The summer has finally come, and I am lethargic. The former is good (until further notice), the latter rather pleasant but a bit unproductive. To say the least.

One would say that "winter" in Buenos Aires doesn't sound all that scary, and I admit that it has little to do with the -15C we've seen in Germany last year, but although here we've rarely gone below zero, I still have been schlepping myself from one flu to the next all winter long. Makes me shudder when I think what will hapen once I might face a "real" winter somewhere else. So the fact that we're finally back to 30C+ is quite a relief. Back to nice warm summer nights outside, no worries if it rains because you dry quickly. The drawback is that going outside during daytime gets a bit unpleasant if you don't enjoy being bathed in your own sweat. But thanks to my broadband Internet at home, I have to go into downtown a lot less these days, and can work peacefully with my wide open French windows, and a slight breeze. Ahh, summer! I might change my mind if we go over 35C, as many people tell me we might soon, but until then, I enjoy being toasty.

My home DSL is unfortunately not the only reason I am not much in the center these days. Work is going slow. My last big project (Online Database / Datamining Solution for Youth NGOs in Latin America) has been finished and delivered, to quite a bit of praise from HelpArgentina and Ashoka. I also earned some money on that one. So far so good. But until now no follow-up has been coming through, and now with the sloooow months coming (Dec/Jan/Feb) chances to get something new started are slim. I am trying to generate suggestions for new projects, but year-end lethargy is already setting in.
The CELS project (online fundraising campaign to finance trial against ex military dictators) has ground to a halt because of staff changes (due December) at the client; I think it will still happen, but delayed. I was also going to work with the city government, as a technical consultant, on the electronic voting trial for the elections (see below). Quite an unsatisfactory experience. The head of the Election Directorate had already agreed to hire me (on the phone), and referred my to his deputy to arrange details. It took me 2 weeks and about 15 phone calls to just get a meeting with him. Nothing concrete was closed in that meeting, and after 20 phone calls more, every time with the same pattern ("he's not here right now, can I leave him a message, he will get right back to you" - which never happened) I finally gave up disgusted. Great level of professionalism. Love working with government. So, things are slow.

The funny thing is that I am not terribly worried, although I probably should be. I am still subsidizing my living cost with my savings, and they are getting smaller by the month. I would also like to travel a little bit, with a friend, during the slow season - which will cost money. But I am not fretting much. I am lethargic. I do a bit of networking, keeping my eyes open, somehow trusting in good luck that something will turn up. I should probably be out there creating opportunities, rather than waiting for something to come from my existing contacts. But I just can't find the energy. I feel that I need so little right now, I am not motivated to do much, at all. I don't go out much (except Creamfields, see below) and generally stay at home quite a bit. I detest having to travel in the city, especially in the noisy and dirty buses. It feels like every day I spend more time at home. My window open, my laptop, and an orange juice. Okay, well, I do go to practice yoga, to the city center, some 3 times a week. But except that, I am almost becoming a recluse. And I don't miss the social calendar. Considering that I used to go downtown to work for free, full of enthusiasm and drive, in "my" think tank, for over a year, every day... But I am a bit tired, and the way my work there ended there wasn't all that encouraging and... Well, to make a long story short, these days I go to client organizations when I have to for meetings etc, but don't volunteer anymore, and I hardly hang out socially there as I used to, and much of my work I can do online, so I stay at home. And enjoying it.

Two noteable events recently though - one to bitch, and one to rave about. The latter was just that: a huge RAVE called Creamfields. One of the few open air electronic music festivals in Buenos Aires. A record crowd of 60.000 people, dancing away for almost 24 hours with an enthusiasm and vibe beyond anything I have ever seen, including Fusion et al in Berlin. I had a ball. I needed 2 days to recover, but it was worth it!

The other event have been elections, in October, for the lower house and provincial governors. What a pitiful spectacle! I hear people complain about disillusionment in politics, and the lack of proper election programs and issue campaigns, in Europe. Ha! We don't even know how good, in comparison, our campaigns are. Some of my Argentine friends will accuse me of bashing their country, but it was just sad to see.

