Some Shit and a Fan

(NOTE: Let me just preface this with the fact that I wrote this last week, and everything is now back to quiet normality because the government responded by reducing prices… that is, all is back to normal except life with my roommate. Still a raving bitch.)

Well guess what, my living situation ie relation with a certain Mozambican roommate just exploded, as did the socio-political climate of Mozambique.

You might say merde bateu a ventoinha (shit hit the fan).

Let’s focus on the slightly more concerning political situation in Mozambique. Not that my relationship with my roommate is less important to me personally. But on the whole world scale of things, I suppose riots trump girl drama.

You may or may not have seen it on CNN. But to sum it up, a strike due to an increase in fuel, water, electricity, and bread(wheat) prices,  turned into riots, turned into armed banditry and violent chaos in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Journalists are calling it a “situation”. I would dub it pure mayhem. Then again journalists referred to “vandalism” of gas stations, when in fact I would say, from the images of a certain BP gas station that I have seen, that this so called vandalism falls more under the category of fiery explosion. But, let’s be honest, I highly doubt that “Free Press” exists in this country, so who knows who has their hands on the coverage of this “situation.”

All businesses have been closed  in the city of Maputo, beginning 1Sept. On the 3^rd a few reopened.  These closures may be part of the organized strike due to the related increase in product prices, or just because people are too damn scared to leave their houses. Probably both. Anyway, the strike led to the blocking of streets with branches, blocks, and burning tires, and then the subsequent burning of mini-bus combis that weren’t observing the strike. This then turned into general riots throughout the city, as young people forced their way into closed businesses, leaving nothing except the images caught on tape by news cameras of hoards of seemingly crazed people scampering away with 17 buckets  or 50lb sacks of rice balanced on their heads.

As  of the September 2 evening news, 7 people were killed by the police including 2 children, one of which was shot directly in the head. How do you say police brutality in Portuguese? That is in addition to a number of other citizen on citizen attacks.

As a result, basically everything has come to a standstill. In the city, nothing is open, no one is working, no personal or public transport is entering or leaving the city (meaning my chicks that I ordered for my project are being held hostage in Maputo by the strike. Yet another delay in this seemingly un-finishable project). Loads of people are held up at the border with South Africa, unable or unwilling to make their way into the country (to do so you have to go through Maputo).

Riots, they say, have spread to other cities in my province, including Macia, Chibuto and Chokwe. But it seems significantly less serious than in the capital and I doubt will move further north. Ie I’m just fine here in my teeny tiny town. No need to worry. But another complaint people have had is that, although strikes and riots have taken place in other cities, including Beira, the 2^nd largest city in the country and the stronghold of the opposition party, the news only ever mentions activity in Maputo. This could be due to the fact that a) the situation is significantly worse in the capital, or b) in my experience, Maputonions are often like Americans - they think the whole world revolves around them and see no need to leave their little sphere.

But thankfully, Chidenguele is actually ridiculously calm. Located right on the EN1 (I can literally see it from my house), normally there are streams of cars passing, heading north to Inhambane, Maxixe, Vilanculos and beyond. These last two days: nada. Not a semi, not a mini-bus, nothing. Just the occasional personal vehicle or Xai-Xai Chidenguele chapa (they are currently not observing the strike). The only indications here that anything is going on in the country is that every night at 8pm a swarm of teachers cram into my neighbor’s house to catch a few updates on the evening news and someone came to my school to encourage young people not to participate in the strike or to begin riots here. I concur with this man.

So what is the back story? I’ll tell it like it is from my perspective, as a foreigner living in Mozambique for about 2 years. The recent increase in fuel prices was a catalyst, which set an a population that was already unhappy, poorly represented politically, and dirt poor economically, over the edge. Also, as one of my more educated and worldly colleagues pointed out, one of Mozambique’s greatest problems is that most of the population is poorly or completely un-educated. In this case, the majority of the actual rioters are uneducated  and unemployed young people, which may be a reason that this strike – Mozambicans have the right to strike/protest according to the Mozambican constitution –  was poorly executed (ie it turned violent).  

From my conversations with colleagues, observation of daily news reports, and personal experiences over the last two years, I understand the two main points of protest to be:

1.       The government is raising prices on electricity and water (which are publically owned and run) and refusing to subsidize fuel costs, all without sufficiently raising salaries. Due to a lack of infrastructure, the majority of employed people in Mozambique work for the government. Of course, fuel price increases result in an increase in the price of basically all goods.

For example, Propane (what I use to cook with) last year was 470/tank, and now is 650/tank. Charcoal (what I also use to cook with because propane has gotten so expensive) used to be 100/sack and now is 180. Sugar has increased from 20/kg to 40. And what really gets me, the most outrageous increase, garlic has gone from 15mtn to 55mtn! Rice, a basic dietary staple in Mozambican society has increased from about 500/25kg to about 800/kg . I have never bought gasoline, so I can’t even speculate. 

