Let's, all whakapohane!
I remember having read a few years back about one particular method used by the Maori of New Zealand to protest about something that bothered them. This method consists of lining up a group of Maori tribesmen, turning their backs towards the person or persons that are the target of the protest, dropping their trousers and showing them their naked backsides. This rite is named Whakapohane.
Without delving further into this tradition, and in spite of the fact that it seems primitive and is most certainly an ugly spectacle, I think it could be also classified as a civilized and most efficient way to protest. Civilized because it does no damage to anyone or anything (except to those people with a well-developed sense of esthetics) and efficient because it manages to consolidate into one single act and gesture all the sense we could possibly assign to a real social sanction.
There is no doubt that we are often frustrated at not being able to find a way to vehemently protest about the stupid, naive and criminal behavior that negatively affects our country on a daily basis. The idea of putting together a group of citizens, family men, professionals and white-collar workers with briefcases and ties and heading out to the street to shamelessly whakapohane any deserving person is appealing. Consider the following:
What has been demonstrated without doubt over the past decades in Venezuela is an utter incapacity by government to manage its resources. The International Monetary Fund, for example, predicates that the solution to Venezuela's problems can be found by giving government even more resources to squander by way of increased taxes (as if our oil income wasn't enough taxation). Clearly, the IMF deserves an act of Whakapohane from our citizens.
Banking charters are usually awarded in order for them to participate actively in the development of the country's economy. It is not enough for them to simply return the funds they have received on deposit, since if this were so, it would be better to simply buy a good mattress and put it into a large safe.
There are still many who think it is best to be puritan and to simply continue to tighten the screws on financial solvency of banks without paying attention to the real purpose of banking institutions These people deserve a solid Whakapohane.
There are many national authorities that evidently are aware of the damage to economies that short-term capital flows can cause, and also know that other countries have put workable legislation into place to limit these damages. They cannot be bothered to take the 48 hours required to simply copy this legislation and enact it in Venezuela. There is no doubt that these authorities deserve to be Whakapohaned.
Those people related to the oil sector that have not been able to either see or warn the country about the possibility of a fall in world oil prices, who, in spite of arguing in favor of conquering new markets, run for cover behind OPEC's skirts when confronted with adverse situations, and who continue to invest scarce resources in projects of low significance such as the expansion of our gasoline stations' capacity to sell snacks, should certainly be offered a great Whakapohane.
Many illustrious representatives of the private sector applauded the privatization of CANTV, without realizing that it was all an elaborate trick perpetrated by the government to collect taxes in advance which we now have to cover through exaggerated service charges. These guys are due a good Whakapohane.
Those die-hard defenders of free trade who simply do not understand that in a globalized world economy each country must, when the chips are down, defend itself and guarantee a minimum internal level of employment should be urgently Whakapohaned.
The entire political and economic system is based on centralized income and decentralized personal apparatchiks. Members of this system have not been able to come up with a real solution to our problems and should be considered traitors. They should all be paraded to La Carlota Airport and given the Mother of all Whakapohanes .
We have heard that one of the people most clearly and widely questioned in our recent history is due to return to Venezuela after statutes of limitations have expired. Just imagine what a marvelous message a small delegation of our "notables" dispatched down to Maiquetía to receive that person with a mini-Whakapohane would send.
We should definitely not lightly discard the possibility of introducing an ancestral aboriginal custom from New Zealand in to the Venezuelan political scheme .
Whakapohaners of the world, unite! The alternative are much worse.
The first version was a blue one
Then, I don't know when... some applied the original concept
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