[Marxism] March 6 Demonstration

[Anthony Boynton <northbogota@xxxxxxxxx>]

The demonstrations against State Crimes - paramilitary
massacres, murders, torture and disappearances - in
Colombia on March 6 were an unqualified success.
Semana magazine, not a friend of the left, estimated
1,000,000 people participated in total. The largest
demonstrations were in Bogotá and Medellin. It took
demonstrators in one of the feeder marches 4 hours to
march 40 blocks the crowds were so big. 

These demonstrations undoubtedly were one of the
reasons Colombian president Alvaro Uribe was forced to
retreat in his assault against Venezuela and Ecuador
the next day at the meeting of the Rio Group in Santo
Domingo (see previous post on this topic).

Not even March organizers expected such a big turn
out, especially after the march ahd been threatened by
both paramiiltaries and government ministers.

This march was much smaller than the anti FARc
demnostrations a month earlier, but the conditions
under which the marches took place were radically
different.

The anti-FARC march had the blanket and total support
of all mass media in Colombia, and of all major
businesses and schools. It was a a show of what the
ruling class can mobilize when it pulls out all the
stops, shouts the doors of businesses, closes schools,
and advertises on Page one for two weeks in advance.

The March sixth demo were opposed by the government,
threatened byt he government and paramilitaries, and
barely mentioned before hand in the press. 

The flavor of the demonstrations was somber,
resilient, determined, and also humorous. Marchers
carried tens of thousands of placards bearing the
photos of people murdered, kidnapped and "disappeared
by the paramilitaries and the government - some
pictures showing the most gruesomely tortured bodies
of children and old people - others showing mass
graves - but most just the faces of the dead and
missing.

Alongside of the placards were banners, street
theater, and lots of chanting. What I heard the most
were three chants, "Uribe paraca, la gente barraca."
(More or less - Uribe paramilitary, the people are
tough, resilient and mad!), "Uribe, Gonorea - La Gente
esta con Correa (Uribe Gonorea, the people are with
Correa!), and "Uribe fascista, Usted es terrorista!). 

Many of the banners called for a humanitarian
agreement to exchange prisoners with the FARC and
opposed military rescues attempts.

This demonstration was not about listening to
speeches. I don't even know if there were any. It was
about "the other Colombia" showing its defiant face to
the world and especially to the government of
Colombia.

The demonstrations were a very, very important measure
of the mood of the young people, and the poor, in
Colombia. 

The people who demonstrated here are tired of war, but
they do not buy the Uribista line that the endemic
violence in the countryside of Colombia is all due to
the FARC. The truth is that the government, and
paramilitary organizations tied to the government, are
directly responsible for most of the violence - and
ultimately responsible for all of it.

The fact that 1,000,000 were brave enough to march to
tell this to the world must have given pause to the
Uribe governmetn as they marched to war with Venezueal
and Ecuador.


The truth is, the soliders in the Colombian army are
drawn from amongst the poor - the same people who
demonstrated on March 6, and who by and large stayed
home for the February anti-FARC demo.

Just as sobering for the Uribistas must be the fact
that most of those people who believe that the FARC is
responsible for violence, and who demonstrated a month
ago, support Uribe only because they believe he can
bring peace to the country. If uribe leads the country
to war, they will not follow. 

Last week the middle class were getting their travel
documents in order, ready to flee to Miami, Panama, or
the Dominican Republic if even a border conflict
starts.

Uribe backed down at the Rio Group meeting, partly
because he is deathly afraid of what will happen in
Colombia if there really is a war.

His retreat has undoubtedly thrown a monkey wrench
into the plans of his pals on the Potomac, but may
have ultimately only delayed their plans for war. The
alleged computers are still churning out information,
which will undoubtedly be used to stoke the fires in
the weeks and months to come. (More on this in another
post.)

Unfortunately the March 6 demos were almost completely
blacked out in the world press. Neither the New york
Times nor the Washington Post websites carry articles
about the events. Colombian football violence seems to
be more important.

Anthony






      
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