Tutorial about social mobilizations in Colombia

Omar Rincón*

FACT 1: THERE IS A LOT OF ANGER, A LOT OF SOCIAL RAGE… And the government, politicians, media, and the country's owners, like Shakira: Brutish, blind, deaf, mute, clumsy, and stubborn… and the people, across all classes and cultures, have “run out of arguments and methodologies” every time Duque “appears with his anatomy” because “he feeds on pretexts and lacks backbone”… and that has turned us into mobilized protest marchers… who march like a carnival… and make democracy a party… that the police and the government want to destroy…

FACT 2: The Peace Agreement (2016)... UNLEASHED SOCIAL PROTEST; before, going out into the streets and protesting was something done by guerrillas, now it's something done by citizens... Peace liberates the citizenry.

FACT 3: There are new social actors in the mobilization: it's not left-wing, nor union-based, it's made up of young people, women, new sexualities, indigenous people, Afro-descendants…

FACT 4: It all began with the agricultural strike (2013, Santos) and solidified in 2019 when it became a diverse and multi-causal political phenomenon. Marching and protesting are a learning process. Chile awoke in 2010 and consolidated its movement in 2019.

FACT 5: Police repression and violence have increased and have (ironically) become the SYMBOL of the marches. And they are becoming increasingly violent, increasingly repressive, and increasingly unifying, since it is the main symbol against which people are marching (in addition to Semana and RCN).

FACT 6: El status quo (media, businesspeople, politicians, government, academia…) doesn't budge:

• The Duque government does nothing, says it will do something and does nothing: always open to dialogue as a strategy of doing nothing.
• Legislators (politicians) do nothing but exploit causes for political gain; they do nothing. Politicians aren't interested in the common good or the collective good because that would go against their patronage interests.
• Business owners and the wealthy don't want to take responsibility; for example, banks, mining companies, and soft drink companies. They don't want to eliminate interbank fees (which are the highest in the world) or pay more taxes; they abandon the environment with empty rhetoric.Escazu Agreement not approved); taxes on soft drinks.
• The solution is a) militarization, b) more taxes for legal workers, c) more tax breaks for the rich

FACT 7: The official narrative is that Colombia is very happy: The Duque government, the establishment, and the media have been united in their fight against the virus. We, the citizens, have obeyed. Authoritarianism governs (or so it seems) by decree, television, and militarization. This authoritarianism has grown from the president down. That is why Duque has governed by decree and embraced Covid. (What would I do without you?) A meme and cartoon of Duque hugging... Covid hologramBut the media, business leaders, and government are happy, even though they've handled it badly: 500 deaths from COVID daily, no vaccines, politicization of every vaccine… 10,000 more deaths than in Argentina, which has the same population… And there, that's a fierce debate… and here, happiness… And meanwhile, the government is ignoring that there's an average of one massacre per day, an average of one social leader assassinated per day, social protests with more than 20 deaths, the Grandpa Uribe The news is all about a tweet where he invited the military to use weapons against the protesters. The media follows the violent elements (who aren't the police) and calls the protesters a mob, using militaristic rhetoric… (and saying very little about the diverse protests). The official narrative is full of racism, classism, sexism, and xenophobia… in the media, on social networks, and in government… media, business leaders, and politicians LOCKED UP in their quarantine…

FACT 8: The tax reform was the point that brought together all the discontent because it was against the middle class in favor of businessmen and without the people and which is also insultingly called "solidarity".

EL FACT 9: The protest: if people took to the streets en masse with the virus at its peak, it means the anger is unbearable. And once again, the government's reaction is militarization, once again, the media portrays them as THE VIOLENT ones and THE MOB. There are social protests because there is so much anger… because everything is wrong: especially the government and the country's elite… but the protests were so numerous that the government was forced to withdraw the reform. A victory for the citizens, for the youth, for women, for Indigenous people, for Afro-descendants, for the outraged… for the marches, but at a cost of 20 dead and thousands wounded. So much pain, damage, and bloodshed for so little: that the government listened to the people, but something was achieved.

EL FACT 10: Sadly, or perhaps paradoxically, this is the same old Colombia. The status quo remains unchanged, a happy marriage between media and politics. Everything is difficult here: the political and media class refuses to change anything, and the people are angry. And anyone who protests is labeled a leftist trying to destabilize the beautiful system of happy Colombia. 47% poverty, and they say it's because of the pandemic (which isn't true; we were already the most unequal country in Latin America, after Haiti). And we wait to see the next financial reform: nothing changes, everything stays the same, except for the social unrest and citizen mobilization.

WE STILL NEED TO RESOLVE:

Dear media, journalists, government, police, academics, and leaders:

• Who are the violent ones?
• Who is the mob?
• What is the symbol(s) of social protest? (The ESMAD? The police and their violence?)
• Who are the key players? (women, young people, new sexualities… indigenous people, Afro-descendants)
• What are the causes that mobilize people? (Feminism… environment… peace…)
• What's new?
• How do we reconcile the urgency of the demands of the streets and social media with the sluggishness and slowness of the government and legislators? (We want gestures and actions now!)
• Can the media and journalism change the narrative of the protests from covering the military, violence, and governments to narrating citizens and social causes?
• And Cali? Cali is the epitome of all evils (neglect and cynicism): a place of blacks and indigenous people… Cauca, Nariño, the Pacific coast… in other words, the country that doesn't matter and is forgotten and in the hands of landowners and criminals.

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* Member of the CLACSO Working Group on Communication, Politics and Citizenship. Published in Amphibian Magazine

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