During the week leading up to July 19th, celebrations take over the streets throughout the country, because it's on July 19th that they celebrate the Sandinista Revolution. Basically, the Sandinista Revolution ousted Somoza's 60 plus years of dictatorship, and, although war followed against the US-funded Contras, a new social project began in Nicaragua. Every day of that week, Bluefields held several celebrations that painted the city with joy, pride and smiles.
On Wednesday, July 16th, several dance groups performed different music traditions from the various ethnic groups found along the Atlantic Coast: ramas, meskitu, creole, and many more. Johny, one of our friends from URACCAN University, invited us to see him perform. Although we were there at 6pm, "Nica time" prolonged the beginning of the show to 8pm. And honestly, even though we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and went back to the park, the wait was worth it. From the black, green, and yellow fabrics of the dancers clothes, tracing the roots of an African past, to the beats of rhythmics drums pounding pride into the hearts of those who listened, the music ensembles resulted in many smiles among the audience. When it was Johny's turn to take the stage, he joined his group in contagious, rhythmic movements--a dance by the name of punta--inexplicable in words and only appreciated by the eyes. Johny's dance was the definition of pride, the reason to smile, and the thought "I wish I could move like that"--all in one song.
On Thursday, I went to class ready to plunge deeper into the intricacies of race, culture and identity. I must confess that my mind was a convoluted cloud of questions and frustrated grunts against the historical injustices plaguing this region. For example, the construction of black Creole in the Atlantic Coast has been a relatively new phenomenon to act in opposition to the systematic racial oppression that has never been recognized by the Nicaraguan government, following the model of other governments in Latin America that deny any history of racism in the region. What's interesting in present day Nicaragua is that, although the national government achieved a "socialist, egalitarian" revolution that is now carried by the party of FSLN, the issues affecting the black community are not only numerous but blatantly ignored. Bluefields, for example, is a booming city with no sewage system and marginalized from their land rights by the national, managua-based government.
Despite all these problems, the city of Bluefields continues to smile, and, surprising to me, the Atlantic region still emphatically celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. On Saturday, July 19th, the main day of celebration, the streets were uniformed in red and black flags with the letters FSLN outlined in white. That Saturday was the beauty pageant during which young girls, between the ages of fifteen and nineteen and from the different neighborhoods around Bluefields, competed for the crown of Miss July 19th. To celebrate a Revolution co-opted by a chauvinistic historical memory makes sense when you see that the celebration revolves around the objectification of women through a beauty pageant. However, the objectification, especially of black women, is a disgrace in my opinion, because as leaders of the FSLN repeated the words of equality and peace, men were fighting for women's attention and whistling obscene, demeaning phrases. It makes me wonder where gender equality and the simple notion that women are people fits in with revolution and historical accomplishments. Overall, the celebration was painted with the utopian idea of achievement, of accomplishing a stagnant revolution, leaving no room to continue and honor the revolution in every sense of the word.
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