March by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), Universities

This series of video clips comes from the March 21st 2011 protest and strike led by Bolivian universities and the Central Obrero Boliviano (COB). NOW, I'm not going to go into detail about the demands of this particular protest (but in brief, it involves debates over university autonomy, and critiques that a government-proposed 10% salary increase for other sectors does not provide a living wage, among other complaints) or whether it was "legitimate" or even popularly supported. AND, I'm not going to go into the hot debate over whether these kinds of marches respect individual rights or violate them by controlling for attendance via fichas or tickets. Those are debates for another forum. INSTEAD, I simply want to feature these brief clips to give folks at home a sense of how protests in Bolivia often look and sound.

When I first moved to Bolivia in 2001 I was struck by the orderliness of most protests in the capital. They are almost ritualized: men and women often march in separate blocks and in clear lines while chanting catchy calls to action. You can hear protests from miles away as the crackling of petardos (loud firecrackers) and the occasional deep boom of dynamite (also heard here) reverberate off the steep walls of the La Paz ollada (bowl). In these clips you can see some marchers holding used petardo shells or preparing to set them off (I generally avoid standing too close to protesters setting off dynamite since accidents do occasionally happen, so they don't make any cameos in these clips).

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• COB
• Bolivia
• Protests