LIKE BOB DYLAN WOULD SAY

Por Victor C Drax

 

When I was returning today, September 30, 2012, one week away from Election Day, I came across a guy. He was leaning against a wall, right next to a liquor store, shouting pro-government anthems. He had a though one ahead; it was Henrique Capriles’ campaign closure (meaning, the contender), and, boy, it had to be seen to be believed —I would know, I was there. So, this guy continues shouting as I stare and, between pre-made phrases, he lifted his shirt to scratch his belly. There, between his pants and his skin, a gun. He didn’t know I was watching —and that was probably for the best, as the last thing you want to do around some guy with a pistol is draw attention to yourself—, and in a glimpse, his shirt was covering his skin again, the anthems were back on his mouth.

 

That’s why I’m voting next week. Yesterday, a couple of demonstrators were gunned down, on an opposition’s rally. I’m not saying all of those who are pro-Chavez are ready to shoot people. But this guy I saw was there, on the meeting. And he had a freaking gun.

 

If you have never walked Caracas’ streets since the current man in Office took power, the things we have to live may sound downright impossible. I can’t forget the last time I was jumped at on the street (three kids, all below fifteen years old, armed with a knife); when I posted on my Facebook profile the circumstances of the mugging, a friend from Jacksonville asked me if I called the cops. No, I didn’t. Because they wouldn’t have solved anything. Because they wouldn’t have arrived on time. Because more than half of the muggings (and murders) that happen in Venezuela, go unpunished. This is a country where the Government negotiates with the top cats in jails. A country where thirty one persons get killed on a weekend and, on Monday, the show must go on (as the President recently said).

 

All around the world, the times they are a-changin’, like Bob Dylan would say. Winds of democracy (and violence) are flowing through The Middle East. Half of Europe deals with an economic crisis and parties in power are struggling to keep the status-quo. America is about to have another election, picking between the conservative man and the guy who got Osama Bin Laden. Down south, we fight. Not with swords, not with guns, but with votes. Half the country believes that associating with Fidel Castro is for the best, the other half believes that a satellite on space is good for nothing if you get robbed and killed on the street. These are tense times, where you can’t step outside without hearing an argument about who would rule better. A few days ago, I saw a poster on Facebook reading that it doesn’t matter for who you vote, nothing is going to change. Isn’t that scary enough? Things staying the same?

 

No way. We live in times where we can’t afford the luxury of indifference.

 

Voting is not only a right, not only your duty (for which many people died), but the only thing keeping us away from fighting like barbarians. On the face of violence, of demonstrators dying for expressing what they believe is true, voting is the one sane, civil answer. You don’t need to spill blood to make the difference. You have a voice; you have the chance to make history, you can look back and say that when push came to shove, you made yourself be heard. In Venezuela, we’ve had a man in Office for twelve years. And you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times, they are a-changin’.