Interweaving #26 - Camila Gonzalez Herrera on Colombia’s Political Crossroads

Colombia National Strike, May 2021. (Photo: Oxi.Ap from Medellín, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

In this episode of Interweaving, host John Collins speaks with Camila González Herrera, author of two recent Weave News articles about the 2021 Colombian National Strike. In addition to discussing the strike itself and how it revealed the power of the people, they also explore the limitations of establishment media coverage, the importance of independent media and social media for grassroots mobilization, and the impact of the strike on Colombia’s historic 2022 elections.

Host: John Collins

Guest(s): Camila Gonzalez Herrera

Featured in this episode:

“PARO NACIONAL 2021: Colombians’ Prolonged Outrage Takes Over the Streets”
https://www.weavenews.org/stories/2022/5/19/paro-nacional-2021-colombians-prolonged-outrage-takes-over-the-streets

“News Coverage of the 2021 Colombian National Strike: An Agenda Setting Operation”
https://www.weavenews.org/stories/2022/6/13/news-coverage-of-the-2021-colombian-national-strike-an-agenda-setting-operation

Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
https://naomiklein.org/the-shock-doctrine/

La Silla Vacía
https://www.lasillavacia.com/

Mutante
https://www.mutante.org/  

Temblores
https://www.temblores.org/

Última Hora Colombia
https://ultimahoracol.com/

La Directa
https://www.facebook.com/LaDirectaCtg/

Murder of Dilan Cruz
https://colombiareports.com/dilan-cruz-the-murder-that-changed-colombias-anti-government-protests/
https://www.lasillavacia.com/historias/silla-nacional/el-primer-adios-a-dilan-cruz-nuevo-simbolo-del-paro/
https://www.elespectador.com/bogota/fallecio-dilan-cruz-el-joven-que-marchaba-para-pedir-educacion-article-892690/

“SCAD alumni ‘Residente’ helps Colombian protesters fight censorship”
https://scadconnector.com/2021/05/12/scad-alumni-residente-helps-colombian-protesters-fight-censorship/

Rodolfo Hernández campaigning on Tik Tok
https://www.tiktok.com/@ingrodolfohernandez?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

“The Role of the Diaspora in the Internationalization of the Colombian Economy”
https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/policy-research/colombia-diaspora

Red Condor Collective
https://www.instagram.com/redcondorcollective/?hl=en

Transcript

John Collins: Welcome to Interweaving! I'm John Collins. Colombia is preparing for a runoff national election that has the potential to set the country on a significantly new political path. The runoff scheduled for June 19th is between two candidates, both of whom define themselves in opposition to the political establishment: Gustavo Petro, a leftist, and Rodolfo Hernandez, a self-described "pragmatist" who holds center-right and conservative views. With the most recent polls showing the two candidates in a virtual tie, some analysts are describing the runoff as an unprecedented opportunity for the Left in Colombia as the country continues to struggle to overcome a long history of state and paramilitary violence. To discuss these issues today, we're pleased to welcome Camila Gonzalez Herrera, who is a contributing author here at Weave News as well as a summer intern with our organization. Camila, thank you for joining us today.

Camila González Herrera: Thank you for having me.

So before we get into the Colombia story in detail, can you tell us a little bit about your role at Weave News? 

I am currently Weave News summer outreach coordinator. Some of my main projects are expanding the reach of the organization. So I prepare and send out newsletters, and I'm working on finding organizations with whom we can potentially partner, and I also work in other various tasks within the editorial and development teams.

And we're very happy to have you with us this summer. And as our readers know, and our listeners know, Weave News is very much a grassroots media organization, an independent media organization. Why is grassroots journalism important to you? 

Well, at some point while growing up I realized that there was so much more information that establishment media was not sharing, and it was grassroots journalism that I used to learn about these issues I really cared about like impacts of hydro dams in Colombia, and social and environmental leaders, and even managed to learn an alternative history of my country. And really, that is why I love working at Weave. It might feel small, but I know that somehow I am making an effect.

As I noted in my introduction, Colombia is in the middle of a very important and potentially historic election process, but elections don't happen in a vacuum. And so you decided to investigate some of the deeper context surrounding the current political situation in your home country. In particular, you looked back at the national strike that happened last year, 2021, in Colombia. And your first article, which we published last month, examined the strike itself. And then you followed up with a second article investigating some of the patterns in the news coverage surrounding the strike. And we'll make sure to link to both of those articles in the show notes for today's episode. 

So starting with the strike itself, could you tell us a little bit more about the national strike and what motivated people in Colombia to rise up in this way? 

Well, the 2021 national strike was more than expected. Right before the pandemic in November and December of 2019, there was a huge wave of strikes throughout Latin America. And in Colombia specifically, people were demanding things like implementation of the peace agreement, withdrawal of the labor and pension reforms, development of structural police reform.

