Ciao!

I would say that in the majority of marches/protests the flags are provided to the participants. When I was in Cochabamba for the MAS rally, the participants carried whipalas and blue & black MAS flags. I noticed that all of them were constructed identically, as if they were mass produced for the event. I'd venture that happens in El Alto as well in Santa Cruz. March organizers hand out particular flags to make a statement.

This reminds me a lot of the Irish protests in the North. You really see three flags in these cases; the green flag with the harp (british crown excluded), The republic Tri-colour, and the Starry Plow of the Citizen's Army.

The Irish were so fond of their flags that when they came to America and fought in the Civil War they fought under the new Irish-American flag in adition to the American flag. The Irish-American flag was an altered version of the green flag with the phrase "Erin Go Braugh," meaning "Ireland Forever," written under the harp.

It seems to me that here in America we've diluted the meaning of the flag by associating it with the politics of the country as opposed to the people of the country.

I've had recurrent interest in the issue of symbolic politics, and flags are important symbols for many people. The Irish example is a good one.

As for the question of manufactured flags, I think that's fair. I'm not so much concerned w/ whether the symbolic use of flags is spontaneous or not, but on how they're used differently by different groups. It's significant that MAS uses the party & the whiphala. And that cruceños are using the regional flag.

For example: I grew up in Santa Cruz until 1984, w/ frequent visits since then. The different new monuments, all dedicated to camba "nationalism", are interesting. Even troubling (like the monument to Roca y Coronado, who drunkenly shot some indios in 1952). And some monuments are no longer there. The monument to Bolivar on the corner of Irala & Ejercito was replaced.

What I find interesting is not so much that they all seem to be raising the "cruceno" flag. After all, flags are just symbols of identity, which some people use to denote their "nation" (nation here defined as a group of people who think they have some kind of heritage, culture, history, etc. in common). The intersting thing is that in the case of Santa Cruz, two different groups of peoples seem to be uniting under a common nation. One, a "light-skinned" group of people (together with some white European group) who have strong racist beliefs. As a matter of example we can cite Miguel's example: "Even troubling (like the monument to Roca y Coronado, who drunkenly shot some indios in 1952)." And, another group of native, indigenous peoples who, migh I add, are the object of the other goup's discrimination. What makes the latter group identify, and march and demonstrate under the "cruceno" or "camba nation" flag? That is what I would like to know.

The interesting thing is how "kollas" who move to Santa Cruz very soon start thinking of themselves as "camba" (if not them, certainly their children seem to). And this happens in a way that doesn't happen when people move from the altiplano into La Paz, say. I've no idea why that is, but becoming "camba" (adopting the mannerisms, dialect, symbolisms, etc) is a common practice among recent immigrants to the region.

Also, the "camba" mythos does include large references to the Guaraní (and other Amazonic indigenous groups, like the Ayoreo), both in dialect, but also in symbolic practice.

I've no idea why people (like myself, a "camba-kolla") so quickly identify as "cambas". But I think partially it's that "camba" is generally a clear mestizo derivation. Few would argue that "cambas" are primarily European; they're something else. I wonder if that has an intrinsic appeal to many people? Because in La Paz there seems to be a stark break between "Indian" & "white" w/ little middle ground. Individual identity in Santa Cruz tends to be much more fluid, at least that's my impression

That is very true. But, that also happens the other way around. At least that has been my experience. I had several friends in grammar school whose parents were from Sta. Cruz. When called cambas, they were quick to point out they were born in La Paz. It must have to do with the need to identify oneself with the inmediate sorroundings. One does not want to be the outsider.

I think that's just what happens overall. If you move to a town where the people say "ni" instead of "hello", after a while, you start to say "ni" too. If you are born there, it comes naturally.