Feedback for Congreso General Extraordinario
First
of all, what it is...
The
Comarca decided they were unhappy with their current Casique (the tribal leader
of the reservation) so they asked/forced him to resign, and chose to elect
another. There was much disagreement about which community would host the
election, and 2 congresos were planned. One for Marranganti, where the old
government said they were going, and one in El Salto, where the majority of the
community leaders wanted to go. My community attended the one in El Salto, so I
did too.
How
the Embera Vote- They call an election, see who shows up, and then pick
candidates from those present to run for Casique. Then all of those not running
for Casique get in line behind their candidate to vote for him. (It could be a
her, I guess, but let’s face it, that’s not going to happen for awhile.) The
candidate with the most people in line wins. I guess they don’t have to worry
about hanging chads I suppose.
Things
They Did WELL-
*Well-decorated meeting hall. The jaguar skin was a nice touch.
*Free transport, housing, and food.
*All meal breaks were taken on time.
*The cultural dances by the teenage girls were well performed.
*The stocks for rule breakers (like those who spoke to members of
the opposite sex during the meeting) looked intimidating.
*There were plenty of benches to sit on.
*Prohibition of alcohol until after the meeting was appreciated
and effective.
*There were lots of volunteer law enforcers (called zarra).
*It was a very interesting voting process
Things
That Could be IMPROVED-
*Stop bickering between regions and agree on ONE community to host
the election in, rather than spending 2 months fighting and eventually hosting
2, one of which will eventually have to be declared void. (And thousands of
dollars that will have been spent needlessly.)
*Skip the 3 hour explanation of why we are here. We know. We came.
*Skip the impeachment of the Casique after we already knew he was
resigning.
*Sitting on boards for 9 hours without backs was tiring.
*Train the zarra how to do their job before they actually have to
do it. Before they mess up the count in the election because they don’t know
how to do their jobs.
*Choose the candidates and verify their qualifications before the
day of the election.
*Speak a common language for all participants. The Wounaan don’t
understand Embera. Neither do the gringos.
*The zarra didn’t do a very good job at keeping a certain gringa
in line. She was late to the meeting twice, spent most of the meeting talking
to members of the opposite sex, and might have fallen asleep once. All of those
are valid reasons to get thrown in the zepo (stocks), just sayin’.
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