Hello from the sweetest internet cafe EVER. It's located in La Mariscal, aka "gringoland" because foreigners flock here. It has really cheap internet, good (safe) food, and cheap international calls. I'm sitting next to a pleasant British girl who is talking to her mom on Skype.
Ecuador has a new constitution! Sunday was voting day, and the country overwhelmingly approved constitution #20. This will hopefully be a step forward for the poor and disenfranchised, and not turn into some crazy Chavez-esque reign. Voting was so fun and a really important experience. It is WAY different here:
1.) Voting is mandatory. Obligatory. You must vote if you are between the ages of 18-65, there is no choice. After 65 it is optional. If you do not vote, you are fined 500 dollars (that is really a lot for the average ecuadorian family), you cannot travel in or out of the country for a year, and you cannot WORK in the country for a year. When you vote, you are given a card to prove to your employer that you voted. Basically its a really serious punishment, and everyone votes. You can vote null or blank if you don't have an opinion.
2.) The whole country is dry for 3 days before the vote. Dry, as in, NO alcohol consumption or sale! Its so that everyone votes with a clear mind, I guess? If you are caught with alcohol you get fined, put in jail for 11 days, and you lose your right to vote.
3.) You cannot campaign or duscuss the vote for 5 days before voting day. So the news pundits stopped talking about the vote on Wednesday.
4.) It is a really festive atmosphere. Its like a giant party for the whole country. It was actually kind of beautiful to see people excited about democracy. They weren't acting like it was a pain in the ass to vote, but something fun that actually impacts their lives. We definitely take our right to vote for granted in the USA. Outside the polling place, there are a zillion food vendors and music blares. Total fiesta.
So that was my voting experience. Results were in very quickly (small country) and when "si" won, my mom turned to me and said, "Our lives are going to be better. Maybe not for the very very rich, but my life will." Hope. Thats an important thing. Rafael Correa is only 38, but he gives hope to people traditionally disenfranchised-- indigenous, the poor, women, afroecuadorians. He is the first president to actually travel to villages and have town hall meetings (other presidents kept their distance from actual people, always a bad thing). Basically, I am happy that Ecuador has constitution number 20 and hope this one works out for them.
**"la patria ya es de todos" is the slogan for the new constitution, it means "the country (fatherland) belongs to us all"
2 comments:
Voting being mandatory sounds interesting (I can see not wanting some people to vote, if they don't care enough to inform themselves about the situation, can they really made an informed decision? And do we want people making uninformed decisions?)
But the pundits stopping 5 days before the election -- that sounds like heaven.
(One of your mom's "mom" friends)
haha. wow. that is awesome! i actually wish voting was like that in the US. i wouldn't mind it being mandatory. and i'm all for the DRY thing. and making it a positive experience instead of making it focused on campaign battles and 'who said' 'she said' crap. i've been thinking about voting in the US a lot recently obviously because of the pending election, but more so because this is my very first time voting and i am EXCITED! but i do wish politics and debates would take on a new attitude in the states, because its a little too intense for me when i see two college students almost tear each other's eyeballs out over political issues. so i dunno. i have been really impressed though with the push for college students to be registered to vote. i can't walk around my campus without running into 5-10 people that are signing people up! woo hoo! yay voting! sorry if that sounds nerdy.
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