Saturday, October 31, 2015

charro (in a Mexican union context): sellout

I've posted before about sindicatos charros in Mexico being yellow dog unions.

But I ran into another Mexican use of the term here in the fabulous copy left Rini Templeton Art archive with this image, that came with the following description:

Over 5,000 workers at Mexico City's Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (SITUAM) struggled against wage ceilings imposed by the government as part of an austerity program arranged with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They also advocated progressive academic policies and solidarity with struggles for democracy. "Huelga Huelga Huelga/Charro el que se raje"/Strike, strike, strike/Whoever gives in is a sellout. Rini worked closely with them.

Friday, October 23, 2015

mostrón/ mostrona: show-off

Ok, not necessarily social justice related, just a term I like!

Saturday, October 10, 2015

el negro redux

When I posted before about how to translate 'el negro' used as a nickname I said that blackie didn't seem like a great option, but I've noticed that they use it in the tv show Narcos and though the show is so problematic in general (see this great critique of it) in retrospect I think it might sometimes be ok to translate it that way.  Yes, it's offensive, and sounds like 40s or 50s US English, but then, race relations in Colombia sometimes feel like they're in the 40s or 50s and I don't think it's the translator's job to hide or soften that.

Friday, October 2, 2015

extractivista: extractivist

I'm at this wonderful two day workshop on Colombia full of Colombianists whose work I've been reading for years.  But I just learned this fabulous word, new to me for describing a person, in reference to Evo Morales being quizas no neoliberal pero si extractivista. Turns out this actually has a wiki entry in English, though it refers strangely only to logging, not all extractive industries (mining, oil, etc).