For the last 16 days, Bolivia has been enduring a Paro Cívico, that is, a Civic Lockdown. It has generally been a peaceful massive national strike against the government of Evo Morales and the MAS (his party). President Evo has been in power for 16 years. He has been democratically elected, except that this last time the charges of electoral corruption grew to the point that large swaths of the country exploded.
Various parts of Bolivia have shut down since 16 days ago. No work, little transport, massive demonstrations, etc. The Anglican bishop of Bolivia, Raphael Samuel, has been blogging daily on Facebook. That church, along with other churches, has been helping to feed people on the streets, praying publically, and doing many works of mercy. Various of the church leaders are involved in the Paro Cívico. In fact, some of the leaders of the Paro Cívico carry their Bible with them.
I know you have not read about this on any of the American media because I have looked for reports and have not found them. Right now, impeachment, Ukraine, Russia, and Syria are taking up all our attention, and, not unfairly so. It is difficult for anyone to keep their attention on the whole world, and Bolivia has little direct impact on the USA. So, I thought to bring it to your attention.
At the same time, let me issue a small concern on a related subject. We have become used to using the “gotcha” technique of trolling on comments. So, we look for news stories that can be used to batter the opponent. For instance, we will find a story from somewhere in the world that is as unrelated to us as Bolivia, but shows a supposed small very local violent outbreak of Muslim vs Christian. Or–from the other political side–we will find an equally small area in which female genital mutilation is still practiced. We will then flog the supposed mainstream media, or the supposed blind conservatives, with their obvious bias by refusing to report the particular story that we have found.
And yet, here is Bolivia. An entire country breaking apart and yet absolutely no news media is reporting it, at least not Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, CBS News, Reuters (USA), NPR, Breitbart, etc. It would be easy for me to pull a gotcha. You see, Bolivia matters to none of our warring political factions in the USA. No one up here has really reported it because Bolivia does not affect us directly and because there is nothing in the Paro Cívico that can be used to further some type of agenda up here.
So, do pray for Bolivia. And, next time you see someone doing some type of gotcha semi-journalism based on a story in a remote part of this world, stop and realize that you are being stirred up not for the sake of the people from wherever the story comes but for the sake of a few political points here in the USA.
Fr. Ernesto, bless.
Interesting point about the gotcha game, that it all depends on interests anyway. Scary
Christian Science Monitor is usual pretty good at reporting current international news. Many foreign newspapers now have English editions, so that may be a way to find out about folks from “non-US interests” areas.
Living with a non-functioning government is hell on earth. In the US, anyone who’s been affected by government shut- downs has had a sample of what it’s like to helplessly watch your daily life quickly unravel. If you were on the east coast during 9-11 you know a bit of that feeling of things falling apart.
(What I’m working through out loud is a bit tangential, so please forgive me for going off track here.)
Even with keeping up with everything going on through podcasts, news sites, radio TV both domestic and foreign, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless, since we can’t physically aid everyone. It seems easier to just shut out the world, but prayer is an underestimated aid.
Even when a situation doesn’t seem to end well, it could be that a prayer kept it from being much worse.
Can’t downplay physical help or, worse, hide behind prayer instead of providing tangible relief. (Atheists have a good laugh over US school shooter prayers. I think there’s even a wry European comedy sketch about them)
But prayer, either accompanied by help or when it’s all we can give, is more powerful than we can imagine. That should give us some hope and will help others, too. Otherwise, the monks on St. Athos might as well pack it up and return to their villages, right?
In the past entire villages repented, fasted, prayed and processed to ask God to relieve famines and other disasters. It worked. (Read about St. Martin of Tours). We don’t do that for ourselves, let alone for an unknown peasant in Bolivia… Let me just speak for myself, I don’t do those things.
Saints, spirit-filled prayer warriors par excellence, say we’re each responsible for the other in some way. So, we could ,at the very least, say “Lord have mercy” for the people of Bolivia. We can’t donate to everyone and some life circumstances prevent us from doing so, but anyone in their right mind can pray for everyone, and about every situation we read or hear about.