Viva Patria! Panama's Independence But Whose Celebration?

The shopping frenzy this past week sounded the last trumpet. November 1st will begin Panama’s Patriotic month. There will be several holidays during this month and not a few parades across the country. It is the month of Panama’s Independence celebrations.

Of course the really big days in November are as follows:-

3rd     -  Flag Day
5th   -  Colon Day – Separation Day From Columbia
10th   -  Veteran’s Day
28th   -  Independence Day from Spain

5th of November, Colon Day is of course the day when the streets of Colon are jam-packed. For those of you who need to refresh your memory. That is the day when the bombos (Spanish for Bass Drum) comes out in full fashion. I’m already anticipating my favourite marching band Apocalypsis (from Colon) brukking style up 5th street. It’s time for the parade of all parades….

The parades are lovely but I often find myself wondering whose celebration is this? There are mixed reactions. The 3 most dominant sentiments I hear being expressed are:

*  This is a celebration for schools and marching bands - Children, youth and professional band members are the ones who keep this tradition alive otherwise it serves no purpose. And in some ways this is true. Immediately after school reopens in March after the Christmas (“Panama Summer”) break from December to March, the drums start banging and children start practicing for 5th of November. Parents spend a lot of money to buy their uniforms for those in the marching band, and also for dressing up to attend the parades.

* This is just an alternative for Carnival – those persons who can’t or don’t participate in Carnival have their little space to jump up in the streets. I’m yet to see the Carnival in order to make a comparison. The only thing I can say is that it does allow conservative Evangelical Christians to sneak in a few wiggles every now and again without anyone frowning at you. Jumping up to the national anthem hardly compares with ‘jump up an wave yuh rag’. Did I tell you about the wedding reception that was a mini carnival? Bwoy….I won’t even get into that.

*These parades are no longer relevant – afterall Panama’s independence means nothing for Black Panamanians. Black people are still not recognized as important to Panama. This one caused me to pause and look closer at what might be behind it. I serve a community of mainly descendants of Caribbean migrant workers who came to Panama, a small group of indigenous Panamanians from the Kuna Indians, and a mixture of African descendants and various native Indo-Panamanians in Costa Abajo.

These three groups are among the most culturally dominant, yet most economically marginalized groups in Panama. Their stories drives Panama’s tourism product. Their ancestry is interwoven in the cultural and economic development of Panama. And yet they have no pride of place except that of being exotic curiosities on one hand, and a socio-historical research goldmine on the other.

And I have to admit that this is one area that leaves a lot to be desired. I view race relations in Panama as an outsider, but I experience it as an insider and doubly so because of my colour and my gender. On a national level women still experience gross sexism and Blacks in Panama still battle racism. I have experienced both forms of prejudice.

I feel the frustrations of the people of Colon, the province that is treated like the scourge of Panama but which generates so much income for the country. I see the neglect, the decay, the lack of proper infrastructure, and I can’t understand it.

It makes no sense to me when I look at the brilliant youth in my congregation, so many of them on honour roll in school racking up 3.9-4.0 averages. Most of my youth are University graduates, or are now in University and most of them work in ‘call centers’ waiting for job openings in their trained fields of sociology, engineering, and marketing to name a few.

And it makes no sense to me that all these unemployed youth are here in Colon, but the majority of the employed persons in the best and highest paying positions are not from the province of Colon but from Panama City. And they are not African descendants either.

And when I got to Bocas Del Toro, again where the indigenous indians, African-Caribbean descendants, and Afro-Indo mixes exist, I see a similar kind of discrimination and abject poverty that expands on the same story of disenfranchisement and marginalization. And I understand what some Colonenses mean when they ask, ‘whose celebration is this?’

So Viva Panama! But in the wake of hiking food prices, and matching increases in levels of hunger and poverty in this country Independence means nothing for the rising numbers of persons robbed of their dignity through dependence on aid and handouts to survive.

“Vive y deja vivir” [ "Live and let live"]

Marvia