El Alto, Bolivia: General Strike!
Action
On January 8th we arrived in Puno, Peru, with the intention of moving on to La Paz, Bolivia in the next couple days. We soon discovered, however, that buses weren’t running to La Paz anytime soon, because of a general strike around La Paz. No one seemed to know much about the strike, except that the highways were blockaded, transportation wasn’t running, and water rights were involved. We managed to get to Copacabana, across the Bolivian border, on the 10th, and although the buses still weren’t running to La Paz, word on the street was that a round of buses would depart early the next morning. Very early.
On Tuesday, January 11th, we awoke at 3:45 am, crawled out of our hotel beds, and stumbled onto the lone bus waiting at the town square. The bus was full of tourists and locals, so full that only a few standing room spots remained for Renate and I. For the next hour we clung to the handrails as the bus swerved along highland roads. We tried to sleep and avoid getting queasy, but weren’t particularly successful.
At 5:00 we arrived at the river. Normally, vehicles are ferried across the river to continue the journey. The ferry owner didn’t seem to have awakened yet. It started to rain, and for the next hour we huddled next to a building outside the bus, grateful to be on solid land.
At 6:00 the sun started to rise and ferries started to transport the waiting buses and vans across. Our bus seemed to be weighing the ferry down, but gradually it reached the other shore.
The next two hours of our trip were sunlit, and slightly easier. At 9:00, however, our bus stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, and the driver said that we all had to get out and walk the rest of the way. He explained that the road ahead was blockaded, and the bus couldn’t pass. We were apparently at the edge of El Alto, the booming poor people’s city that had grown up next to La Paz. The driver said that La Paz was an hour’s walk away and that there were bicycle carts up ahead to help us. Other Bolivians said that it was 2 hours, or 3 hours, or just far.
After 15 minutes of haggling, most of the passengers began to retrieve their bags and march off down the blockaded road. With two oversized hiking backpacks, two handbags, and only a few hours of sleep, we were somewhat reluctant to embark on a trek of unknown distance, especially since El Alto was over 4,000 meters high, perched above the crater that housed La Paz (itself at an altitude of “only” 3,500 meters). There didn’t appear to be much of a choice, however.
Walking down the main highway road, we soon began to encounter the roadblocks. Every hundred meters or so, the local residents had placed a row of rocks, bikes, debris, and/or people across the road. Next to the low-tech barriers, clusters of people were talking, eating, knitting, playing, and/or heckling passing pedestrians. As we stepped over each barrier, the people generally smiled, laughed, and made some light-hearted jokes at our expense. The mood was very relaxed, and generally friendly.
Our march continued like this for 4 hours. The sun came out and it got hotter. We got thirsty and hungry, and picked up roadside snacks. Our lungs struggled to acclimate to the altitude. We began to despise each souvenir and extra shirt we were carrying in our bulging backpacks. More people swelled the streets, Our hopes of reaching La Paz rose and fell with each hill crest.
Eventually, we arrived at the border of La Paz. The streets and sidewalks were even more full of people, and the highway had been turned into a pedestrian route for protesters and other residents.
We then reached the main protest rally. Hundreds of campesinos were milling about, making and listening to speeches. A line of cops bordered the rally, calmly and without aggression.
Right after we arrived, a TV news crew approached and asked to interview us. The report asked us several questions in Spanish, and then another reporter interviewed us in English. Mentally and physically exhausted, we tried to explain that, despite the inconveniences, we were in solidarity with and support of the strike.
A couple days later, we learned about the context of the strike. In 1997, under pressure from the World Bank, the Bolivian government privatized the water and sewage systems of La Paz and El Alto. Under the new management consortium, owned jointly by the French corporation Suez, water and sewage user rates increased drastically, and many areas were left without access. By the time of the strike, water and sewer hookup for a household cost over $445 (typical El Alto residents earn as little as $2.50 a day). 52% of El Alto residents lacked basic water and sewer services.
