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GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

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The University and the Peace Process in Colombia
an article by Robin

Video: ¿Es posible la paz en Colombia?

The Peace Dialogues between the government of Colombia and the FARC revolutionary forces include other players as well. Representatives of the civil society of Colombia have also gone to Havana to plead for peace. According to Hernando Roa Suárez, Advisor to the Rector of the National Pedagogical University, writing in the online news service El Espectador, the sectors of the civil society as a whole have opened channels of reflection and action about peace, not only as an expectation or illusion, but as a framework for understanding everyday concrete development of democracy.


Hernando Roa Suárez on YouTube

click on photo to enlarge

Suárez mentions contributions to the peace process by many civil society organizations, including El CINEP, Arcoiris, IEPRI, ESAP, Viva la Ciudadanía, Redepaz, MOE, Plural, and other groups working in the various regions of Colombia. He also mentions the role of the United Nations and the National University in helping to organize their involvement in the peace talks.

In his article, Suárez recognizes that academia has already made contributions to peace, but he says that the time has come to deepen this into a new vocation of service, the rethink and develop the peace process. He makes 14 proposals to the universities, which are included here in an addition to this article.

He concludes that "as academics, we must not remain spectators . . . University communities are called upon to intervene creatively in the peace process and not to forget that "to do is not to agitate but to accomplish the difficult." It behooves us to intervene in the most arduous task, where the stakes are the democratic destiny of our great nation. The culture of war must be confronted with a well-informed and well-planned negotiated political solution. It is clear for informed Colombians that it is indispensible to reformulate the politics and alternatives for peace in Colombia. As of now, in 2013, democratic Colombians are invited to continue to build a new culture of peace with dedication and political realism."



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What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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The force of non-violence constrains the force of arms!

Colombia - the force of peaceful resistance -
At the beginning of July, the rebels of the armed revolutionary forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped a 51 year old Swiss, and his Colombian assistant who worked in the Indian communities of Cauca province where they were setting up development projects by building schools and community production enterprises.

The news of the kidnapping was spread through all the villages and 2000 Indians set out to pursue the 400 guerillas. They reached them at an elevation of over 4000 meters (12,000 feet), encircled them, and without any weapon, constrained them to release the 2 hostages! (After 2 days, the hostages were released).

This release, obtained through "peaceful resistance" has raised a national debate: the possibility of resisting violence without needing to use weapons has demonstrated the effectiveness of human solidarity movements.

"I will return, and I will then be millions" prophesied the Aymara Indian leader Tapak Katari, in 1781, at the time of his execution by the Spanish conquistadors.


100 million in 1492, the Indians were no more than 4,5 million one century and half later. Currently there are 44 million Indians populating Latin America.

In spite of their great diversity, the Indian movements take on more and more importance. In Ecuador, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico or Colombie they are opposed to the neoliberal system that governs the Americas, while protesting against the imposition of the American economic market. . ...more.


This report was posted on February 28, 2013.