People in Colombia don’t want peace, they want justice.
What is behind Colombia massive protest on November 21st
What is behind Colombia massive protest on November 21st?
“They took so much from us, that they even stole our fear” reads the sign held by this young protester.
The last massive protest in Colombia was in 2010, when millions took to the streets with the slogan: “no more FARC -Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-, we want peace”. However, the protest that took place on November 21st of this year was quite a different story. Several things have changed since the last demonstration and Colombians do not want peace anymore, they want justice. People are tired and screaming no more! No more lack of opportunities, no more government reforms that only benefit the most privileged, no more violence against indigenous people and community leaders and no more political rhetoric that scapegoats the guerilla as the only problem in Colombia. People in Colombia finally wake up to face the disturbing reality, the guerrilla is far less important issue when people are starving and the government is doing nothing but ignore their needs. This can be considered a real demonstration of resistance and the resurrection of social movements in Colombia. I strongly believe this 2019 national protest represents the beginning of a new era for social justice movements in Colombia. The timing, perspective, the medium, and the resistance from people of this era has changed, showing that Colombian social justice movements are transforming the Colombian institutions that perpetuate the privilege of a few.
The fact that this massive protest happens in the country after forty years of silence is evidencing the momentum social justice movements are having in Colombia.
Colombia is changing and people are finding new ways to advocate against the many social issues the country has been facing for several years. I spent more of my adulthood in Colombia, experiencing the brutality of decades of violence. Violence was the main issue in the country for more than forty years. The way we dealt with violence, at that time, was by convincing ourselves that we were just victims of a war that wasn’t ours. Violence was such a huge problem at the time, that we refused to recognize the many other social and political problems we faced as a nation. Due to our collective tunnel vision concerning violence, we allowed the country to move towards a deeper and more complex social inequality. The gap between privileged and marginalized grew very fast and those of us, who were in a position of privilege, were not aware of how much damage our silence was doing. I now regret my silence, but at the same time, this very silence helped to trigger the unrest of the newer generations. That is why the November 21st protest is so important. After forty years of silence, youths are finally challenging this pattern of oppression and inequality.
Post secondary students, as well as teachers, were some of the main participants in the national protest on November 21st.
“We didn’t become teachers in order to see our students die” says the banner in the picture by Oscar Murillo. Post secondary students were advocating for their right to protest and not be killed by the police. Before november 21st national strike, students from many public universities took to the streets demanding for their right to a more accessible education. They asked the government to increase its budget in order to support students with grants and reduced tuition fees. However, this protest, as many others before, ended up in a fierce confrontation between the students and the police.
Students began promoting the national protest, on November 21st, as a real and peaceful demonstration against government and police crusade to silence their voices. It was a real demonstration of new generations shifting their views and advocating for their rights. Youth are the new main supporters of social change and social justice in the country.
Youth are the new main supporters of social change and social justice in the country and social media is the new way for them to advocate for their rights and recover their voices. #Colombiadespierta
New groups of protesters are popping up to support other social issues, and now Colombia is moving towards a systemic transformation.
It is these youths who are beginning to support other social issues allowing Colombia to move towards a systemic transformation. People are tired of institutional reforms. Other groups that form part of the demonstrations are unions, students and indigenous people. There were other community leaders also expressing their discomfort for the many times the government was trying to reform traditional institutions as a facade to perpetuate privilege. People are tired of those reforms and are looking for a real transformation.
For the first time in years, Colombians are resisting domination from the privileged and politically powerful. They are now aware of the many social issues Colombia faces. There is a new, more active presence of social justice movements in Colombia and people are now aware of what the country really needs. All of these groups advocate for a meaningful transformation of government and institutions to build a better and more accessible society. Alejandro Santos, journalist and president of one of the most important colombian news magazines, summarized the November 21st national protest as one in its kind. This protest was not only a massive critique to an ineffective and unfair government, but an organized social movement calling for action. People in Colombia are now creating momentum for social movements and are moving towards action and powerful resistance.
