No pants, no corruption: how Antanas Mockus changed Bogota
We've read a lot of stories about how change came to be, but who could ever think that change could come to life with a simple act of mooning? ("taking off your pants" - NB). However, this is what happened in the Columbian capital in 1994. Back then Bogota was an extremely dangerous city with a high level of corruption and violence. Resolving contradictions between different groups of people by using guns and physical strength became a usual thing. And then Antanas Mockus, one of the people who kick started change in the city, started his political career by taking off his pants.Â
A son of Luthuanian immigrants, he made an excellent academic career with a degree in mathematics and later master degree in philosophy. In 1993 he was the president of the National University of Columbia in Bogota. The turning point in his career was when the government accepted an unpopular education reform, and students all over the country aggressively resisted it. At one of the meetings organised by the National University, the student community took it too far. Mockus tried to hold a speech and to find a solution, but the audience was just going mad. Then the president shocked everyone by taking off his pants. Later he admitted this gesture as the act of symbolic violence, an arguable example of "innovative behaviour", which in the end helped to establish connection with the problematic audience.
Of course this act costed Antanas Mockus a career. But benefits also didn't take long to come. The TV was talking about Mockus and his action day and night, promoting him as "crazy Antanas". He became popular. People of Bogota started to believe that this guy is crazy enough to make some real changes in their lives. That's why in 1994 he was elected as a mayor of Bogota.Â
Soon after that roads and streets of Bogota saw... mimes. Real mimes with white painted faces, wearing funny costumes. They regulated the traffic with an art of pantomime, showing "yellow cards" to violators and encouraging both drivers and pedestrians to be friendly and respectful to each other by following rules. Mimes did not carry guns, they could not arrest anyone, it was impossible to give them a bribe - have you ever seen a corrupt mime? In some way they became a lot more than local police which didn't have any trust from Columbians. This simple performance showed the citizens of Bogota how it is easy to fight injustice and corruption with respect and laughter.
Mayor Mockus showed a good example himself. Wearing a "superman" costume with a letter C (citizen) he picked up the garbage on the streets of Bogota, cleaned the walls and explained that being a citizen is respecting yourself and your neighbours. Mayor was starring in the TV advertising, explaining how to take a shower spending less water: the lack of drinking water was always a sharp problem for Bogota.Â
The department of traffic police that used to be known as the most corrupted in the city was closed and reorganised. Former members of the department were offered a chance to be educated as mimes and get back to work. Taxi drivers who used to over charge the passengers by taking a lot more money for a ride than it actually costed were stumped. Mockus's team introduced the Order of Zebra. Only those taxi drivers who got good feedbacks from the passengers could become its members. Those who were accepted got special stickers which they put to the windshield so every passenger could see how much this or that driver is reliable.
Antanas Mockus was elected as a Mayor of Bogota twice - in 1995 and 2001. His unusual, outstanding and simple initiatives of fighting against corruption, violence and poverty were extremely successful. During his mayorship, Bogota became one of the safest cities in Latin America. The level of corruption was reduced. Mockus appealed to the citizens of Bogota as to the human beings they are, reminding them how much citizen culture, humanism and fairness are important in our days. Â
In 2009 Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard made a documentary "Bogota Change" about those positive changes that the capital of Columbia experienced.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsVnQUCI1VEÂ
It is a great documentary that shows you how can a normal person that wanted to change his city managed to fight his way through corruption and violence. And he actually made some real change. It is an example that we should follow in our fight against corruption.Â
P.S. Don't worry you don't have to take off your pants as well, but if you want to, be our guest.Â
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