On August 8th, a Saturday, our group visited Nicaragua´s capital, Managua. Up until that point, we had read plenty of articles out of the binder that Alba and Dora worked so hard to put together. However, the day before our trip to Managua when we discussed the culture and national identity of the people here, Alba asked us to read the people, and the buildings, rather than just looking. So on Saturday in Managua we went beyond the mere observations of just appearances and instead we paid close attention to their behaviors and mannerisms, and how buildings may be strategically placed to signify authority.
While performing this task, I encountered many paradoxes and contradictions. In order for me to connect the theme of natural identity to the arts and specifically muralism, its important to first understand national identity. It is not about physical appearances and how to tell that someone is Nicaraguan but rather; what are the common practices of a culture that bind the people together? Among them may be language, religion, holidays and rituals- in other words, a traditional practices that they share and evoke a sense of unity and a sense of pride for their nationality. The above mentioned practices I think are usually thought of when one tries to define national identity culture, but other things are included that sometimes are left out: popular music, art, literature, dances, and theater. These function to display a group or one´s pride (or disdain) for their country. When one is unhappy or ashamed to be identified as a citizen of their country, it usually has nothing to do with how their fellow mate behaves, but rather how their government functions. Therefore, it is impossible to discuss one´s national identity without discussing the nations government and politics. Before getting into that, I wanted to take the opportunity to address something: I think it is extremely important to note here that although their may be things here that I have seen that breaks my heart and that I may not agree with, I have not encountered one Nicaraguan who is ashamed of the person they are, nor their national identity. Currently we are discussing positive themes that we are asked to look for within the community here, because in the beginning some posted observations of the negative- one of the things I had said from the very beginning on one of my blogs was that horrible things exist all over the world, that poverty exists in the states as well where children are the largest population living in poverty. Something that I had said but did not write the first week we got here was that the difference is that when you travel to someplace new, one´s eyes are open, and one may be doing more observation than perhaps where they live. For example, someone from a heavily populated place such as NYC who is always in a rush to get to their next place may not notice the homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, but that same person will probably notice the same thing but in a country they have never been to before once they arrive.
When I mentioned national identity as pride or disdain for being a citizen from one´s country, I want to give an example. Personally, at times I feel ashamed to be an American (or from the United States, since here an American refers to anyone from the Americas :-)). Some examples of when I´ve been ashamed to be an American have been when I learned the United States financed the Contras (which I knew from learning in middle school about the Iran-Contra Affair), but my teacher forgot to mention how the Contras were fighting against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, and how our role in all of this destroyed the land, and in a way changed Nicaragua forever.
At first I was confused as to who the Contras were- were they solely Nicaraguan´s? Then I did some research on the Internet and read "Adios Muchachos: A Memoir of the Sandinista Revolution" by Sergio Ramirez. He mentions that the Contras were originally financed by the Argentinean government at the time; and according to the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, the label Contra was given to various groups that opposed Nicaragua´s FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional). In Nicaragua the largest Contra group was the FDN (Frente Democratica de Nicaragua), or Nicaraguan Democratic Force. Essentially, the US CIA provided not only financial aid (which the reason the Iran Contra affair was scandalous was because Iran was considered to be a terrorist country at the time, and that money from the sale of weapons to Iran was used to back the Contras), but the CIA also provided weapons and training as well. The Sandinista movement, which was a revolutionary movement that the Contras were trying to prevent and resist, was a movement essentially of the people. When the US meddles with other countries affairs when its clearly not wanted, this is when I´m not proud to be an American. People may not agree with me, we can agree to disagree, and as Voltaire, one of the Enlightenment thinkers famously said, "I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it". I also feel the same way about our involvement in Iraq, a country whose citizens clearly do not want us to be there, and that clearly lacked the supposed "weapons of mass destruction" that Bush claimed they had- but they do have oil, don´t they? Funny how the US government claims involvement in other countries affairs is solely political or for human rights issues, and at times it is such as Darfur but to me isn´t it a bit peculiar how before the war that is referred to as Nicaragua´s civil war, although it had multinational backing, was once abundant in natural resources such as fresh water, and now people are struggling to find drinkable water? On page two, Ramirez writes "They [United States] had plundered our natural resources, our mines, our forests".
