Övergiven blogg

Sedan jag kom hem från Colombia har det inte blivit mycket tid för skrivande. Jag har massor av historier att berätta, men det får vänta. Är i full gång med förberedelser inför ESF (Om Colombia Refugiados en su propio suelo/ Flyktingar i sitt eget land; film, samtal och dans den 17 sept kl 12 på Spegeln) och för Festivalen Latinamerika i Fokus 17-26 oktober.

Ett par länkar att kolla upp om du läser på spanska;

http://comunicaciones.acantioquia.org/http:/
/dexconectados.blogspot.com/,

en bättre värld

rappoema

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=40095908

Rapparna i La Flora rappar poem

Detrás de la puerta
(rappoema)

Cuándo decimos confianza
Se abre una puerta vieja
Cuando decimos cariño aparece
Calor y sabor

Decimos miedo y nos da temblor
Aparece el escalofrío
Mil agujas calientes se meten
En el pecho, en el corazón

Decimos rabia y nos vamos
Nos escondemos o vemos novelas
La rabia es apretar una rosa
Llena de espinas

Cuando decimos confianza
Se abre una puerta vieja

(escrito por los chicos de La Flora en julio de 2008)

och så alla modiga kvinnor...

Det finns ett trångt och varmt kök där uppe i de kyliga bergen i el barrio la Flora (Usme) där det lagas mat till över femhundra barn varje dag. På Fundación Maria Adelaida jobbar "las señoras de servicios varios" (ung. damerna med olika göromål), kort och gott "las jefas" (cheferna).

En av de viktigaste reflektionerna under arbetets gång var vikten av att integrera alla, från alla håll och på alla plan. Las jefas var förstås spindlarna i kontaktnätet, för barnen som kom och åt, för föräldrarna (då de syntes till) och för mor-och-farföräldrarna.



Las jefas dansade på sin lunchpaus och sen blev det poesi, stunderna i köket med las jefas var poesi för mig, men de ville göra, säga, skriva...

svensk tolkning av dikten som finns i original på bloggen den 5 augusti;

Kvinnor (som sprider liv)

Vi är kvinnor
som vattnar livet
Vi beskyddar
själva utan skydd

Jobba, laga mat, vara hustrur
vi vet inte hur vila känns
en moders smärta
den enorma glädjen

Rädslan är en mumie
staty av förfruset blod
kläder på torklinan
levande skuggor i natten

Olyckor, jordskalv, uppenbarelser
de döda och döden
den röda djävulen hack i häl
landsbygdens ljud, sägnerna

Vi är kvinnor
som vattnar livet
kämpar och alltid sår
mod och tillit över rädslan

("las jefas" de la Flora, julio de 2008)

den sanna färgen på uribes sons bröllopskostym

Många och långa totalidiotiska radioprogram kan man höra i colombia, barbie och kens medverkan skulle höjt intelligensnivån. Ett av dessa i en av de största radiokanalerna handlade om färgen på president uribes sons kostym då denne gifte sig. Alla var överrens om att materialet var linnetyg, finaste sådant, men sedan gick uppfattningarna i sär. Någon menade beige en annan vit. Slutligen bad man lyssnarna, som troget och med stort intresse följt den viktiga händelsen via televisionen att ringa in. Många olika uppfattningar följde, debatten hettade till och då förtvivlan närmade sig smärtgränsen ringde en lyssnare;

- Goddag, mitt namn är Hernándo Gómez och jag råkar faktiskt vara expert på färganalys och vill gärna dela med mig av mitt kunnande i denna intresanta fråga
- Doctor! Välkommen och tack för att du vill medverka, tänk en expert i färganalys, vilken tur!
- Jo det är så här, att nyansen ni söker, den exakta färgen på uribes sons bröllopskostym ligger någonstans mitt emellan vit och beige, den heter benvit och är samma färg som benen som hittas i alla de massgravar som paramilitären och samma familj uribe är direkt ansvarigaPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPså bröts samtalet plötsligt


(uy, försökte lägga till bilder med betydligt känsligare innehåll relaterad till historien, men på grund av tekniska problem lyckades det inte trots flera försök. Den här mer subtila bilden (calle de los dolores) var det dock inga problem med, uribes censur i min dator? )

modiga män finns

Av alla män jag känner är Hernándo Gomez Serrano den modigaste. En dag ska jag skriva en bok om honom, men eftersom det kommer att dröja får ni en kortis. Hernándo föddes i en svinrik familj i Bogotá där han kände sig som en bortbyting. Sexton år gammal gick han hemifrån, bort, började gå, vandra, promenera i sin stad. Han gick i timmar, dagar, år...hittade ett hem i los barrios de invsion i stadens utkanter, ibland sov han, men framför allt gick han omkring. Under tiden studerade han psykologi, juridik, sociologi och utan att veta om det arkitektur. Människor, byggnader, tankar; strukturer blev en del av honom och han en del av gatan. Sextotalets jordrörelser, recuperar la tierra, ta tillbaka jorden. Han var med att dokumentera statens brott mot folket, startade upp första "La liga Internacional por los derechos y la liberación de los pueblos". Redan för tjugo år sedan skrev han om paramilitarismen! Blev förföljd, beskjuten, exilflydde ett par år, kom tillbaka till Colombia och fortsatte, historien dömd att upprepa sig, hamnade hos MST i Brasilien ett annat par år, tillbaka till Colombia. Kandidat för Union Patriótica, såg hur vänner försvann, förundrades över att själv vara kvar. Med en grupp vänner bestämde han sig för att försöka förändra innifrån, lyckades mirakulöst bli borgmästare i Chapinero (stadsdel i Bogota). Blev avsatt efter att ha hindrat militärt ingripande då internflyktingar ockuperat Röda korsets högkvarter i la zona rosa och han hjälpte dem att skriva en petition till borgmästaren (han själv).
"El alcalde ñero"fortsätter sin vandring i staden, nu med följeslagare. Enligt Mockus och Lucho (båda exborgmästare i Bogota) finns det ingen som känner staden bättre. Över sex hundra nattliga vandringar och snart lika många dagliga har han gått med sällskap, kortaste promenaden 7 timmar längsta 24. Varje gång sluter fler upp. Sist det gick rykten om limpieza social (social upprensning) i barrio Santa fe vandrade över femtio personer omkring hela natten i området.

"Min mest perversa kärlek är till staden, jag älskar Bogota med hela min intensitet, hela dess intensitet, alla dess gator, hus och människor, jag kan inte skilja dem från mitt jag, utan dem finns jag inte"

La cumparsa med Cuyeca Aobsun

Vi träffas utanför kulturhuset tidigt på söndagsmorgonen. Förberedelserna är i full gång. Några övar på att spela trummor, andra gör improviserade trimmor, någon föröker ta sig upp på styltor. Man hjälps åt med masker och kostymer. Det tar ett tag innan allt och alla är på plats. Så småningom beger vi oss av till mötesplatsen där andra "comunidades" och organisationer ska sluta upp. Idag ska la cumparsa, karnevalståget gå genom hela Perdomo och andra barrios i Ciudad Bolivar, tre timmars promenad. Första morgonen på länge som det inte regnar

Fler och fler sluter upp, el explotador
y el explotado (utsugaren och den utsugne),
strax bakom los recursos naturales
(naturtillgångarna),

La consumción desmesurada
(den omåttliga konsumtionen)



Vi börjar gå, folk kommer ut ur sina hus eller står i fönsterna och tittar, undrar vad som står på. Det spelas, dansas, Don Quijote och Sancho Panza går i strid mot väderkvarnar på styltor, fler sluter upp, Aleksandra ser
förstummat hur hennes korreografi blivit en del av karnevalsdansen.



Det blir allt varmare, Judih går med avklippta vattenpåsar och förser alla i tåget. Det här är en otroligt viktig dag för oss, säger hon. Om vi inte syns så finns vi inte. När folk ser oss och vet vad vi gör blir det svårare att tysta oss.

Cuyeca Aobsun i Perdomo Alto

Perdomo Alto är ett litet område högt beläget i Ciudad Bolivar.
"Ser du var trapporna slutar där uppe?, Perdomo Alto är från där vi står nu och dit upp", berättar Alexandra, en av ungdomsledarna i Cuyeca Aobsun. För ett par år sedan fanns det åtta "ollas", ställen där man säljer och använder droger här. Det gick inte att vara ute efter klockan sex på kvällen.




