Last week, as part of the Minga, social groups from Santander department, mobilised at the construction site of a hydroelectric plant, one of a network of 7 to be constructed across Colombia. The 1000 strong gathering was called to oppose the privitisation of the Rio Sogamosa, which hundreds of families depend on.
Issues discussed included the right to life, agreements not fulfilled by the government, land sovereignty, economic models as well as the privitisation of the river. When the police prevented an attempt to occupy a bridge, the participants, including over 300 women from the Social Movement of Women against War and the Organizacion Feminina Popular demanded their legitimate right to protest and to oppose the selling off of their natural resources.
A few days later local community representatives had a meeting with one of the companies subcontracted to build the dam. President of Puente Sogamoso village council where the Minga took place, Honorio Llorente Melenez, voiced concerns about the potential social and environmental impact of the megaproject on the community.
A few hours later Honorio was shot dead as he was leaving a bar with some friends. His murderer changed his top and was picked up by two motorbikes before they headed towards the main road through the region, passing an army base a kilometre away.
Honorio had lived in Puente Sogamoso since 1986, and started working for a Palm Oil company two years later. He had always been a trade union member and became treasurer of the Puerto Wilches branch of Sintrainagro. He was fired in 2007 and was due to have a meeting with the company about compensation for his dismissal at the Employment Ministry.
Honorio was involved in the campaign for the defence of the Sogamoso river and the threat the hydroelectric plant posed to those living along its banks. He had also been active in the recent Minga.
His assassination was no isolated event but one of many of those committed to protecting natural resources and communities. Three other local community representatives have been killed in Santander this year with regional authorities taking no steps to ensure the safety of these representatives and take action against the armed groups responsible for their murders. A coalition of regional and national social movements is calling on the government to take action against the continuing persecution of social movement representatives and human rights defenders.
The memory of Honorio and others, whose lives have been cut short whilst resisting the depradations of big business, is another humbling reminder of the courage of those determined to protect communities aware of the risks they take and in the face of these powerful outside interests.
Friday 23 October 2009
Thursday 22 October 2009
The Caribbean Minga
The 'Minga de Resistencia Social y Comunitaria' (Gathering of Social and Community Resistance) which took place last week in three places in Colombia, builds on the indigenous minga last year when thousands of indigenous spent a month marching from their homelands to Bogota to demand land rights and social justice. They faced massive police repression during this mobilisation and at least one person was killed with dozens injured and arrested.
This year the minga was broadened to include other social movements and took place in the west converging on Cali, in the centre in Bogota, and in Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. Small farmers and artesanal miners from the south of the departments of Bolivar and Cesar, converged on the village of Gamarra on the Magdalena River on Monday 12th to hold their annual 'Festival of the River' event, a celebration of the region's culture with song and dance, as well as a commemoration of the violence the region has and continues to experience. This April a community leader who opposed new palm oil plantations was assassinated by paramilitaries.
After a communal lunch outside the home of a local, a caravan of coaches transported the delegation consisting mainly of farmers' and miners' families to Cartagena where we set up camp on the grounds of a recreational ground on the edge of the city. People quickly organised themselves into different teams to deal with the running of the camp like kitchen, toilets and cleaning. Hammocks were slung along the fences outside and mattresses laid in the sheltered central structure with sloping thatch roof and open sides.
The next day as regional musical and dance groups performed, the local police and authorities with media in tow showed up and organisers spent much of the next few days dealing with them. With spirits high the youthful gathering didn't let this sideshow disrupt the festivities and a constant beat was sustained for the rest of the day. Groups dressed in regional costume performed cumbia and vallenato folk music with an assortment of drums, accordion and guiro.
In the afternoon we were bussed to the beach with the excitement palpable as it was the first time many had seen the sea. After dip we returned to find out the mains water supply to the recreation ground had been cut off so no shower to wash off the salty residue from the seawater. For the rest of the week there was twice-daily provision from a water tanker.
The following day three groups visited different barrios of Cartagena for an exchange of experiences. Some from the rural south of the region were shocked to hear of the urban poverty of the barrios, having their illusions of the 'good life' in the city shattered. We heard about the experiences of some indigenous Senu who had been displaced from their land and settled on a small plot of land in the deprived Membrillal district on the edge of the city in 2002. Originally 140 families crammed into this area but many have since moved away in search of work elsewhere. Their sense of identity has been weakened much through this dispersion of the community. We heard the familiar story of extreme poverty - unemployment, hunger and poor provision of health and education. We walked past a school built by the humanitarian NGO Plan International, which attempts to plug the gaping holes of a state that neglects the needs of the majority. Meanwhile on the other side of town modern luxury hotels and office blocks have sprung up to cater for tourists and the business elite. Locals are still able to visit some of the nearby beaches, but even this is under threat with local authority plans to privatize these. Parallels were drawn with the seizure of land for palm oil plantations on the banks of the Magdalena in the south of Bolivar.
