Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Dilatory
dil·a·to·ry:
1 : tending or intended to cause delay <dilatory tactics> 2 : characterized by procrastination : tardy <dilatory in paying bills>
This post will be 2 part: first on a cultural aspect and as a response to comments on my previous blog.
In Bolivia, things to occur in a dilatory fashion. People are always late for everything! It is an aspect of their culture: they believe that it is more important to finish what you are doing than arrive on time for an appointment. This means that if you are having a conversation with someone, it is considered extremely rude to end it early in order to do something.
This aspect of culture is one of the hardest things for a gringo to surmount, in my opinion. Here in the US we have the saying "time is money", it is not so in Bolivia. If you are planning a wedding or something similar, you should tell everyone to show up two hours early so that people will be arriving whenever you are ready to go!
Now for something completely different, I would like to respond to a few comments to my last post.
jacquelynn.bensing said:
I think the history of coca being a holy plant is quite interesting. Also, I didn't realize all the positive effects it had.
Is the reason the US is so anti-coca solely based on uninformed drug policy or are there other outlying factors? I don't like to sound pessimistic, but typically politics is motivated by money or greed of some kind. Are there other hidden agendas here?
The US and the UN have been dilatory in revising drug policy. The main answer to your question is uniformed drug policy. The government cannot understand that coca does not equal cocaine. They do not understand that the vast majority of coca production is for legitimate consumption, not cocaine production.
There is a somewhat hidden agenda here. For example, in Columbia, most of the US aid is going towards military aid under the guise of drug interdiction. However, much of the funds are used to repress leftist groups, not guerrillas or the FARC, but union leaders and campesino organizers in support of US multinational corporations. Don't believe me? Read up on Coca-Cola in Columbia.
The "Drug War" is simply an extension of US imperialism in Latin America; they simply needed a new guise after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Suppressing communism simply doesn't cut it anymore. This is especially evident in Bolivia, where Evo Morales expulsed the DEA from the country, accusing them of attempting to overthrow his government.
In short, the current situation surround coca, and the Drug War in general, is prompted by uniformed drug policy as well as an excuse to further US imperialism in the hemisphere.
1 : tending or intended to cause delay <dilatory tactics> 2 : characterized by procrastination : tardy <dilatory in paying bills>
This post will be 2 part: first on a cultural aspect and as a response to comments on my previous blog.
In Bolivia, things to occur in a dilatory fashion. People are always late for everything! It is an aspect of their culture: they believe that it is more important to finish what you are doing than arrive on time for an appointment. This means that if you are having a conversation with someone, it is considered extremely rude to end it early in order to do something.
This aspect of culture is one of the hardest things for a gringo to surmount, in my opinion. Here in the US we have the saying "time is money", it is not so in Bolivia. If you are planning a wedding or something similar, you should tell everyone to show up two hours early so that people will be arriving whenever you are ready to go!
Now for something completely different, I would like to respond to a few comments to my last post.
jacquelynn.bensing said:
I think the history of coca being a holy plant is quite interesting. Also, I didn't realize all the positive effects it had.
Is the reason the US is so anti-coca solely based on uninformed drug policy or are there other outlying factors? I don't like to sound pessimistic, but typically politics is motivated by money or greed of some kind. Are there other hidden agendas here?
The US and the UN have been dilatory in revising drug policy. The main answer to your question is uniformed drug policy. The government cannot understand that coca does not equal cocaine. They do not understand that the vast majority of coca production is for legitimate consumption, not cocaine production.
There is a somewhat hidden agenda here. For example, in Columbia, most of the US aid is going towards military aid under the guise of drug interdiction. However, much of the funds are used to repress leftist groups, not guerrillas or the FARC, but union leaders and campesino organizers in support of US multinational corporations. Don't believe me? Read up on Coca-Cola in Columbia.
The "Drug War" is simply an extension of US imperialism in Latin America; they simply needed a new guise after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Suppressing communism simply doesn't cut it anymore. This is especially evident in Bolivia, where Evo Morales expulsed the DEA from the country, accusing them of attempting to overthrow his government.
In short, the current situation surround coca, and the Drug War in general, is prompted by uniformed drug policy as well as an excuse to further US imperialism in the hemisphere.
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