Six actors stood frozen on stage, one pair in colonial
dress, a woman in a psychedelic green seventies motif, a second couple in all
white beach clothes and a third in a silver jumpsuit with futuristic LED
lighting. All were caste in gold-face
and were shimming yet frozen in various poses on stage while the most important
community figures spoke about a theme completely unrelated to the awkward living
statues; the book fair that was taking place next door.
Fake blondes plastered with makeup and false eyelashes
clapped madly as the speakers finished their self-congratulating speeches that
hardly touched upon issues of literacy, reading or access to education but
instead reveled in the accomplishment of putting on the tenth annual book fair,
where one could buy a single book for the cost of what many people have to feed
their families for the week.
It has been the running joke that I am Katniss living in the
Capitol of a remote South American country.
As much as I love to hate the truth in a pop-culture reference, I
couldn't help but smile at the irony when the grand finale of the book fair inauguration revealed eight carnival dancers on stage, scandalously embossed with
strategically placed bling and ridiculously large feather headdresses who gyrated
to blasting carnival music as a tribute to the great accomplishments of this
machista city of the south.
As the room full of ‘somebodies’ gawked and applauded over-approvingly
at the ‘performance’, I couldn't help but scream inside, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE
BOOKS???!!!”
In my position, I've been
repeatedly warned against negative blogging about specific people, events or
places. I mean no offense with my description
of this night but can’t help but share the reality of living in a country that
is rated by Transparency International as having the 27th most
corrupt public sector in the world (http://www.transparency.org/country#PRY). Guarding information and impeding access to
education is a celebrated fact when elites surround themselves with books and
pervert the transformational and liberating potential of the written word into
another show of affluence and decadence.
Signing off from the Capitol…
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