How Design Thinking Helped Demobilize Colombian Guerrillas
Design thinking has become a buzzword in many industries, yet when you hear stories like the following, design thinking is more powerful than ever. It changed people’s lives.
In a design class session, we listened to a podcast where design and propaganda were used to bring back many guerrilla fighters to their homes. This story is what design thinking is meant to do — make us more human and empathetic towards others’ experiences and feelings and create solutions based on what the real problem is.
Poetry is like propaganda; it is complexity in the form of simplicity, if you know how to read it.
— Ira Glass, This American Life
Background story
Claiming to be protecting the rights of the rural people and providing social justice through communism, the Marxist-Leninist Colombian guerrillas (FARC) were formed to fight the wealthy class and to terminate the support of the United States government in Colombia.
The guerrillas are known for violent acts including murders, kidnapping, and involvement with drug trafficking and terrorism. Though there’s no exact number of guerrilla fighters, it’s estimated that 20–30% of the guerrillas are kids that were forced to join. These guerrillas are hidden in the jungle of Colombia due to its remote access.
Goal: demobilize guerrilla fighters
Strategist & Designers: Jose Sokoloff and his ad agency “Lowe SSP3”
The client: the Colombian government
Defining problems & limitations:
- Geographic location: remote access. They live in the jungle, wearing fatigues. How do we reach out to them?
- If you attempt to escape from these jungle camps, the guerrillas will kill you. Hence why the government started to create programs to protect them.
- Jose and the company interviewed former guerrillas to see why they would quit.
Prototype One
Jose and the company created 30 second TV spots featuring stories. Just like any other South American country, Colombia loves fútbol (soccer). It was known that the guerrillas had small TVs.
Flaws: they used actors to hide former guerrilla’s identities which means that the guerrillas knew that this is not how they spoke.
Iteration → Prototype Two
Using modified voices, former guerrillas told their war stories.
“They were going to force me to get an abortion, but I didn’t let them. So they punished me by making me clear paths with a machete for six months.” — Former guerrilla
Sadly, it is mentioned that some women went through abortions two or three times. Since these ads were on air, 2000 people demobilized. But this wasn’t enough.
The Anti-Propaganda movement: FARC leaders started telling their people that the government was forcing former fighters to do these ads, and if they wouldn’t listen, they would get killed.
Iteration → Prototype 3
- More information was gathered. Colombia is a Catholic & Christian country. Christmas is a new element in this process. The significance of Christmas was a shared value.
- The problem was re-framed. December was a vulnerability for the guerrilla leaders. How do we use the elements of Christmas, the jungle, and fighters walking all day to solve this problem?
Operation Christmas — In 2010, a young co-worker of Jose noticed that during Christmas, the percentage of number demobilizing would increase dramatically.
“If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilize. It’s Christmas. Everything is possible.”
“Nine strategic pathways in the jungle-covered with Christmas lights…. a sign that only lit up when the guerrillas happened to walk by and trigger a motion sensor.”
The lights in 75 ft. trees were beautifully decorated. During that Christmas, it moved 331 guerrilla fighters. Some didn’t have to see it to believe it and they went home.
Iteration → Prototype Four
Jose and the company did field trips and were getting more insights and feedback by these fresh former guerrillas.
- A new element was discovered: rivers. They don’t walk as much as everyone thinks. “The rivers are the highways of the jungle.”
- Toys, trinkets, and personal notes were gathered from towns that used to be ruled by FARC.
Operation Rivers of Light —Jose and the company put all the things they gathered into plastic purple glowing balls that could float in water. Due to the remote access of these rivers, the balls were thrown by goverment helicopters. These balls “lit up at night, like a terrestrial galaxy. The tops of the balls were transparent so the soldiers would see what was inside of them when they pulled them out the water.”
Iteration → Prototype Five
“Guerrilla, this Christmas follow the light that will guide you to your family and your freedom.”
Operation Bethlehem — The next Christmas, they wanted to not only bring lights to the jungle, but they also wanted to lead them out of it. They did what they did in 9/11. There were huge spotlights into the sky attempting to symbolize a freedom spot.
However, this was still very dangerous. I think the guerrilla leaders realized that those areas were a key spot for people to run away.
- The element of emotion and beauty are highlighted in this prototype. What would have happened if these balls were not designed to call their attention? If they were not glowing, it wouldn’t have provoked any sort of emotion or interest in guerrilla fighters.
Iteration → Prototype Six
In 2012, the Colombian government, the guerrillas, and Cuba were attempting to end this war. For Jose, it wasn’t a winnable war anymore. Guerrilla fighters didn’t fear death but they were afraid of whether they’d be accepted back in their communities.
Jose thought that the element of surprise was key because it’d appeal to their emotions even more. “No more lights and trees this Christmas,” he thought.
Mother’s Voices — Moms of guerrilla fighters volunteered to give pictures of their daughters/sons when they were kids. This was essential because guerrilla leaders wouldn’t be able to recognize who was who, and they’d be the only ones to recognize these photographs.
Thousands of posters were created with this main message:
“Before you were a guerrilla, you were my child. Come back this Christmas. I’m waiting for you.”
The propaganda done in this last prototype moved the whole country to another level. When we think about the attacks in Syria presented by the news, it’s become immune to us to hear it. We got so used to it. “But this was personal. It was so personal — in a couple of cases, so specific to the person receiving the message.”
The Colombian president launched a program to demobilize FARC fighters by subsidizing their living expenses. This problem is a controversial topic in Colombia today. Because while thousands of citizens opposed the idea of using their tax money to support guerrilla fighters, thousands of children were forced to join the guerrillas and their lives are now marked by deaths and violence.
Full podcast:
Full TED talk by Jose:
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