Two months ago the hands on the clock on the Congress building in Bolivia began to move anticlockwise. This was not a malfunction. The clock is designed as a protest against the domination of the north (more frequently known as the west), in world affairs.

The Bolivian government, which installed the timepiece in June, points out that clocks evolved from sundials – and that the sun moves in a different direction in the southern hemisphere. David Choquehuanca, the foreign minister, remarked: “Who says the clock always has to turn one way? Why should we always obey?”

The strange case of the Bolivian clock should not be dismissed as mere eccentricity. A revolt against global rules designed in the US and Europe is well under way. And its consequences will be felt well beyond the clock towers of La Paz.