I did not get to vote here this time, although in theory I could have, given that I do have a residence permit. But I never got around to applying for the national ID document (DNI) that I would have needed, because of the insane paper trail that little document does require. Without DNI, no vote. Funny thing is that I was in good company, because the issuing authority was about 500.000 documents "behind", which didn't arrive on time for people to vote. Not that most Argentines would care. Whenever I mentioned my "dilemma", the common response was "you can have my vote". As in, "I don't give a damn, why vote anyway, nothing changes, they are all the same anyway, I'd rather have some beef."

Which is understandable, if you see the campaigns. Suddenly, the city was plastered with posters of lots of faces. Deputies you have never heard of. Few people know what they do during their 4-year terms, and the most likely thing is "not much" (see article in Le Monde Diplomatique October 2005, "Renovación de un Congreso ausente"). So suddenly all those unknown faces pop up, asking for your vote. With slogans like "Miss Y - A woman like you", "Miss X thinks of you, think of her on voting day", Marxist-Leninist fighting paroles (there are some 1001 left-wing / union / marxist / trotzkist / anarchist parties -- hallo, anyone been here during the last 15 years?), or genial strikes of opportunism ("Comrade Z, Program: "Throw Bush out of Argentina"). Most frequently, however, just a gentle smile, a name, and a party, without any other info. Who are you? Why should I vote for you? Zero. Just trust me.
Of the bigger faces, where one actually sees and hears a bit more, the picture is little clearer. "The government is fascist". "The opposition has secret accounts abroad". Smear campaigns. Programs? Concrete proposals? Plans for tax reform, for example? Education proposals? Nope. The closest we came to a "program" were hollow promised from the candidate who ended up winning the elections: "So that companies employ over 45 years old workers again", "So that the streets are safe again", "so that the summer won't get too hot..." All good wishes, but he failed to mention in any way HOW all those good things were to come about. Plain ridiculous, and he won. Mhm.

To crown the spectacle, right on election night, after the victory for the winning party (PRO) had been announced, an important candidate for them switched to another party. Just like that. Like a democrat winning elections for governor, and and on election day publicly switching to the Republicans. Or a SPD politician, switching to the CDU right after the results have been announced. There was indignation by the PRO people, angry defense of the move by the new host party, and "well, what do you expect, they are like that" shrugging in the general population. Funny enough, "party switching" is extremely common in Argentina politics. For example, the current national government of Nestor Kirchner is left-wing-protectionist, while the former one of Carlos Menem was right-wing-neoliberal. As opposes as you could get. And then you see how many "Menemistas" simply turned around, abandoned Menem once he had become discredited, and jumped ship to become "Kirchneristas". The idea of political conviction, a program and values these people would believe in... It's an open, shameless and ruthless fight to remain in power, with whomever as ally. They change convictions as other people change their underwear. Disgusting. Not that I think that European Politicians are exactly examples for conviction and righteousness, but such blatant opportunism has me with my jaw hanging down... No wonder nobody cares about voting. And simply because of that, no wonder these same people stay there. Chicken and egg..

Anyway, you imagine that in a situation like this, trying to involve the citizenry in public policy formation has, lets say, a few obstacles to overcome. I have pretty much given up on my ambitious ideas of Internet Platforms for Online Issue Voting that I had, with all the cynicism around. Just as the all told me, it just wouldn't work. No interest. Best example is the "grass-roots" organization, formed by parents of the kids who died in the Disco-Fire in "Cromagnon" in December 2004. The catastrophe would have been a chance to pressure for reform of the corruption-ridden safety inspection process, call for more transparency, reform institutions. Instead, the "parents" had nothing better to do that start a political lawsuit against the city mayor, Ibarra, who by any other means has done quite a lot for the city, and hold him personally responsible. They want heads to roll, revenge, and who cares about lasting change. It's such a politically infantile society. So frustrating.

Anyway, while the institutions stay in ruins and Argentina shares its place in Transparency International's Annual Corruption Rankings with luminaries such as Algeria, Malawi, and Mozambique, people in general are nice. And the peso is still cheap. And I can afford to be lethargic, and write large blog articles, instead of slaving away 12 hours in some meaningless rat race job. Which is quite something. And maybe, who knows, I'll still get to do some more good and even paid for it. At least it's finally summer. Stay tuned.