nt of Peru? Hmmm...how about privatizing its archaeological sites, i.e. selling them (to foreigners)? This must be the brilliant and farsighted logic of Alan Garcia's government. 
Foreigners (especially Chileans) have been buying large pieces of land in Peru ever the last few years: land in the Sacred Valley now costs about US$4 per sq mt..and it's gone up! Impoverished Peruvian farmers are forced to sell their land to foreign investors for ridiculous prices. Telecommunications and transport have already been privatised (beyond any neoliberal economic rethoric, this means poor people cannot afford them and stay without). The next step would be to sell the management of the country's heritage sites.
If you think you've seen a strike you should have seen this one. NO ONE was working (except vendors selling food to the protesters): no buses, taxis or cars of any sort were to be seen in the streets, all cafes, restaurants and shops were closed, including the market. Maricarmen and I went to the protest, everybody was in the streets marching, protesting, or just hanging out.
grosero, vende tu trasero!" and "Urgente, urgente, otro presidente!". The strike will go on untill the law is banned for good. Worry not, I think the Cusqueños have it in them to preserve their heritage and their businesses....And an interesting BBC study for all the no-globals who enjoy all the benefits of globalisation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7230202.stm
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| Varie |
3 comments:
This is more or less what strikes used to be in Italy in the '70s, all blocked. What's most amazing is realizing once more that in this world of media, globalization and information we know so little of the facts happening in other places. They fill up the newspapers with all possible murders and gossips and we're not told anything about fights, struggles, wars and varoius problems which take place far away but might affect our lives much more than we imagine. In that, BBC seems the only network to make a good job, often presenting dossiers about places we never hear about.
Who ever thought Machu Picchu can be sold to Chile, poor Incas...
Anyway I see that the strike allowed you to take beautiful pictures of empty streets, which I understand is absolutely extraordinary
Io non la laeggo quasi mai, ma penso che Al Jazeera copra anche bene l'Africa e altre zone completamente ignorate nei nostri giornali...
Given the number of complaints...I don't think that "urban sprawl" is truly the "American Dream". It is an American Dream to be able to own a house with some land and I think that city planners and developers are taking advantage of that and making these newer (and many times of significantly lower quality as far as the actual structures are concerned) neighborhoods economically accessible and artificially raising the value... thus limiting the accessibility of older more established neighborhoods...and sometimes leading to tax assessments that are well beyond those pool souls who originally settled there... forcing them to move on. In the long run this essentially robs the neighborhood of the charm that made it desirable in the first place! Happily, as we can now see... this strategy has begun to bite them in the hind quarters as the housing market crashes and more houses become accessible (to those who did not foolishly over-extend and put their trust in mortgages that were only fixed... aka affordable... for a short term). But I ramble!
I love reading your blogs and keeping track of my little foot stomper!
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