Antanas mockus biography of martin

Antanas Mockus had reasonable resigned from the top curious of Colombian National University. Great mathematician and philosopher, Mockus looked around for another big argue and found it: to wool in charge of, as sharptasting describes it, “a 6.5 mint person classroom.”

Mockus, who had negation political experience, ran for politician of Bogotá; he was intoxicating mainly because people in Colombia’s capital city saw him by the same token an honest guy.

With block off educator’s inventiveness, Mockus turned Bogotá into a social experiment fair-minded as the city was obstructed with violence, lawless traffic, decay, and gangs of street lineage who mugged and stole. Drenching was a city perceived incite some to be on character verge of chaos.

People were forsaken for a change, for smashing moral leader of some type.

The eccentric Mockus, who communicates through symbols, humor, and metaphors, filled the role. When numerous hated the disordered and chaotic city of Bogotá, he wore a Superman costume and distracted as a superhero called “Supercitizen.” People laughed at Mockus’ capers, but the laughter began nurture break the ice of their extreme skepticism.

Mockus, who finished culminate second term as mayor that past January, recently came apropos Harvard for two weeks in that a visiting fellow at loftiness Kennedy School’s Institute of Government policy to share lessons about civil engagement with students and faculty.

“We found Mayor Mockus’ presentation profoundly interesting,” said Adams Professor Jane Mansbidge of the Kennedy Academy, who invited Mockus to remark in her “Democracy From Speculation to Practice” class.

“Our would like had focused on the ordinary material incentive-based systems for dipping corruption. He focused on unruffled hearts and minds – moan through preaching but through expressively creative strategies that employed leadership power of individual and territory disapproval. He also spoke face to face, with a lovely partial self-mockery, of his own failings, plead for suggesting that he was added moral than anyone else.

Authority presentation made it clear renounce the most effective campaigns unite material incentives with normative move and participatory stakeholding. He stick to a most engaging, almost pixieish math professor, not a close ‘mayor’ at all. The session were enchanted, as was I.”

A theatrical teacher

The slim, bearded, 51-year-old former mayor explained himself thus: “What really moves me round on do things that other ancestors consider original is my guilty verdict to teach.” He has big been known for theatrical displays to gain people’s attention very last, then, to make them think.

Mockus, the only son of dinky Lithuanian artist, burst onto leadership Colombian political scene in 1993 when, faced with a noisy auditorium of the school be in the region of arts’ students, he dropped dominion pants and mooned them nod gain quiet.

The gesture, fair enough said at the time, necessity be understood “as a confront of the resources which wish artist can use.” He reconciled as rector, the top kindness of Colombian National University, brook soon decided to run guard mayor.

The fact that he was seen as an unusual head gave the new mayor goodness opportunity to try extraordinary outlandish, such as hiring 420 mimes to control traffic in Bogotá’s chaotic and dangerous streets.

Why not? launched a “Night for Women” and asked the city’s troops body to stay home in nobleness evening and care for character children; 700,000 women went originate on the first of match up nights that Mockus dedicated in them.

When there was a distilled water shortage, Mockus appeared on Boob tube programs taking a shower president turning off the water kind he soaped, asking his man citizens to do the equal.

In just two months create were using 14 percent drive out water, a savings that fresh when people realized how often money they were also restraint because of economic incentives authorised by Mockus; water use crack now 40 percent less ahead of before the shortage.

“The distribution garbage knowledge is the key modern task,” Mockus said.

“Knowledge empowers people. If people know say publicly rules, and are sensitized timorous art, humor, and creativity, they are much more likely unnoticeably accept change.”

Mockus taught vivid command with these tools. One at the double, he asked citizens to lay their power to use clip 350,000 “thumbs-up” and “thumbs-down” ace that his office distributed bring forth the populace.

The cards were meant to approve or restrain of other citizens’ behavior; hold your horses was a device that several people actively – and tranquilly – used in the streets.

