Austerity, repression, police brutality and skyrocketing unemployment—young people the world over have so much to fight for, but it’s the protesters of Bolivia who have stolen my heart. A few days ago an estimated 2000 Bolivians—most of them appearing to be under 30—took to the streets in a multi city defense of The Simpsons. No, the show was not canceled, nor was it censored—but the timeslot was changed, and the people were not having it. Perhaps even weirder than the mobilization itself is its success—a few hours of marching in the rain and not only did the network reverse the scheduling change, they bumped up the airtime from 45 minutes to two full daily hours of Springfield’s favorite family!

If it seems like a shallow crusade, it’s worth noting there may be more to this action than meets the eye. Latin Times ran this story under the decidedly bitter old man headline of “Don’t They Have Jobs?”—but likely, they do, as the Bolivian youth unemployment rate is less than half the youth employment rate of the US. The network that made the scheduling change however, Unitel Bolivia, is recognized as right-wing, so it’s possible “The Simpsons” are a sort of semiotic stand-in for other values. Either way, always nice to see civically engaged young people winning their battles, right? Viva Bolivia! And viva Bart!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Via New York Post

 
“Welcome to Route 36, will that be ‘normal’ cocaine or ‘strong’ cocaine with your complimentary bottled water?”  Keeping up with today’s drug theme, what’s being described by The Guardian as the world’s first cocaine bar (first “official,” anyway) is now open for business in Boliva.  With its corrupt officials and “anything goes” atmosphere, Bolivia, it seems, offers such outlaw operations an ideal business climate.  Ideal, though, isn’t perfect:

Since they are an after-hours club and serve cocaine the neighbours tend to complain pretty fast.  So they move all the time.  Maybe if they are lucky they last three months in the same place, but often it is just two weeks.  Route 36 is a movable feast.”

Apologies to Frank Loesser, but I guess this makes Route 36 the oldest established permanent floating coke bar in South America.  But unlike Damon Runyon‘s crew of crap players, what do these guests rely on for amusement?  Why, Jenga, of course.

And much like those towers of falling blocks, attempts to curb Bolivia’s exploding cocaine economy is crumbling fast: President Evo Morales, himself a cocoa grower, is not only fighting for the rights of his fellow growers, he recently booted the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) out of Bolivia.

In The Guardian: The World’s First Cocaine Bar