Prolonged showers on Wednesday night meant a disrupted night's sleep for all but didn't dampen enthusiasm during Thursday's festivities in the city centre. With a strong police presence folklore groups performed for several hours right on the edge of the Walled City and many locals and tourists stopped by to watch and take part in the dances in the 'Plaza de la Paz'. Amidst this festive atmosphere, banners were held and leaflets handed out to remind onlookers of the accompanying political message of the communities' determination to remain on their land and for justice for the violence unleashed on them.
The week culminated with a march from the edge of the centre into the Walled City, where the farmers and miners joined social movements from the coastal region including a group of indigenous Wayu, in a mobilization against hunger and poverty. Around 2,000 were closely escorted by police in a two-hour march with no respite from the intense heat and dust and with water sellers doing a roaring trade. Representatives from trade unions, the Polo Democratico left-wing party and student collectives all condemned the rising unemployment, lack of opportunities for the youth, expensive basic services, privatizations, official corruption and human rights violations. Many had drifted away, no doubt exhausted like me, as the march entered the Walled City in the fading light and ended in the Plaza de San Pedro Claver, the 16th century monk who ministered to slaves brought from Africa. We were treated to a lengthy mass with much praying, but the priest did praise the value of solidarity as well as songs by a local musical celebrity and there were some who still had the energy to boogie. The militant message of the march with its demands was perhaps lost in this final ceremony but the message had already been made repeatedly and very publicly earlier in the day.
With little contact between the city and its hinterland the week's activities managed to bring together and dispel mutual illusions. Due to media portrayals many in the city perceive the south of the region to be exclusively guerilla and paramilitary territory whilst those living a tough life on the land are often unaware of the extent of urban poverty. The common cultural heritage with many in the south having moved inland from the coast was highlighted through song and dance.
Throughout the week the authorities pressurised organisers and the police were a constant intimidating presence but they failed to deter the peaceful message of those who eke out a living from the land. Despite the challenges faced in the first 'Minga Caribe' mobilisation, the expansion of the annual Minga to include non-indigenous groups is a defiant stance of the social movements against a regime which has continuously tried to divide them and a crucial step in the strengthening of this network
This year the minga was broadened to include other social movements and took place in the west converging on Cali, in the centre in Bogota, and in Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. Small farmers and artesanal miners from the south of the departments of Bolivar and Cesar, converged on the village of Gamarra on the Magdalena River on Monday 12th to hold their annual 'Festival of the River' event, a celebration of the region's culture with song and dance, as well as a commemoration of the violence the region has and continues to experience. This April a community leader who opposed new palm oil plantations was assassinated by paramilitaries.
After a communal lunch outside the home of a local, a caravan of coaches transported the delegation consisting mainly of farmers' and miners' families to Cartagena where we set up camp on the grounds of a recreational ground on the edge of the city. People quickly organised themselves into different teams to deal with the running of the camp like kitchen, toilets and cleaning. Hammocks were slung along the fences outside and mattresses laid in the sheltered central structure with sloping thatch roof and open sides.
The next day as regional musical and dance groups performed, the local police and authorities with media in tow showed up and organisers spent much of the next few days dealing with them. With spirits high the youthful gathering didn't let this sideshow disrupt the festivities and a constant beat was sustained for the rest of the day. Groups dressed in regional costume performed cumbia and vallenato folk music with an assortment of drums, accordion and guiro.
In the afternoon we were bussed to the beach with the excitement palpable as it was the first time many had seen the sea. After dip we returned to find out the mains water supply to the recreation ground had been cut off so no shower to wash off the salty residue from the seawater. For the rest of the week there was twice-daily provision from a water tanker.
