Time, the ANC and meridians

I have no intention of putting the right to punctuality in the same category as the basic traditional human rights such as the right to education, security, access to health care, food and work. 

However, in a country such as Venezuela we can easily lose up to three hours per week waiting for something or another, due mostly to a total lack of respect for the value of our time. Accumulated over our average active life span of 55 years, this adds up to approximately one year of our lives. I therefore think that this matter is not at all irrelevant, less so in times of a constituent assembly.

 

As a matter of fact, our Constitution and laws supposedly protect the common citizen against the unjustified loss of his or her right to freedom. All civil rights organizations in the world would go ballistic if someone would dare propose the possibility of unjustified arrest, even if it were for only one year. 

So how come nobody says anything when we lose our liberty for more that one year, even if it is bit by bit, due to the lack of punctuality or mediocre and/or non-existent services.

 

I am not a candidate for the constituent assembly. My other responsibilities to my family and country allow me to avoid a process which would only bring my lack of powers of assembly to light. However, this does not limit nor my right nor my obligation as a citizen to present proposals and observations to the process. 

In this sense, I must remind the 131 members of the constituent assembly that, for example, when the State requires the country’s population to carry an identification card and the latter takes more than fifteen minutes to issue, we are essentially in the presence of a clear violation of human rights.

 

But in the case of the lack of punctuality, it is evident that we need a total reform of all civil society. There is no doubt that among the majority of the population, both among defenders of human rights as well as among those that complain about the public administration, there hide a bunch of vulgar violators of human rights who, without remorse whatsoever, blithely ignore the existence and purpose of the clock.

 

How, then, do we reform our civil society? This is a difficult question to answer, specially when you consider that should we require punctuality as a basic prerequisite for election to the constituent assembly, it would surely be very difficult to complete the roster of 131 members.

 

One alternative would be the creation of a Punctual Venezuela, parallel to the actual one. For example, if we start to use a little symbol that could be printed on all invitations to those activities that really require punctuality at the risk of being either excluded from the event or publicly chastised, we could possibly begin to create some semblance of civility.

This symbol could be a watch, but I would rather leave that up to the specialists in advertising.

 

The interesting part of this alternative is that it would simultaneously allow us to impose, as of today, a heavy public sanction for those who lack punctuality without having to request that notorious sinners must go through a process of painful public remorse. Additionally, the mere fact of maintaining the option of a “Punctual Venezuela” alive, would allow us to simultaneously allow us to continue to humor those foreign visitors who, with a tropicalisation which rivals that of the inhabitants of Borburata, take every chance to take revenge on and/or liberate themselves of the yoke of punctuality.

 

I wish to take this opportunity to mention another problem that preoccupies me and that also is related to time. We have recently been witness to public spectacles such as the fight the United States has sustained with Europe about bananas. I have often suggested that the effect of global warming has been much greater that we first suspected. It seems to have moved the parallels normally identified with Banana Republics northwards towards Washington.

 

I consider, however, that not only the parallels have gone crazy, the meridians have gone haywire as well. I often take my daughters to parties that begin at midnight, which to me simply seems like a real and crude version, in cinéma vérité, of Saturday Night Fever. I can not but suspect that their generation has simply decided to substitute the East Coast’s meridian for that of the West Coast. Some of the television channels seem to suffer from the same syndrome. Somehow, I always seem to go to bed at night watching comics while, if I am not careful, my daughters wake up with XXX.

Three bullets on punctuality

Time and human rights

I have no intention of putting the right to punctuality in the same category as the right to education, security, health care, food, and work. 

However, in a country such as ours (Venezuela) where we because of sheer lack of punctuality can easily lose up to three hours per week waiting for something or another, this, over our an average active life span of 55 years, adds up to around one year. 

As civil-rights organizations normally go ballistic whenever anyone is arrested without justification even for a couple of hours, I wonder how they let this pass.

There can be no doubt that the majority of our countrymen do, without any remorse whatsoever, blithely ignore the existence and purpose of the clock, and so it is evident that in terms of punctuality we need a total reform of our civil society. How do we achieve this? 

One alternative would be the creation of a “Punctual Venezuela,” parallel to the actual one. For example, if we start to use a little symbol that could be printed on all invitations to those activities that really require punctuality at the risk of being either excluded from the event or publicly chastised, we could possibly begin to create some semblance of civility. This symbol could be a watch, but I’d rather leave that up to the specialists in advertising.

The interesting part of this alternative is that it would allow us to impose, as of today, a heavy public and social sanction for those who lack punctuality without having to request that “notorious and incurable sinners” kick the habit cold-turkey. Also, maintaining the option of a not punctual Venezuela alive would allow us to continue to humor those foreign visitors who with a tropical flare that rivals our best take every chance they get to free themselves from the yoke of punctuality.

