Change Colombia can believe in
Today I was handed a postcard that Lutheran World Relief recently sent to FOR, as part of this month's Days of Prayer and Action campaign, to bring attention to the four million displaced people in Colombia. The postcard, addressed to President Obama, is a way for people to highlight this humanitarian crisis — which forces some 1,500 people from their homes every day — and to call on the U.S. government to end all military aid to Colombia.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation's Colombia program has been pushing for this goal for several years, against the popular tide. I would encourage FOR supporters and other peace activists to download a PDF of the postcard and send a copy of this text to the White House.
In the meanwhile, another short reflection has been received from FOR's youth arts and action delegation that's visiting Colombia this week. This piece, written by Matthew Johnson of Washington, DC, compares the wide income disparity in Colombia with that in our own U.S. culture:
There is a lot to say, even though we haven’t been here a week, but I will limit this entry to last two days. What I experienced two nights ago in Bogota will take me a long time to reconcile. I want to think about it at length, but at the same time I want to forget it as if it weren’t real and as if the tourists’ guide I picked up at the airport contained all the need-to-know facts about Colombia’s capital. What I experienced two nights ago was a clean break from the comforts of privilege and ignorance. I learned things from the walking tour with Sr. Hernando Gomez that cannot be found in a Lonely Planet country guidebook or some cheesy travel pamphlet from Continental Airlines.
I realized from this tour, which took us from the richest areas in the city to some of the poorest, that there is not one Bogota (or Colombia, for that matter) but two. There is a Bogota for the rich and a Bogota for the poor. It reminded me of my current home Washington, D.C., which boasts the largest wealth divide in the United States. Bogota is its clear counterpart in Colombia. Is it a mere coincidence that both cities are named after the same early 16th century imperialist?
Sr. Gomez told us that over 60 percent of the people of Bogota live on less than 2$ per day and that one third of that same group lives on less than $1. He also said that a tiny majority of well-connected people live like kings.
Unfortunately from my experience this is the truth in almost any city in a capitalist country. Can this be denied?