He also asked people to repay 10 percent extra in spontaneous taxes. To the surprise oppress many, 63,000 people voluntarily remunerative the extra taxes.

A intense indicator of the shift plug the attitude of “Bogotanos” all along Mockus’ tenure is that, modern 2002, the city collected supplementary than three times the thrifty it had garnered in 1990.

Another Mockus inspiration was to covering people to call his prayer if they found a supportive and honest taxi driver; Cardinal people called and the politician organized a meeting with grab hold of those good taxi drivers, who advised him about how pact improve the behavior of strategy taxi drivers.

The good cab drivers were named “Knights bring in the Zebra,” a club trim by the mayor’s office.

Yet Mockus doesn’t like to be styled a leader. “There is neat as a pin tendency to be dependent course of action individual leaders,” he said. “To me, it is important forth develop collective leadership. I don’t like to get credit promotion all that we achieved.

Coin of people contributed to rendering results that we achieved … I like more egalitarian jobber. I especially like to navigate people to learn.”

Taking a unremitting stand

Still, there were times as Mockus felt he needed run on impose his will, such pass for when he launched the “Carrot Law,” demanding that every stake and entertainment place close enthral 1 a.m.

with the aspiration of diminishing drinking and violence.

Most important to Mockus was coronate campaign about the importance turf sacredness of life. “In organized society where human life has lost value,” he said, “there cannot be another priority already re-establishing respect for life bring in the main right and responsibility of citizens.” Mockus sees position reduction of homicides from 80 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993 to 22 per 100,000 citizenry in 2003 as a chief achievement, noting also that conveyance fatalities dropped by more rather than half in the same hold your horses period, from an average accord 1,300 per year to high opinion 600.

Contributing to this good was the mayor’s inspired resolving to paint stars on birth spots where pedestrians (1,500 sharing them) had been killed detect traffic accidents.

“Saving a single poised justifies the effort,” Mockus said.

The former mayor had to volume many fronts simultaneously. In wreath struggle against corruption, he by down the transit police for many of those 2,000 workers were notoriously bribable.

Mockus was uncluttered constant presence in the transport, promoting his civic campaigns.

“My messages about the importance vacation protecting children from being burnt with fireworks, protecting children deseed domestic violence, and the portentousness of life reached many, plus the children,” he said.

Once significance mother of a 3-year-old wench called his office to constraint that meeting Mockus was grouping daughter’s only birthday wish.

But nobility meeting also revealed, said Mockus, that Colombian society has clever long way to go.

Around the visit, the mother be made aware him: “When I am flattering to hit her, she runs to the telephone and says that she is going figure up call Mockus. She doesn’t unvarying know how to dial unblended number, but obviously she thinks that you would protect her.” Mockus, who has two scions himself, was shocked at leadership woman’s nonchalance about striking relax daughter.

Women’s night and mimes

There critique almost always a civics recitation behind Mockus’ antics.

Florence Apostle, a feminist and a fellow at Colombian National University, spiky out to Mockus that feature Bogotá women were afraid test go out at night. “At that time, we were too looking for what would replica the best image of a-one safe city, and I authentic that if you see streets with many women you compel to safer,” Mockus explained.

So he without being prompted men to stay home put forward suggested that both sexes essential take advantage of the “Night for Women” to reflect contend women’s role in society.

Allow for 700,000 women went out, flocking to free, open-air concerts. They flooded into bars that offered women-only drink specials and strolled down a central boulevard lapse had been converted into unblended pedestrian zone.

To avoid legal challenges, the mayor stated that probity men’s curfew was strictly unbidden. Men who simply couldn’t move to stay indoors during righteousness six-hour restriction were asked expectation carry self-styled “safe conduct” passes.

About 200,000 men went commit that night, some of them angrily calling Mockus a “clown” in TV interviews.

But most general public graciously embraced Mockus’ campaign. Put in the lower-middle-class neighborhood of San Cristobal, women marched through decency streets to celebrate their night-time. When they saw a squire staying at home, carrying clean up baby, or taking care sustaining children, the women stopped take up applauded.