About parallels and meridians

We have recently witnessed public spectacles such as the fight the United States has sustained with Europe about bananas. Perhaps the effect of global warming has been much greater than we suspect as it seems to have moved the parallels normally identified with Banana Republics northward.

However the meridians might have gone haywire as well. I often take my daughters to parties that begin at midnight, which to me simply seems like a real and crude version, in cinéma vérité, of Saturday Night Fever. I cannot but suspect that their generation has simply decided to substitute the East Coast’s meridian for that of the West Coast. Some of the television channels seem also to suffer from the same syndrome. Somehow, I always seem to go to bed at night watching their afternoon comics while, if I am not careful, my daughters could wake up with their XXX-rated after midnight material.

My daughter’s cult

She is rarely late but she is absolutely never ever a minute early. She follows that Just-In-Time cult that drives us inhumanely nuts.

Extracted from "Voice and Noise" 2006. The first two bullets are based on an article published June 11, 1999 in The Daily Journal

We will be watching you, NCA

The country is rapidly approaching the moment when the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) must get down to business. The fact that Venezuela should begin the new millennium with a brand new constitution fills me both with enthusiasm and fear. The results arising from the NCA could either be wonderful or an absolute fiasco. A lot will depend on the way our civil society participates in the process.

Even though the formal responsibility of the NCA lies with the 131 elected members, I feel this does not diminish the responsibility or duty all of us as citizens have of trying to positively influence the process. Those who for some reason do not wish to be elected, or those that are up for election but realistically do not expect to be one of the chosen few, that is to say all but the 131 members finally elected, should begin to plot our strategy without delay. The following are my thoughts about the matter.

The assembly must take into account the country as a whole while undertaking its duties. Even though I do not believe we should televise the entire proceedings, something like Mr. Simpson’s trial in the United States, I do believe we must under no uncertain circumstances maintain records of all the proposals presented as well as of all the debates. Above all, we should register, with names included, the votes cast by the assembly’s members.

With this data in hand, society should organize its system of evaluation in order to publicly congratulate those members who have honestly and successfully complied with their duties and publicly chastise, with means that will be registered in the annals of history, those that do not. In this sense, it is important to develop a reasonable method of evaluation, which should, of course, take into consideration that not all of the assembly’s functions are the same and that not all must be complied with by all of its members.

Included in the members’ duties that must be evaluated are the following four. The number I have put in parenthesis are simply for the purpose of presenting examples of how many of the 131 members could be dedicated to a particular task.

  1. The generation of coherent political visions that would give the assembly a real meaning (5)

  2. Continual interaction with the civil society in order to insure that the latter’s proposals and desires are coherently included in the final output (20)

  3. The study, analysis and brainstorming of each specific article in order to insure that the final product is coherent (101)

 4. The final coherent write-up of the new document so that Venezuela can show the world with pride that it has produced a real Constitution for the next millennium (5)

Evidently my use of the word “coherent” in all four of these activities, makes it evident that this is extremely important for me. Some of my other colleagues in the NGO that must necessarily be formed and that could be called “Watch the NCA” will undoubtedly include other parameters. This should permit us to create a ranking which although not perfect should at least allow us to identify the names of 10 of the members who’s performance was outstanding and 10 who’s performance were disgraceful. 

This does not necessarily have anything to do with the intellectual and curricular capacity of each of these members. Those members who were given the right to occupy one of the 131 seats on the assembly on the basis of their ample and well documented legal know-how could conceivably receive a much lower ranking than a mother that has come out of her household to be present in dignified representation of her compatriots and by just honestly and correctly choosing among the options presented to her.

I have heard that there are candidates out there that are members of unions and other representative groups who’s only stated purpose is to insure the continuation of the prerogatives they figure come with their professional investitures. Evidently, should these people be elected to the assembly, they would be prime candidates to occupy the last places in the ranking, both to their own detriment as well as to that of the groups they represent.

Another member of the assembly that would insure a place at the bottom of the list is the one that insists on including constitutional guarantees for each and every right that he or she can think of without worrying about how they will be complied with. 

I am the first to acknowledge that the Constituent Assembly is a national act of much more importance and intimacy than that of a simple election and I would therefore not be inclined to formally invite external observers. However, the ONG would have the right to look for advice, wherever this may come from, in order to fulfill its duty and be vigilant during the process. I am sure that entities such as the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and Transparency International, among others, could give us support and good advice.

For decades, our society has been demeaned due to the lack of social sanctions. We cannot run this risk with the NCA. Our ranking should be a part of the tools to be used to stimulate and punish.