Några ungdomar från Cuyeca Aobsun bestämde sig för att ta tillbaka gatorna och började ordna "canelazos nocturnos" / "canelazokvällar", (canelazo är en traditionell varm dryck med aguapanela (råsocker) som bas). På strategiska ställen ute på gatan lagade de stora grytor med canelazos och bjöd ut familj, vänner och alla i kvarteret att vara med. För att engagera föräldrarna ordnade de femkamp och den som förlorade fick bekosta nästa canelazokväll. Så småningom började de öva på en cumparsa, ett karnevalståg ute på gatan varje kväll. Eftersom de var många skyddade de varandra och hindrade våldsdåd. Aktiviteterna skrämde i väg folk som kom för att köpa droger och snart fanns det inte många "ollas" kvar.



Polisen i området gillade inte utvecklingen efterom den satte käppar i hjulet för en god extrainkomst. Sedan länge hade de regelbundet krävt "vacuna" ("vaccin"), pengar för att låta handeln fortsätta ostört. En kväll tog de med sig ett gäng ungdomar till polisstationen.
Där blev de duschade i iskallt vatten och misshandlade. Polisen försökte skrämma dem.
Polisen och militären är det mest korrupta som finns, särskilt här uppe där ingen kontrollerar vad de gör, säger Alexandra. Ibland tar de med ungdomar till polisstationen och låter dem städa deras toaletter, medan de tittar på och skrattar.


Men det var för sent att stoppa oss, fortsätter Yorman, en annan av ungdomsledarna. Vi var redan för många som var engagerade och hade just lyckats fått tag i ett litet hus som vi höll på att måla, vårt kulturhus. Det är inte så stort, men det är vårt och ingen kan köra iväg oss därifrån




Vi har ett bibliotek, en liten verkstad där vi gör papper och tillverkar masker och kostymer till karnevalen, en liten sal där vi dansar och målar, ett lekrum för de minsta barnen och en liten trädgård ovanför taket där vi odlar frukt och kryddor.
Vi har massor av planer för framtiden, men först ska vi vara med i karnevalståget som vi förberett oss på ganska länge nu.




Yorman, Alexandra och Luisa
Fernanda i trädgården ovanför
kulturhuset.

Danslaboratorium i Ciudad Bolivar

I samarbete med CNAI (Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris) och BEC (Ballet experimental Contemporánea) har jag tillsammans med en grupp dansare från olika länder (Sverige, Colombia, Polen, England) varit del av ett "laboratorium" för hur man kan arbeta med dans som redskap för socialt arbete i Colombia. Under juli månad har vi haft dansverkstad i Kulturhuset Candelaria i Ciudad Bolivar. Tanken är att detta "pilotprojekt" sedan ska spridas till tio städer runt om i Colombia där NAI arbetar med olika lokala organisationer.

Vi har jobbat med en blandad grupp, både åldersmässigt, från barn som knappt kunde gå (efterom en del passade sina småsyskon) upp till övre tonår, men också från olika områden i Ciudad Bolivar.

Det har varit långa dagar, från nio till fyra (plus långa bussresor morgon och kväll) Lite för långa för barnen men även för oss, eftersom vi i ledargruppen haft för lite tid till planering, möten och reflektion, men i efterhand kan vi se att det verkligen hänt mycket på bara en månad.

En av de viktigaste processerna har varit att två grupper integrerades. Ena gruppen kom från organisationen "Cuyeca Aubsun" (ungefär "en hand full av frön" på indianspråk) i Perdomo Alto. De har kommit ganska långt i sin process, barnen därifrån hade erfarenhet från dans och teater och de kan uttrycka sig verbalt om barns rättigheter och är engagerade i olika sammanhang. Ledarna har erfarenhet och tydliga visioner. En av eldsjälarna är Judith som också är samordnare för Nuevo Arco Iris alla projekt med organisartioner i Ciudad Bolivar.

Andra gruppen kom från organisationen Nugesis (Nueva Generación siglo veintiuno) i Bella Flor. Här kom barn som aldrig tidigare varit med i aktiviteter utanför skolan, och för många var det första gången de upplevde en föreställning. Barnen i Bella Flor kommer oftare från en svårare ekonomisk situation och har ibland en komplicerad och osäker familjesituation.
Ledarna i Nugesis är i början av en lång process. En av dem, Jaime har bott på gatan sedan han var åtta år och varit en av de farligaste gängledarna. För fem år sedan lämnade han det livet bakom sig och nu försöker han förändra situationen i Bella Flor och skapa andra förutsättningar än de han fick för sina sju barn.
NAI ger stöd och fortbildning åt Nugesis och följer dem i processen.

Under de första dagarna rådde misstänksamhet och rivalitet mellan grupperna, (understödd av en del lokala ledare), som tog sig uttryck i att man inte blandade sig under övningarna, att man i diskussionerna pratade om "vi" och "dem" försökte anmärka och hitta punkter som kunde leda till konflikt. Långsamt kom dessa skillnader att försvinna och det skapades en gemensam gruppkänsla. Barn från de olika delarna arbetade tillsammans och diskussionerna fick ett annat fokus.

En annan viktig process har varit att de lokala ledarna integrerats mer och mer i arbetet och att den auktoritära ton som några använde mot barnen kom att mjukas upp.
I början var det nästan omöjligt att påkalla barnens uppmärksamhet utan att skrika, men efter hand hittade vi en dynamik där vi genom dans och rörelse kunde fånga deras intresse.
Det var otroligt viktigt för dem att bli sedda och hörda och få kroppslig kontakt. Långsamt växte ett förtroende fram, relationer med vuxna som bygdes på ömsesidig respekt.

Det har varit ett viktigt laboratorium för dansledarna.
Vi upptäckte att många tyckte det var svårt att berätta historier eller uttrycka känslor eller upplevelser med kroppen. Det fattades en pusselbit. Vi provade att arbeta med ord och olika känslor som efterhand blev till improvisationer. Vi jobbade med poesiverkstad, där vi lät barnen göra sina egna definitioner av ord. Efter hand blev det till poem som de skrev i grupp och de sedan gjorde egna dansimprovisationer av.
(Definitioner och Poem se bloggen 5 augusti).

Vi fick möjlighet att prova olika saker och se hur det fungerade, samtidigt som vi i grupp kunde reflektera över vad som hände. Under arbetet i Ciudad Bolivar (och i Usme där vi också haft dansverkstad i juli) växte en metod fram, först kroppsligt och sedan skriftligt. Vi växte som grupp och hittade våra roller.

För barnen var det viktigt att få visa vad de gjort. Vi bjöd in föräldrar, familj, alla som ville komma. Det var en stor dag, all energi, vild energi kanaliserades i dansen, poemen, improvisationerna, de ville aldrig sluta. Vi var hänförda, barnen tog över, gjorde en improviserad extraföreställning med akrobatik, läste poemen om igen.

Efteråt hade vi samtal med alla om vad som hänt under den här månaden. Det viktigaste var nog Jaimes tal som avslutades med att om fått möjlighet att vara med om detta när han var barn, hade hans liv tagit en helt annan vändning.

Bilder från Ciudad Bolivar

Ganska högt uppe i bergen, i södra Bogota ligger Ciudad Bolivar. Från de centrala och norra delarna av Bogota ser det ut som lego, inte färglatt och glansigt utan en billigare och ganska sliten variant som täcker en enorm yta. Mellan en och två miljoner människor bor det där, man vet inte säkert. Ciudad Bolivar består av tre berg och ett planare område som kan sägas sammanlänka dessa. Ungefär 3o% är urbant område och resterande 70 är ruralt.
Ciudad Bolivar är ett problematiskt område på många sätt, inte minst ekonomiskt. Det finns inga jobb och för många som levt på gränsen till fattigdom har situationen nu blivit desperat. Detta får förstås spiraleffekt för brottslighet, droger och våld. För en del blir vapen en utväg, antingen i gäng, paramilitära grupper eller i den statliga armén.

Av den enorma ström interna flyktingar som söker sig till Bogota hamnar det stora flertalet i någon del av Ciudad Bolivar. De som har möjlighet hyr ett rum i en lugnare del, medan de som saknar förutsättningar fortsätter att bygga på staden uppifrån. Där längst upp slår man sig ner på en mark som ännu inte är tagen i en "barrio de invasión" och samlar ihop vad man hittar för att bygga sitt hus.

