There is a famous book by Eduardo Galeano that contains sentences, statements and maxims painted on walls (I can’t remember the title right now, I’m sure my friend Jose would) that he has collected over the years during his trips around Latin America. The one contained in the title is precisely one of those I remember because it sounds a bit like the first verse of one of Silvio Rodriguez’s songs.
The writing of political slogans on walls is nothing new, not even of the type shown in the picture: ‘Collas, raza maldita’ (Collas, damned race). We collected this one last year in Santa Cruz. ‘Colla’ is the term generally used to refer to those from the highlands and I guess this one leaves little doubt as to the racism that festers in the country.
Another one I read recently in Sucre was ‘Abajo con la dictadura narco comunista cubano-venezolana’ (Down with the Cuban-Venezuelan narco-communist dictatorship), another beauty that comes from the same political positions as the one in display in the racist slogan above.
But the best slogans have a different characteristic, one that takes us back to the days of May 1968 when French students would write ‘Be realistic, demand the impossible’. Recently, I read on a wall in La Paz ‘Despierta ya! Es hora de empezar a soñar’ (Wake up! It’s time to start dreaming) and ‘Si no dices lo que piensas, para qué piensas?’ (If you don’t say what you think, why bother thinking?).
Like with a poem, these one-liners leave us pondering about the many-layered truths contained in them and always make me smile. I wonder what it is about Bolivia that has brought these back into fashion. Revolutionary times may be?
I leave you with another beauty written by a local feminist group Karen told me about: ‘Despues de limpiarte la casa, lavarte la ropa y hacerte la comida, se me quitaron las ganas de hacerte el amor’ (After clearing the house, washing your clothes and cooking for you, I don’t feel like making love to you). Ouch!
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