Yucatan Diary Day 5
January 7, 2005
Merida, Mexico
by Ben White
posted 01/13/05
Once upon a time I dreamed I was a bird flying across a field into a thick
forest of trees. I saw no way possible to get through. But as I flew closer,
I could see spaces open up between the branches. And when I was right at the
edge of the forest, I could see lots of room into which to fly.
I have taken this story as an instruction on how to proceed when things look
too difficult to accomplish. As long as there is perseverance, spaces always
open up, it seems.
So it was with this attitude that I was picked up by Rosario (who runs the
Animal Rights Association of Yucatan and is largely responsible for the
attention we have been getting) to drive back to Progreso on the coast to
meet with Manuel, the fisherman whose boat we are using to challenge the
Ewing. Manuel is also called El Grande, so its no surprise that he is a big
guy with a no nonsense manner, huge hands and a wide rough face. Manuel was
worried that the port Captain, a very important guy, was going to throw a
bunch of bureaucratic roadblocks in our way now that it was clear that he
intends to take out an estranjero, or stranger, and an escudo humano (human
shield) to boot.
Our spies tell us that the Maurice Ewing left Panama today at noon. We
expect them to be here on Tuesday and begin blasting on Wednesday. So we
have arranged our own one-day boat trip with six slots for the twenty or so
journalists who want to go. I need to book the boat for a minimum of a week,
for three of us mojados (wet ones), six journalists and two crew. Now I have
two Mexican volunteers to take turns with me in the water. After we drop off
the press, we go back. For as long as it takes.
Turns out, so far, that the Capitano of the port was a friendly sort. We
went up to see him in his air-conditioned office and big shiny desk, and had
Rosarioīs lawyer talk it out with him. He seemed to understand that the
arrival of the Ewing would not be the best thing that has happened for those
that depend on the ocean life to make their living- meaning everyone he
works with. We left with his apparent blessings after promising him that
there is nothing remotely political about any of this.
That note was picked up from another article that I was given today, from a
couple of days ago, that said that the Immigration Authorities were looking
into whether the escudo humano, this White guy, could be evicted from the
country for his activities. The gist, however, was that no, foreigners have
the right to speak their minds just like Mexican citizens do, as long as we
are not involved in politics. Of course, I have nowhere near enough money to
be involved in the politics of either this country or my own.
The great press just keeps on rolling. The Mundo Al Dia printed my interview
with a picture of some old red faced white guy who they claim is me. If that
guy is me, what happened to that other guy? The better looking, young one?
Then in the local section of the same paper, they printed on the front page
a color picture of one of the beaked whales killed in Baja in 2002 with the
headline Tragic History of the Maurice Ewing. The reporter actually did some
research and included the little known connection between the Ewing and
beaked whale deaths in the Galapagos years before that.
There seems to me to be a little bit of a similarity with what is happening
here with what happened with the WTO in Seattle. Some of the arguments of
those of us marching in the streets were picked up by some of the third
world delegates who made them their own, such as being shut out when the big
boys made the major decisions. They decided they wouldnīt take that
treatment anymore and WTO is going nowhere. Here too, the local fishermen
and animal protection people are now galvanized by the favorable press to
fight and fight hard. Mexico is 10% Indian but is imbued with far more of
its spirit than that number implies. Fortunately Indian religion has always
been inextricably woven with nature. Protecting nature is a sacred act.
Just came back from the market where I picked up a big swath of red cloth
and a little swath of white cloth to make a dive flag for our boat. On every
street, salsa blares, and old abuelitas sway and nod and shake their hips to
the beat. They canīt help it.
Since it appears that our action is pretty firmly slated for Wednesday, I
will skip sending reports over the weekend so I donīt start boring everyone.
But I give thanks with each breath for this wonderful world, for the chance
to do what I love, for the way beauty shakes my soul, for the way that
plants and animals speak to me, and for those of you feeding energy and
good graces into my life. Thanks to all. I am supremely lucky to be able to
be doing this work, right here and right now.
Love and Revolution,
Ben
Yucatan Diary Day 6
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