I dessa högst benägna områden finns ingen garanti för något, inte ens för livet. Ett stort problem är den "limpieza social" dvs "social upprensning" som ofta sker nattetid. Folk som ställer till problem eller som anses överflödiga riskerar att försvinna. Ingen vill berätta hur med alla vet att de är de "uniformerade", oftast illegala grupper, paramilitärer, ibland med order uppifrån (militären). I vissa fall är militären direkt inblandad, här uppe är man mindre försiktig eftersom ingen nyhetsrapportering berättar vad som försigår och människor är skrämda till tystnad. I hela Ciudad Bolivar råder "toque de queda" efter kl 23, dvs minderåriga får inte var ute efter den tiden. Men i många delar vågar folk inte sig ut efter mörkrets intåg vid halvsjutiden.

President Uribe har lyckats väl i sin kampanj att ena folket mot gerillan. Han har alla stora medier i sina händer och har verkligen fått folk att tro att Colombias enda problem heter FARC. I Ciudad Bolivar finns det ingen gerilla sedan flera år tillbaka, ändån svarar folk jag frågar ofta att våldet begås i kriget mot gerillan. Antingen tror de att jag är en dum utlänning, eller så har Uribes hjärntvätt lyckas. Eller så är de rädda. Kanske lite av varje.

Jag skulle kunna fortsätta att berätta en massa skrämmande historier från Ciudad Bolivar, men nu var min tanke egentligen en helt annan. Jag ville berätta vilken kokkittel av organisationer och människor Ciudad Bolivar är, människor som faktiskt gör något och som tror och kämpar mot den lamhet som verkar lagt sig över stora delar av det colombianska samhället. Det får bli imorgon...

Hjärntvätt (och väggar som talar)

En av de svåraste sakerna att förstå är hur Colombias president Alvaro Úribe Velez kan ha så starkt stöd hos befolkningen. Undersökningar visar på 77% och lika många sägs vara för att han väljs för en tredje period.

Lite historia; Uribe var under sin tid som guvernör i Antioquia en nyckelperon för uppbyggandet av Convivir, mycket förenklat; en organisation som arbetat för att legalisera integrerandet av paramilitära tjänster i samhället. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONVIVIR).

Det finns bevis för att Uribe var direkt inblandad i planeringen av "El masacre de Aro", en ovanligt grym massaker på femton bönder som paramilitärerer genomförde 1997, då Uribe var guvernör i Antioquia.

Han står anklagad för att ha mutat en kongressledamot att rösta för en lagändring som gjorde omvalet av honom möjligt.
Över trettio procent av kongressledamöterna sitter i dagsläget fängslade för "parapolitik" och många fler är under utredning, bland dem nära vänner och familj till Uribe.
etc, etc, etc i oändlighet...

En tidig förklaring till Uribes framgång är hans "återerövring" av vägarna i Colombia. I December 2003 reste jag landvägen från Bogotá till Cabo de la Vela (nordvästra Colombia) och med jämna mellanrum stod en ung pojke med gevär och bad om vatten längst vägen. Jag tappade räkningen på alla soldater, men chockerades av den oerhörda militarisering som skett sedan Uribe valts till president. Det var detta som var att ta tillbaka landet.

Uribe har fört en otroligt skicklig propagandakampanj. Presidenten har alla stora medier i sin hand och kontrollerar i princip all nyhetsrapportering. Man har lyckats övertyga folket om att konflikten handlar om kriget mot FARC, att det största hotet är kidnappning. På så vis har man vänt bort blickarna från de grymma brott som paramilitära grupper ofta med militärens goda minne begår mot civilbefolkningen, liksom multinationella företags skuld i internflyktingproblematiken.

Bland barn och ungdomar jag mött i Ciudad Bolivar (bosättningar i bergen i södra Bogotá) är det en vanlig uppfattning att allt våld har med kampen mot FARC att göra. Detta trots att det i deras kvarter inte funnits en gerillasoldat i närheten på flera år. Man fortsätter att upprepa inlärda fraser och man går ut och marcherar när man blir tillsagd eller får betalt för det. Att människor försvinner nattetid pratar man inte högt om.

Det Colombianska folket är oerhört konflikttrötta och många väljer en ytlig ordning framför en lång förhandlingsprocess som många tappat tron på. Igår hade jag ett skrämmande samtal med en taxichaufför som menade att Colombia fått det bättre med Uribe. Då jag frågade vad han menade med Colombia, om han i begreppet patria integrerade den stora del som lever i fattigdom, internflyktingar, indianbefolkning, folk som tänker annorlunda... menade han att man för att förändra ett samhälle måste offra något. (Tog min första taxispringnota någonsin)


Samma kväll åt jag middag med Hernándo Gómez Serrano som
menade att det inte spelar så stor roll hur stor popularitet Uribe har, han kommer inte att väljas om. Han har fyllt sin funktion för oligarkin, som nu tycker att han fått storhetsvansinne. De kommer inte att tillåta att han blir omvald, de behöver en ny sprattelgubbe att manipulera. Vi får bara hoppas att det inte blir Juan Manuel Santos (försvarminister i Uribes regering och hjälteförklarad av många efter fritagningen av Ingrid Betancourt). Då kan många av oss hälsa hem. Då kommer en ny utrotningsvåg mot vänstern liknande den mot UP (Union Patriótica),
vi är många som kommer att ha passet redo.

Veredict of the International Tribunal of Opinion

on forced displacement in Colombia (part 2)
(si quieres el texto en españo? escribir a ulrikinha@gmail.com)

Eliptical Room of the Colombian Congress 21, 22 and 23 of November, 2007, Bogota

The call of millions of forcibly displaced Colombian women and men has reached the international community. As a response of solidarity, a Tribunal of Opinion was convened in Bogotá from the 21-23 of November, 2007. It was designed to hear the voices of the often abused and persecuted victims of this crime against humanity, and also in order to contribute to the restoration of justice and right in
Colombia.

The International Tribunal, composed of 8 members, compiled existing information on displacement and its causes from a number of sources, including official ones such as the
United Nations, and the Colombian government, but also from NGO’s. Five regional hearings had taken place: in Valle de Cauca, Chocó, the Central region, Arauca and the Atlantic coast. Hundreds of testimonies were collected. Finally an international jury, convened in the Congress of the Republic, heard more than 30 testimonies. Three sociological and juridical studies were added to the documentation that had already been collected. The Colombian authorities had been invited in advance to participate so that they could present their point of view. But they did not do so. Furthermore, the leaders of the National Coordination of the Displaced and members of the Tribunal received constant threats from the paramilitary group, self-identified as Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) because of carrying out the Tribunal.

The Displaced Population in Colombia
The massive character of forced displacement in Colombia reveals a structural humanitarian crisis that until 2007 has affected more than 4 million people in the country, a number much higher than that of the official statistics. The latter only reflect those persons who have been officially registered as displaced. They also do not take into account the thousands of refugees outside the country. The current tidal wave of forced displacements dates from the begin-
nings of the 1980s. However, the roots of this displacement date back much earlier. Already in the middle of the 1940s the paramilitary repression against the Gaitanist Movement
caused internal migration, the product of political violence that Jorge Eliecer Gaitan referred to as the “State against the people”. A similar genocide took place in the 1960s against
the “United Front”, led by Camillo Torres.