On January 12th, under pressure from the strike, the Bolivian president agreed to cancel the privatized water contract immediately and to guarantee water and sewer service for El Alto and La Paz.
Reflection
We were deeply impressed by the strike and its results. With very few resources, the El Alto residents had managed to entirely block transportation into La Paz, and force the government to change policies. Unlike mass protests in the North, there were no wide-reaching email campaigns, no non-violence or civil disobedience training, and no permits to march. The people simply reached the point of intolerance, and collectively reclaimed their right to water.
Question
What would you have told the TV interviewers? Could a general strike like this happen in your city?
On January 8th we arrived in Puno, Peru, with the intention of moving on to La Paz, Bolivia in the next couple days. We soon discovered, however, that buses weren’t running to La Paz anytime soon, because of a general strike around La Paz. No one seemed to know much about the strike, except that the highways were blockaded, transportation wasn’t running, and water rights were involved. We managed to get to Copacabana, across the Bolivian border, on the 10th, and although the buses still weren’t running to La Paz, word on the street was that a round of buses would depart early the next morning. Very early.
On Tuesday, January 11th, we awoke at 3:45 am, crawled out of our hotel beds, and stumbled onto the lone bus waiting at the town square. The bus was full of tourists and locals, so full that only a few standing room spots remained for Renate and I. For the next hour we clung to the handrails as the bus swerved along highland roads. We tried to sleep and avoid getting queasy, but weren’t particularly successful.
At 5:00 we arrived at the river. Normally, vehicles are ferried across the river to continue the journey. The ferry owner didn’t seem to have awakened yet. It started to rain, and for the next hour we huddled next to a building outside the bus, grateful to be on solid land.
At 6:00 the sun started to rise and ferries started to transport the waiting buses and vans across. Our bus seemed to be weighing the ferry down, but gradually it reached the other shore.
The next two hours of our trip were sunlit, and slightly easier. At 9:00, however, our bus stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, and the driver said that we all had to get out and walk the rest of the way. He explained that the road ahead was blockaded, and the bus couldn’t pass. We were apparently at the edge of El Alto, the booming poor people’s city that had grown up next to La Paz. The driver said that La Paz was an hour’s walk away and that there were bicycle carts up ahead to help us. Other Bolivians said that it was 2 hours, or 3 hours, or just far.
After 15 minutes of haggling, most of the passengers began to retrieve their bags and march off down the blockaded road. With two oversized hiking backpacks, two handbags, and only a few hours of sleep, we were somewhat reluctant to embark on a trek of unknown distance, especially since El Alto was over 4,000 meters high, perched above the crater that housed La Paz (itself at an altitude of “only” 3,500 meters). There didn’t appear to be much of a choice, however.
Walking down the main highway road, we soon began to encounter the roadblocks. Every hundred meters or so, the local residents had placed a row of rocks, bikes, debris, and/or people across the road. Next to the low-tech barriers, clusters of people were talking, eating, knitting, playing, and/or heckling passing pedestrians. As we stepped over each barrier, the people generally smiled, laughed, and made some light-hearted jokes at our expense. The mood was very relaxed, and generally friendly.
Our march continued like this for 4 hours. The sun came out and it got hotter. We got thirsty and hungry, and picked up roadside snacks. Our lungs struggled to acclimate to the altitude. We began to despise each souvenir and extra shirt we were carrying in our bulging backpacks. More people swelled the streets, Our hopes of reaching La Paz rose and fell with each hill crest.
Eventually, we arrived at the border of La Paz. The streets and sidewalks were even more full of people, and the highway had been turned into a pedestrian route for protesters and other residents.
We then reached the main protest rally. Hundreds of campesinos were milling about, making and listening to speeches. A line of cops bordered the rally, calmly and without aggression.
Right after we arrived, a TV news crew approached and asked to interview us. The report asked us several questions in Spanish, and then another reporter interviewed us in English. Mentally and physically exhausted, we tried to explain that, despite the inconveniences, we were in solidarity with and support of the strike.
