Demo

Last thursday students marched against the reform, it was a big march and there were confrontations between students and people that came to in support of the reform, and between students and the police. People were hurt and a girl in Zulia (another state where the university also marched) was killed by some unknown person. I never went to this demo since me and a friend decided to go on a trip instead.

We went to the state Sucre, about 8 hours east of Caracas. We spent one day up in the mountains in a small town called Caripe, saw a huge cave and bathed in rivers. The other day we went to a national park by the coast, went for an interesting walk along the beach and even took a swim in the big blue. Beauuutiful scenery!

Yesterday there was another student march, this time they had called for everyone againt the reform to join. The student councils of each university in Caracas (there are about 4-5) work together in deciding what and how to respond to the situation and to make sure that everyone gets the message about what will happen. Often they go out on the television to announce the marches and make their statement. The student movement is slightly more active here compared to Sweden, that is only my personal observation.

Many teachers cancel the classes to support the marches and so that the student who want to participate don't lose out on anything. Yesterday there were no classes for no one and all exams this week have been postponed to next week. I had decided to go down to the march to observe, not participate. The students gatherd first at Plaza Venezuela, in the center of Caracas, and after about 1.5 h the march began. Once everyone started to walk I walked too and therefore I guess one could say that I did participate in the march. Even though I didn't chant along in any of their chants "Quienes somos? - Estudiantes! Qúe queremos? - Libertad!".
The purpose of the march was to go to the Tribunal Supremo de Justica (like the supreme court) and hand in a document saying that the date when to vote for or against the reform (2 december) should be postponed till february, to give the people a chance to read the reform and make an informed deciscion, but also point out that the reform is breaking against the prevailing consistution in the way it has been proposed and also in some of the articles.

The total number of articles to be reformed is about 60-70 and I have tried to read them. But it is a very complicated language and even if I do understand the words the meaning of the text is very complex, as all law-texts. But there are enough people and analysts who have interpreted the articles and criticize their significance.

Well, the march went very well. It was all very peaceful and the atmosphere was good. The other marches that have suffered confrontations almost provoked Chavez to forbid all further marches. That is marches by the opposition, since it this sunday was a march by the Chaviztas, in favour of the "Sí", Yes to the reform. No confrontations took place during this march. The police let them through everywhere. There were a lot of people on that march, all dressed in the same shirt and hat (all red) which they are given by the government. It is said that everyone employed by the government are obliged to participate in the marches, that there even is a list you have to sign your name on to prove that you were actually at the march. Anyhow a lot of people came from all over Venezuela and it looked like a big fiesta on the streets, with music and all.
Two days after the "prohibition" of further marches Chavez changed the formulation so that it still is ok, but with some restraints.

So, we reached the supreme court, a group of students representatives went inside and talked to the poeple there and handed in the document. The police had hardly been visible at all until this point. They stood as a wall between the students and a group of Chaviztas that had turned up to demonstrate infavour of the reform. But nothing happened, no confrontations. So after the student representatives came out, everyone went back together and then everyone went home. We went and had something to eat and then we went home too.
But we were quite shocked when we heard later that the students from the Universidad Central went to the university they were met by an unknown group of people which started to shoot against them. The reason is still not known, nor who they were. I have seen photos and videos and the show masked people pointing guns at unarmed students. Nine hurt, but no one killed. I will go up to my uni later today and hopefully get some more info.

Next week I will sit down with two friends, very involved in the student movement, and we will try to work through the reform, and understand what it means. Well, my contribution will probably be restrained to "Hm..., huuh?, huuum" but it will be very interesting anyways!

Ok, in a few hours I have a presentation on an article about environmental factors controlling macrofauna comminities on sandy beaches on the northern coast of Spain, so I leave you here...


This last photo is also taken on the march. It was a man standing there holding it up... It says:
"Socialism is the filosophy of failure, a creed of ignorance and it preeches for envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal distribution of misery."

Well. Quite harsch I must say...