But the government as always, as often, did not respond well. They did not attend people's demands. And on top of that, we saw multiple cases of police brutality. We saw the murder of a young man called Dilan Cruz, which really just outraged people even more. It was becoming a historic wave of strikes, not only in Colombia, but in other regions.

And then in the beginning of January 2020, COVID happened. So people were forced to go home, and the strike had to pause. But it was in May 2021 that President Ivan Duque proposed a tax reform to broaden tax collection base to cover the pandemic costs. And that money was mainly gonna come from the middle class and upper class.

But because of the pandemic, many people had lost their jobs. It hit middle class people, lower class, and even the upper class. So one might imagine, people did not want that, people were tired, many had lost their jobs, and some were just barely surviving. When the 2021 strike happened, the government first responded by taking back the reform. That actually happened within the first few weeks of the strike, but people did not stop then. People saw that it was not only them, the ones who were tired. We saw different groups like labor unions, feminists, indigenous, LGBT groups, farmers, and many others coming together. 

As that was happening, the government said that they were willing to talk. There was some dialogue between them and the national strike committee. So what we were seeing was a government willing to talk, but not willing to act. They were willing to sit down and go through all this bureaucracy and dialogue and showcase it in the media, but there was no real change being made.

And while that was happening, there was a lot happening in the streets that was being ignored by the government. There was a lot of state and police brutality, and what they did was try to delegitimize the strike by making it seem that those who were protesting were just a group of vandals. When in reality, we saw people protesting who were from various social classes and from various professions, and as I mentioned before, from various groups and organizations in the country. Which really was what made the strike a historic event. For years, they tried to separate people, but last year's strike was something that made people come together and speak up together, which made it have such a huge impact.

So it truly was a national strike. 

Yeah, it definitely was. Personally I am from a small city, and during past strikes we had experienced it somehow, but this time it was huge. We saw so many people in the streets during day and night, we saw youth organizations, groups of people coming together and speaking out, and there were dances, there were presentations, there was street art, there were different ways in which people were presenting and picking up their needs and what they wanted and their outreach.

And of course we saw the people in bigger cities experience it very differently in cities like Cali, Bogota, Medellin. The Cali airport was closed because they considered it too dangerous, which was also part of the whole demonization of the strike. And at some point during the strike, we also saw important indigenous groups coming into cities because there are some representatives that they had in the cities. But the fact that they came all the way from the areas where they live was something that only happens when there is really something big happening in the city, when there is a real reason for them to come.

So that really demonstrates that the strike was a moment when the people in Colombia recognized their power. And the way that you describe it, Camila, is also powerful because you're emphasizing the way in which the strike brought people together and helped overcome some of the differences that perhaps the ruling class was interested in fostering. So this is a very, very powerful moment. In your second article, you reveal some very interesting patterns in how the strike was covered by the establishment news media in Colombia, and also how that coverage changed over time. So what did you find when you looked at all of that coverage? 

At first, what we generally saw in both alternative and mainstream media was that they were contextualizing the strike. They were giving the reasons why people were protesting, what they were demanding, what were the initial responses of the government, and all this sort of news. But then the strike started to become more violent. There was a lot of state violence, police brutality, and there was also non-state actors who were engaging in violent acts, which was a form of resisting the lack of action by the government. 

And when this started to happen, it felt like the mainstream media was demonizing the strike and the protestors. Media was just filled with violence. Violence from one side, right, violence from the other. And it was some sort of shock doctrine in which there was so much going on news every day, from alternative and mainstream media, they were trying to show their side of the story, but it was just violence. And within all that coverage that we were seeing, the real reasons why the strike started, the demands of the people, were just in the background. Naturally, because mainstream or establishment media has a wider coverage, then alternative media tried to use their outlets as a platform for people. So we often saw some outlets that allowed people to record videos or go live in their own platforms to be able to show that.

It was important work to do. It was important that they showed what was happening, not only for us, for Colombians, but also to call the attention of other international entities. But it really felt that we fell under a trap that the government was really working on, it really felt that they were just trying to make us forget why we were really protesting, why we're really people in the streets, and what we really wanted.

That's an important point, I think, because you mentioned earlier the idea of a "shock doctrine." And for listeners who aren't familiar with that concept, that's, a term that the author Naomi Klein uses to describe strategies that are often used by powerful elites to take advantage of particular circumstances like major disaster or some kind of political crisis, and then use that as an opportunity to push through particular kinds of policies that people might not otherwise agree to unless there is some sort of crisis atmosphere. And so the coverage that you're talking about there, emphasizing the violence every day, establishes a certain kind of narrative and opens up opportunities, political opportunities then for ruling elites to carry out these kinds of strategies.

