62 CultureShock! Bolivia
research, education and training, under the ideology of
economic democracy.Street Vendors—Opportunity Knocks
As political demonstrations pass by, life goes on. Bystanders
either look on with curiosity or go about their chores
nonchalantly. But the greatest image-as-message from these
scenes focuses on the street vendors who line the march
routes. Street vendors would seem to belong on a different
channel, a world far removed from political protesters but
in Bolivia, hawking one’s wares on the street is an act of
resistance against the same neoliberal forces that catalyse
the demonstrations. The mindset of many street vendors
is: ‘If there is no employment for me, I’m going to do
anything possible to survive.’ This ‘anything possible’ falls
short of robbery and burglary precisely because the street
outlet is available. As such alternatives diminish, street
crime increases.
Knowing that these commercial demonstrations are an act
of desperation, the government looks the other way when
some vendors cross the line of legality. As a political march
passes over El Prado Boulevard, some of the vendors on the
fringes are peddling items of dubious legality: pirated video
tapes of new fi lms with crude covers (where sometimes you
can see a new fi lm before it reaches the theatres), pirated
editions of Latin American literature, home-made stew with
potatoes and rice which has not met the requirements of the
health department, cosmetics, clothing and jewellery, sold
with a license but smuggled into the country. (In the Huyustus
neighbourhood of La Paz, smuggled VCRs and televisions are
sold with a guarantee!) Chilean novelist Isabel Allende should
be proud to learn that she is on top of the best-seller list in
the category of unremunerated sales.
The government seems to be practising the credo that,
‘Fewer laws make fewer offenders.’ The freedom of the
informal economy may be in part responsible for Bolivia’s
low crime rate.
Every possible product is sold on the streets of La Paz,
from aspirin to blood pressure machines, knick-knacks to