A week of intense and insightful conversations with colleagues in the University of Antioquia in Medellin regarding Sentencia T-622, and the challenges of the Río Atrato as a subject of rights and a victim of the armed conflict. My mind is full of ideas, and my spirit lifted by the careful and committed research my colleagues are conducting. Optimism? Hell yes, in spite of it all. Pessimism would be indulgent.
Una semana de intensas y profundas conversaciones con colegas de la Universidad de Antioquia en Medellín sobre la Sentencia T-622 y los desafíos del Río Atrato como sujeto de derechos y víctima del conflicto armado. Mi mente está llena de ideas y mi espíritu se eleva por la investigación cuidadosa y comprometida que están realizando mis colegas. ¿Optimismo? Sí, a pesar de todo. El pesismo sería una indulgencia. Animo!
The sludge you see beneath this labyrinth of wooden planks is raw sewage. The river is laced with mercury and “cianuro” — cyanide, chemicals used in illegal mining. Tons of wood is trucked out at night, deforestation adding to the sedimentation that causes the Río Atrato to flood in a cyclical fashion. The last big flood was 2010, and folks in Rio Sucio constructed these air-borne walkways as a crisis management response. Twelve years on, the walkways remain. I embrace the “rights of nature,” but not over the welfare of the disenfranchised Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people who live in seemingly permanent precarity along the riverbank.
Presented by NYU Wagner School of Public Service, Universidad del Rosario, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies NOVEMBER212:00pm – 3:30pm ESTPublicadd to: Google Calendar | iCalendarDATE: November 21, 2020TIME: 2:00pm – 3:30pmLOCATION: Online
This event is part of a three-day symposium, Colombia: Peacebuilding amid Persistence of Violence, which brings together academics, practitioners, civil society and civic leaders to discuss the past, present and futures of Colombia. It sheds light on the country’s long experience with internal armed conflict, its recent effort to transition to a post-conflict stage, and the challenges and opportunities that the present juncture implies for the success of enduring peacebuilding efforts.
This panel zeroes-in on the microlevel manifestations of the conflict, exploring the case of gender-based violence against Indigenous and Afrocolombian women in Colombia. Panelists will discuss women’s experience of leadership and resistance in these contexts and unpack key challenges of efforts to strengthen their agency and amplify their voice. Conflict affects women in unique ways, and subaltern women in particular; but their experience becomes invisible when buried within broader statistics and narratives. To understand these microdynamics of violence and the potential emergent leadership, the conversation will privilege feminist, intercultural and participatory action research perspectives. Connecting memory, resistance and leadership contributes to move forward the Symposium conversations and insights about peacebuilding and local governance amid persistence of violence.
Panel Featuring:
Pasha Bueno-Hansen, University of Delaware
Kimberly Theidon, Fletcher School, Tufts University
Angela Santamaria, Universidad del Rosario
This panel will be held in Spanish and moderated by Ángela Santamaría (URosario) & Sonia M. Ospina (NYU Wagner)
This event is organized by the Colombian Studies Initiative: Past, Present and Futures, a collaboration between New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and Universidad del Rosario. The Initiative aims to create an Inter-American hub for research, multidisciplinary conversations and exchange of knowledge concerning Colombia. It supports dialogue, inquiry, and research for US, Colombian, and international scholars, students, NGOs practitioners, and the general public interested in Colombia.NYU Wagner provides reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. Requests for accommodations for events and services should be submitted at least two weeks before the date of the accommodation need. Please email mfs459@nyu.edu or call 212.998.7400 for assistance.Register to Attend
We had the honor of hosting former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos at Fletcher this week. Many of us had questions about the Peace Accords and their implementation under the hostile Duque administration, about the need for land reform in Colombia, and concerns about the ongoing assassinations of social leaders and activists. Unfortunately, the agenda took another turn when the event began with a screening of “Port of Destiny: Peace,” a hagiographic piece of political propaganda that left me queasy. From the opening scenes of President Santos driving a car through admiring throngs to Santos sitting at his desk with a furrowed brow as he ponders how he will bring peace to Colombia; from his nuclear family praising his leadership to the images of him as the nation’s father saving brown-skinned peasants and doling out a home to an Afro-Colombian woman and her children: this film is a gender/race/class runaway wreck. Tony Blair offers praise, as does Bill Clinton. A holy trinity of masculine leadership! Erased completely are the years of peace-building efforts by civil society organizations; this is History As The Work of One Great Man, an emplotment strategy that is alternately nauseating, laughable and historically incorrect. The cause of peace in Colombia would be better served by addressing the challenges of moving the process forward rather than beatifying Santos in his own lifetime.
kimberly theidon 