Status Updates From Travel as a Political Act

Lev livet kunstnerisk ! Kun dode fisk flyder med strømmen (Live life artistically! Only dead fish follow the current)

Danes pay some of the highest taxes in the world, and 7 out of 10 in a recent survey said they would willing to pay more in order to keep the system functioning to protect the most vulnerable in their society. They feel individually responsible and committed to social welfare. They are connected to something bigger than any individual. They are not victims of the system, they are part of it.

"Imagine a US president presenting himself in a way that makes it impossible for the leader of a country we're at odds with to demonize America in order to stay in power. Imagine our military building bridges and highways instead of blowing them up. While this might seem a little too 'touchy feely' for our militaristic society, it's less expensive and certainly less destructive..."

page 164 Organizing to win land rights for campesinos (landless farmers) is a dangerous activity. Among elites. land reform is not an option. The very idea is taboo. Everytime locals organize for land reform. they're labeled and defeated as "communists" -- or more recently "terrorists." Many are killed.

Page 165
When an aggressive corporate with lots of capital -- and lawyers, and friends in government-- wants to buy a peasant's small landholding, it's intimidating. "We want to buy your land. We can negotiate with you... or we can negotiate with your widow."

Structural poverty--how, in so many ways, things are designed in a way that keeps the poor world poor.

Development means not just exporting, but processing raw materials-- creating a vertical industry and keeping more of the profit generated in the country. Countries that grow cocoa don't export chocolate. If trade policies are designed to force you to export it raw and unprocessed, you're missing out on the lion share of the profit.

Capitalism is a private club.... a few prominent families become oligarchs and major landowners.
Extremely poor people simply cannot access banking or finance --so they're excluded from the economy. Capitalism requires capital. Without capital, there's no development. And without access to capital, a poor person remain poor.

Standard education systems are designed for elites, by elites.

While school is often "free", attendance requires uniforms, books and pencils -- which the families of the poorest can't afford. Classes are often taught in the language of the dominant or privileged ethnic group. And instruction is often available in schools that are beyond walking distance - out of reach for people who cannot afford public transportations.

It's not easy to see God in the child who cleans the windshields at a San Salvador intersection, but we must."

Rebellion and rebellion was put down as the land was Christianised. Making religion the opiate of the masses, the priests preached, "Don't question authority. Heaven awaits those who suffer quietly"

1524 the Spaniards arrived in El Salvador. They killed the indigenous people, burned villages, and named the place "The Saviour" after Christ. Enslaved locals -- branding them like cattle, with hot irons -- those first conquistadors established a persistent pattern.

even if you're motivated only by greed, if you know what's good for you, you don't want to be filthy rich in a desperately poor world.

DNF after Chapter 2. Way too saccharine and politically oversimplified- “why can’t everyone just get along” for issues and literally borders that are still dynamic. Give Americans the benefit of the doubt that we can have difficult conversations and at least attempt to understand complex political concepts instead of trying to play off simple truths and a centrist attitude to appeal to everyone.