'Here in the struggle for life, transformation and dignity for the people'. - Read the full call out
During the week long mobilization more than 18,000 people have taken part in demonstrations in at least 15 locations in Bogotá and various other regions of the country. Despite the state's constant repression since the beginning of the day — as evidenced in places such as Socorro and La Delfina on the road to Buenaventura, and in the form of the siege of humanitarian spaces such as the Ministry of Housing and the Victims Unit — the communities remain steadfast in their struggle and resistance.
Today, peasant communities and the popular sector are mobilising in defence of life, dignity and the sovereignty of peoples. This struggle centres on five key issues: first, the legitimacy of autonomous social mobilisation as a driver of historical change, as evidenced by the nationwide strikes of 2019 and 2021. Secondly, the urgent dismantling of the national security doctrine that supports the paramilitary strategy which is still in force in the territories as a means of control and repression. Thirdly, the defence of popular sovereignty is understood as self-determination from below, rather than as a monopoly of the bourgeois state. Fourthly, there is a call to denounce the humanitarian emergency that has been silenced, which is characterised by political genocide against those who defend justice and dignity. Fifthly, they are demanding full compliance with unfulfilled agreements. These popular voices are not only rising to resist, but also to build a truly just, democratic and sovereign country.
Protests in Bogotá
The mobilisation held on 15 October was intended to draw attention to the serious humanitarian crisis facing these territories, as well as to denounce the resurgence of paramilitarism and the criminalisation of social mobilisation. These are strategies used to silence the voices demanding compliance with unfulfilled agreements and justice for their communities.
Throughout the day, Interior Minister Mario Benedetti and Santander Governor Juvenal Diaz made declared these protests as criminal , which endanger the mobilised communities by irresponsibly linking them to illegal activities. These statements disregard the legitimate and peaceful nature of social protest and fuel a climate of harassment. In response to these events, the UN Office for Human Rights issued a statement noting that it had received information about public statements by state authorities and political leaders stigmatising peaceful demonstrators, representing a serious threat to fundamental rights and democracy.
Despite the accusations and stigmatisation directed at communities and social movements, they continue to "in the struggle" with high spirits, full of joy, culture and colour. Drawing on the dignity of their territories, they continue to raise awareness of the issues affecting them, advocating for life, justice, and the recognition of their rights. The mobilisation never stops; it transforms into collective strength and living hope.
Mobilisation on 16 October - Transport was free
Despite the attempts of right-wing media, influencers and bodegas to influence public opinion, our actions are a legitimate form of social and symbolic protest, carried out with respect for and in accordance with human rights. As can be seen in this video and throughout the day of national mobilisation, the Human Rights Team informed the security personnel and workers at the Calle 13 toll booth on the Bogotá-Funza highway in advance that the political action would be carried out peacefully and would not affect their safety or the structure or resources of the toll booth. We defend the working class and the people because that is who we are. #AquíEnLaLucha
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Today's activities took place within the framework of educational direct action on public transport, aiming to explain to passers-by the importance of TransMilenio's mass transit system serving the people of Bogotá and its surrounding areas, and guaranteeing decent mobility conditions for the working class. These activities included distributing informational flyers and holding artistic interventions and cultural events to raise awareness and generate dialogue about the right to transportation as an essential public service.
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The mobilisation is peaceful.
While the mainstream media, influencers and digital warehouses are trying to impose a criminalising narrative, we reaffirm that our mobilisation is peaceful, symbolic and legitimate. As can be seen in this video, security personnel at the Calle 13 toll booth (Bogotá-Funza) were informed in advance that the action would not affect the infrastructure or resources.
Following five days of nationwide mobilisation, we reaffirm that our struggles are just, legitimate and necessary. We stand with joy, dignity and conviction as we denounce state repression, political stigmatisation and the systematic failure to comply with agreements that promised peace, justice and transformation. Our actions have been peaceful, educational and deeply humane, as evidenced by our days of popular dialogue, art and culture, and defence of collective rights. In response to the narrative of criminalisation promoted by certain political and media outlets, we counter with organisation, awareness, and commitment. We will continue to demonstrate convictions through actions, to care for life, and to build the country from the bottom up with and for the people.