The following day three groups visited different barrios of Cartagena for an exchange of experiences. Some from the rural south of the region were shocked to hear of the urban poverty of the barrios, having their illusions of the 'good life' in the city shattered. We heard about the experiences of some indigenous Senu who had been displaced from their land and settled on a small plot of land in the deprived Membrillal district on the edge of the city in 2002. Originally 140 families crammed into this area but many have since moved away in search of work elsewhere. Their sense of identity has been weakened much through this dispersion of the community. We heard the familiar story of extreme poverty - unemployment, hunger and poor provision of health and education. We walked past a school built by the humanitarian NGO Plan International, which attempts to plug the gaping holes of a state that neglects the needs of the majority. Meanwhile on the other side of town modern luxury hotels and office blocks have sprung up to cater for tourists and the business elite. Locals are still able to visit some of the nearby beaches, but even this is under threat with local authority plans to privatize these. Parallels were drawn with the seizure of land for palm oil plantations on the banks of the Magdalena in the south of Bolivar.
Prolonged showers on Wednesday night meant a disrupted night's sleep for all but didn't dampen enthusiasm during Thursday's festivities in the city centre. With a strong police presence folklore groups performed for several hours right on the edge of the Walled City and many locals and tourists stopped by to watch and take part in the dances in the 'Plaza de la Paz'. Amidst this festive atmosphere, banners were held and leaflets handed out to remind onlookers of the accompanying political message of the communities' determination to remain on their land and for justice for the violence unleashed on them.
The week culminated with a march from the edge of the centre into the Walled City, where the farmers and miners joined social movements from the coastal region including a group of indigenous Wayu, in a mobilization against hunger and poverty. Around 2,000 were closely escorted by police in a two-hour march with no respite from the intense heat and dust and with water sellers doing a roaring trade. Representatives from trade unions, the Polo Democratico left-wing party and student collectives all condemned the rising unemployment, lack of opportunities for the youth, expensive basic services, privatizations, official corruption and human rights violations. Many had drifted away, no doubt exhausted like me, as the march entered the Walled City in the fading light and ended in the Plaza de San Pedro Claver, the 16th century monk who ministered to slaves brought from Africa. We were treated to a lengthy mass with much praying, but the priest did praise the value of solidarity as well as songs by a local musical celebrity and there were some who still had the energy to boogie. The militant message of the march with its demands was perhaps lost in this final ceremony but the message had already been made repeatedly and very publicly earlier in the day.
With little contact between the city and its hinterland the week's activities managed to bring together and dispel mutual illusions. Due to media portrayals many in the city perceive the south of the region to be exclusively guerilla and paramilitary territory whilst those living a tough life on the land are often unaware of the extent of urban poverty. The common cultural heritage with many in the south having moved inland from the coast was highlighted through song and dance.
Throughout the week the authorities pressurised organisers and the police were a constant intimidating presence but they failed to deter the peaceful message of those who eke out a living from the land. Despite the challenges faced in the first 'Minga Caribe' mobilisation, the expansion of the annual Minga to include non-indigenous groups is a defiant stance of the social movements against a regime which has continuously tried to divide them and a crucial step in the strengthening of this network
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Migrant Solidarity in Calais
Having heard about the stepping up of police harassment and attacks on migrants in Calais over the summer I thought I'd hop across the channel myself to show solidarity. In the wake of the French authorities' vow to clear Calais of migrants by the end of the year the CRS (the French riot police) had been given the green light to pressure migrants into leaving by beating them, throwing tear gas in tents, destroying their tents and belongings, even resorting to gas the one water tap for 500 people. Those showing solidarity with the migrants experienced a piece of this aggression, being pushed around, insulted, detained temporarily and prevented from documenting the CRS abuses - you make our jobs (migrant-bashing) harder and we'll make your lives tough was the message.
On my first visit, around a month ago, it was clear that our presence, whilst not stopping the raids and detentions, at least mitigated the violence of the bully boys, who in typical cowardly fashion, didn't hesitate to throw their weight around when just one or two volunteers were present, but were a lot shyer with greater numbers and cameras present. The frequent raids on some of the squats at night or in the early hours, with migrants being released soon after, were blatantly designed just to intimidate them into leaving Calais.
The announcement, a few weeks later, that Calais was to be 'cleared' of migrants within a week had more of an effect with most leaving the largest Pashtun jungle, although others sleeping rough or in squats generally stayed. Despite the destruction of the Pashtun jungle to much media fanfare, by the end of the week the squats and those sleeping rough were still there with the police preferring to concentrate resources on preventing migrants returning to the jungle and continuing with the intimidation, warning migrants that their tents or squats would be destroyed the next day. Cops in plain clothes even visited one squat, shouting insults and threatening to beat up the migrants.
