28 December 2019
THE “PITITAS”, THE BEST OF 2019
Its content is very comprehensive, as it would have acquired a plurality of connotations such as: freedom, resistance, rebellion, emancipation, organization, union, integration, etc. Due to its effects, it also reached a highly philosophical content, without prejudice to what those who have been displaced from power think and interpret, for whom, given the trauma and their pain, it could be synonymous with a coup d’état.
Who would say, some harmless and innocent pititas, managed to put an end to a disgraceful regime. The creator of its impact, Evo Morales himself, surely must endure terrible sufferings when that magnificent word and its meanings echo in his ears, which he paradoxically coined himself. Not to mention his militancy. Perhaps they will ask, in “safeguarding their human rights”, to withdraw the word, pita from the Dictionary of the Royal Academic of the Spanish Language, because of the suffering and torture that hearing it causes them.
The anthology speech made by Morales in Cochabamba on Thursday, October 24, four days after the intense conflict began, triggered, 17 days later, the dictator’s departure. The word pititas quickly became the symbol of resistance, to later crystallize into an emblem, to which Bolivians will surely resort to, whenever a ruler, be it from the left or the right, tries to impose abuses, whims, or arbitrariness. For Bolivians, this emblem is today, the greatest expression of participatory democracy, given the intrinsic limitations of representative democracy and the ballot box.
Now, with the pititas, we can be subjects and first-rate actors in crucial political decisions. From now on, the pititas will not only become the best safeguard against bad governments, but also the demand for good governments. It will also be instituted as a latent threat, in the face of any iniquity or evil slip. This lesson would have to be very well learned by the political class. They should never forget that the rebellion of the Pititas put an end to an abominable regime, with claims of eternal power.
As almost everything in political life has its paradoxes, the author of the meaning and connotations of the term, ended up being the main victim; like, according to legend, Guillotin, inventor of the guillotine. Morales must curse that hour in which, in an ironic and burlesque tone, ridiculing the pititas, he offered to give workshops and seminars on how to block efficiently. Suddenly, if he hadn’t spilled those words, “… I’ve been surprised, now two, three people tying up threads”, he would probably still be in power. The truth is that those words encouraged and inflamed the rebellion uncontrollably. Those who speak of a coup, by the way, do nothing more than highlight their acute levels of mental retardation.
Now, in terms of its multiple connotations, the term expresses freedom, that freedom of the sovereign and his own will, to act against situations and laws that repel reason. It also denotes resistance, in terms of active and defensive reaction, against despotism and injustice. Likewise, it enunciates rebellion, that is, the public uprising against the abusive regime, with the intention of overthrowing it. Among its various meanings, it also expresses emancipation, that action of freeing oneself from servitude, subordination, or dependence. It also manifests organization, as the main force of political action in the streets. Without organization, we would not have had this outcome. Also, among its various connotations, it shows the union, beyond the differences of class, origin, or race. That was seen in the roundabouts and street corners. Likewise, it expresses integration, in this case regional, between East and West.
Notice, then, the qualities of the senses that the term acquired. It undoubtedly keeps an extraordinary potency. In historical terms, it would have been great to gather the thousands of pititas, perhaps millions, that were “tied up” throughout the country and place them in a museum, as a sample, for the next generations, of the force of their meaning and the unwavering struggle of Bolivians in defense of democracy.
Thus, this crystallized emblem is the most important of 2019. It marks a milestone in the history of our rugged democracy. It also leaves many lessons to the general public, and, fundamentally, to the political class, who should never lose sight of the meaning and meanings that the term acquired.
Those pititas can be reactivated at any time.
Source: https://www.lostiempos.com/actualidad/opinion/20191228/columna/pititas-mejor-2019
