Hoy tenía cita a las 8:00 AM en el Ministerio de Saude Mozambicano para participar en la reunión del grupo de trabajo HIV/Tuberculosis en el cual estamos desarrollando unas nuevas guías de tratamiento de los pacientes infectados con ambas enfermedades. La reunión nunca aconteció ya que se olvidaron de reservar el salón de reuniones. Ya de vuelta en el proyecto recibo un sms de ultimo momento de una colega pidiéndome asistir a un debate sobre las nuevas guias de tratamiento de la tuberculosis resistente (Lo que se iba a debatir basicamente era que hay aproximadamento 2500 enfermos de TBC multiresistente por año en Mozambique y que hay dinero para tratar alrededor de 400 solamente). La reunión estaba planeada en el 4 piso pero después de esperar media hora nos avisaron que hubo cambios de último momento y que era en el primer piso. Antes de irse la secretaria que nos informo del cambio me pregunto incisivamente si le enseñaba a poner una formula en una tabla de excel. Imediatamente pense en ellos.
India, Bihar, Bureaucracy, 2003. India-28/2003
Om Prakash (1963) is Block Development Officer (BDO) in Makhdumpur Block (200.000 inhabitants), district Jahanabad, Bihar. Prakash has 45 subordinates and is responsable for public order and the development of his block. As the highest civil servant in Makhdumpur, he has a towel on his chair. The plate behind him contains the names of his predecessors. Monthly salary: 12,000 rupees ($263)
Liberia, bureaucracy, 2006. Liberia-04/2006
Major Adolph Dalaney (b. 1940) works in the Reconstruction Room of the Traffic Police at the Liberia National Police Headquarters in the capital Monrovia. Monthly salary: barely 1,000 Liberian dollars ($18). Traffic accident victims at times are willing to pay a little extra if Dalaney's department quickly draws up a favorable report to present to a judge.
Bolivia, bureaucracy (police), Potosi, 2005. Bolivia-08/2005
Constantino Aya Viri Castro (b. 1950), previously a construction worker, is a police officer third class for the municipality of Tinguipaya, Tomás Frías province. The police station does not have a phone, car or typewriter.
Monthly salary: 800 bolivianos ($100)
In Bureaucratics; Dutch historian and documentary photographer Jan Banning, brings a conceptual, typological approach to the dreariest of desk jobs, blending humor and absurdity with an astute portrait of sociopolitical ineptitude.
Bureaucratics [is] the product of an anarchist’s heart, a historian’s mind and an artist’s eye. It is a comparative photographic study of the culture, rituals and symbols of state civil administrations and its servants in eight countries on five continents, selected on the basis of political, historical and cultural considerations.” Jan Banning