Since the mid 1980s, Colombian drug traffickers decided to bring their dollars (profits) to the country and launder them by buying large expanses of the best land. In general, they appropriated properties and possessions without improving them. They resorted to illegitimate and illicit means as methods for dispossessing people, while always turning to
intimidation and elimination. The drug cartels together with sectors of the national oligarchy, the political class and the Armed Forces, created a new version of paramilitarism that
offered support and training, claiming that this was necessary in order to defeat the insurgency.
In this way an alliance was formed. This paramilitarism eliminated the Left wing opposition (the Patriotic Union) and the social movements that were calling for better living conditions while at the same time the Establishment permitted this illegal activity to continue. The illegal expropriation of land not only led to an enormously inequitable distribution of land, but also a transformation in its use. Huge expanses of land, suitable for agriculture and forestry, became dedicated to cattle ranching. This wave of displacement increased during the first half of the 1990s, at the height of neo-liberal policies that opened the doors to transnational investment.
Large multinational companies required a free reign to continue the expropriation of land, one of the major sources of productivity in the country, in order to invest in megaprojects (in agriculture, industry, mining, tourism, and the construction of roads and ports…). This happened under the pretext of halting the insurgency. But it really aimed at the control of political and economic power in specific regions of the country. Plan Colombia, representing strategic military funding from the United States, came into effect in
1997. Therefore another increase in forced displacements occurred, with some of the highest annual numbers of foribly displaced people registered. Indiscriminate bombing, mass arrests, the criminalization of social protests, a strong military presence in the region are some of the reasons that explain this increase.
At the beginning of the present decade, the official statistics on forced displacement decreased, although they continued to be frightening. This displacement can be explained by the same reasons as before, only that there were now areas available that were completely depopulated, large expanses of land that had belonged to the dispossessed. As well, there occurred displacement between and within urban centres and new causes of displacement arose (in-
discriminate fumigations -even in regions where coca was not grown-, massive detentions, extra-judicial executions, criminalization of organizations and social leaders) that are
not recognized by the government. They include confinement of the population, as a new method of war against the people. In fact, despite the messages and assurances of the
media, the number of persons displaced annually continues to be very high, affecting regions differently depending on where the armed conflict goes in Colombia. The Colombia government is sponsoring legislation that attempts to legalize the land that has been stolen from the
displaced population. It thus allows the crimes committed against humanity, presumably because of the armed conflict, to be left in impunity. This legislation includes the Sta-
tute on Rural Development, the Law of Justice and Peace, and laws of land, mining, petroleum etc.

The Legal Basis of the Verdict
The problem of displacement has concerned the United Nations for more than a quarter of a century. As a result, various agencies and legal instruments have been developed. Inter-
national and national legislation considers forced displacement as a crime against humanity. Colombia has ratified the majority of conventions on human rights and on Internatio-
nal Humanitarian Law, which should oblige the State and the so-called armed actors to respect these principles. The political Constitution of 1991 established the protection
of life, mobility and the explicit prohibition of forced displaement as vital rights. But these rights are being violated by the state and its agents in the application of their policy of
forced displacement. Displacement has become a fundamental strategy in the imposition of an economic model.
Recently, criminal code-legislation has deemed this conduct to be a crime against humanity. However, the structure of impunity prevailing in the Colombian justice-system makes
these domestic as well as international laws inapplicable, doubly victimizing people who suffer these violations, especially children, women and elderly people.
It is worth noting, however, that the rulings of the Constitutional Court have been an effort to draw attention to this situation. They oblige the State to respect the rights of dis-
placed persons and to apply the named policies on forced displacement. But these have been complied with only par- tially or in bad faith. It is important to note that the Colom-
bian State violates the guiding principles of the United Nations on internal displacement, especially principles 1,2, 3, 4, 6-C. 10-1-2, 11, 13-1-2, 14,16, 18-1-2,21-1-1, 23, 25-1-3, 26,
27-1, 28-1 y 29; and not only in a direct way, but also by protecting the public officials responsible for these crimes, thus maintaining impunity. For example there is the case of the
extermination of a political movement: the Patriotic Union. Its survivors have been forced to take their case to the Inter American Court on Human Rights. The Tribunal calls on the Colombian state, multinational corporations, the governments of developed countries and their agents to cease and desist from these practices that gravely violate the human rights of the population and to equally respect the principles and norms of International
Humanitarian Law, of human rights and of the rights of refugees. Furthermore, this Tribunal calls on the government of Colombia to generate a truth process that reveals the true
intellectual and material authors of these crimes so that justice may judge and punish them in the search of reparation for the victims.

The Testimonies
The Tribunal received direct testimonies and benefited from the numerous other testimonies heard in the regional hea- rings and the ample documentation that demonstrated what was happening throughout Colombia. The testimonies came from Santander North, Vichada, Casanare, Arauca, Meta Antioquia, Chocó, Sur de Bolívar, Nariño, Cauca, Sucre,
Bogota, Cartagena, Boyacá, Valle, Eje Cafetero, Guaviare, and Putumayo. Within these cases 28 had economic origins and 10 were socio-political. Those responsible included the
army (21), the police (3), the army and paramilitary together (8) and the paramilitary forces (6). It was verified that the 28 cases of forced displacement with economic origins, took place in zones where mining and energy projects were being developed, as in the Chocó where there are deposits of gold, copper, uranium, coal, petroleum, gas, areas of electrical energy production, forests and water sources. As well there are projects linked to lumber, the African oil-palm and “eco-tourism”. Similar motives exist in Arauca where companies like Repsol, and Occidental
Petroleum, are accused of grave violations of the rights of workers, indigenous peoples and the population in general.
In Antioquia and Nariño where petroleum, gas and gold are being explored and exploited by Canadian and US companies, similar methods are being employed. In the South of
Bolívar AngloGold Ashanti is forcing out small miners and appropriating enormous deposits of gold that exist in the region, with the open support of the paramilitary, military,
and the Colombian government. Indeed the government has handed over lists (to paramilitaries) of those who protested the exodus of 1998. They were later detained, disappea-
red and assassinated. The situation in Santander North also stands out where the military and the paramilitary acted in favour of the companies like Harken Energy, Anglocoal and
of investors linked to the Uribe family in the exploitation of coal, gas and petroleum in the zone.

In Cauca, where there are also deposits of minerals, petroleum and gas, the military and paramilitary operations are directed at expropriating the lands of indigenous and afro- colombian communities to put them into the hands of palm and lumber companies working in collusion with the large land owners in the zone. It is important to highlight that there is a higher incidence of forced displacement in zones that are populated by Afro-Colombians like Chocó, Nariño, Cauca, Valle de Cauca, North of Bolivar, and Uraba Antioqueños.
Other departments like Putumayo, Vichada, Casanare, Sucre, Meta Valle de Cauca, have suffered forced displacement as a way of guaranteeing the presence of petroleum, gas,
mining, lumber and African palm companies. Finally, there is a need to note the use of displacement as a form of social control, in departments where social organizations are very
strong, for example Arauca. In this Tribunal no cases were presented of forced displacement caused by the guerrilla.

The Actors and the Reasons
Many testimonies linked the State to forced displacement, by action or by omission. Paramilitary groups with the complicity of the armed forces and the police carry out a cam-
paign of terror against the rural population in many regions of the country. Paramilitary groups like the AGUILAS NEGRAS (Black Eagles), NUEVA GENERACION (New Generation), BLO- QUE CACIQUE NUTIBARA, BLOQUE CALIMA continue assassinating and displacing people. The national army through its various brigades acts in collusion or simply does not in-
tervene although it knows where these groups are operating and displacing the population.
Parts of the political class and of the large land owning groups in many regions of the country have been identified as members or allies of paramilitary groups, that are using terror to plunder and expropriate the land of small farmers and maintain political control in municipal politics, in the Congress, in the Senate and the national government, as a strategy of social control, without tolerating any form of political opposition, and the democratic use of civil rights.
The judiciary in Colombia often acts in a biased and corrupt way towards the displaced population, not recognizing their right to property and registering their land instead with the
paramilitary, large land owners and politicians who displaced them.
Multinationals like Harken Energy, Grey Star resources, CEMEX, Holcim, BHP Billiton, Angloamerican, Xtrata, Drummond, Chiquita brands, Oxy, Repsol, B.P., Union Fenosa,
Codensa, Urapalma, Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti, Petrocanada, Consorcio Colombiano del Cerrejon, Kedada are complicit in displacement by financing and lending their installa-
tions to paramilitary groups that threatened and massacred thousands of trade unionists, of afro-colombians, as well as indigenous people and people in peasant communities. The
responsibility of the government of the United States in this forced displacement has also been demonstrated through its support as part of Plan Colombia and Plan Patriota, its
military aid, mercenaries and extensive and indiscriminate fumigations.
These actions of displacement have taken place through massacres, selective assassinations, threats, burning of houses, false operations, massive detentions, violence against women, forced recruitment, disappearances, state terrorism and psychological terrorism towards the victims. It was also found that urban displacement was the result of actions by banks charging unbearably high interest rates, thus causing the dissolution of families. The police is used in
order to evict people from their homes.

