Hmm...Maybe I Should Rethink My Plans

so as I wrote to one of my friends if the election "turns out wrong" (i.e. Barack wins) I was going to move to South America, maybe Venezuela to live under a socialist government but anywhere really.As I told her I'm sure I can find a revolution down there in some country, there always seems to be a few bubbling at any given time, and in America we don't talk or think of "revolution" we talk of "change" which is just b.s..... I'm just horribly restless right now and want something different.

Then I plucked up the energy to check CNN.com this morning and found this story (one in a new series of people who are a lot like me/ maybe I'm not that special anyway) about a Dutch woman who went to Colombia to join FARC and fight, in her mind, for equality and hope and freedom and all that idealistic jazz.
But apparently the dream of heroic and beautiful revolutions and that ideal that has been seen from Lord Byron to Che to Fielding Mellish, unfortunately maybe it's not quite the reality

"I'm tired, tired of the FARC, tired of the people, tired of communal living. Tired of never having anything for myself," wrote the author, a 29-year-old Dutch woman.

This would be worth it if I knew I was fighting for something. But I don't really believe that anymore"
Yeah, disillusionment sucks.

In the diary, Nijmeijer abhors the strict discipline imposed by FARC's male commanders -- no smoking, no phone calls, no romantic relationships without their consent. She says the rank and file are hungry and bored, and describes FARC leaders as both materialistic and corrupt.

"How will it be when we take power? The wives of the commanders in Ferrari Testa Rossas with breast implants eating caviar?" she writes.

[snip]

"In certain circles in Europe, there still exists the romantic image of the guerrillas as Robin Hood, or Che Guevara, fighting the bad guys for the benefit of the poor," he said.

So what you’re saying is that these brutal paramilitary groups aren’t heroic and good hearted but rather full of those who have been corrupted by the very evils of the society they fight against?
Who knew?

Felipe Salazar, who quit the rebels last year, said Nijmeijer likely was punished for indirectly aiding the enemy -- forced to build trenches or demoted to cooking duty -- but not killed. He said Nijmeijer's only hope of being reunited with her family probably would be to embark on a risky escape

That sucks , though I was worried that she would’ve been executed; thank god for small mercies.


I still think her mistake was she joined up with the FARC who haven't been "good guys" for decades. What I think I'll do is maybe get with a less hierarchical and perhaps smaller and less strict organization. A grassroots revolution. Because seriously if I can't dance I don't want to be a part of your revolution...
as "Red" Emma Goldman said: "I insisted that our cause could not expect me to behave as a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. I want freedom, the right to self expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things"
exactly.

Either way let’s hope she gets out of it all okay...

[Related: From the 11/27 L.A. Times comes an article about "Female rebels' fates diverge in Colombia" that deals in large part to disillusionment, gender inequality and government programs designed to lure out and change guerilla fighters]

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