Mobilisation on 17 October
Anti-imperialist day
Capitalist states use the pretext of 'security' and 'democracy' to sow wars, occupations and economic sanctions that suffocate entire peoples. This is why we continue to struggle, take to the streets and show solidarity with each other. Every day, we contribute to building alternatives to the life imposed by capital and its doctrine of death. From Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Palestine, we resist US doctrines imposed by governments subservient to the interests of capital, which favour the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of murderers and slave drivers.
We are an anti-imperialist people, ready to fight!
Venezuela is the country of the communes' Revolution, building Popular Power!
The Ecuadorian people will not be silenced!
Internationalists of the world, we speak out against the peace imposed by warmongers. Peace belongs to the people, or it will not exist!
We declare ourselves to be anti-imperialists! No country should be transformed into a military base that monitors social movements and suppresses the leadership of peasants, indigenous peoples, Black people, and urban populations.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Peru, who are suffering imperialist repression in their dignified struggles!
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IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE, TRANSFORMATION, AND THE DIGNITY OF PEOPLES
Call for action
The hunger is spreading accross the globe as a result of capitalism, which turns food, water and nature into commodities. It also speculate with life and condemns millions of human beings to misery while a few concentrates all the wealth. Hunger is the most brutal and silent form of structural violence, and its persistance in the XXI century is a cry against the human consciousness.
Under the guise of “security” and “democracy,” capitalist states sow wars, occupations, and economic sanctions that suffocate entire peoples. Their imperialist intervention is not only military through NATO; it infiltrates the economy through the IMF and the World Bank, with unpayable debts whose purpose is to keep the peoples of the South subordinate, divided, and weakened; it also infiltrates politics, defining who governs, and culture, imposing how to think and live.
UN resolutions, ICJ rulings, and ICC orders pile up on forgotten orders, and crimes against humanity remain unpunished. International law is shut down, and its institutions, dominated by elites, have become a stage for hypocrisy and empty rethoric. Israeli sionism celebrates every dropped bomb, every destroyed childhood, and tramples on the dignity and courage of those who, crossing the sea in the flotilla, have dared to provide humanitarian support to Palestine.
In our America, and more specifically in our Colombia, we know well what foreign interference means: the entire country turned into a large military base that monitors the internal enemy embodied in its social activists, its peasant leaders, its indigenous peoples, and its urban dwellers. Here, in Colombia, we suffered under the doctrins of imposed by the global North and the governments subject to interests the well-being of the majority, to the point that not even a progressist government could solve the big structural problems that afflict us.
We call for an ethical, political, and popular mobilization. Let our streets be filled with flags and voices calling for an end to the genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people, for the condemnation of imperialist violence and its doctrines that murder peoples and cultures, for unrestricted respect for the sovereignty of Our America, and for the construction of an international order that is truly at the service of life and not capital.
We call for mobilization for the fulfillment of the agreements and promises of change that remain pending, for the elimination of the national security doctrine and the dismantling of paramilitarism; for concrete actions that guarantee the construction of national and popular sovereignty; for the solution of the humanitarian emergency, for the defense of the human rights and for an end to genocide against peoples; for social participation in building transformations for peace.
Internationalists of the world: for a new anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonialist, anti-racist, and anti-militarist era.
AGAINST THE GENOCIDE AND THE IMPERIALSM!
AGAINST THE NATIONAL SECURITY DOCTRIN AND THE PARAMILITARISM!
FOR A SOLUTION TO THE HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCY AND THE THE COMPLETE DEFENSE OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS!
FOR THE POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR AMERICA AND THE CARAIBBEAN !
FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF THE AGREEMENTS AND TRANSFORMATIONS FOR PEACE!