Wendy and Obama

Allan McDonald on Obama’s prize

For more about Wendy Elizabeth Ávila, see Avi Lewis’s report for Faultlines, embedded at the end of this post.

Wendy and Obama - Español

Peace as a medal rather than a principle

By Allan McDonald

English translation: Machetera

Wendy Elizabeth Ávila was born in Tegucigalpa on June 28, 1985, under a rain of melancholy ashes.

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961, under a carnival of Asiatic colors.

Wendy went to a public school, poor, like her comrades, and in her arms she always carried notebooks with the word “hope” written in upper case.

Obama went to the prestigious Harvard Law School with its hors d’oeuvres enriched by the protein of the judiciary.

Wendy grew up with an open smile, fresh with dreams.

Obama grew up in the mists of greed and public lies.

Wendy went every day to the sad outskirts of Tegucigalpa, to teach boys and girls to read and write.

Obama attended to the methodical campaigns where he was chosen as a Senator from the Thirteenth District of Illinois, in order to find the alphabet of power’s irrational force.

Wendy attended a university in Honduras in order to become a lawyer and help those who thirst for justice.

Obama was a professor of Constitutional Law on the law school faculty at the University of Chicago, to teach those with a hunger for demagoguery and marketing.

Wendy achieved her maximum honor upon seeing the happiness of children with a diploma for learning to read and write.

Obama achieved his maximum honor upon becoming the first black president, thereby inscribing his destiny and history for those in the empire who cannot read.

Wendy was in her house, looking out the window at an overcast sky and thinking of her birthday when she heard the bullets from the coup d’etat.

Obama was breakfasting on potatoes and peanuts when he became aware of the constitutional transition in Honduras.

Wendy closed her eyes, opened the door and went out in search of answers.

Obama opened the window of the Oval Office and flew out with Superman to invent questions.

Wendy immediately joined the National Front Against the Coup and went out in search of justice, democracy and above all, peace.

Obama was sworn in as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America and immediately joined the tide of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wendy walked tirelessly every day in the face of the criminal curfew blockading the streets.

Obama walks through the White House gardens, untroubled about the criminal blockade of Cuba.

Wendy, in the heat of struggle, with peace as her only weapon, confronted the owners of the country and their weapons, who attacked her with grenade launchers and cannons.

Obama promised to send 40,000 men with grenade launchers and cannons to Afghanistan.

Wendy saw a fleet of barbarians before her eyes and asked for peace.

Obama orders the Fourth Fleet to continue.

Wendy continues on foot, day after day, with a peaceful struggle as her basis, searching for peace in the terror-filled streets.

Obama brings his military bases to Colombia.

Wendy doesn’t abandon hope for peace.

Obama doesn’t close Guantánamo out of horror.

Wendy runs into the smoky weapons once again.

Obama launches curtains of smoke.

Wendy falls, overcome by the toxic gases shot by Honduran soldiers to crack down on peaceful protesters.

Obama falls into his rocking chair, bored by talk of Honduras.

Wendy dies in search of the peace she sought every day; it was 10 p.m. on Saturday, September 26th in Tegucigalpa.

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize; it was 5 a.m. on Friday, October 9^th, in Washington.

Wendy was honored at a wake in a humble room at a union hall, by her comrades in the struggle.

Obama celebrated his medal in the gilded salons of the peaceful elite, with wines and cheeses to inspire gastronomic peace.

Wendy believed in her struggle.

Obama still doesn’t believe in his medal.

Allan McDonald and Machetera are members of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author, and translator are cited.