Witnessing History...
I have pretty much omitted this entire subject from my journal, mostly because it's kind of complicated and I generally like to avoid political controversy. However, I feel like I owe the topic some attention.
For the past several months, the words "sí" and "no" have taken on a completely different meaning for all of us. Sunday, Costa Ricans all over the country voted in a referendum to decide whether or not to pass DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.), or as it is more popularly called, "TLC" (Tratado de Libre Comercio - Free Trade Agreement). This referendum was the first of its kind: the first time that Costa Ricans have been able to vote on a specific issue, say nothing about one so important and on such a large scale, and as such was an exciting exercise of democracy for the country.
The country has been very sharply divided on the issue. The government, many businesses and well-to-do citizens were in favor of the treaty, whereas many environmentalists and the majority of the educational community were opposed to it. Especially in the weeks leading up to the referendum, nearly all discussions turned into something about TLC. Costa Ricans are very peaceful people, meaning that although the country is very divided on this issue and people fervently support their positions, it has not been a dangerous or violent situation. Mostly there's just a LOT of graffiti, 99.9% of which is anti-TLC. Nearly every billboard and most buildings have been very simply spray-painted with black or red lettering "NO AL TLC." It's pretty annoying, actually. There have been demonstrations (one day I actually had a class cancelled because the department wanted people to go to the march in San José), but all were pretty much peaceful and easy to avoid. Basically, it wasn't the kind of situation that might come to mind when one thinks of political uproar in Central America.
My host family is very pro-TLC. They are upper-middle class, my host father works in the President's House, and they know a lot of people who work for multinational corporations located in Costa Rica (such as HP, Intel, etc). My host mother doesn't work, and pretty much threw herself into the "sí" campaign. Saturday night, she invited me to come along with them as they voted on Sunday. I agreed; the prospect of witnessing a historic event seemed pretty neat. Little did I know.
Around 8:30, I'm ready to leave and watch them vote. My host mom wasn't around because she was helping with the voting process, but around that time she came rushing back, threw a "mi corazón dice SI" ("my heart says yes," a popular campaign slogan) t-shirt at me, piled us all in the car, and we headed over. Apparently I was to help pro-TLC people vote. Now, I have never gotten involved in anything political in my life. The closest I have come was the time I was an editor for our high school Republican journal, the one that received three articles and never got published. Also I voted once. I do not have a strong position on TLC: I tried to stay as neutral as possible. Nevertheless, I was thrown into supporting a position and privately found it rather hilarious. My host mom was stressed because very few volunteers had shown up to help the "Sí" table, and thus wanted my help. So, I sat at the table inflating propaganda-covered balloons and getting made fun of for my inability to tie them. Later I helped direct people to their assigned voting rooms. All-in-all, I was there for about three hours. The voting for my neighborhood took place in an old school. The "sí" and "no" tables were on opposite sides of the entrance, and people went to their appropriate table to find their voting rooms. It was an interesting sort of popularity-contest... people were trying to keep tallies in their heads of how many people came to each table, trying to gain some idea of who was winning. I didn't really talk much because everyone was sort of busy, but I rather enjoyed listening. There were little boys who spouted pro-TLC propaganda they had heard from their parents and jeered at the anti-TLC movement, trying to appear older, cooler, in-the-know. The adults' comments were a little more biting: "this referendum demonstrates Costa Rica's great democracy... but it also demonstrates how many stupid Costa Ricans there are." Spending most of my time in the university, I had heard pretty much only anti-TLC propaganda, so it was interesting to hear from actual people on the other side (as opposed to TV commercials and whatnot). I suppose it makes sense considering that the two sides have complete opposite views on nearly every aspect of the treaty (for example, the No side thinks the treaty will hurt education and make it more expensive, the Si side thinks that's a complete invention with no basis in fact), but it still boggled my mind that each side pretty much thinks the other side is made up of complete idiots. I guess that's how it always goes, though, isn't it?