So while I feel the exact opposite of national pride, and had I been living during this time would have wanted to be disassociated from my national identity, the end result of the revolution, the victory of the Sandinista movement elicited as sense of national pride from many Nicaraguans. For example, Ramirez writes how the US placed an embargo on wheat supplies from Nicaragua, so instead Nicaraguans turned to cultivating corn. There's a saying that he talks about, "El Maiz: Nuestra Raiz", meaning that they went back to their roots and farmed as their ancestors did, by farming corn. He also writes on page 2 that "Our nationalism emerged out of that conflict" (Between the US and the FSLN)
Being able to go to the university in Managua was an amazing experience because in a sense, we were able to see the past and what the students who were part of the revolution were thinking. We were able to see a part of Nicaragua's history through the murals that still remain at the university. After Ramirez writes how opposition to the US is necessary for Nicaragua´s liberation on page 2, the following paragraph he continues to say that the call for opposition to the US was "[... ] repeated with the most virulent rhetoric in public plazas, in radio addresses and in letters to the editor in the newspaper Barricada". Although it would have been amazing to witness this historical movement, it was still emotional to feel as if we were witnessing it through the murals the students painted. In fact, the protests among the students were so strong that they even had a name for their own fight against the Contras, called FER, or Frente Estudiantil Revolucionario (Student Revolutionary Force). If you want to compare how powerful their voices were, you can say that they were similar to how our parents came out in massive force to protest against the Vietnam war (well some of our parents, mine are 52 and 56). As I was walking through the campus looking at the murals, thinking about the students that painted them and of our own ancestors in the US that fought for change, I couldn´t help but think, why isn´t and why hasn´t our generation protested against the actions of our government in Iraq, especially when Bush was president? Are we really that apathetic? If you want to compare how this Revolution in Nicaragua was, how big it was, you can say it was similar to our own revolution against England. For me, I learned something about what Fer did. Whatever type of government a country has, and the US although a democratic republic (because we have representatives that vote on matters for us, we dont vote directly), its still a form of democracy nonetheless, and in order for a government to truly function well, shouldnt the citizens participate in it? Why aren´t we fighting for change, like the FER and our parents? One of the murals said, translated in English, "We don't want militaries [referring to the presence of the US marines], we want schools and hospitals" Why arent we saying the same thing? Because when there is a war, there isnt money to pay for social services and things like education, and is the same for any country that is fighting in a war.
I also saw two murals next to each other that totally contradicted each other. On the one hand, one mural had the words that in English meant against the dictator and imperialism and had a painting of Uncle Sam with a gun to his head held by one of the Sandinistas. The other mural said for democratic liberties, all are against the dictator. To me its contradicting because on the one hand they are saying they want democracy, and the other mural shows a negative view toward America which is represented by Uncle Sam. I guess I think this is contradicting because to me, Uncle Sam is the icon for democracy.
So although I have a better understanding of what the Contras wanted and who they were, I guess Im still confused because if the biggest Contra group was the Democratic Front of Nicaragua, and the students who were for the revolution painted murals that said they wanted democracy and not a dictator, didnt they essentially want the same things?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hola Lorena,
ReplyDeleteThere is often a process I have observed in my students (and myself) when studying human rights and democracy in Latin America, especially regarding the role of the US in supporting brutal dictatorships in Nicaragua, Chile, etc. in the 20th century.
Since you have been so open about yourself on this blog, I want to open up as well and share. I hope you will allow me to do that here in dialogue with your reflections.
I grew up in a family of Marines. My grandfather was a Marine and survived two of the bloodiest battles of World War II (Saipan and Iwo Jima). He returned to the US with shrapnel in both arms and legs and spent a year in a military hospital in Washington DC. No matter what I may think about a decision made by any government, I always remember the sacrifices he made. How would our lives have been different if his generation had not fought to defend our country? I was proud to be the granddaughter of someone so brave. Even though we had very different political perspectives on the world, and his racism was impossible for me to bear, we were still a family, and I always respected the sacrifices he made.
