democracy and art

So our first day of strolling around Old Town (where all the monasaries, churches, President´s house, and old buildings are, as well as bustling little stores lining the streets (fun fact: all the buildings were painted with white limestone to prevent disease and were recently restored to the original 1750´s colors)), we see that everyone in this plaza is reading this little comic book. I ask half a dozen people where they got them and they all point to different points in the plaza. I ask an old lady for the ones on the ground next to her and she gives them to me and her gang of 70-something cronies tell me all about the new constitution and the vote on Sept 28^th. I was expecting students to be responsible for the comic book, which turned out to be a political history of Ecuador and an explanation of the new constitution, skillfully representing the political elites as gruesome fatties and monsters, but these old ladies were very enthused about the prospect of de-centralization. There are readings of excerpts of the proposed constitution on TV, with one modern-dressed lady and one traditionally dressed lady reading about the rights of Nature and our duty to preserve the ecosystem. Our local friend Mauricio says the new constitution will do much to help the poor too. There is no drinking this weekend before the voting. Judging from the many small public demonstrations, it seems like the new constitution is going to pass, and judging from the manifold efforts at informing the public, it seems like a very good thing. Democracy in action! How exciting!!! Unfortunately for me, we just got an email from the US embassy saying that we´ll be arrested if we participate in any of the public demonstrations… the symbol of democracy! How hypocritical! AS OF SEPT. 28TH, THE NEW CONSTITUTION PASSED! LET´S SEE IF IT DOES ANYTHING!

In this same vein of education, we also went to the National Museum. It was a chronological art history of Ecuador. From 10,000 to 4000 BC there were hunter-gatherers in groups of 20-30, which gradually developed into status hierarchies with political, merchants, or religious elites. As time went on, power was increasingly held by fewer people until the Incas came and conquered everyone´s ass with state organization of economics and military. Then the Spanish (Pizarro) came and kicked their Incan asses with (as Jared Diamond says) guns, germs, and steel (I like to think about how this historical progression happened pretty much the same way all over the world- as time goes on, societies grow bigger, power is held by fewer, there is more specialization, more inequality- sounds like my thesis... anybody interested?). So the art in the museum shifts from pottery, stone figures, and gold jewelery to Jesus art. They were particularly gory Jesus images because they wanted to scare the natives into Christianity. Then the rest of the museum was some landscapes, portraits, and then some good impressionism, cubism, and finally some pretty intense modern art/social critique. I hope to include pics of this intense stuff.