Bananamismo
Z7 gun nuts prepare to leave Bocas
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Militia gun nut Darren Wilburn gets interrogated by the police and is now packing to leave Panama, while his partner pledges that they will never give any training under any circumstances here.
Bananama Republic (http://www.bananamarepublic.com/tag/frenadeso/)
Militia gun nut Darren Wilburn gets interrogated by the police and is now packing to leave Panama, while his partner pledges that they will never give any training under any circumstances here.
As much as Martinelli is the product of the internal rot of Panama's entrepreneurial and political class, the violence and shoplifting are the result of decades of ignoring Colon, of ignoring the fact that Panama has one of the highest differences between rich and poor in the hemisphere, of allowing massive corruption and exploitation.
What we're seeing is protest that goes beyond coercing the government into dropping its CFZ sales plans. It's no longer against one piece of misguided policy; it is against Martinelli himself, his accomplices, against the constant abuses, the broken promises, the violence, the unprecedented mega-corruption and the fact that the highest economic growth in Latin America has not done anything to close the gap between rich and poor.
The authentic protests of the Ngöbes have now accomplished what snotty environmentalists, unions and other "civil society" groups, despite being better "educated" and having more resources, have not: To keep their lands free of open pit mines.
A fake indigenous leader turns out to be paid by the government and possibly Canadian mining interests while sectarianism and ego-pumping further divide anti-mining protests.
Panama's unions and civic activist groups fail to win battles. What should they do to change that?
Last week was the pivoting point. The small support margin for the proposed Panama Canal expansion project disappeared and if a referendum would be held today, the proposal would be rejected. The pro-government newspapers have stopped publishing polls. There are protest marches in the streets by schoolteachers who demand decent pay for their work. The police quashes protests in the interior with tear gas when teachers march on the Panamerican Highway.