The view from Colonia
On Saturday, David and I took the ferry across the bay to Colonia, Uruguay, a little enclave of peace and quiet only 30km from Buenos Aires yet invisible across the Rio de la Plata.
We thought Colonia was tranquil when we visited in January, but Colonia in April makes January Colonia look like a circus in comparison. When we headed out to eat Saturday night dinner, we passed restaurant after restaurant before finding a place with more than one group of customers.
Beach-sitting weather is a thing of the past, so this time we rented mopeds. Of course, we rented the cheapest mopeds in Uruguay – spending a total of 12 dollars for a day’s riding on 2 old, banged-up machines versus the 16 dollars we would have spent up the street. On the positive side, we felt like we fit in a little better with our old clunkers. On the negative side, my moped maxed out at about 12 miles per hour under ideal conditions, and sometimes I had to push a bit to make it up the hill. David had to stop and wait for me every few minutes.
We took a dirt road, then another dirt road, passing vineyards, corn, cows, and not a single car until we arrived at a secluded beach. A few locals were relaxing at the plywood kiosk, drinking beer and talking. They wanted to talk to us – can you guess what about?
“You know,” said one man, “Maybe I can understand Hiroshima. The United States dropped atomic bombs to shorten the war. A year or two’s fighting may have been prevented. But this time, I just don’t understand.”
I confess I haven’t had much energy for blogging lately. The war seems to have pushed new thoughts out of my head, as it has in the papers here. The newspaper Pagina/12, for example, dedicates 10 of it’s 36 pages to the war these days, under the banner “the imperial war.” The other papers are a bit more subtle, but just as full of war talk and with nothing positive to say about the “invasion.”
In Argentina, it’s natural to view the war as imperialist. In the US, on the other hand, many people seem to honestly view it as promoting democracy. Thomas Friedman, the New York Times’s top columnist, writes week after week of our attempt to spread American Democratic Values.
Presuming that Friedman and others are sincere in this viewpoint, and not just mounting a pro-war PR campaign, they are raising interesting questions about the nature of democracy.
I see it a bit differently: By making global decisions in the White House – aggressively taking the world’s reins – the Bush Administration is certainly moving the US into a new role as the world’s only superpower. It’s not just that the US has introduced the practice of a “preventative war.” Much more fundamentally, we’ve told everybody that, when push comes to shove, we make the decisions here on this globe. It’s as if we’ve staged a coup pushing the UN aside, except that it’s not yet clear whether the US has any interest in world government, or just in the few issues/countries that interest us.
This new stance makes explicit policy the unilateralism that many people here in Argentina have long accused the US of exercising. It also puts a military face on our global domination, which previously was most often seen as economic. And it leaves the non-US citizens of the world feeling disenfranchised, without any say in what happens.
“Nobody called me about Bush’s election,” said the first speaker at the anti-war rally yesterday in Buenos Aires’ equivalent of Times Square. “Did they call you?”
When Bush decides to establish global policy, he leaves a lot of people angry that they didn’t get to vote in his election. They're angry that they don’t have a say in what’s happening. They're calling out, effectively, for global democracy. Doesn’t their anger have something in common with that of the American colonists when they protested their lack of representation”?
We thought Colonia was tranquil when we visited in January, but Colonia in April makes January Colonia look like a circus in comparison. When we headed out to eat Saturday night dinner, we passed restaurant after restaurant before finding a place with more than one group of customers.
Beach-sitting weather is a thing of the past, so this time we rented mopeds. Of course, we rented the cheapest mopeds in Uruguay – spending a total of 12 dollars for a day’s riding on 2 old, banged-up machines versus the 16 dollars we would have spent up the street. On the positive side, we felt like we fit in a little better with our old clunkers. On the negative side, my moped maxed out at about 12 miles per hour under ideal conditions, and sometimes I had to push a bit to make it up the hill. David had to stop and wait for me every few minutes.
We took a dirt road, then another dirt road, passing vineyards, corn, cows, and not a single car until we arrived at a secluded beach. A few locals were relaxing at the plywood kiosk, drinking beer and talking. They wanted to talk to us – can you guess what about?
“You know,” said one man, “Maybe I can understand Hiroshima. The United States dropped atomic bombs to shorten the war. A year or two’s fighting may have been prevented. But this time, I just don’t understand.”
I confess I haven’t had much energy for blogging lately. The war seems to have pushed new thoughts out of my head, as it has in the papers here. The newspaper Pagina/12, for example, dedicates 10 of it’s 36 pages to the war these days, under the banner “the imperial war.” The other papers are a bit more subtle, but just as full of war talk and with nothing positive to say about the “invasion.”
In Argentina, it’s natural to view the war as imperialist. In the US, on the other hand, many people seem to honestly view it as promoting democracy. Thomas Friedman, the New York Times’s top columnist, writes week after week of our attempt to spread American Democratic Values.
Presuming that Friedman and others are sincere in this viewpoint, and not just mounting a pro-war PR campaign, they are raising interesting questions about the nature of democracy.
I see it a bit differently: By making global decisions in the White House – aggressively taking the world’s reins – the Bush Administration is certainly moving the US into a new role as the world’s only superpower. It’s not just that the US has introduced the practice of a “preventative war.” Much more fundamentally, we’ve told everybody that, when push comes to shove, we make the decisions here on this globe. It’s as if we’ve staged a coup pushing the UN aside, except that it’s not yet clear whether the US has any interest in world government, or just in the few issues/countries that interest us.
This new stance makes explicit policy the unilateralism that many people here in Argentina have long accused the US of exercising. It also puts a military face on our global domination, which previously was most often seen as economic. And it leaves the non-US citizens of the world feeling disenfranchised, without any say in what happens.
