Statement regarding the situation facing the Colombian people

From the CLACSO Working Group Critical studies in disability, We express our strong rejection of state, political, and sexual violence in Colombia, and with the same conviction, we extend our solidarity and fraternal embrace to the Colombian people, especially to the poorest and most marginalized sectors, to Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, to children, youth, and all people with disabilities within these sectors, communities, and groups. We share the hope of a people who are resisting amidst the health, social, political, and economic crisis.

Social violence and human rights violations in Colombia are long-standing and historically evident problems, but they have intensified and worsened in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, today it is not only about the health crisis generated by the pandemic (which has revealed the weaknesses and corruption of the health system). It has exposed and exacerbated the deep-seated economic, educational, and social inequalities and crises: in the most vulnerable sectors of Colombian society, this is compounded by an economic, social, and political crisis (a crisis of governance).

Various activists, philosophers, and social and political analysts point out that mass violence, regardless of its context, social actors, and sometimes very different forms of manifestation, always shares the same common trait: it is “state violence.” Thus, Colombians are facing the effects of contemporary wars, where for states, the enemy is internal. They are confronting an armed conflict that has lasted for more than six decades, and under its influence, conditions emerge that lead to an intensification of violence and a stigmatization of the vulnerability of certain groups of people, which can provoke the desire to destroy them. In other words, as philosopher Judith Butler describes in her book Marcos de la Guerra, Under the influence of war, one is able to manipulate, control, and amplify affection in relation to the differential capacity of a life to be mourned. The pandemic crisis coincides with high levels of precarious living conditions, and with it, socially privileged individuals in productive confinement are asked not to go out and protest to avoid contagion, unaware that for millions of people the choice is between dying of hunger or dying from COVID.  

According to a report by the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz, April 28), 57 social leaders have been murdered so far this year. Regarding poverty, according to ECLAC, it increased from 31,7% to 38,7% in 2020, while unemployment rose to 21,8%. According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), monetary poverty increased by 6,8 percentage points (to 42,5%), affecting 21 million people, and the extreme poverty rate rose to 15,1% (a 5,5 percentage point increase).  

The current crisis in Colombia cannot be attributed to social protest, as the government and mainstream media have attempted to do. It is clearly a case of criminalizing social movements and action, which has led to the division of the Colombian population. The social demonstrations began on April 28th in response to the tax reform bill submitted by President Iván Duque (Sustainable Solidarity Law 439 of 2021), which included an increase in income tax and taxes on basic food items. However, a week later, they have become an expression of the indignation, exhaustion, fear, hunger, and precariousness affecting the poorest segment of the population. 

The NGO Temblores, through its “GRITA” platform, has recorded, from 6:00 am on April 28 and 10:00 am on May 6), “1728 cases of police violence”, broken down into: “234 victims of physical violence by the police, 37 victims of homicidal violence allegedly by the police, 934 arbitrary arrests against protesters, 341 violent interventions by the public force, 26 victims of aggression in their eyes, 98 cases of shootings of firearms by the police, 11 victims of sexual violence by the public force”. https://www.instagram.com/p/COi-gLGpV8a/

The situations described above (to mention just a few) are not only expressions of the multiple forms of violence in the country, but also of diverse forms of disability that are part of the social production of disability. They illustrate the recent history of disability, marked by war, armed conflict, and social, cultural, educational, economic, and political conditions, thus highlighting the unfortunate decision-making of those in power. Historically, it has been civilians who, forced to flee their homes due to war, have suffered and continue to suffer the consequences of armed attacks, resulting in physical harm and, more generally, violations of their fundamental rights. The inhabitants of the attacked cities have also suffered the consequences. These wars, unlike those occurring today, were between two states, and yet the injuries and suffering of civilians were immense. Now, as is happening in Colombia, the nation-state is attacking not only unarmed civilian groups, but also those belonging to the most vulnerable communities, thus demonstrating the abuse of power and cruelty that a state can exert over civilians. People with disabilities are struggling and being subjected to violence within this context. A state overwhelmed by the arguments and words of those seeking justice, and faced with a lack of laudable solutions, decides to respond with repression and genocidal violence to the just demands of a denied, unheard, and unrecognized society. The ableist perspective absolves the state of responsibility, individualizing and placing the burden of resilience on people to overcome adversity. 

It is the youth, the students, and their families who, since April 28, have borne the brunt of the most violent forms of repression. They have been injured, killed, and arbitrarily detained. 

The Colombian state and government, through their violence, are incapable of listening to and engaging in dialogue with citizens during times of great hardship and uncertainty. This manifests itself in state repression, multiple restrictions on freedoms, the denial of dignity, freedom of expression, the very right to protest, and basic subsistence rights. What is interpreted as "police abuse" becomes a clear violation of human rights that impedes or restricts the hopes for a good life, for the well-being of Colombians from all sectors of the population. 

After several days, and considering that the precarious conditions (economic, educational, health, etc.) that have been built up for so many years are causing very strong wounds to people's daily lives, we demand that the national government demilitarize the country to begin negotiations, immediately convening all the voices that need to be heard.

From the CLACSO Working Group on Critical Studies in Disability:

• We stand with the Colombian people in this situation, denouncing the abuse of power that the Government has been deepening in recent days.
• We request the support and dissemination of what is happening in Colombia through various organizations and institutions in the region.
• We demand an immediate halt to the criminalization and militarization of social protest, which causes irreparable harm to the lives of Colombian citizens.
• We demand that the negotiation table be opened immediately and genuinely, bringing together the voices that have been denouncing the abuses of the State and demanding what is needed by the Colombian people.

May 7th 2021
CLACSO Working Group
Critical studies in disability

This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Critical studies in disability and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.