attractive straight guy?!). My compatriots remained unconvinced.
Due to my stomach troubles I missed the next meeting with the US Embassy and my minidisc was unable to attend as well. Everyone seemed to think this meeting was more satisfying in terms of responses and reactions. Though I tend to think he just may be a better lier.
But them again John Perkins writer of "Confessions of An Economic Hitman" came to the light while in Colombia.
So now that I'm home I'm going to be filling in a lot of the blanks I didn't have time to do while in Colombia. The meeting schedule was hella hectic, which is probably why I wound up getting sick. I'm going to transcribe my notes from the prison visit and listen to the Minister of SP's rant and try to pull it all together. There's a lot to think about here and about 20 sides to every story. Some of the unions were obviously in distress and worthy of support, some seemed like they had complaints similar to that of US workers - privatization, contracting out, use of temp. workers to get around giving benefits. Of course it needs to be remembered this is in a framework of a 60% poverty rate, the still-frequent murder of unionist and AFTA bearing down on them like a hurricane of economic destruction.
In the here and now in the catagory of "what YOU can do" is find out about AFTA, get mad and write your damn Congressman. It'll thrill his/her heart and it will make a difference, especially now with the poll numbers dropping like a lead Teho puck.
On Friday we went to visit the Minister of Social Protection, a government agency meant to safe guard the rights and safety of workers, among other things. The Labor Ministry was eliminated under Uribe and all things labor were thrown into the Ministry of Social Protection's basket.
About 15 minutes into the meeting I was turning green and heading for the bathroom. Thank god for my trusty minidisc, cause from what I hear from the others it was a pretty impressive show of flailing hands, indignation and excuses from the somewhat (ok, very) flamboyant Minister (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Then reinforcements were brought in in the form of an attractive young woman (hey, were was the attractive straight guy?!). My compatriots remained unconvinced.
Due to my stomach troubles I missed the next meeting with the US Embassy and my minidisc was unable to attend as well. Everyone seemed to think this meeting was more satisfying in terms of responses and reactions. Though I tend to think he just may be a better lier.
But them again John Perkins writer of "Confessions of An Economic Hitman" came to the light while in Colombia.
So now that I'm home I'm going to be filling in a lot of the blanks I didn't have time to do while in Colombia. The meeting schedule was hella hectic, which is probably why I wound up getting sick. I'm going to transcribe my notes from the prison visit and listen to the Minister of SP's rant and try to pull it all together. There's a lot to think about here and about 20 sides to every story. Some of the unions were obviously in distress and worthy of support, some seemed like they had complaints similar to that of US workers - privatization, contracting out, use of temp. workers to get around giving benefits. Of course it needs to be remembered this is in a framework of a 60% poverty rate, the still-frequent murder of unionist and AFTA bearing down on them like a hurricane of economic destruction.
In the here and now in the catagory of "what YOU can do" is find out about AFTA, get mad and write your damn Congressman. It'll thrill his/her heart and it will make a difference, especially now with the poll numbers dropping like a lead Teho puck.
posted by Droogy* at
2:49 PM
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