Colombia Archives - Public Seminar

Activism

We Are All “First Liners”

Colombia’s youth are institutionalizing a revolution by building solidarity and insurgent practices that can last

September 22, 2021 • by Aura Angélica Hernández Cárdenas

To learn more about the protests and general strike in Colombia, read Julián Gómez Delgado's essay “The Decline of Colombia’s Centaur State.” One of the most important phenomena of this year’s national strike in Colombia has been las primeras líneas, or “first liners.” Men and women, some reported to be as young ...

Democracy

The Decline of Colombia’s Centaur State

By launching a general strike, a broad coalition of Colombians has invited state violence—but united to demonstrate what real democracy looks like

June 1, 2021 • by Julián Gómez Delgado

_____ On April 28, 2021, thousands of Colombians took to the streets to protest a highly ill-timed and unpopular tax reform. The law implemented a 19 percent tax on goods and services, echoing previous tax, labor, and pension reforms of 2019 which had similarly fueled a general strike against austerity and ...

Media

Perpetuating the Uribe Hegemony

How the Media helped to install and normalize Authoritarianism in Colombia

October 15, 2019 • by Sara Tufano

When they were finally allowed into the camp, the peasants found a hole in the ground and a few meters away, the body of Dimar, killed with a shot to the head. This assassination reactivated memories of the so-miscalled "false positives", or extrajudicial executions, that many of us in Colombia believed were ...

Feature

Gustavo Petro and the Colombian Populist Moment

An interview with Luciana Cadahia

August 2, 2018 • by Gerardo Muñoz

Luciana Cadahia (Ph.D. Unidad Autónoma de Madrid [UAM]) is one of the most original voices in contemporary Latin American political thought. Although her academic work has focused on debates in political theory and the tradition of German Idealism, her recent interventions on populism and democratic theory are charged with a theoretical depth that ...

Gustavo Petro and the Colombian Populist Moment

Feature

Peace-ing Colombia Together

Colombia’s Aftermath in Rejecting the Peace Deal Referendum

November 21, 2016 • by Maria Carrizosa

But the Colombian tragedy is more convoluted still. Over the last month we have lived a political and moral rollercoaster. First was the joy of having the peace treaty signed, then the perplexity and frustration of the plebiscite result, followed by anxiety about the political limbo it created. Sadness grew ...