A couple days later, we learned about the context of the strike. In 1997, under pressure from the World Bank, the Bolivian government privatized the water and sewage systems of La Paz and El Alto. Under the new management consortium, owned jointly by the French corporation Suez, water and sewage user rates increased drastically, and many areas were left without access. By the time of the strike, water and sewer hookup for a household cost over $445 (typical El Alto residents earn as little as $2.50 a day). 52% of El Alto residents lacked basic water and sewer services.
On January 12th, under pressure from the strike, the Bolivian president agreed to cancel the privatized water contract immediately and to guarantee water and sewer service for El Alto and La Paz.
Reflection
We were deeply impressed by the strike and its results. With very few resources, the El Alto residents had managed to entirely block transportation into La Paz, and force the government to change policies. Unlike mass protests in the North, there were no wide-reaching email campaigns, no non-violence or civil disobedience training, and no permits to march. The people simply reached the point of intolerance, and collectively reclaimed their right to water.
Question
What would you have told the TV interviewers? Could a general strike like this happen in your city?
4 Comments:
At 10:02 AM, Jen said…
I don't think a strike like this would happen here. People are too complacent. I mean, technically Comcast has monopoly grip on our city for cable tv, but no one seems to argue with it. And the prices and fees keep going up, and no one does anything. Or if it is questioned, some business-type explains why it's not REALLY a monopoly, because another business could always roll into town and confront the Comcast monster. Forget the fact that no one can afford to anymore. And no one is willing to give up their cable tv to protest.
And no one seems upset that only like, oh 5 companies own everything. When I complain about that, all I get is parroted "free market" from people who understand economics as much as (or less than) I do. It's "unamerican" to question businesses these days . . can't disrupt capitalism at work - even though the people I work with our being pummelled by the decisions made.
At 10:29 AM, Jen said…
This post has been removed by the author.
At 10:30 AM, Jen said…
You know, after I left my last comment, I just read an article about Bush wanting to encourage his "ownership society" even more, and eliminate the benefits extended to corporations who give their employees healthcare insurance coverage. Well, without these benefits, the employers won't have much incentive to pay the healthcare deductibles, and then people will be encouraged to "own their own insurance" and put money in savings accounts, paying for only high-deductible catastrophic insurance.
Bush said it would encourage people to be more careful with their healthcare (ie, don't go to the dr as much and drive up those fees and threaten to sue). Does he think that my employer is suddenly going to pay me more so I can start funding my own health insurance fund? Doesn't he understand that even those of us withinsurance don't always go to the dr because of the health insurance fees. And that the lack of preventive healthcare in this country causes a lot of the problems we see . . .
Maybe, just maybe, if something like this goes into affect, there might be a strike. It would take something of this proportion though.
On second thought, a lot of people tend to get far more upset about their cable costs than their healthcare . . . maybe if the cable system went out during the Superbowl this weekend . . . (ok, I'm way to cynical this morning).
I shouldn't read the news so early in the morning - it ruins my day.
At 9:54 AM, lernerm said…
I'm glad you said what you did to the tv reporters - I hope I would have said the same thing. Could this happen in America? well, it did, several hundred years ago alas. I think that in order for modern americans to rise up, it would take something analagous to deprivation of something as indispensable as water, say for example, gas. Were exxon to raise the price of gas by say, $10 a gallon, I think we'd have people looting the gas stations, but perhaps before revolutionary behavior occurred, our corporate government would step in and slap exxon on the wrist and lower the price increase to say, $1 a gal, which everyone would then accept. Water as they say is the oil of this century, and when you take away water, you really do move people to take action. On the other hand, I wonder if there would have been action if the local company had raised rates slowly instead of so drastically. I also wonder if Americans would in fact be so creative, or would they perhaps just send in lots of emails to their congressmen?
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