The voting ended at 7pm, and my host mom was helping with the counting. They had started counting at noon, so they were finished around 7:30. My host mom took me into the center of our town to report our neighborhood's results. She called her husband to tell him that our neighborhood had voted yes... given his government position, he already knew that the entire country had voted yes, even though the preliminary results had not been announced yet. My host mother told the campaign office the news... actually, she screamed "¡GANAMOS TODO EL PAIS!" (we won the whole country). Women started shrieking, jumping up and down, pounding on tables and walls, crying, calling loved ones and yelling the news incomprehensibly. A marching band came over and started drumming. It was a completely surreal moment, to be a U.S. citizen in a cramped room full of ticos who really really want to do business with my country. Seeing them so excited... I didn't have it in me to act like I was ecstatic as well, considering that it will have a relatively small impact on the U.S. economy... but for these people it meant everything. Absolutely everything. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be surrounded by anti-TLC ticos when they heard of their defeat. I think I would have wished I weren't wearing my Gettysburg sweatshirt. But among those celebrating, I felt like some kind of mascot or hero. I couldn't help but think about U.S. soldiers abroad and how it must feel to be a representative of a country that is someone else's shining beacon of hope. Say what you will about our politics or military, I don't care... the fact is that there are people who have that opinion and are devastated by the thought of our troops leaving their areas, whether or not those feelings are rational or justified. Completely surreal.
I went back home shortly after that and watched the news with the rest of the family, waiting for the official announcement. It was mostly pretty boring and anticlimactic, but did give me an insight as to how the No side was taking the news. They were pretty much just subdued, and that has continued to be the theme here at the university. Yesterday I went to class half-expecting my rather anti-TLC professor to not show up, or to find a demonstration happening, or that the professors had gone on strike (ok maybe I sort of half-hoped that last one), but there was nothing. It was just a somber, cold, rainy day, as if the weather had manifested the feelings of the majority of the campus. This was rather ironic given that Sunday had been gorgeous all day for the referendum, neglecting to rain for several hours as is the daily usual here.
I don't really have a good conclusion for this, as I have to run to a group meeting. All I can really say (for the third time) is that the whole experience was surreal. I was quiet throughout most of it, except when some of my host brothers' friends asked me a few questions about U.S. politics and my opinions on TLC. I felt like a casual observer, and the most foreign, the most like an outsider, that I have felt since arriving here exactly 3 months and 1 day ago. Now begins a new stage in my study abroad experience: one in which the driving force of everyone's lives (their position in TLC) no longer matters. It's decided. It's over. Now we'll just have to see what happens. I kind of want to come back 5 years from now and see how the country has changed, and see which side was "right."
For the past several months, the words "sí" and "no" have taken on a completely different meaning for all of us. Sunday, Costa Ricans all over the country voted in a referendum to decide whether or not to pass DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.), or as it is more popularly called, "TLC" (Tratado de Libre Comercio - Free Trade Agreement). This referendum was the first of its kind: the first time that Costa Ricans have been able to vote on a specific issue, say nothing about one so important and on such a large scale, and as such was an exciting exercise of democracy for the country.
The country has been very sharply divided on the issue. The government, many businesses and well-to-do citizens were in favor of the treaty, whereas many environmentalists and the majority of the educational community were opposed to it. Especially in the weeks leading up to the referendum, nearly all discussions turned into something about TLC. Costa Ricans are very peaceful people, meaning that although the country is very divided on this issue and people fervently support their positions, it has not been a dangerous or violent situation. Mostly there's just a LOT of graffiti, 99.9% of which is anti-TLC. Nearly every billboard and most buildings have been very simply spray-painted with black or red lettering "NO AL TLC." It's pretty annoying, actually. There have been demonstrations (one day I actually had a class cancelled because the department wanted people to go to the march in San José), but all were pretty much peaceful and easy to avoid. Basically, it wasn't the kind of situation that might come to mind when one thinks of political uproar in Central America.
My host family is very pro-TLC. They are upper-middle class, my host father works in the President's House, and they know a lot of people who work for multinational corporations located in Costa Rica (such as HP, Intel, etc). My host mother doesn't work, and pretty much threw herself into the "sí" campaign. Saturday night, she invited me to come along with them as they voted on Sunday. I agreed; the prospect of witnessing a historic event seemed pretty neat. Little did I know.
