A Bolivian Socrates

Ramiro, who is a sociologist and a history teacher at a secondary school, teaches at the square that is in front of The Hall to all those who pass by and want to learn about their country origin or about the different political actions.But Ramiro is not alone. The idea emerged in an association named The Meeting which is integrated by young and not so young men and women from Bolivia and other Latin American countries. The connection is made when potential members of the group go to Bolivia and give lessons about their nations. The sociologist also does this in other states.
Classes are held in the morning, afternoon and evening, except for Sundays in which classes are only during the morning. The profiles of people who attend vary according to the time and day but in general there are working men over their fifties. Ramiro affirms that the street school does not have a curriculum to follow; nevertheless the issues arise at the time. Sometimes, it depends on the events that are happening in the country or the world at the time. If someone wants to know, for example, what was voted in the referendum, we talk about it, says the sociologist.

The main square of Cochabamba City (Cochabamba is the capital of the department that bears its name) traces an imaginary line that divides the city between where those with greater purchasing power live and those who have little or nothing have their homes. It surprises how on one side you can find numerous fairs that sell anything from fruits to hairdryers at very low prices and cheap food corners on the streets. As on the other side, shops are mainly first brands franchised shops. This quarter was completely fascist, but from 2000 it began to take a different course; it is now popular, Ramiro said. Adding that, for some years to the present it has not been a problem, but in the past native people could not even go through the park.
Some parallelism can be found between Socrates and Ramiro, they both took the street as a school and taught to all who would like to learn. Thousands of years apart, it will not fall on the sociologist a death sentence as the one the Greek philosopher had to go through. But as he told us, he has to work on a secondary school in order to ¨survive¨, we will have to wait and see if a social and economic penalty does not bring him a worst outcome than death penalty itself.

About Bolivar, Perón and Menem
The night Ramiro lectures about Simón Bolívar, a group of students from Buenos Aires University , listen to him and wait for their time to explain a little bit about their own history.
Soon the young backpackers take the lead and explain what happened in our country, starting with the peronismo and going through Alfonsín and Menem until today. They talk about the presidents, the economic models that followed and the similarities with Latin American countries; making the coincidences with Bolivia quite clear. They talk between cigarettes, questions and debates. They talk as the students listen to them carefully, because in some way they are starting to understand that not only they are living hard times and that it is a Latin-American reality.