By Jalileh Garcia, a first year student at Columbia University. She was born and raised in Honduras. She now resides in New York City.
“Protesters set the municipality of Siguatepeque on fire,” my family member said to me. The words repeated themselves in my head. Siguatepeque, Honduras is my home; it holds all of my childhood memories.
Siguatepeque is but a microcosm of the corruption inundating Honduras, an immediate result of the 2017 Elections. I could not finish my school work knowing that my people were victims to an unscrupulous government, while I was sitting around reading about the founding of Rome for class.
I felt powerless, and, quite frankly, I had no idea what to do next. In these moments, I thought about Sara Ahmed, author of Feminist Killjoys (And Other Willful Subjects), and her thoughts on the power of will. Ahmed shares that wilful politics is the organization and unification of disadvantaged groups going against the status quo. They are willing to cause obstruction.
Because I was not physically in Honduras, it became increasingly difficult for me to feel as if I myself could be wilful. How can one obstruct this reality without being present? I suppose the first step in disrupting this cycle is to truly understand what protesters in Honduras were experiencing themselves.
“Fuera JOH” reverberated through the streets, the Honduran people demanding to be heard. The chant is a call for the presidential incumbent, Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), to leave office, due to the corruption his government exhibits.
On Sunday, November 26, 2017 Hondurans voted, under major suspicions of fraudulent voting. One million deceased people and a cohort of prisoners miraculously made it to the polls and videos surfaced of people bribing voters in favor of Orlando.
Once more than 50% of the votes were counted, it showed that the opposition candidate, Salvador Nasralla, of the Opposition Alliance party, was winning by five points. Quantitatively Nasralla was forecasted to win the election.
Shortly after, however, the Electoral Tribunal was militarized and publication of the tally was haulted. As a result, protests broke out. When Juan Orlando was said to have the lead by 1.5 points, protests started turning into riots.
Caravans of people protested, yelling “Fuera JOH” and “No a la dictadura,” incited. Protesters blocked roads and burned toll roads as a statement: stop the privatization of our land.
Rounds of military personnel and U.S. trained police threatened the Honduran people. Protesters were beaten and sprayed with tear gas. There were numerous deaths.
On Friday, December 1st, a military curfew was instated. It would be active for ten days, between the hour of 6pm to 6am. Additionally, constitutional rights were suspended.
Suspended.
I understand now what it means to be wilful in terms of the Honduran protestors. Their willfulness is seen by being physically present in protests, marches, and even riots. Their willfulness is the most visible resistance there is, as it involves risking the body for a transcendental belief.
How is it possible that I could obstruct that same status quo without putting my body at risk, but still taking action in my own regard? It can be done, yet for a few days I had bought into the dilemma that I either had to be present in Honduras to be wilful or that I just would not be wilful at all, leaving me with no options to help my people.
I was forgetting that part of being wilful is having the ability to raise consciousness and to make oneself aware that certain productions of knowledge are hidden. This, too, is wilful; it shows a determined intention to investigate and search for the truth in a time where the truth is rarely found, and oftentimes obstructed.
In fact, the reason why these corruption schemes in Honduras are so successful is because a large number people are systemically not aware that these corruptions exists. As they say: knowledge is power, and if you strive to understand and disseminate that power, you become part of the liberating force against the corruption of the State.
While the Honduran people back home were able to risk their bodies for willfulness and obstruction, not everyone is capable of doing this. However, each and everyone of us can actively raise consciousness. We can become intentionally aware that knowledge is systemically hidden, and we can share that knowledge — that power — with others.
I did this, what will you do?
Follow Jalileh Garcia on Twitter. She can be reached at jmg2328@columbia.edu.