Renewal of peasant mobilization in the transition for peace in Colombia

• In Event: Organizing for Peace in Colombia

Abstract

The peace negotiations going on in Cuba are an opportunity for the rural areas to finally express themselves whereas they have been historically marginalized. Both solution for the pacification and the key for the development of the country, the agrarian question is as always a marker. In the last decade peasant processes have become indispensable actors of political dialogue for the transition to peace. Nevertheless, their experience of collective action on the field faces a context of constant stigmatization of social protest.

How peasant organizations have managed to become key actors of pacification in the last decade in Colombia?

I will focus on how peasant leaders have adopted new practices and established changes in their organization to face the political national level. They succeed in unifying different peasant movements, especially during the 2013 strikes. This union and the opposition to the extractives model have raised awareness among Colombian public opinion. In that matter, I will demonstrate how peasant have reframed their cause from the access to land to the issue of dignity, showing that political representation of el campesinado and territorial autonomy are once again the main question at stake.

I propose to study the renewal of peasant movement, and question their role from the local mobilization to the Colombian national political scene today with an original comparison between two local organizations. This research is based on a three-year field with the ACVC, today spearhead of peasant reserve zone, and with the emblematic case of Afro Colombian communities in Chocó.

Author

• Mathilde Allain