PROTEST, Rioting, and ORDER

1. PROTEST, Rioting, and ORDER Why are riots and demonstrations the exception in large Latin American cities?

2. Large Scale Rioting since World War II • Colombia • History of violence • Conservative & Liberal political parties • Millions of deaths in nineteenth century • Liberals become dominant political party in the wake of Great Depression

3. BOGOTA: 1948 • Assassination of popular Liberal party leader • OAS meeting in Bogotá • Jorge Gaitan – idol of the masses • Set in motion Colombia’s only military government of twentieth century

4. Bogotazo: April 9, 1948

5. Large Scale Rioting since World War II: Caracas 1989 • Rise in transportation fares triggers rioting in ranchos • Spreads to the ten largest cities; lasts for three days • Hundreds (thousands?) are killed during the restoration of order • Military suppression of rioting signaled the unraveling of the political regime

6. Caracas 1989 : CAUSES • Decade-long economic downturn • Frustration of expectations immediately following an election campaign • Failure of government to explain policies

7. Middle Class Demonstrations: Caracas (2002) • Different from urban rioting • Middle Class • Generally not anomic violence

8. Middle Class Demonstrations in Caracas: The Demonstrators

9. Return to the central Question: Why Has Rioting Been So Rare in Urban Latin America? • Factors Mitigating Against Urban Rioting • Community Attitudes • Clientilism • Co-option of Leaders • Fear of Repression

10. COMMUNITY ATTITUDES • Slum radicalism is a myth • Nature of urban life compounds conservative attitudes • Desire upward social and economic mobility • Prevailing Ethos: Work hard and keep out of trouble

11. CLIENTILISM: What is it? • Politicians trade goods and services for political support • Examples • Self-help housing materials • Subsidized public transportation • Water and electricity • Jobs

12. CLIENTILISM: Costs & Benefits • Denial of merit leads to inefficient service delivery • Allocations seldom live up to expectation • Provides channel of upward mobility for the urban poor • OVERALL: some progress made in reducing most blatant excesses of clientilism

13. Role of Leadership among the Urban Poor • Successful mass movements depend on leadership • Anomic violence likely if leadership is weak or non-existent • Political authorities foster the emergence of leadership among the urban poor

14. CO-OPTITION OF LEADERS • Offers of jobs in the bureaucracy • In return for orienting the community toward the official resource allocation system • In return for social peace • Is cooption undesirable (something evil)?

15. FEAR and REPRESSION • Aftermath of “Second Reverse Wave of Authoritarianism” (1965-85) • Neighborhood organizations of political parties decimated • Recalcitrant leaders marginalized or imprisoned • Workers and peasant organizations co-opted

16. FEAR and REPRESSION • Widespread use of state repressive apparatus • Formal • Denial of political rights • Exile • Trials and jail for hard-line opponents of the authorities • Informal • Formation of paramilitary units to do the unspeakable • Drug gangs sometimes cooperate with police to maintain control in the shantytowns

17. Contemporary Social Movements & Community Organizations can provide channels for Effective participation • Among the poor • Squatter associations • Political Action Committees • Ecclesiastical Base Communities • Middle class watchdog groups • Organization of civil society capable of fostering effective participation remains the exception