Somos los Indignados - San Jose
"Somos los Indigandos" means "We are the indignant". This was the theme for Occupy Wall Street in San Jose. Saturday I was supposed to be on my way to see the giant see turtles lay their eggs and to see the babies hatching on the Caribbean Coast. Due to the increasingly insane rain, we did not go. School has been moved to a temporary campus due to mudslides and teachers warned us against travel. I was so sad. So instead, I pulled on my rain boots and rain jacket and armed myself with an umbrella and off I went to the Occupy Wall Street protest in San Jose. It never occurred to me that I should be anything but warm and dry or what was actually taking place at the protest. I had been listening to NPR report on the protests around the world and only one had erupted in violence in Italy. The message being sent is powerful and necessary and I wanted to be a part of it. I am one of the 99% so I felt I had to represent.
We were a gangly group of foreigners who waited for the bus to San Jose. Each one of us up for adventure. Once in San Jose we stopped for some pre-protest coffee and chatted. Then on to the protest. The first thing we saw were cops. Many, many police, police cars, and ambulances. No protesters could be found. We thought we had missed it and that it had broken up. We wondered onto the square where where the organizers of the protest were happy to meet us. We were about 15. Hmmm. The cops were there in anticipation of something. What, I'm not sure. Occupy Wall Street is about non-violent protest and Costa Rica is so non-violent that it doesn't even have an army. And as we introduced ourselves people began showing up. The professional protesters had arrived. I suddenly felt out of place in my flowery rain boots, hot pink wool sweater, and carrying my purple umbrella with pink hearts. I had forgotten the dress code for protests. If there is one, it's black t-shirts and ripped jeans. To top it off, the sun actually came out! I hadn't seen the sun in over a week!
And then it began. We all held hands and formed a giant circle. We then walked in spirals until we were wound tight in the shape of a sea shell. The speaker was at the center. This was so we could be close enough to hear. Various people spoke about why we had gathered. Is it fair that 1% of the people control 40% of the wealth? We gathered to protest capitalism and the demoralizing spiral into debt countless are suffering due to globalization. We protest that the U.S. government is tied to so many wars and economies yet can't manage to pass any legislation in congress. We protest the tax break for the wealthy. We protest the bank bail outs and CEO salaries. It's not about people not working hard enough. Societal structures have changed and that is not enough anymore.
I am privileged. I think about it often. Sometimes I think life is tough or unfair and then I pass through an impoverished neighborhood in Costa Rica. Today I watched a documentary about La Carpio, a slum area we are visiting tomorrow. It was so sad. Women were talking about how hard they worked just to get to where they are in the slums. Teenagers spoke about raising their brothers and sisters. Immigrants talked about getting out of Nicaragua and even though they don't have a chance, their children might. These people never had a chance. I do. I am so thankful. There are things that I want and things that I miss. My future is uncertain but when I hear their stories, I am not worried about myself anymore. Oh world. Oh people. Oh us! There really should be enough for everyone. If nothing else, we should have enough love and compassion.
It is still raining. Six roads have been closed and several are barely passable due to mudslides. The news warned of traveling. Lucky I stayed home. The sun came out for the indignant. Things are happening. We got the sun. What next?
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