The Structural Causes of Displacement
The first forced displacement was that imposed by the Spanish conquerors that stripped the indigenous peoples of the best flat lands and established cattle ranches, forcing the
original inhabitants to move to the slopes where many of them and their descendants continue to intensively cultivate the land. The new owners then proceeded to concentrate by force small villages in larger ones, always with the aim of clearing the lands. The result was a genocide in which millions of indigenous people were killed, also African slaves who had been “imported” to work in the plantations and the mines. This was the first phase of capitalism. The region became part of the famous trade triangle (Europe, Africa and the Americas) and contributed to the accumulation of capital in Europe. Within the region it created wealth for the class who
held power, but lacking conscience, religious or civic. The sole aim became to accumulate more wealth and power, a constant in the history of Colombia.
In the current period, the arrival of foreign capital and the domination of transnational companies correspond to an opening of world markets, the product of a neo-liberal model of development. The overexploitation of primary resources (petroleum, gold and other metals), the expansion of monocrops in agriculture for export and finally the production of agro-fuels, are based on the expulsion of indigenous, afro-colombian and peasant communities from their land. The demands of the globalization of capital are obeyed and the dependency of the dominant Colombian class on North American and European capital is accentuated. An ecologi-
cal disaster thus is added to a social catastrophe.

This economic model continues with the current government in the implementation of a final phase of expropriation of land and realignment of people that is based on a counter-agrarian reform, a trend that can be seen worldwide. People returning to their previously inhabited areas do not really change the process. For this process of return is implemented in those regions where paramilitary control
is already consolidated, in subservience to transnational enterprises and also aided by “international cooperation”. In the best of cases, the State’s response is of the order of social
assistance. In the case of urban displacement, the principal actors are the banks that act in a way that obeys the logic of capitalism.

Furthermore, the geo-strategic location of Colombia in a continent that is opening new and alternative economic and political spaces and new projects of integration, explains the
brutal imperialist intervention based on violence and displacement that aims to conserve imperial hegemony, by e.g. implementing Plan Colombia and Plan Patriota. It is clear
that solutions to these problems require not only internal changes, in order to overcome the projects of death in Colombia, but also a reorientation of the global economy.

To bring a solution to this human tragedy of displacement, the following is needed:

1) A policy of handing back land based on principles of jus- tice, that is to say the return of land to rural communities under the application of the Colombian constitution.

2) Financial compensation for the material damages that have occurred.

3) A recognition of the crimes committed, as viewed through the lens of justice, truth and integral reparation and a guarantee of non repetition, putting an end to impunity.

4) The constitution of a Commission of Reconciliation.

Indictment
Having heard testimonies, verified by the evidence contributed by the victims and supported and confirmed by experts, with respect to the forced displacement of almost 4 million Colombian men and women, we condemn the following agents and institutions for their direct actions and/or omissions:

1. The State, the Colombian government and their representatives:
civil servants, members of the armed forces and the police, judges and biased judicial officials, functionaries, members of the intelligence services of the government, officials of the Prosecutor General’s office, such as attorneys, and spokespersons, for actions of omission and complicity in the Crime of Forced Displacement.
2. The multinational companies mentioned above that through the imposition of the economic model that guaran- tees the plundering of the nation’s natural resources, using military and paramilitary forces, mercenaries, members of the police and state intelligence services- act as agents of forced displacement. With this crime against humanity, en-
tire regions have been cleared where mega-projects are later developed for the exclusive benefit of these companies.

Furthermore, we denounce as accomplices to various types of displacement members of the Colombian establishment such as cattle ranchers, landowners, industrialists, drug traffickers, financial institutions and banks.

3. The governments of the United States, Canada, England, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, South Africa and the European Union for providing military aid to the Colombian government, and for permitting the multinational companies from their countries to directly finance military and paramilitary operations, while displacing millions of Colombian men and
women , in order to secure their operations on national territory.

Finally, the Tribunal holds the Colombian authorities responsible for the security of all of those who participated in this session on displacement, including organizations and witnesses.


Veredicto del Tribunal Internacional de Opinión
Bogotá, 23rd of November, 2007.
Francois Houtart (Belgium), President Orlando Fals Borda
(Colombia), Vice- president Patricia Dahl (United States) Don
Tomas Balduino (Brazil) Louis Nicodeme (Belgium) Joao Lu-
cio Da Costa (Brazil) Dieter Misgeld (Canada) Francisco Ra-
mírez (Colombia), Attorney and Prosecutor.
organizaciones convocantes
organizaciones de apoyo

A International Tribunal Of Opinion About The Forced Displacement in Colombia

Part 1 (si quieres el texto en español te lo mando, ulrikinha@gmail.com)

Between 21st and 22nd November 2007, the International Tribunal of Opinion “The Forced Dis- placement” was placed in Bogota. The session took place in the headquarters of the Congress of the Republic and it was addressed by the Belgian Sociologist Francois Houtard. Further stared it as judges: Orlando Fals Borda from Colombia (Vicepresident), Patricia Dahl from The United States of America, Don Tomas Balduino from Brazil, Louis Nicodeme, From Belgian, Joao Lucio Da Costa from Brazil, Dieter Misgeld from Canada. The prosecutor was the lawyer Francisco Ramirez from Colombia.

The high level of impunity that cover the Crime of Forced Displacement in Colombia, justified the initiative to carry out the International Tribunal of Opinion (ITO), in order to talk about the responsibility of Colombian State. Even when in Colombia there are about 4 million people that have been displaced in the last 25 years, the Inquiries are few as well as the responsible sentences. Further in the country there has progressed a certain legislation addressed to consolidate the dispossession of the land of the displaced population, through sophistry legal instruments, for those who profited from the war. The concentration of the lands was achieved
by dispossession, forced displacement of farmers and ethnic communities, as a war strategy to depopulate the territory and control the strategic regions. The impunity about forced displacement frustrates the possibility that victims know the truth about the crime causes
and responsibles and it makes no possible the justice on responsibles. It also denies the alternative that victims enjoy the damages repair.

The Tribunal analysed the structural causes of the humanitarian crisis in Colombia that allow Forced Displacement. Colombian State and Government were condemned because
of the actions that caused forced displacement. Further the multinationals were convicted because of the destruction of natural resources and the violation of human rights. There were about 500 participants in the Central Audience of the Tribunal, including Displaced, Farmers, Afro-descendant and Indigenous Social Organizations; ONG’s; Women Organizations; members of the congress, public functionaries, mass media.

The Charges of the Tribunal

It is possible to identify four factors, at least, that helped build the notion of forced displacement as a strategy of the State, to form a crime which is committed by Public Forces
and Paramilitares.

Forced displacement as a strategy for social and political control
In its effort to contain, expand and consolidate local political power in the face of people’s civil and democratic demands (clamouring for better living conditions in the face of inequality, inequity and exclusion), the State promoted massive human rights violations, among them Forced Dis- placement, within the framework of a strategic counter-in- surgence. Militarism and paramilitarism, moved forward un- der social control directed against the population in general and especially against female leaders of social organisations and teachers, who were made victims of forced displace- ment. In this manner, political and socially organised zones,
which were in opposition to the establishment, were recovered and social and political organisations were stigmati- sed as being supporters of the guerrillas.

Forced displacement as a strategy for economic and territorial control
As part of the developmental vision of the country, framed within the strategy for economic growth, the need to compete and in order to consolidate land and territory for the development of infrastructure projects (agricultural mega- projects, energy, mining, roads, ports, tourism), the State has generated and promoted forced displacement of far- mers and ethnic communities through, among many other means, dispossession, intimidation and forcing them to sell property. As a result, it achieved the consolidation and ownership of the best land in the country, which is used for production in proportions that are unprecedented in the nation’s history and have generated radical changes in the use for which the land was originally intended. This was further consolidated by legal instruments that legalised the dispossession of the land of the displaced population into
the hands of those who profited from the war.

Forced Displacement as a strategy of military control
The planned counter-insurgency strategy, with particular impetus from Plan Colombia and reinforced with the policy of “democratic security”, supported in turn the fumigations
of illicit crops, seizures and mass detentions, penalisations for social protestors, forced registrations, the establishment of rehabilitation zones and centres for military intervention
to restrict liberties, which among other measures, were used to generate forced displacement. This model of military assault assured that the cultivation of cocaine and control of
strategic drug-trafficking corridors fell into the hands of armed groups, who export drugs to import arms. Forced Displacement within the framework of Public Poli-
cy care for the population displaced by violence Public Policy care for the displaced population is designed essentially around welfare and assistance, lacking a focus on rights. Nor does it seek compensation for victims, tackle structural causes of the problem, nor recognise the respon-
sibility of the State. By the way in which it was conceived and implemented, the policy of care for the displaced po- pulation perpetuates their situation as victims and the State continues to be responsible for the crime of forced displacement.

