Today we were all prepared for the much anticipated strike. The electricity prices have been rising, making if difficult for poorer people to keep their power on. There was a strike being organized to take place in Solola, a town up the mountain from us. There is where a main branch of the electrical company is located. The strike was going to start there, but was likely going to spread to smaller surrounding towns like ours.
In the past strikes here are often violent and deadly. In anticipation of the strike, Cali’s school and other public schools were closed. Numerous store owners were threatened that if they opened, their stores would be burned to the ground. Almost all of them were closed. Tuks, buses, pick-ups were forbidden to run, with various threats, if they dared do so. My friends said to stock up on food and water in case things got out of hand. They told me that in the past, when mobs have assembled, there have been lynchings, people burned alive, beatings of even pregnant women. I was told that these practices are part of the indigenous system of justice. The police don’t get involved to stop it, but simply let it play out. The last time the police intervened, the people burned the police station down. It took a long time to get it rebuilt. So help wasn’t coming.
Regardless of impending doom, I needed my morning coffee. I went to breakfast with my friend. How difficult could it be to outrun an angry mob with a full cup of coffee, especially with a head start. After that I came home because Cali’s friend was coming over and spend strike day with us. Play dates don’t cower to strikes.
Later in the day Cali then went to her friend’s house to have a sleepover. After I dropped off the girls there, I went up to the bank. The streets had a very different feel. There were large groups of people assembling. I was told that usually bad things happen when large groups of people are assembled because the police don’t try or are simply not able to keep control of the situation.
A couple of my friends saw me and told me to get off the street, that it wasn’t safe, to stay in my house and stay away from large groups of people. It did feel a bit unsafe. When I was riding my bike home I saw large groups of people lining the streets, as if a parade was going to begin. They were all looking up the road towards Solola. The talk was that there was a huge mob of thousands of people who were coming from Solola to invade Pana. For hours people stood there staring up the road waiting for the mob to turn the corner.
As curious as I was to see this sight, I don’t have that kind of patience, not even for an angry mob. The atmosphere was one of impending danger that I’ve rarely experienced. It was tense. I decided to buy an extra stash of chocolate and wait in my house. Later I was told that nothing happened. The people waited in the streets for a riot that never showed up in Pana.
The girls have been practicing for the play until 9 pm in the evenings. They come home exhausted. Madi said that there was a large group of people on the edge of town where the theater is located, near the main bridge leading into Pana. Her tuk that was dropping her off at play practice couldn’t get through because men had cut down trees and laid them across the road, barricading the bridge. Madi ended up having to get out and walk close to the huge crowd of people. That freaked me out a bit that she was alone and so close to a potential mob scene. I had thought the danger was on the other side of town toward Solola, and didn’t even worry about her going to play practice on the opposite side of town. She saw my shocked look and said it really wasn’t a big deal, and not to worry about it. Ok. Some people were talking about tomorrow being an even bigger strike day. We’ll see what happens. Gonna need more chocolate.