Although there was no full-on immediate 'clearance' that first week, the police weren't tolerating any public show of resistance, clamping down heavily on the small-scale demos on the Friday and Sunday, using the handy French law banning any demo that the authorities haven't been notified of in advance. Volunteers were even summoned for questioning and held for four hours regarding one of these demos, which saw farcical tug-of-war with a banner scenes. Even those who weren't at the demo were held for questioning. In the second week some of the smaller jungles were cleared and those sleeping rough in the centre under bridges were targetted with police forcing them to take all their belongings, bedding and shelters with them at short notice, without any indication as to where they should go. Again farcical scenes ensued with their property going round in circles. One of the squats was demolished restricting even further the migrants' options. The final stages of the 'cleansing' of Calais are in progress now with these migrants being increasingly targetted and talk has moved on now to charter flights to Afghanistan, which immigration minister Besson promises are imminent. This is probably what Afghanis fear most as for many it will mean being caught up in the nightmare of the never-ending 'war on terror' and having to pay back the debts incurred to get to Europe with no means to do so.
At times Calais felt like a town under occupation with hardly a few minutes going by without seeing a national police car or CRS van full of riot police. Calais was swamped with cops. Calais may be cleared of migrants for a while to suit the immediate needs of domestic British/French relations, but, short of a costly permanent police presence in Calais and other ports, migrants will begin drifting back fleeing wars and abject poverty in their homelands searching for something a little more secure in the UK, which most choose as they already have contacts there or at least know English.
Instead of seeking real global solutions to these causes of migration, massive sums are being spent for short-term political gain. As is often the case with mobilisations, most will blame activists and volunteers for the exorbitant expense of the police operations, secure that they will never need to undertake hazardous journeys across borders in search of shelter and security.
On my first visit, around a month ago, it was clear that our presence, whilst not stopping the raids and detentions, at least mitigated the violence of the bully boys, who in typical cowardly fashion, didn't hesitate to throw their weight around when just one or two volunteers were present, but were a lot shyer with greater numbers and cameras present. The frequent raids on some of the squats at night or in the early hours, with migrants being released soon after, were blatantly designed just to intimidate them into leaving Calais.
The announcement, a few weeks later, that Calais was to be 'cleared' of migrants within a week had more of an effect with most leaving the largest Pashtun jungle, although others sleeping rough or in squats generally stayed. Despite the destruction of the Pashtun jungle to much media fanfare, by the end of the week the squats and those sleeping rough were still there with the police preferring to concentrate resources on preventing migrants returning to the jungle and continuing with the intimidation, warning migrants that their tents or squats would be destroyed the next day. Cops in plain clothes even visited one squat, shouting insults and threatening to beat up the migrants.
Although there was no full-on immediate 'clearance' that first week, the police weren't tolerating any public show of resistance, clamping down heavily on the small-scale demos on the Friday and Sunday, using the handy French law banning any demo that the authorities haven't been notified of in advance. Volunteers were even summoned for questioning and held for four hours regarding one of these demos, which saw farcical tug-of-war with a banner scenes. Even those who weren't at the demo were held for questioning. In the second week some of the smaller jungles were cleared and those sleeping rough in the centre under bridges were targetted with police forcing them to take all their belongings, bedding and shelters with them at short notice, without any indication as to where they should go. Again farcical scenes ensued with their property going round in circles. One of the squats was demolished restricting even further the migrants' options. The final stages of the 'cleansing' of Calais are in progress now with these migrants being increasingly targetted and talk has moved on now to charter flights to Afghanistan, which immigration minister Besson promises are imminent. This is probably what Afghanis fear most as for many it will mean being caught up in the nightmare of the never-ending 'war on terror' and having to pay back the debts incurred to get to Europe with no means to do so.
At times Calais felt like a town under occupation with hardly a few minutes going by without seeing a national police car or CRS van full of riot police. Calais was swamped with cops. Calais may be cleared of migrants for a while to suit the immediate needs of domestic British/French relations, but, short of a costly permanent police presence in Calais and other ports, migrants will begin drifting back fleeing wars and abject poverty in their homelands searching for something a little more secure in the UK, which most choose as they already have contacts there or at least know English.
Instead of seeking real global solutions to these causes of migration, massive sums are being spent for short-term political gain. As is often the case with mobilisations, most will blame activists and volunteers for the exorbitant expense of the police operations, secure that they will never need to undertake hazardous journeys across borders in search of shelter and security.
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