What I learned during power outages in Venezuela
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”
Joan Didion, writer and journalist
Two, three, four hours passed and electricity is still gone. In the hot and humid place that is Maracaibo more than a couple of hours feels as if one were stranded inside of a car in the Sahara desert. Being drenched in sweat only one thought comes to your mind, “somehow, and I don’t know how this must be Maduro’s fault”. While you are under +100 F (35+ Celsius) trying to grasp the actual reasons behind what’s happening to you is an afterthought, yet, this seems to be one of the clues to start understanding what’s happening in Venezuela.
It’s easy to see the news, look at NY times latest issue and blame Maduro for what is happening to Venezuela, if it’s not Maduro, it’s the old regime, the people that left Maduro the current institutions, surely we can blame them. I’ve done it too. It seems like just by switching the person at the top we could get a drastic change across all governmental institutions and the country would become a growing economy within a short timespan.
I realized that I was technically off, by quite a lot. This struck home by reading Zeynep Tufecki’s opinion on Game of Thrones’ progression from sociological storytelling (how our environment shapes us) to psychological storytelling (heroes vs. anti-heroes) in the last season.
While at first, it may seem unrelated, Zeynep commented that fans hated the last season of Game of Thrones because Hollywood has nudged us to think in terms of “good” and “bad” guys. To blame single leaders for the success and the failure of a country (or a kingdom). Growing up in Venezuela we were also subject to this exposure, from Disney to Superman movies we all want to idolize (or hate) someone. To channel all of our problems into a single point.
Zeynep pointed out that the reason why Game of Thrones was so successful is that people were not only impacted by their own decisions but also by what was happening around them.
In sociological storytelling, the characters have personal stories and agency, of course, but those are also greatly shaped by institutions and events around them. The incentives for characters’ behavior come noticeably from these external forces, too, and even strongly influence their inner life.
Zeynep Tufecki
During the show, we can relate to their decision to remove Ned Stark at the end of the first season, or how Cersei would progressively turn from a cynical character to outright evil at the end of the fifth season. It makes sense, it couldn’t have been otherwise. Yet, it was hard for most people during the last season to see Arya Stark as the ultimate hero who culminated what was a 6+ years build-up with a single blow.
Similarly, it is sometimes hard to comprehend why did we get Nicolas Maduro, or why did Donald Trump come to power. Zeynep pointed out that even when thinking about whether we could go back in time and stop Hitler that wouldn’t have solved the problem. The situation in Germany in the early 20th century was such that even if Hitler didn’t come to power, another person like him would have risen and filled-in the gap.
That tension between internal stories and desires, psychology and external pressures, institutions, norms and events was exactly what Game of Thrones showed us for many of its characters, creating rich tapestries of psychology but also behavior that was neither saintly nor fully evil at any one point. It was something more than that: you could understand why even the characters undertaking evil acts were doing what they did, how their good intentions got subverted, and how incentives structured behavior
Zeynep Tufecki
Leaving your home in Maracaibo, and talking with people in the supermarkets — a common ground for political discussion in Venezuela — after 3+ hours without electricity it’s hard to come to this conclusion. What Zeynep argues is that if we’re to change the leaders at the top not only do we need to change that individual but we also need to make the ground fertile for better leaders to flourish.
The question isn’t to identify the few angels but to make it easier for everyone to make the choices that, collectively, would lead us all to a better place.
Zeynep Tufecki
The question then becomes, how do we make the ground fertile for change to happen in Venezuela and what can we each as individuals do against what seems like political machinery. While I don’t hold any answers, mainly questions, history’s characters such as Nelson Mandela’s freedom struggle tells us clues as to ways people have done it before.
Individually, Mandela started facing the struggle of a segregated country at an early age. He could only ride non-white buses, be in non-white areas, and go through an education system that would only reinforce his lack of agency against a society that was dominated by white Afrikaans.
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.
Nelson Mandela
Acknowledging the way things were at the time, while at the same time being aware of the need for a change, Mandela decided to do something about it. He became diligent in Law studies and in learning the history of his tribe — the Xhosas — and his place of birth, South Africa. He started by changing himself.
After a long preparation, and living the suffering of a non-white individual in his homeland, he began to empower his community by getting involved in the African National Congress and creating the first ANC Youth League to empower young people with the ideals of a “color-blind” South Africa. He changed his community.
Finally, having empowered his community, he went through the struggle of a freedom fighter launching passive noncompliance strategies against what were unjust regulations that left non-white folks — which formed 80%+ of the country — as a second-class citizen of their homeland. He used his community to change his nation.
While it is hard to grasp why someone in power made certain decisions — as in the case of Venezuela — it is also important to note what led to those decisions and what can we do about it, from the inside and abroad.
When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.
Unknown Monk 1100 AD
We need to change the stories we tell ourselves — and the people around us. Although it is easy to denote Maduro as the “bad guy” of the story, it is also important to tell stories that empower individual change. Stories — such as that of Nelson Mandela — teach us that by first changing ourselves and then spreading that message to our community we are able to hold change on our own hands and shape our society.
If you want to learn more about organizations doing amazing work to make Venezuela a better place follow the work of Cuatro por Venezuela and Caritas por Venezuela:
- Cuatro Por Venezuela — https://www.cuatroporvenezuela.org/
- Caritas Por Venezuela — https://www.caritas.org/where-caritas-work/latin-america/venezuela/
Andres Crucetta is originally from Venezuela, currently based in Chicago, IL. He writes about Latin American issues, entrepreneurship and storytelling through andresecn.blog and in Quora.