“Nobody called me about Bush’s election,” said the first speaker at the anti-war rally yesterday in Buenos Aires’ equivalent of Times Square. “Did they call you?”
When Bush decides to establish global policy, he leaves a lot of people angry that they didn’t get to vote in his election. They're angry that they don’t have a say in what’s happening. They're calling out, effectively, for global democracy. Doesn’t their anger have something in common with that of the American colonists when they protested their lack of representation”?
previously there was ugly memories
afterwards you have o country of mine
There is still a project to build a bridge over the Rio de La Plata joining Buenos Aires and Colonia. Once finished, it would be one of the largest bridges in the world, 24 to 32 miles long. http://www.puentep-laracolo...
Thanks God, our country is in bankruptcy so the project could not be done. The bridge would damage the way of life of the peaceful and tranquil Colonia, one of the most beautiful towns in this region.
--- "One power with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust." Nelson Mandela. March 30, 2003. [submitted on 08 Apr 03]
i see you're a steady contributor to this weblog. i'm also happy they can not make the bridge to colonia now. they would damage not only colonia, but also the rest of uruguay. i also think it might bring big troubles to our sedimentary river. [submitted on 08 Apr 03]
hahaha! it was a typical "rioplatense" show! That's the way we are.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/... [submitted on 09 Apr 03]
no, no soy uruguayo, pero me encanta uruguay y al margen de que battle no me cae bien, a veces pienso que un poco de razon tiene. al menos tenemos varios ladrones muy famosos!!!
jeremy: don't get upset if we use your blog in spanish. but as you are in argentina is quite tempting to just write in spanish.
i was reading some of the older writings, in i'm surprise how much you care about argentina and if it's going well or not. for me is taking a very big effort to have such kind of feelings about holland (i live in rotterdam since almost 3 years). each time i'm more convinced to return to buenos aires. [submitted on 09 Apr 03]
Saludos! [submitted on 09 Apr 03]
que no me gusta de holanda? el idioma, la comida, el tiempo.... algo mas? [submitted on 10 Apr 03]
Por qué Holanda? Conozco muchos argentinos que habla de irse a expaña, a italia, aun a inglatera o los ee.uu. Pero Holanda?
Yo conozco unos holandeses (?), y me enseñaron una frase que se usa en los discos (boliches). Me dijeron que no se puede besar aldentro del boliche -- no sé porque no, pero no se lo permite -- y por eso los chicos/chicas que tienen ganas de besar tienen que irnos afuera. Afuera del disco, muchos veces hay motocicletas (?), y por eso se dice, en el disco, "Quiere irnos a mirar los motos?", pero eso quiere decir, "Vamos afuera a besar". Me dijeron que no se usa en cualquier parte, solo en unos partes de holanda. Pero quisas lo usás, este frase? O no te gusta tampoco los holandeses? [submitted on 10 Apr 03]
En cambio, aquí en Baires, nunca sabés con que te podés llegar a encontrar a la vuelta de la esquina. La realidad siempre se impone sobre la imaginación. Lo imposible es perfectamente posible. Cualquier cosa puede suceder en cualquier momento. El solo hecho de salir de tu casa para ir a trabajar puede convertirse en una verdadera odisea. Cinco presidentes en menos de una semana, ¿dónde más se puede vivir algo así? El frenesí de la city porteña, las colas en las casas de cambio, los piqueteros cortando las avenidas y autopistas, los edificios de los Bancos todavía con vallas para "protegerse" de sus ahorristas... y simultáneamente, la ciudad se llenó de turistas, los shoppings rebalsan de gente, los teatros de la Avenida Corrientes rebientan de público, los bosques de Palermo están más verdes que nunca... Así en Buenos Aires, caótica, impredecible, pero bellísima. Aquí nada es fácil... pero tampoco demasiado difícil. ¿Cuándo fue diferente? Así la conocimos siempre. Y por eso la queremos tanto. Buenos Aires es una aventura. Y vivirla es una de las experiencias más fascinantes.
Max, espero que vuelvas pronto. No te podés perder Buenos Aires. [submitted on 10 Apr 03]
les contesto a los 2 a la vez. me vine a holanda con mi novia (ahora ya estamos casados) que tambien es argentina, asi que no probe chicas holandesas. la idea era estar 2 años aca y volver enseguida a buenos aires. anita hizo un master y yo estoy trabajando.
apenas llegamos aca renuncio chacho y se empezo a pudrir todo. mi alquiler de buenos aires paso de 800 u$ por mes (que me venian muy bien) a 800 u$ cada 4 meses. asi que cuando nos tocaba voler decidimos quedarnos un tiempo mas. pero nunca pense en quedarme a vivir aca. igual viajamos a buenos aires lo mas seguido que podemos. . es mas en 10 dias voy a estar ahi.
siempre nos toca alguna cuando vamos: cuando tuvimos 5 presidentes ahi estabamos con las cacerolas. algunos asaltos a mano armada. en uno estabamos en un restaurante en palermo y entraron unos chorros y dijeron todo el mundo abajo de la mesa y una amiga nuestra de USA fue la unica que se tiro abajo de la mesa, todos los demas seguimos charlando y comiendo hasta que los señores pasaron amablemente por casi todas las mesas y la caja a retirar las billeteras.
holanda es mas o menos como te lo imaginas. pero no es tan lindo. al menos no todo holanda es como amsterdam. [submitted on 10 Apr 03]
no sabia que eras argentino
me parece muy bueno el trabajo que hiciste con el plugin de nucleus
sos programador?
saludos,
desde arg
MariaN. [submitted on 11 Apr 03]
No somos argentinos, y no soy programador tampoco. Pero cuando tenés bastante tiempo, sos capaz de hacer cualquier cosa, no? Hacer, no ser, claro.
saludos
david (desde BA) [submitted on 11 Apr 03]