Now let’s look at your basic public employee salary. A secondary school teacher, with at 1-2 years of teacher training, makes about 6000 meticais per month. That is including about a few hundred meticais salarial increase beginning in April 2010 to account for inflation (as far as I can tell, you are strictly paid according to your station and training, and years with the government are not taken into account (meaning you could work as a teacher for 30 years and make the same as someone who started yesterday. But I might be poorly informed).

So I am just going to go out on a limb here and say you are generally looking at a 50-100% increase in prices of most products including the most basic necessities such as rice and bread, and a less than 10% increase in public employee salaries. This means that  a significant portion of the Mozambican population is making less money (in terms of its spending power) now than they were last year. Another significant portion of the population is unemployed, or in a state of “absolute poverty” to use political buzz words. All of this is only compounded by the rapid de-valorization of the national currency (metical).  I have no information on salaries in the private sector.

What does this mean for me personally? I quite literally make less money than I did last year when you convert my salary (paid in meticais) to dollars. Last year I made about 6100mtn (with an exchange rate of 28mtn:1USD), which was 214USD. With my 10%  raise that went into effect this month, I currently make about 6800 meticais (with a 37mtn:1USD) which is 184USD…  So basically, I don’t use garlic to cook, except to marinade fish. I don’t buy meat, I don’t buy yogurt, I have to light a charcoal stove every day because propane is too expensive, I don’t buy milk, I don’t buy apples, I rarely travel, and I have stopped putting non-dairy creamer in my coffee. My vice? Used clothing markets. Some habits you just can’t (and don’t really want to) kick.

What does it mean for most of the Mozambican population? Most importantly, they can’t buy rice to eat. And, just to put that point in perspective, the amount of rice consumed in this country rivals that of China. Every meal is some sort of “caril” which consists fish or vegetables in a tomato or coconut sauce, plopped on top of a whopping mountain-o-rice or xima (maize meal slop… which I find delicious). In terms of fuel, Mozambicans that don’t live in cities, scavenge for firewood to cook with. And, even if they have electricity or, on rare occasion in cities they have water, many can’t pay the bills. I just have this vivid memory of my mother in Namaacha always unplugging the refrigerator to save electricity and of course all the food died a humid rotting death.

2.       The government increased the prices of water and electricity, blaming the international economic crisis, when in fact electricity and water are domestically produced and controlled. Water, somewhat obviously, comes from Mozambique. Usually pulled from nearby lakes, rivers, or straight up from the ground. Electricity is produced in huge quantities at the Cahora Bassa Dam in Tete province. This dam actually produces so much energy it is also exported to South Africa. It is unclear if the electricity is produced and refined in Mozambique, or if raw electricity is exported to South Africa to be refined for use due to a lack of industrial infrastructure in Mozambique. I don’t really know how electricity production works. Like can you just plug a light bulb into the dam? Or does the energy have to be processed before it can be used?

What really isn’t helping and might even be prolonging the “situation” is that much of the population, ie my colleagues that I talk too, feel that political officials are responding poorly and ineffectively.  Rather, they are addressing the nation, but making no direct responses to the concerns or demands of the people. 

This indirectness and evasive behavior leaves people to speculate about the fact that they are probably all profiting off the price increases. Whether or not this commonly held conspiracy theory is true, my colleagues have expressed their sense of  a serious disconnect between the political officials of the party in power and the people of this country. Going back to the Cahora Bassa Dam. People don’t understand the energy price increase when energy is domestically produced. This lack of communication and transparency which seems to exist in all sectors of Mozambican government and society and creates a culture of corruption at all levels, in both the public and private spheres. I try to give lessons on creating transparency in my English Classes. The concept that my students, as citizens of this country, have a right to know basically everything and to complain about anything is difficult to transmit. Then again, they don’t have a problem complaining to me about my tests being too difficult. So maybe I’m getting somewhere.

“People are suffering and the president rides into the countryside with a caravan of 6 helicopters. He doesn’t know our reality, “ commented one of my colleagues.

So, in an ode to Jerry Springer, I will give my Final Thoughts on this issue:

I am honestly not too concerned about a national flare up. Mozambicans experienced horrific violence during their civil war which ended recently, in 1994. Maputo, however, was largely untouched by the guerilla fighting. Mozambicans are a peaceful people. The last thing they want is to return to a time of war and suffering  and are, in my opinion, unlikely to follow the example of Maputonions. They want to be on the world scale. They have a sense of national pride and are trying to push their country forward. Although violence is sometimes still considered an acceptable form of punishment – you beat a thief for robbing you, you beat your wife for not obeying you, you beat your children for not behaving – these outdated mentalities are changing. For example, in my classroom of 54 9^th grade students in semi-rural Mozambique, I asked, “does a father have a right to beat his wife?” about 20% responded yes, 20% responded no, and the other 60% just stared at me with blank eyes because a) they don’t know what they think or b) they have no idea what the fuck the English teacher just said.

And so, to sound Bush-y, democratic ideals, though still not entirely understood by the people, as can be seen in this strike gone bad, are taking root. Mozambique has a good heart. It just needs some time and some transparency.