Around 8:30, I'm ready to leave and watch them vote. My host mom wasn't around because she was helping with the voting process, but around that time she came rushing back, threw a "mi corazón dice SI" ("my heart says yes," a popular campaign slogan) t-shirt at me, piled us all in the car, and we headed over. Apparently I was to help pro-TLC people vote. Now, I have never gotten involved in anything political in my life. The closest I have come was the time I was an editor for our high school Republican journal, the one that received three articles and never got published. Also I voted once. I do not have a strong position on TLC: I tried to stay as neutral as possible. Nevertheless, I was thrown into supporting a position and privately found it rather hilarious. My host mom was stressed because very few volunteers had shown up to help the "Sí" table, and thus wanted my help. So, I sat at the table inflating propaganda-covered balloons and getting made fun of for my inability to tie them. Later I helped direct people to their assigned voting rooms. All-in-all, I was there for about three hours. The voting for my neighborhood took place in an old school. The "sí" and "no" tables were on opposite sides of the entrance, and people went to their appropriate table to find their voting rooms. It was an interesting sort of popularity-contest... people were trying to keep tallies in their heads of how many people came to each table, trying to gain some idea of who was winning. I didn't really talk much because everyone was sort of busy, but I rather enjoyed listening. There were little boys who spouted pro-TLC propaganda they had heard from their parents and jeered at the anti-TLC movement, trying to appear older, cooler, in-the-know. The adults' comments were a little more biting: "this referendum demonstrates Costa Rica's great democracy... but it also demonstrates how many stupid Costa Ricans there are." Spending most of my time in the university, I had heard pretty much only anti-TLC propaganda, so it was interesting to hear from actual people on the other side (as opposed to TV commercials and whatnot). I suppose it makes sense considering that the two sides have complete opposite views on nearly every aspect of the treaty (for example, the No side thinks the treaty will hurt education and make it more expensive, the Si side thinks that's a complete invention with no basis in fact), but it still boggled my mind that each side pretty much thinks the other side is made up of complete idiots. I guess that's how it always goes, though, isn't it?
The voting ended at 7pm, and my host mom was helping with the counting. They had started counting at noon, so they were finished around 7:30. My host mom took me into the center of our town to report our neighborhood's results. She called her husband to tell him that our neighborhood had voted yes... given his government position, he already knew that the entire country had voted yes, even though the preliminary results had not been announced yet. My host mother told the campaign office the news... actually, she screamed "¡GANAMOS TODO EL PAIS!" (we won the whole country). Women started shrieking, jumping up and down, pounding on tables and walls, crying, calling loved ones and yelling the news incomprehensibly. A marching band came over and started drumming. It was a completely surreal moment, to be a U.S. citizen in a cramped room full of ticos who really really want to do business with my country. Seeing them so excited... I didn't have it in me to act like I was ecstatic as well, considering that it will have a relatively small impact on the U.S. economy... but for these people it meant everything. Absolutely everything. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be surrounded by anti-TLC ticos when they heard of their defeat. I think I would have wished I weren't wearing my Gettysburg sweatshirt. But among those celebrating, I felt like some kind of mascot or hero. I couldn't help but think about U.S. soldiers abroad and how it must feel to be a representative of a country that is someone else's shining beacon of hope. Say what you will about our politics or military, I don't care... the fact is that there are people who have that opinion and are devastated by the thought of our troops leaving their areas, whether or not those feelings are rational or justified. Completely surreal.
I went back home shortly after that and watched the news with the rest of the family, waiting for the official announcement. It was mostly pretty boring and anticlimactic, but did give me an insight as to how the No side was taking the news. They were pretty much just subdued, and that has continued to be the theme here at the university. Yesterday I went to class half-expecting my rather anti-TLC professor to not show up, or to find a demonstration happening, or that the professors had gone on strike (ok maybe I sort of half-hoped that last one), but there was nothing. It was just a somber, cold, rainy day, as if the weather had manifested the feelings of the majority of the campus. This was rather ironic given that Sunday had been gorgeous all day for the referendum, neglecting to rain for several hours as is the daily usual here.
I don't really have a good conclusion for this, as I have to run to a group meeting. All I can really say (for the third time) is that the whole experience was surreal. I was quiet throughout most of it, except when some of my host brothers' friends asked me a few questions about U.S. politics and my opinions on TLC. I felt like a casual observer, and the most foreign, the most like an outsider, that I have felt since arriving here exactly 3 months and 1 day ago. Now begins a new stage in my study abroad experience: one in which the driving force of everyone's lives (their position in TLC) no longer matters. It's decided. It's over. Now we'll just have to see what happens. I kind of want to come back 5 years from now and see how the country has changed, and see which side was "right."