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I had promised to give some news updates here as to what is happening at the AMLO camp in Mexico City. Unfortunately, the organizers have decided that from now on, all news have to go through the PRD office and no person at the camp is allowed to speak to any kind of media directly. AT lkeast one interview that I had planned can therefore not be conducted, at least not currently. In general though, I can say that at this time the camp is growing. It has been more than 40 days of camping now, and so a lot of people had to go home and several tents were only manned sparely during the time that I have been here. However today, the first busses with people attending the conference next weekend have arrived. In contrast to those who have been here up until now, these seem to be more traditional party activists. The last few days it has been my experience that many are actually here because they do not actually have any other home. Several of them have also asked me as to what chances there are for them to obtain poilitical asylumn somewhere in Scandinavia, once "all this is over," because they fear repressions under president Calderon (PAN) and many "don't like Anglos [people from USA, Canada, UK]." Anothe rgorup that is present, although to a small degree, is people at student age, who have been able to take off for some time. I will be back with further updates, and I hope that the news ban will be lifted soon.

The camp of the leftwing Mexican president candidate AMLO has much of the same feeling as many of the anticamps of the intercontinental governmental conferences: no-one quite know how many protestors will come, no-one quite knows whether the police or military will react violently and turn it all into a bloodbath. But most of all: no one quite knows whether one will make a difference, or at least stop or hinder some of the meetings behind closed doors.


The AMLO camp in central Mexico city

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So this is it. My third stay in Douglas is over. Tonight I will be taking the bus to Chihuahua where I will hopefully arrive by tomorrow morning. And I am leaving alone. I am really not sure about where I am going other than that I am going south for now at least.
Last night I spent with Robert, the son of the librarian who comes to town every once in a while and otherwise lives in Tucson. I tried to update him on recent events and rumors on what I had heard and witnessed in Douglas over the last two and a half weeks, and that was when I once again realized the enormous relative size of conspiracies here in town. I am quite sure that I have been involved or witnessed more of those during two and a half weeks of Douglas compared to 1.5 years previously in Oslo. But Robert charged me with maybe not really understanding what is going on: "well, I just can't imagine that you know these people here very well... you have been here like six months, and then been back twice over the past two years?" Well, true enough. According to all rules of probability, it is highly unlikely that I have much of a clue what is going on here....




leaving Douglas -- am i allowed to feel at home here?

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