opinion

Carnival and youth
by Marco A. Gandásegui, hijo

The 2008 Carnival was conducted with the disorder and chaos that everyone predicted. In Panama City, the disorder had as its backdrop the $4 million that went from the national treasury to subsidize the coffers of the organizing committee. In the rest of the country, in cities, towns and villages, Rey Momo and the queens of Calle Arriba and Calle Abajo were due to the enthusiasm of Panamanian youth and visitors.

It would be opportune for the Catholic Church, the government and the businesses that benefit from the festivities to sit down after Carnival and draw up a balance of the good, the bad and the ugly of the revelry that lasts five days.

To put it in other words: What can be done to make Carnival have a positive impact on young people, including adolescents? With only a few exceptions, the Carnival organizers in the cities and towns of the Interior know what they're doing. For some towns, the income from Carnival represents a good part of the annual municipal income. They have to, in order to give these towns the resources for the infrastructures that can support a human avalanche descending on their streets and parks.

Panama City's case is something else. For years authorities haven't known what to do with Carnival. The parties had their stellar moments in the middle of the past century, but deteriorated and were displaced by those in the country's Interior. Really, Panama City doesn't celebrate the Festival of Rey Momo. The government organizes a spectacle with music, fireworks and police state controls.

The population --- especially the youngsters --- participate passively, as spectators, without knowing that this is happening. At times they are manipulated by organizers and promoters to "participate" in acts in which they lose their self-esteem.

The great majority of young people in Panama City don't have the resources to organize their own Carnival. If the government wants to "rescue" the colorful Carnivals of yesteryear it has to work directly with the youth. It has to go to the neighborhoods, from Capira to Chepo, passing through El Chorrillo, Pueblo Nuevo, San Miguelito, 24 de Diciembre and other places, sitting down with juvenile groups and starting to plan activities. It has to give Carnival back to the youth and turn them into community festivities.

Every community should have an organizing committee capable of creating the conditions to assure the success of its sector's Carnival. That's the way it works in the towns of the Interior. The parties belong to young people and the spectacle is for outsiders.

For years, the government has said that Panama City has an urban development plan, but nothing could be farther from the truth. All the plans, which have cost millions of dollars, have been filed and are gathering dust. It would be very simple to take out the last of these, which cost about $9 million, and use it as a guide to promote the organization of Carnival from the bottom up.

The government has to support the youth in order to organize Panama City's Carnival in each "node," and thus put an end to the disorder and chaos. The most important thing is that the youth should take over their Carnival and the happiness that comes with organizing it for themselves.

The author is a University of Panama professor and research associate at the Justo Arosemena Center for Latin American Studies (CELA)