Solidarity and protective accompaniment

We have just returned to Medellin after days in the countryside and jungle region of Uraba, where the peace community lives in different settlements.  Traveling back and forth from urban to rural environments and hearing people’s stories of suffering and resistance is a powerful illustration of different facets of state violence, which seems to always effectively hide behind the mask of justification of attributing all violence to the guerrilla.  It is clear how the War on Terror and War on Drugs discourse in both of our countries mirror and legitimize each other.

It was a huge honor to finally meet the peace community that FOR has collaborated with since 2002 providing protective accompaniment, and to get a more grounded glimpse of the power of international accompaniment in a situation where the lives of those who are obstacles to the state’s economic and political vision are rendered horrifyingly expendable.  It is amazing to me that the presence of one, two or three individuals from the U.S. is enough to protect Colombian individuals and communities - how does this work?  Accompaniment deters violence by raising the political cost to the perpetrators, and an international presence also amplifies the legitimacy of different actions and social movements.  Just by being there in a blue FOR t-shirt.

I was full of respect and admiration for the people who have committed themselves to this crucial, life-saving work, and it was a joy to meet and get to know them, in particular during the intense three-hour hike to and from the new settlement of La Holandita to the older settlement of La Union, passing through gorgeous fertile landscapes, inhaling thick green air, stomping through mud, sweating from head to toe, appreciating popsicles more than ever in my entire lifetime.

And, at the same time, this nonviolent strategy of protective accompaniment which uses the power dynamics of "passport privilege", leveraging the structural privilege of nationality and of race to protect the lives of a Colombian campesino community in order to open the political space for them to carry forward with their inspiring vision of peaceful resistance in a situation where paramilitarism has soaked every aspect of life and dominates all spaces, made me sad and uncomfortable as a white U.S. citizen.  Whose lives are given greater worth in the eyes of the state, the mass media, the international community?  Could I imagine a future time when not only the conflict in Colombia dissolves and ceases to hold populations in constant terror and trauma, but when Colombian nationals come to the U.S. to provide strategic accompaniment for those in our country whose lives are dominated and made vulnerable by state injustice?  Is it uncomfortable to imagine the reverse and if so, why?

With global dynamics as they are, I am shaken to my bones with gratitude for the active solidarity work that FOR does in Colombia. Opening political space for peace.  An incredible, radical strategy of collaboration in conditions where the microfiltration of state violence and surveillance into the smallest details of people’s lives and community structures and public and private spaces is unbelievable. Unlike anything I have witnessed.  I frequently think of Orwell’s 1984 here.  Social fabrics of trust and protection are shredded as individuals are disappeared, forced to turn into an armed actor, their family members threatened, given cell phones to inform on neighbors and community events to the army, or coerced to accept nice-sounding social development "aid"  in exchange for giving up principles of peace and allowing the army access to everything and everyone. As a human rights lawyer explained to us, there is a symbiosis between megaprojects and paramilitaries - the resource rich regions or strategic routes are the places where it is most necessary to have a population that surrenders to labor conditions and gives up their land. Or are disappeared and forcibly displaced.  There are 4 million displaced people in rural Colombia.  Deepening my understanding of this context deepens my appreciation of the power and danger of the decision of the peace community of San Jose de Apartadó to stay on their land and to not bear arms.

It was profound to be repeatedly welcomed with such genuine affection as being part of this organization, and for being a gringa who has traveled all the way here to witness realities that most are blind to, or unwilling to see and feel.  I was touched by how many people from various organizations, urban and rural, mentioned how wonderful it is to meet our delegation, to know that in some way they are not alone, and to feel that reciprocal respect and reinforcement.  I am humbled in my role as a visitor, who can witness and then easily leave realities that others cannot, to feel the responsibility that comes with hearing others’ stories, and to be awe-struck by the kindness, humor, humane vision, mutual support, and courage that those who we have met maintain in a system that denies the humanity of so many people and attempts to rip apart so many communities.  It is an honor to be here for this time.