Nicaragua's Ring Cycle

Two weeks ago I saw Gotterdamarung, the final opera in Wagner's Ring cycle. Shortly thereafter, I got on a plane and went to Nicaragua. What I learned there bore shocking resemblance to the moral of these four operas. I'd read a bit about the history of the country. For much of the 20th century, Nicaragua was actually one of the richest countries in Central America. However, it was also ruled with a iron fist by Somoza, the country's dictator. Then came his ousting by the FSLN, a scocalist revolutionary group, and brutal civil war. Nicaragua's former socialist leader, Daniel Ortega recently returned to power.

Viewed from outside, Nicaragua seems to be a democracy. Once on the ground, you quickly see the the country is functionally a mix of communist dictatorship, Catholicism and a healthy dose of street-level capitalism.

During the ride to our villa, I immediately noticed the abundance of political posters with Ortega's face, or smiling children. Slogans claimed that the president was working 'with all for the good of all' or for 'Socialism, Christianity, and Solidarity'. When I asked our driver about them he told me that the signs had gone up for the previous election, but but were never taken down. Now they're simply propaganda, some of which appears to have been put up after the election.

Indeed, as I traveled through the country President Ortega's likeness seemed to be almost as ubiquitous as Putin's in Russia. The socialist bent of the government party line was like something straight out of the former eastern bloc. Signs throughout the country proclaim the government's national phrase: " El Pueblo - Presidente!" or the people are president. Even local government gets in on the act, claiming to be institutions of 'citizen power'. In the capital, national scocalist statues are common. A park dedicated to Cuban-Nicaraguan friendship features a recent socialist-realist mural of Castro and Ortega standing together under the red star of communism.

Most of the public arn't buying the act. The majority of Nicaraguans Don't support their president. On a drive through Managua, our driver pointed out Ortega's various vanity projects, grumbling that the president " wants every year to be like Christmas."

It seems likely that he will get his wish. After coming to power Ortega forced a change of the constitution, allowing him to be re-elected with only 30% of the vote.

On the flight home, I pondered what I had seen. In many ways Nicaragua's situation resembles the plot of Wagner's famous work. Wotan's status as a god was dependant on a contractual consensus inscribed on his spear, the instrument of his power. By breaking those agreements, he fell from grace. Nicaragua's dictators also must answer to their people. Somoza's refusal to give aid to the masses following, a devastating 1972 earthquake made his rule untenable. The power of ruling elite is dependant on the masses' acceptance of the government's actions even in dictatorship.

Today in Nicaragua, it appears as if the same cycle is staring all over again. Tempted by the shining gold of absolute power, the revolutionary has become the despot.

I can only hope that Ortega will realize that the quest for absloute rule leads down the path to immolation -- and that his position is contingent on the expectations which his subjects ascribe to the instruments of his office. The people do have power, but not because their government proclames it. They infulence the future by demanding actual progress in spite of the party line.

GIrls, Booze and Maturity: Some Observations

I sat down and took in the view before me. Fountains danced
to music against a backdrop of ancient defense walls. Beyond that, stood thecathedral and medieval square that we had just walked through. It was my last night in the town of Bardejov. I had come to the region in Slovakia to visit a friend, who I met while studying Polish in Krakow the month before. She,her friends and I were out for a bit of the local nightlife. As we casually sipped glasses of Saris from a pub located in one of the fortifications defense turretswe discussed how we have changed now that we had entered our early 20’s. She sounded almostnostalgic for her teenage years, recalling the blind excitement of nights spent sneaking cheap Champaign on the town defense walls. “It really made me feel like someone” she toldme in Polish. Now, we agreed, we hadmoved beyond that stage. Sitting down over a beer was a normal part of life. It was also nothing special.
I didn’t think much about this discussion until a few days ago. Almost half a year later after that
discussion, I found myself sitting in a small Korean restaurant in a strip shopping center east of Los Angeles. I was staring at an image of what looked like a glass filled with psychedelic vomit on a smartphone. The smartphone’s owner was prattling on excitedly about how she wanted to try the libation in question. Not because she’d had it before, or even because she heard it was good,but because it was so ‘cool’. She had just turned 20.
It occurred to me that this must have been the excitement that my Slovakian friends of roughly the same age had recalled. Only, in America youth go through this stage much later.
Growing up, this youthful excitement must have passed me by. I spent a lot of time traveling as a teenager. I have been of legal drinking age on my birthday since I turned 16. Alcohol was always just another part of life to me. I hate clubs, and have never felt the need to go to one and binge drink simply because I can.
Yet, this was exactly what I saw when I traveled to Shanghai on a university trip in 2010. It one of the first times that most of the other students could actually go to a club. A group convinced me and a Korean international student to go with them. Everyone but us acted as if this activity was the high points of life. The Korean student and I did not enjoy ourselves and left early. On the way back to the hotel we agreed that our collogues behavior was immature compared to the youth in many other nations. The others on the program had yet to realize that reality is different from how things appear in music videos. Those who may have begun to suspect weren’t about risk voicing the truth to their peers.
Indeed, on my most recent trip to Ljubljana we celebrated my admittance to graduate school by going to a pub. One current student in the graduate program explained why. The clubs in the Slovenian capital are filled with 18 year olds who think being there means they are someone.
Apparently, this is also the case is Bardejov. It’s a normal stage of life inany country. Many quickly grow out of it.
Since my most recent return to America, many of my friends have turned 21. I cannot help but be struck by how much they remind me of some of my 18 year old European acquaintances. The excitement one of them displays regarding participation in drunken revels is almost
exactly the same as the attitude of an Austrian girl I knew in Poland. There is three years of age difference between them. Maybe will mature more quickly than the other, but that one will also have grown up faster. I suppose that which is better depends on your perspective.