Previous Regional Audiences
The Central Hearing of ITO was preceded by five Previous Hearings in order to socialized and to become aware of the importance of a Tribunal of Opinion in Colombia. There also was a place to gather the evidences needed in the Cental Hearing. There were:
• South West Hearing, in the city of Popayán, May 12. Victims and Organizations of Displacements from the Valle, Cauca, Nariño and Putumayo departments were there.
• Chocó Hearing, in the city of Quibdo, May 28, attended by representatives of victims and social organisations in this department.
• Central Hearing, in the city of Bogotá, June 27, displaced people from Antioquia, Meta and Cundinamarca Departments and the Coffee zone were there. This hearing took place in the headquarter of the Congress of the Republic.
• Northeast Hearing, in the city of Arauca, August 7, that integrates vicims of forced displacement from the departments North of Santander, Santander, Arauca and Casanare.
Some judges that had confirmed their assistance to the Central Hearing of ITO were there: Francois Houtart, Paul Emile Dupret, Helmuth Harkov, ulrico Duchrow.
• North Coast Hearing, in the city of Cartagena, August 24, which in addition to assembling the departments in this region of the country, was the centre of attention of the impact
of forced displacement on the women and children. But also pay attention to the strategic intention of reinforced actors on hurt women bodies and souls. To this hearing went, spe-
cially, Women Organizations from the North Coast and from the rest of the country.

There were a lot of institutions in these hearings: A great number of National and international ONG’s, syndicates, Social organizations, Church Representatives, Student and Cultural groups, political parties. All of them recognized the rightful and the relevance of the initiative to question Colombian State because of its responsibility in the forced displacement crime. There were lots of solidarity and support voices.

Illegal Acts And Threats Against The Tribunal
The Tribunal about Forced Displacement in Colombia was the result of one of the greatest attacks against the displaced populations organized in the country. Many leaders and members of Displaced Organizations were persecuted and threatened because of their activities defending human rights of displaced population. Many of them were murdered.
Before Central Hearing of ITO, organizers, specially, representatives of Displaced National Coordination were threatened. These persecutions were reported to International
organizations, as The International Committee of Human Rights, that ordered Colombian State to adopt cautiousness messures.

Organizations that helped the Tribunal
The International Tribunal of Opinion was propelled by some social organizations and Human Rights ONG’s, committed with the displaced population in the country cause:
LA COODINACIÓN NACIONAL DE DESPLAZADOS ‒ CND, that summoned the event.

There were also:
INSTITUTO LATINOAMERICANO DE SERCICIOS LEGALES ALTERNATIVOS ‒ ILSA, PROYECTO JUSTICIA Y VIDA, CORPORACIÓN JURÍDICA YIRA CASTRO, MOVIMIENTO NACIONAL DE VÍCTIMAS DE CRÍMENES DE ESTADO, CAPAÑA TIERRA, VIDA Y DIGNIDAD, CENTRO POR EL DERECHO A LA VIVIENDA Y CONTRA LOS DESALOJOS ‒ COHRE, COMISIÓN DE DERECHOS HUMANOS Y AUDIENCIAS DEL SENADO DE LA REPÚBLICA.
These organizations thank to those who supported the ITO:
Servicio de Consejería en Proyectos ‒ PCS, Terre des Hom-
mes Alemania, Kerkinactie, Asi and the European Union
Commission for Colombia and Ecuador.

Conversación con Toño

Conversación con ”Toño” 18 años, líder comunitario de Cuyeca,
Perdomo Alto en Ciudad Bolivar el 19 de julio de 2008.

Cuál ha sido el mayor problematica de tu barrio y cómo lo han solucionado ?

Los proveedores de droga. Hace un par de años habíamos perdido la calle por completo. No había ningún tipo de seguridad. Los padres tenían que controlar que los niños no salían después de las 6-7 de la tarde, porque corrían el riesgo de que de que no volvieran.

Un grupo de la comunidad empezó a organizar ”canelazos nocturnos” para reclamar la calle. Invitamos a la gente del barrio a salir a tomar canelazos en puntos estratégicos donde normalmente se vende y consume droga. Los padres vinieron y en su presencia los niños podían jugar en la calle. Eso se empezó a hacer con regularidad y en poco tiempo estabamos ensayando una ”cumparsa” en la calle hasta tarde por la noche. Ahora es tradición de organizar juegos y quien pierde tiene que organozar el próximo ”canelazo nocturno”. Cuales son los problemas actuales?

Ahora estamos en un proyecto de recuperación de la infraestructura física del barrio. Estamos pintando murales entre otras cosas.

La oferta de trabajos dignos. Hemos empezado a producir papel reciclado para vender.

Hay reclutamiento forzado en tu barrio?

No hay reclutamiento a grupos ilegales, eso es un problema en las partes más altas de Ciudad Bolivar. Pero sí reclutan para el ejercito, los cojen quieran o no. Por ley no pueden reclutar a los hombres que tengan hijos pero desde hace un tiempo lo están haciendo. Supuestamente los bachilleres solo tienen que prestar servivio durante un año, pero últimamente están forzando a los bachilleres de firmar un papel que dicen que no han estudiado, para así tener que prestar servicio durante dos años.

Cómo ven los jovenes de tu barrio al ejercito?

Ya no ven ni al ejercito ni a la policia como una forma de defensa sino como un enemigo más. Hay mucha policía corrupta. Es común que cojen a los jovenes en la calle para sacarles dinero y si no tienen los golpean. A veces los llevan a las comisarías para que les limpien los baños.
A los criminales los cojen delante de todos pero luego los sueltan a cambio de dinero.
Incluso los policías compran vicio.

Qué piensas de la ley de justicia y paz?

Pienso que lo que hace es premiar a los victimarios. Por ejemplo a un desplazado el gobierno lo ayuda durante tres meses, una ayuda mínima. A un paramilitar reinsertado el gobierno lo puede ayudar hasta dos años, y es ayuda económica, educación gratuita también para los hijos e incluso una ayuda para montar una microempresa.

Eso hace que muchos jovenes se meten en el paramilitarismo, cojen armas para después de un tiempo poder reinsertarse y aprovechar de la ayuda.

Además no es verdad que se reinsertan, cuando termina la ayuda económica se vuelven a organizar en otras bandas. Se desmobilizan del campo para volverse a organizar en las ciudades. Aquí se pueden dedicar a hacer limpieza social.

Se hace "limpieza social" en tu barrio?

Ha disminuido pero existe. Hace poco desaparecieron cinco personas y fueron encontrados asesinados. En las partes altas de Ciudad Bolivar en más común. También el reclutamiento a grupos paramilitares. Allí pueden reclutar hasta ninos de diez años y les enseñan a torturar.
Por ejemplo en el barrio Cazuca entran en las casas por las noches, los golpean y si pueden pagar quizá se salvan pero si no se les llevan.

Qué piensas de Uribe, el presidente actual?

Estamos en pérdidas con él. Ha hecho muchas cosas que no ayuda nada a la gente.
Apoya a los que tienen plata y a los paramilitares.

Porqué crees que tantos colombianos apoyan a Uribe?

En Ciudad Bolivar muchos están bajo presión, han recibido amenazas. También mandaron a personas que vigilaban a los votantes. También inventan o manipulan noticias para ocultar lo que sucede en los sectores. Los tres canales de televisión Caracol, RCN, CityTV cuentan lo que manda Uribe y la gente se deja llevar por las noticias. Se puede decir que están lavando la cabeza en masa.

Puedes dar un ejemplo de lo que dices de manipulación de los medios?

Cuando las asambleas permanentes de estudiantes ocuparon a los colegios durante dos semanas, esto fue algo grando, una cosa así no había sucedido en más de 30 años. Los medios entrevistaron a veinte pesronas de los cuales dos no sabían explicar bien porque estaban haciendo la ocupación. Estos dos fueron los únicos que mostraron en las noticias.

También la policía jugó sucio, amenazaron con disoarar si no salieramos, al final dispararon entre los estudiantes y tuvimos que salir.
En Ciudad Bolivar hay ”toque de queda”, los menores de 18 años tienen que estar en sus casas antes de las 11 pm. En algunos colegios la policía convencieron a los estudiantes de salir prometiéndoles que los iban a llevar a sus casa, pero al salir como era después de las 11 pm se los llevaron a la comisaría a golpearlos.

Como es la situación de desplazados en Ciudad Bolivar?

