COLOMBIA CALIDOSCOPIO

The following article comes from the current edition of the 
Colombian anarchist journal CORREO A

   Cali is the third biggest city in Colombia. A city which is 
in the process of becoming a major metropolis, a process which 
is at once aggressive, violent and dehumanising. It has a population 
of 2,000,000 40% of whom live in absolute poverty (800,000 people). 
Another 40% are poised on the edge between the middle and lower classes 
whilst 20% have to work outside the area. 10% of those who can work 
don't have any (the figure doubles when related to young people) and 
50 % survive on the daily leftovers selling everything and consuming 
dreams.
   There were parliamentary elections followed by more local ones. Of 
every one hundred people who were eligible to vote 70 didn't. Of the 
other 30 one has to take into account the votes that were bought, those 
that were stolen, those that were sold and those that were swindled, 
those that were forced to vote and those deceased voters who still 
registered their votes. Such are the miracles of Colombian democracy.
   Here folk listen to salsa - good, bad and indifferent - at all hours 
and in every place. The people are dark-skinned, fun-loving and dancers 
who keep at it until they drop. The bursts of music mix with the bursts 
of machine-gun fire. The average killing every weekend is between 30 and 
50 - mainly the young and women. Here to be young and poor is to invite 
death. Death squads stalk the streets shooting, kidnapping and 
'disappearing' girls and boys. Nobody says anything, nobody knows 
anything, nobody hears anything. Fear closes the eyes, the mouths 
and the ears whilst the government washes its hands and promises 
exhaustive investigations which generally come to nothing. The local 
council in Cali recognised that in 1993 68% of the murders that took 
place went unpunished. Nobody can explain how it is that these 
murderous squads can pass along the streets which are full of armed 
police, detectives, soldiers, secret police agents, ordinary police 
agents and military barracks. Perhaps they don't see them? Or perhaps...
   The blue sky is dotted with clouds of polluted air: from the west 
come rivers and streams of pollution; the people are as warm as the 
climate; football and frivolity gain the attention of thousands of 
people every weekend; the population growth is intense and overwhelming...
 urban chaos is on the way.
   And so it is in Cali just like so many other places in Our America: 
an inhuman product of the development policies of Big Capital. Cali is 
a paradise for the TNCs who came in the 50s and 60s and seized the best 
lands, the greatest riches... Standing beside them, hand in hand with 
the powerful, are the drug traffickers who are simply another strain of 
the bourgeoisie and who have contaminated the whole political and economic 
environment. Much of the aforementioned violence has its roots in the
 drugtrafficking world and its roots. A veritable narcotragedy.
   But the consequences of the drug dealing are not just the bloody 
ones. It is a whole subculture which proclaims easy riches, ostentation, 
fiddles, machismo and frantic consumerism, dragging down with it into 
the mud thousands and thousands, especially the young, with the approval 
of the ruling classes shamefully enjoying the fruits of the drug trade.
   The opportunities for living a life with dignity become fewer and 
fewer. Industrial restructuring, privatisation and neoliberalism have 
added to the increasing number of closures of factories and companies, 
hyper commercialisation of education, health and recreation, the growing 
numbers of women and children who work either in subhuman conditions and 
for any salary they can get or fall into delinquency and prostitution. 
Official figures show that 61%  of those who commit crimes are under 
the age of 21 many of whom are in prison for having tried to get a few 
pesos to survive. Government statistics are eloquent: whilst a simple 
diet costs in the region of US$300 per month the income of poor families 
only comes to about US$90 if indeed they are lucky enough to have an 
income.
   Such a state of affairs has sharpened the peoples ability to survive 
and resist. Here we call it 'the gleaning culture' - those strategies 
that people adopt in order to live from day to day always looking for 
ways to acquire the necessary pesos which will allow them to eat in the 
daily struggle to survive: parks, traffic lights and the streets 
themselves have become commercial areas where a small business can 
be set up in order to cheat hunger. Thus there you will be able to 
buy a hot dog, a coffee, a newspaper, a loaf of bread, a red rose or 
a quick fix.
   Although libertarian and alternative groupings are weak and marginal 
there do exist thoughts, discussions and practices which are linked to 
social projects which give rise to new ideas and new ways to live. Lack 
of co-ordination is, however, one of the greatest weaknesses. 
Nevertheless in the teeth of the neoliberal storm and the ferocity 
of the regime, the building of a new society is making progress along 
with setbacks and fears, threats and successes progress is being made, 
slowly but surely as it advances hand in hand with hope..

WILI