My grandmother grew up during the depression in rural Illinois. She told me stories of how her mother used to leave food for the hobos next to the railroad tracks that went behind their house, even though they had little food themselves. My grandmother also used to work in the corn fields in the summer to help her family. She taught me to value work and never be too proud.
There is a great spirit in our national history of bravery and generosity, of dignity, and of poverty. I learned that from my grandparents who raised me, and I see much of that here in Nicaragua as well. These are also people who fought to defend their way of life, and who have struggled with hunger and sought to have an education.
When I learned later in my life of US economic and military interventions in other parts of the world, I was shocked to find that my country often supported dictatorships that kept people in abject poverty, and that even tortured and murdered their own citizens (ie. the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua).
My first reaction was shock and disbelief. Then I felt ashamed (something I'm reading in your reflections here). It took me a very long time to be able to embrace what I love about my country (public education, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, an ability to find a job if you are willing to work, etc.) and to feel comfortable being critical of what I would like to change. (For example, I would like other countries in the world in the 21st Century to be able to develop social programs like our own--public education, health care, etc--without being accused of being Communist. After all, the Cold War is over for most of us, even though there are many who do still live in the past, from both the right and the left.
(continued in Comment 2)...
...(Continued from Comment 1)
ReplyDeleteI suppose what I am trying to write here is that there is much to be proud of in our own nation, as there is much pride and dignity in Nicaragua. There are also mistakes or injustices that we can learn from and hopefully not repeat.
You are correct. The Sandinista revolution was a democratic movement. The overthrow of Somoza involved the participation of many sectors of society, including business leaders. The fragmentation of political/economic ideologies occurred when the new government in 1979-1980 was faced with national reconstruction at the height of the Cold War and with many internal ideological differences.
The Contra forces included many former Somoza National Guard members. Their ranks grew with propaganda. They also grew as Nicaraguans became disillusioned with some Sandinista policies (such as the creation of agrarian collectives vs. granting land to families for individual farms).
Essentially the war with the Contras was won not by military means but through public opinion. The Nicaraguan people were tired of fighting, against Somoza, then against the Contras. Young adolescents were drafted to fight, sometimes even underage. Indigenous populations were relocated, which caused tensions on the Northern Caribbean coast. And the government was supporting a conflict in El Salvador when it needed to dedicate 100% of its resources to internal needs.
The war also required funding, and the new government resorted to mass confiscations of properties (even private homes and mid-sized and small businesses). This created resentment in many who had supported the overthrow of Somoza. When dissent grew, there was repression of public expression (ie. the national newspaper La Prensa).
Most devastating perhaps was that the Sandinistas promised education and health care, but they were forced to spend virtually everything on military defense in a civil war they had not anticipated. They could not produce what they promised, only more young people dying in fighting against their own Nicaraguan brothers and sisters.
And as a movement that fought for and believed in democracy, the Sandinistas held national elections, and they lost. It was a democratic defeat, a loss of public opinion.
What Nicaraguans have experienced since 1990 is a series of governments from diverse political ideologies (from the far right to the current comeback of Daniel Ortega supposedly representing the Sandinistas again). As you can see, none have solved the nation's problems. Many political leaders, however, have become very wealthy, again from the far right and the far left.
Meanwhile, after 1990, Nicaragua disappeared from the US agenda. The government was no longer on the left, even though the same social injustices remained and Nicaragua remains the second poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti. That may explain why people in the US only remember the 1980's. The news just stopped coming...
What I have sought for myself to overcome my feeling of shock and shame (most often at my own ignorance), is to educate myself (reading, studying, translating, listening to differing viewpoints), and to give others the opportunity to educate themselves, to form their own opinions, to think deeply about their ideals and current realities. It is why I continue to teach in the US, and it is the greatest way to show my gratitude to my grandparents who raised me to believe in the good of all people, dignity, hard work, and the right to be free. I just want those rights for everyone, not just my own tribe.
--Alba