Aquí es donde más gente desplazada llega. Todavía es una localidad amable mientras en muchas partes son rechazados. Cada vez les toca llegar más arriba. Y sí, hay solidaridad todavía. Hay un salón donde pueden llegar el primer tiempo. También se hacen recolectas, porque la ayuda del gobierno demora mucho y es muy pequeña, si es que llega.

War and Party, the written proyect

War and Party: Carnival (La Guerra y la Fiesta: Carnaval)

WHAT?
War and Party is a project of social intervention through artistic expression. It is an encounter between a team of artists, psychologists, journalists, and communities of people who have been affected by war. As an outcome of this encounter all the participants create a street performance, which is based on personal stories and cultural expressions belonging to the community. The process and the performance will be the base to create a video and a written account to register the experiences of the encounter, which will be used as a memory for the community and as a testimony to be spread internationally. The first version of War and Party is subtitled Carnival, and is planned to be done in Colombia in 2008 with communities of refugees (“desplazados”) within the country.
WHY?
Interaction between art and society: Art and society feed from each other are a product of each other, criticize each other, support each other and reconstruct each other. Art has the power to touch upon issues that have to do with human aspects, which are too abstract or too complex to be dealt with by, for instance, politicians, economists or lawyers. The field of art is the field of the subjective, of the imaginary, of the metaphorical, of the symbolic, of the sensitive, of the ludic and of the emotional.
As said before, War and Party is to be developed with people who have been directly affected by war. The target of the project in Colombia will be communities of displaced people (‘desplazados’ in Spanish), for whom the project War and Party: Carnival can be highly relevant in different ways:
- Restoration of cultural identity and personal memory: Feasts, carnivals and celebrations constitute a very important part of people’s ‘cultural baggage’; It is inscribed in people’s bodies and imaginaries, making it possible for them to reconstruct their original contexts in any part of the world. In the case of refugees or so called “desplazados”, the cultural baggage becomes their ambulant home in the middle of a forceful situation provoked by war. Acknowledging, valuing and exploring creatively their personal memories and cultural identity will help refugees to recover the dignity and the confidence. Dignity and confidence is needed for them to claim for their rights and to go through a process of healthy integration in their new situations. In the case of Colombia, the big cities such as Bogotá, Cali, Medellín and Bucaramanga.
- Public acknowledgement: The other side of the situation of internal displacement in Colombia is the citizens, or the people who live in the receiving cities. For them, the communities of refugees often cause uneasiness, paranoia, pity, fear, and other emotions that denigrate human dignity. Considering this, it is vital that the citizens not only acknowledge the arrival of these communities as a consequence of a social crisis, but also that they acknowledge the refugees as integral human beings with history, cultural heritage, potential, knowledge and an active search for justice and peace.
-The group dynamics within the communities: When refugees come to a country or a region from different places, they have very different backgrounds and ‘cultural baggage’ from one another. Despite this variety, joining individual forces can be important at the beginning of a process of incorporation into a new society and into a new system that might not be completely ready to welcome the new inhabitants. Doing a collective creation of a street performance, which talks about the different stories of refugees, is itself a group dynamic that contributes to strengthen the cooperative skills of these heterogeneous communities.
-Appropriation of public spaces and integration process: To perform in public spaces is a symbolic way of visualizing a right and a responsibility: the right to share the common wealth of society and the responsibility of taking care of it as well as participating in its positive transformation. In the case of forceful migration, public spaces usually become spaces of invasion and social chaos. War and Party contributes to transform this situation, using public spaces as spots for poetic expression and for communication between refugees and urban citizens.
-Integral Reparation, Historical Memory and International Diffusion: According to the report written by the Mission sent by the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights 2007 to Colombia, the laws which legalize the demobilization process of the paramilitary in Colombia (illegal militarized groups in Colombia which are one of the main violent actors causing the phenomenon of ‘desplazamiento’ or internal fleeing) provide significantly more benefits to the criminals than to the victims.
The precarious support to the victims is visible in the practice, despite the different national and international laws that demand ‘reparation’ for the social, moral and material damages caused to the victims. This ‘integral reparation’ should include not only economical compensation, but also psychological support and spaces in which the victims can express and reflect upon what has happened to them. According to the report and to the testimony of some Colombian victims at the Human Rights congress in Stockholm 2007, it is of great importance for the victims to ‘take their pain seriously’ and to get public recognition and respect for their suffering. Psychological support and the ‘catharsis’ of the pain through artistic mediums are considered to be very valuable in this aspect of the process of ‘reparation’.
The victims believe that international awareness of their situation is of great importance and international law and opinion play an essential role in the defense of human rights in Colombia. The bridge between Sweden and Colombia is very appreciated by the victims. This bridge, however, has concentrated mostly on juridical aspects and it could be positively complemented by projects, which make emphasis on emotional aspects, personal memories and cultural heritage of the victims.
Another important recommendation mentioned in this report (Swedish ONG Foundation for Human Rights, Colombian Mission 2007) and at the Human Rights congress in Stockholm 2007, is to consider the aspect of ‘historical memory’ as part of the victims’ right to ‘integral reparation’. All kinds of documentation (including artistic documentation) related to the events occurred to the victims and to the processes they are going through at the moment, contribute to create a historical memory which helps to guarantee that these violent events do not occur again in the future.
WHAT FOR?
1. To put performing art forms into the agenda of activities aimed at the reconstruction of societies damaged and disintegrated by the internal war in Colombia.
2. To contribute to the strengthening of group dynamics within communities of internal refugees in Colombia.
3. To provide communities of internal refugees in Colombia with material and human resources aimed at the reflection, exploration and expression of their cultural identity and personal memories.
4. To influence positively the urban citizens attitude towards the communities of internal refugees (desplazados) in Colombia, thereby using public spaces as symbolic and poetic places of encounter between these two groups.
5. To increase the international awareness of the situation of the victims of the violence in Colombia.
HOW?
Research, contacts and founding: In this stage the team starts researching on issues related to human rights, social intervention and community-based performance, focusing on the community targeted in every new place, in this case, Colombia. The contacts with the potential collaborative communities must start in this stage too, in order to know about their background, current projects, needs, interests and availability of time. This is also the stage for applications. Given that the members of the team reside in different countries, the project is conceived as an international cooperation. This stage started in September of 2007 and is in course.
Confirmation of participants, economical resources and planning: Once the participants and the economical resources are confirmed, the team proceeds to plan the activities and logistics together with the communities. This stage goes approximately from December 2007 to May 2008, for the version of the project in Colombia.
Physical encounter and artistic process: The team meets with communities in a particular place, in this case Bogotá, Cali and Bucaramanga. The working sessions start with the intensity that suits the communities involved. The process includes discussions, dance and music exchanges, storytelling and other artistic devises. All of these artistic devises are put towards a final montage, which will be oriented by the artistic team. The team counts on the professional support of psychologists, as well as writers and video-artists that will follow the process and create an artistic memory of it for the participants and for the international community. This stage is planned to be done in Colombia between June and July 2008.
Performances and Documentation: In this stage the participants perform in different public spaces, and the writers and video artists complete the material for documentation. This stage is planned to be done in Colombia, between July and August 2008.
Evaluation and projection: The team and the community evaluate the project, as well as the possibilities of giving a continuation to it. The team residing in Colombia will follow the contact with the community until October 2008.
Transition to the next version: A new team is created with some of the people who has been involved in the Colombian version of the project and with new members belonging to the new context, or country. Within the list of possible countries for the next version of the project, are the Balkan countries as well as other countries of Latin America.
Background and Context
Movimientos: War and Party is partly possible thanks to a dialogue between Sweden and Colombia, which started in 2002 with the cultural exchange project Movimientos. This project was represented by Dans i Värmland (Sweden) and by Ballet Experimental Contemporáneo BeC (Colombia), and it consisted of two stages in Colombia and two stages in Sweden. Some of the members of War and Party took part in Movimientos with the following roles: Sara Regina Fonseca as a dancer, choreographer, lecturer, educator and coordinator of the Colombian part; Aleksandra Rudnicka as a dancer, pedagogue, lecturer, choreographer and coordinator of the Swedish part; Eugenio Cueto as a dancer, choreographer, pedagogue, lecturer and artistic director of BeC; and Beatriz Helena Gil as a dancer, lecturer and workshop leader in dance therapy. Movimientos was financed by; the Swedish Institute, Region Värmland, Kulturrådet, Karlstads Kommun, the Colombian Ministry of Culture, the Colombian Embassy in Sweden and the Cultural Institute of Bucaramanga.
Corporación Ballet Experimental Contemporáneo BeC: BeC is the Colombian organization representing the project War and Party. BeC was founded in Bucaramanga Colombia in 1997 with the purpose of improving the situation of dance students, professional dancers, choreographers and dance researchers in the country. The activities of BeC include, among others, international exchange projects with England, Sweden and Mexico, the creation of several dance works, which have been shown in numerous national and international festivals, and the development of a pedagogical dance project called Yba-Su. The artistic director of BeC is Eugenio Cueto, who has extensive experience and studies in pedagogy and dance. Eugenio Cueto is currently directing the ‘Festival Universitario de Danza’ at national and international levels.

