opinion

The recent experience of citizen participation, by way of the involvement of more than 300 social leaders, of plural associations and entities of civil society, in the creation of a Citizens’ Anti-Corruption Agenda, added to many earlier experiences that confirm the need for an inclusive vision in the confrontation with the problems and issues that affect the country

This counterposes itself to the idea that only the experts and those who wield a great deal of power must know, opine upon and decide for and in place of everyone else, a notion that confirms the dictionary definition of elitism: “System that benefits a privileged minority, although at the cost of the rest of society.”

This brings to my mind a Kuna story, which goes:

“In those days the land was wounded, as the authorities and those who had a lot of power were abusing the weak and the vulnerable. Their maximum leader was Nele Gubiler. They proclaimed that they were the exclusive possessors of power, authority, knowledge, the resources and of truth.

“Then a young man arose, Nele Guani, and spoke to the people: ‘Brothers, our authorities are going to bring us terrible suffering. We’re going to cry because of their licentiousness. Brothers, we are threatened with a violent drought: the sun’s going to burn.’ The authorities found out about what Guani proclaimed, and, mocking him, said: ‘What does this little skinny false Nele know, for him to teach the people? How can what he says be true? This little man is dreaming, and likes to daydream. Everything is in order, everything is in balance, everything is tranquil. Guani is afraid of his own shadow. Everything is going normally.’

“They kept him from speaking and expressing himself, and thus Guani looks for friends and allies, and while they were speaking to the people about what had happened, they toiled upon the land to grow many tubers that resist the sun well and retain a lot of water.

“Little by little the sun heated up and scorched the land with long days of inclemency, the lake levels went down, the rivers’ volumes declined and the streams became dry trails where the dust swirled.

The great neles sand and insistently invoked the name of Paba (God), in order to end the drought, but it was all useless. They desperately sent emissaries to Guani, asking him to intercede, and seeing the suffering of his people he accepted and, gathering the least corrupted people, set off for the center of the village. Guani also invoked the name of Paba, and slowly the environment changed and the rains came down.

A cloudburst of great raindrops fell upon the thirsty people. The old ladies brought out their calabashes to collect the water, as if the next day it wouldn’t rain again. But it rained and rained and greenery painted the land, and the fruits and crops yielded better because of it.

“Guani spoke again: ‘Leaders must love the poor along their way, the women in their exhaustion, everybody equally. This is the right way through the bush on the hill, through the mountains. True leaders are those who age going to orient the people and guide them.’

“Thus the people and the communities established the need to change not only specific leaders but the sense of leadership itself, so that they must serve the people rather than the people serving them. They also recognized the need to listen to everybody, and for the freedom of expression.”

This story, sung by the Sahila Fred Green, and translated and synthesized by Aiban Wagua,* which we present here in a brief excerpt, contains much symbolism for the present moment, as we speak of the uses and abuses of power, of the authoritarian streak that runs through our society in its diverse spheres. It also expresses the needs to articulate ethics with power, for freedom of expression, and to coherently embody debates in reality. Guani must not only be seen as a personality, but as a confluence of persons animated by positive values and affirmations who are the carriers of equity, transparency and participation. It’s also a message for those who would undervalue the contributions of the young, the poor, the excluded and others.

To generate changes, Guani had to demonstrate extraordinary powers that accomplished the objective of questioning abusive power. The drought is not just the absence of rain, but the lack of justice, brotherhood and solidarity that dries us up and leaves us exhausted as a society. And with the rain values can be reborn and the will for transformation can be fortified.


* Then retranslated from the Spanish to English by the editor.



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Liut & Birns, Blame shifting for Haiti's violence
Bernal, Panama is sick
Jackson, Jail to the (ex) Chief!

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