The most powerful force I have gotten to know

would be the ocean. and right behind that, would be the wind of the Patagonia. This clip does some (not complete) justice to the intensity of this wind, and the beauty of Coyhaique, and the Cerro Castillo area.
I have explored some of this terrain, and I want to explore much more of it.

#resisteaysen

#resisteaysen, a photo by powerdubbe on Flickr.

"Tu Problema es mi problema" is the official title of the Movimiento Social de Aysen, which is a group of students, union organizers, and pescadores that have come together to defend Aysen's right to live affordably. They are demanding a drop in the cost of fuel, fire wood, food, and a public university of quality within the region. This art piece supports this cause. This relates to what we have talked about in class... harking all the way back to the first day when Tony asked "what is pride?" pride is standing up for what you believe in, and know is right, even if you are standing alone. This is what Aysen has had the courage to do. This is what inspires me, and draws me back to this land where I have my most distant roots. I love Aysen like my mother. She raised me for just a half a year, but I will never loose what she taught me, and ingrained in my soul.

Public education is our right.

Public education is our right, a photo by powerdubbe on Flickr.

despite what those with power and money want us to believe, education is not a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market to whoever is the highest bidder (recently out of state and out of country students have been in this role). It is in fact our right. The UN even has declared it so.
So don't forget it. Rise up. Rebel.
And most of all: Don't let them scare you.

Words to fill in the images.

The people of Aysén have risen up and demanded economic justice, much like people here in the US are beginning to do, and as citizens will be so many times, were met with violent police repression. A middle aged mechanic lost his eye to rubber bullets shot at protestors by the automatic shotguns of Carbineros, o pacos. Two other teenagers were also blinded. El Pueblo de Aysén es fuerte, como las montañas that surround them.
We talked in class about the rough edges of Gauchos. How the wild landscape of the Patagnoia and the Pampa have created a many layered onion in Gaucho culture, frozen on the outside by howling winds, and blazing hot on the inside, like the coals que hierve la agua para el mate.
While I lived in Aysén I learned about these layers. I continue to learn about them. Solidaridad con mis companeros en aysen y su lucha contra la gobierno corportista de Piñera....

Solidaridad. Unidad. El Pueblo. Latino America.

aqui esta la arma de la gente...

Tienes que escuchar para los insultos, que muestran los colores de chile.