Towards a less polarized future?

The historic election in El Salvador finally came to an end on the past Sunday 15th. After a year of campaigning, every single corner of the country covered in party colors, after all the fear, the lies, the accusations from both sides, the dirty battle is over and another kind of struggle is about to begin. Half of the population is now in a state of deep happiness and hope, whereas the other half is disappointed, worried and fearful. Both sides feel the way they do for perfectly rational reasons. As a foreign observer, what are my feelings this first week after the leftish FMLN leader Mauricio Funes won the presidency with just over 51 percent of the votes?

On election day, I was observing the process in the country’s biggest voting center, La Feria Internacional, in San Salvador. What I saw gave me so much hope and faith in the Salvadoran people, a people that I have admired from the first time I set foot in the country. The atmosphere at the voting tables, each group consisting of two ARENA representatives and two FMLN representatives with alternate members, showed a spirit of professionalism, mutual respect, dialogue and co-operation. I watched them working in favor of the process rather than of their respective party. I watched thousands of voters come and go, so proud and happy to participate. And when the result came, no revanchism, no acts of violence. I have never felt so safe walking the streets of San Salvador as I did when I left the voting center after counting the votes on Sunday night.

Of course, the election had its problems and irregularities. Sadly, some rumors of fraud showed to be true, like that of foreigners being brought to El Salvador to vote under the identity of dead citizens, and that of employers forcing their employees to take a photo of their ballot with the “correct” party flag marked. But many errors were also committed by the voting facilitators because of inadequate training rather than of bad intentions. The process, furthermore, had its flaws, like messy citizen registers and denying the millions of Salvadorans living abroad the right to vote.

Nonetheless, on the night after the election, it seemed that both parties had matured ages in just a couple of hours. I am thinking that five years from now, in the next presidential election, maybe the Salvadoran people will finally be represented by political parties worthy their confidence. By politicians who are able to match their intelligence, pragmatism and honesty. I truly hope so, because no matter the political affiliation in the election on the past March 15th, those are the outstanding characteristics of the Salvadoran citizen.

So, as an international observer and a Swede with many beloved happy, hopeful, disappointed, worried and fearful Salvadoran friends, I have come to the conclusion that the strength of this society is that complexity finally will win over polarization. The best of ARENA will make sure to drag out the worst of FMLN, and the best of FMLN will help forcing ARENA’s transformation. Because if there is one thing that the seemingly divided Salvadoran people would agree on, it is that both these transformations are indispensable for the welfare of their extraordinary “paísito”.

Mejor comer mierda...

“Mejor comer mierda que hacer cola para comer mierda” (It’s better to eat shit than to line up to eat shit). This dry statement is a nice and clear description of the current situation in El Salvador. Impatience and pessimism, always accompanied by a good sense of humor.

The presidential elections are exactly two weeks away, and for the first time the left wing party FMLN (the former guerrilla, supported by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela) has a real chance of winning over the right wing party ARENA (founded during the civil war, supported by the US and the country’s richest) after one of the dirtiest campaigns ever. As an observer, leaving the country about a week after the elections, I find it extremely exciting. Salvadorans of all social groups, with friends, families and lives here, would probably prefer another word. Frightening. Insecure. Hopeless. No one really wants to vote for any of the candidates, but you choose the one you believe will make you eat less shit. As simple as that.

Last Sunday, I volunteered for an organization called Un Techo para mi País (“a shelter for my country”, http://www.untechoparamipais.org/). It’s a youth driven organization that operates in several Latin American countries, aiming to help families living in urban shanty towns. UTPMP mobilizes thousands of volunteers, analyzes the necessities of the communities and uses donations in order to build stable houses, irrigation systems and other basic necessities. Also, it aims to provide the communities with micro credits, educational support and other long-term projects. The idea is that young, privileged students get to meet and interact with the poorest people in the country, thus reducing the fear and promoting social consciousness and developmental co-operation.

This Sunday, we were about 150 volunteers (the majority between 18 and 23 years old approximately) going to the community Las Victorias in Soyapango, 15 minutes from San Salvador by bus. Las Victorias consists of approximately 800 families, all living in “houses” made of carton, plastic, laminate and all kinds of waste. They lack running water, most households don’t have electricity and formal employment is the exception. They’re waiting for legal right to the property they inhabit. They suffer from bad health because of dusty lungs, the impossibility of keeping a good hygiene and the constant stress provoked by extreme poverty. Our mission was to go from house to house (800 in one day!) filling out detailed questionnaires about the families’ housing conditions, number of children, costs and incomes, occupations, health status of all family members, etc. In the next step, UTPMP will evaluate the questionnaires and then implement a health care project in the community.

Meeting and talking to Salvadorans living under conditions like these wasn’t exactly new to me. I met a lot of poor children and their parents at urban, public schools during my field study almost a year ago, but this was the first time I got the opportunity to actually visit their homes. The first time I got to see how the absolutely poorest people in urban El Salvador live. I also clearly saw the differences between extreme poverty in urban and rural areas. The people I meet regularly when I help Enriqueta’s NGO in the countryside, in La Barra the Santiago and El Zapote, are as poor as the people in urban shanty towns like Las Victorias, and they seem to be as invisible to the rest of the population. However, many children in the countryside at least have more space, natural playgrounds, fresh air and the sea. Are they happier? Impossible to say. My point is that it is important to understand that one has to handle urban and rural poverty differently. Every community is unique, and so are the conditions of every family and individual. Poverty has as many faces as the number of people suffering from it. That’s why you have to go there and listen to them, hear what they have to say. Reforms on the institutional level, looking good on the paper, are never going to work as long as the people inventing them just sit on their asses making assumptions without any real connections to reality.

I think that in this country, one has to find a better balance between political strategy and strategies based on unbiased research. The problem is that the political system is way too polarized to make real co-operation between parties, thus obtain long-term initiatives to fight poverty, possible. You are either a friend or an enemy. The only hope right now, as I see it, are independent organizations like UTPMP, Schools for the Future and other NGO's without political affiliation. We have the potential to gain confidence with people at all levels and to promote truly sustainable co-operation and long-term projects. Our plans will not change, no matter who turns out to be the winner on the 15th of March.

And in the end, in spite of all the differences, between the city and the countryside, rich and poor, there’s one thing most Salvadorans have in common; When it comes to politics, they all see themselves lining up to eat some more shit.

Please visit http://www.schoolsforthefuture.org/ to learn more about my work in El Salvador, and how you can help.