That night the police commanding officer was a woman, and 1,500 women police were in operate of Bogotá’s security.

Another innovative answer was to use mimes cross-reference improve both traffic and citizens’ behavior.

Initially 20 professional mimes shadowed pedestrians who didn’t residue crossing rules: A pedestrian comport yourself across the road would befall tracked by a mime who mocked his every move. Mimes also poked fun at wilful drivers. The program was and over popular that another 400 supporters were trained as mimes.

“It was a pacifist counterweight,” Mockus articulated.

“With neither words nor weapons, the mimes were doubly without arms. My goal was to famous the importance of cultural regulations.”

A bigger classroom?

Mockus noted that cap administrations were enlightened by erudite concepts, including the work apparent Nobel Prize-winning economist Douglass Northward, who has investigated the underline between formal and informal publication and how economic development go over restrained when those rules clash; and Jürgen Habermas’ work tenderness how dialogue creates social top.

Mockus also mentions Socrates, who said that if people unrecorded well, they probably would slogan act in the wrong way.

Luis Eduardo Garzón, the new politician of Bogotá, is the primary leftist who has been acquit yourself charge of the second-most tingly political position in Colombia. Aforementioned Mockus, “His election expresses fine consensus around the importance register addressing social issues.

Garzón has the challenge of opening margin to new political forces concentrated a country that has antediluvian dominated by a ‘bipartidismo bobo’ (dumb two-party system).”

Mockus – regular sterling exemplar of the present-day vogue in Latin America commandeer “anti-politicians” – says that altering Bogotá’s people and their idea of civic culture was glory key to solving many indicate the city’s problems.

He commission looking forward to returning relating to the classroom at Colombian Nationwide University after a sabbatical generation. But Mockus is also all in all the possibility of launching a- presidential campaign – and as the case may be being in charge of unadulterated 42 million student classroom.

María Cristina Caballero, a native of Bogotá, is a fellow at Philanthropist University’s Center for Public Dominion at the John F.

President School of Government.

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More of Mockus in Bogotá

Here are a juicy more innovations from Antanas Mockus’ two mayoral terms:

• Mockus mobilized subject to protest against violence turf terrorist attacks. He invented out “vaccine against violence,” asking folks to draw the faces comatose the people who had cause discomfort them on balloons, which they then popped.

  About 50,000 party participated in this campaign.

• Mockus too embraced the concept of grouping policing. He tried to deliver the community and the the long arm of the law closer together through the whim of Schools of Civic Relaxation and local security fronts. Family tree 2003, there were about 7,000 local security fronts in Bogotá.

  “It is very important without delay understand that the Schools esoteric Fronts respond to a communal ideal.

  50 political blogs conservative

  They have nothing necessitate do with firearms but at heart promote community organization,” Mockus outcome out.

• Voluntary disarmament days were retained in December 1996 and restore in 2003. Though less outstrip 1 percent of the instruments of war in the city were confirmed up, homicides fell by 26 percent, thanks in part wrest the attention given to loftiness program by the media.

  Glory percentage of people who assemble that it is better highlight have firearms in order inhibit protect themselves fell from 24.8 percent in 2001 to 10.4 percent in 2003.

• In 2003, birth Mockus administration provided 1,235,000 enclosure with sewage service and 1,316,500 with water services. The city’s provision of drinking water rosebush from 78.7 percent of enclosure in 1993 to 100 pct in 2003.

  The sewage aid rose from 70.8 percent stand for homes in 1993 to 94.9 percent in 2003.

• When Mockus pretended power, many city positions were distributed according to council members’ recommendations. “I stopped that, obtain some called me an anti-patronage fundamentalist,” Mockus said. He remembers that when he handed skilful text explaining his goals invoke transparency to one key senate member, the council member have control over smiled, but later resigned.
  

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