Fabel Kommunikation: Fabel Kommunikation is the Swedish organization representing this project ‘Kriget och Festen’. The entrepreneur Max Hugo Valentin and the psychologist Thomas Davidsson created the company in Sweden in 2002. The company uses visualization and experience-based methods in order to increase the understanding between people and promote positive transformations of attitude. Among others, Fabel Kommunikation has developed projects for Göteborgs Stadsmuseum, Systembolaget, Malmö Stad, Chalmers Entreprenörskola, Lerums Kommun, Hallands Länsmuseum, GR Utbildning, Tynnered Statsdelsförvaltning, Migrationsverket, Drivhuset, Borås Högskola, Vin & Sprithistoriska Museet and Polishögskolan.
Fundación Nuevo Arcoiris: This foundation is an ONG for human and social development. It was created in Colombia in 1996, within the frame of the execution of the commitments assumed in the final political agreement between the ‘Corriente de Renovación Socialista’ (Socialist Renovation Movement) and the Colombian Government, the 9th of April of 1994. The mission of the Fundación Nuevo Arcoiris is to contribute to the construction of a new social order in which peace, respect for the difference, equality, and social justice, are prevalent values. With this purpose, the foundation develops programs and projects of intervention in the fields of social, political, cultural, economical and environmental development. This foundation is going to mediate the encounter between the team engaged in War and Party and certain communities of internal refugees or displaced people in Colombia. The foundation and Ballet Experimental Contemporáneo have signed an agreement to carry out projects of social development in collaboration. The project War and Party is part of the agreement.
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana: The Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana belongs to the private sector in Colombia, but it is recognized and accredited by the national educational system. The Social Psychology Research Group of the University has confirmed its interest in supporting the project War and Party (La Guerra y la Fiesta in Spanish). The support consists in covering the costs of the video documentation and in organizing a number of activities where the artists involved in the project will share publicly their findings and experiences by means of workshops, lectures and exhibitions.

The team
Sara Regina Fonseca, coordinator in Sweden and artistic director: Sara Regina is Colombian. Her education includes a high school at the Colombian Institute of Ballet in Cali, a BA (hons) in dance theatre at the Laban Centre in London, a post-graduate course in Theatre Studies at the University of Stockholm and a Master in Dance Studies at the University of Stockholm (in course). She was coordinator of the cultural exchange project between Colombia and Sweden Movimientos, co-founder of Ballet Experimental Contemporáneo and artistic director of the company Triámbulo Ikebana in Sweden. Sara has been teaching dance as well as performing and choreographing professionally for more than seven years. She is currently studying, teaching and developing her own projects in Stockholm. Parallel to the practical development of War and Party, Sara Regina wants to link her master studies to a research that aims at creating a methodology which bridges artistic creation and social intervention.

Ulrika Selring, writer: has a Master in Comparative Literature from the University of Lund. She has lived and studied Spanish and Latin American literature in the University of Salamanca and Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. She obtained the title as an authorized translator from Swedish to Spanish and Spanish to Swedish in the National University, Bogota, Colombia. She has also a lot of experience in dance. Ulrika has lived in Colombia where she, together with journalist and tango dancer Leonardo Alba, has carried out pedagogical projects with children and young people coming from rural areas and vulnerable neighbourhoods of Bogotá. Ulrika is currently translating the books of various Colombian writers, among others, William Ospina and Victor Rojas. From January 2008 she is the coordinator of an important Latin American Film festival: Latin American i Fokus in Malmö.

Beatriz Helena Gil, psychological support and coordinator in Colombia: Beatriz Helena is a Colombian professional psychologist and has many years of experience in dance. Beatriz was part of the team of the exchange project Movimientos, in which she gave workshops and seminars in Colombia and Sweden. She has worked, among others, with the Pedagogic University of Bogotá, the University UDES of Bucaramanga and the Superior Academy of Arts of Bogotá (ASAB). Beatriz has also worked in projects of social intervention with the Fundación Nuevo Arcoiris, the organization through which the project will be realized in Colombia. (See more information above). At the moment, Beatriz is researching about ‘Dance and Movement as Tools of Psychological Intervention’, developing experiences with groups of young people, homosexuals, and particulars.

Aleksandra Rudnicka, dancer: Aleksandra is originally from Poland but has lived in Sweden since she was five years old. She is a professional dancer and was the Swedish coordinator of the exchange project Movimientos, where she was involved in different pedagogical and social activities. Aleksandra has extensive experience as a dancer, choreographer and dance pedagogue. She has worked, among others, with Dans i Värmland.
Silvia Ospina, choreographic assistant: Colombian Silvia Ospina obtained a degree in social communication in Colombia and a degree in dance theatre at the Folkwang Schulen in Germany, where she has lived for a few years now. Silvia has extensive artistic experience and she is currently teaching dance to mime students at the Folkwang Schulen of Essen, Germany.
Max Hugo Valentin, assistant of participative methods: Swedish entrepreneur Max Hugo is director of the Swedish organization Fabel Kommunikation (see the more information about this organization above). Max has a BA in Engineering –Product Development, a Master in Business Development and he is currently doing as course in Arts, philosophy and enterprise.

Maria Juliana Vélez, sub-coordinator in Colombia, video artist: Colombian Maria Juliana obtained her degree in social communication and a magister in semiotics in Colombia. She has also done different courses in dance and scrip for film in Colombia, France, Argentina and Cuba. Maria Juliana has produced a number of videos and she has worked, among others, for the project ‘Tejedores de Sociedad’ of the Instituto Distrital de Cultura y Turismo in Bogotá, the Industrial University of Santander UIS, the Javeriana University of Bogotá and the Pontificia Bolivariana University of Bucaramanga, where she is currently employed full-time within the department of psychology.

Eugenio Cueto Barragán, artist: Eugenio Cueto is a Colombian professional pedagogue with a number of post-graduates studies, a master in education and a doctorate in course. He has extensive experience and non-formal education as a dancer and choreographer. Eugenio is founder and director of Ballet Experimental Contemporáneo BeC (see further information above), and he is currently working as a choreographer and dance pedagogue in different universities.

Sara Cecilia Alba, dancer: Sara is a Colombian professional dancer who obtained her BA in Dance at the ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Arnhem, Holanda. Sara has worked in different schools and universities as a dance pedagogue as well as working as a freelance dancer. She is currently teaching dance perception at the Superior Academy of Arts in Bogotá.
Charles Toulouse, mime: Charles is a French-German body mime artist graduated from the Folkwang Hogschulen in Essen, Germany. He has been involved in pedagogical and social projects in Colombia before and he is currently working as a full-time actor in Staatstheater Wiesbadena in Germany.

Catherine Busk, dancer: Catherine is a British professional dancer graduated from the Central Ballet School of London. She works as a freelance dancer in Stockholm and is a co-founder of the performance company Triámbulo-Ikebana.
Juliana Montoya, dancer: Juliana is a Colombian professional dancer who graduated from the Colombian Institute of Ballet and the National Choreographic Centre CNDC of Angers, France. Juliana is a co-founder of BeC and she is currently employed as a full-time dancer in a French company.

Edson Velandia, musician: Edson is a Colombian professional musician with experience in theatre and video documentation. Edson has been involved in collaborative projects with BeC as a composer. He has been director of three bands: ‘El poema del desorden’, ‘Cabuya’ and ‘Velandia y la Tigra’. Social issues, popular or folkloric music and local characters usually inspire his music. Edson has gained prices for his works in various occasions; among others the Shock Award 2007 in Colombia, category of Nativo Style.

Applications
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (confirmed), Fundación Nuevo Arcoiris (confirmed) Iberescena (in course), Forum Syd (in course), Svenska Institut (in course), British Council (in course), Kulturrådet (in course), Goethe Institute (in course).