So the shock doctrine a useful concept here. And one of the effects of this kind of shock doctrine approach, as you suggest, is that it leaves the real reasons why people are mobilizing in the shadows, in the background. And if establishment media are using that kind of approach, using violence to sell papers, using violence to keep people's eyes on the television, and not paying attention to the reasons behind the ,strike who is then taking up that issue? Were independent and alternative news outlets in Colombia attempting to bring to light the reasons behind the strike, were they approaching the story differently? 

Yes, I would say that they were. They were trying to, at least. Because it's hard to just focus on the reasons why the strike started or contextualizing it when there are people being murdered in the streets. It's hard to do it. So the way I want to put it is that they forced them to cover violence, and there were different types of outlets with different approaches to covering the story. Some were organizations that were keeping statistics of police brutality and other sort of events. And some were just really, what I would say, for their people and by the people. So they were trying.

And I really think that the government was doing this because in the past, what we've seen is that something happens, a protest, a strike starts, the government gives something to people, people calm down, and there's no structural change. Nothing happens, again, and then it's kind of like a vicious cycle. Last year, people didn't want that. People wanted real change. They weren't giving it. Our governors had never seen Colombians so outraged, but more than that, so willing to fight and to change things for good. 

Okay. So if the mainstream establishment media and the independent and alternative media were all getting drawn into this narrative of violence with all the limitations that you've described for us, where could people go to get a different kind of narrative? 

I think social media was a really good resource that people utilized throughout the strike. We saw, as I mentioned, many people going live. And it wasn't only these alternative outlets, but other famous artists, such as Residente, who's a Puerto Rican singer who allowed people to go live on his Instagram, and he has millions of followers. And this didn't only help inform us about what was happening, why it was happening, but also gave people some kind of hope, I would say. At the same time, it helped us come together and realize that it wasn't only happening in one city or in two. It was happening everywhere. It was happening abroad as well.

And there were also some organizations, some outlets, that gave us very important information in very accessible ways. There were some like La Silla Vacia and Temblores, which are NGOs that really kept track of statistics of police brutality, murders, disappearances. They did two things mainly, I would say. One would be writing reports that served to call out the attention of international entities, such as the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. But they also did a very good job at putting this information on their social media in a very accessible way. So any ordinary citizen could see it. 

Then we had others such as Ultima Hora Colombia, who I would describe as independent, but a bit more normative in terms of journalism, and they shared articles and news that communicated very different perspectives that even though weren't necessarily grassroots were different from what we would see in mainstream media.

And then we have others like La Directa, which were just by people and for the people, were more informal. Their posts didn't necessarily follow any aesthetics. You know, it was just more informal. And these platforms did not only share information or videos about what was happening in different neighborhoods and cities, but also I remember at night, going into Instagram and listening to their lives that were conversations within people from one outlet and another one that were both alternative and were talking. Okay, what happened today in this city? And what do we think is going to happen, and how are we going to respond?

So in a way, and I was abroad for most of the strike, it made me feel more connected to what was happening and also more informed of course.

This is a great example of what scholars and others call citizen journalism. Ordinary people using the tools at their disposal to share information, and in this case to organize themselves across, let's say the boundaries created by diaspora. So it's a really fascinating example. So as you look back now at the national strike, how would you describe its impact on the social and political situation in the country? 

I would describe it as a wakeup call. For so many years, we've been repressed and scared. The government has tried so hard to divide Colombians. But last year's national strike demonstrated that we are stronger when we're together, and it showed that people are tired of this regime and that people want change and are willing to work for it.

We're speaking today with Camila Gonzalez Herrera, who is the outreach coordinator intern here at Weave News and also the author of two recent articles published by Weave News about the 2021 national strike in Colombia and the context that that helps provide for the national elections that Colombia began in May and will conclude on June 19th with runoff elections. So that's just a few days away from when we're recording today. Camila, what are your hopes and expectations for this last round of the elections. 

Short answer? I hope that Colombians choose to vote for the change. Long answer? I think that regardless of what the outcome of the elections are, this is a very historic moment for the country, and it has demonstrated the power that we have as citizens. We've gone through a very long history of violence, repression, separation, and we've finally come to realize that we're tired and that's not what we want. 

But going back to the question really, we have spoken about the advantages of social media, but something I've seen and something that Rodolfo Hernandez has utilized a lot for his benefit is social media. It's something that can be used for the wrong purposes, can be used to misinform people. And I want to think that my generation and many other people are better at assessing the sources, assessing the WhatsApp chains that they receive. But it's hard, and I think part of the reason why people are scared to vote for Gustavo Petro as President and Francia Marquez as Vice-President is because for so many years they have implanted this ideology that entails a fear to the left. So what I really hope is that we can overcome that through seeing the reality of the country beyond what they want us to see and through feeling for the other and thinking beyond ourselves. Not only because there is a huge disconnection between rural and urban areas in Colombia, but also because some people are very comfortable at the position they're at, and they're scared to lose their privilege.

You mentioned earlier that Hernandez has been very active in using social media. And I know there's been a lot of reporting about this, at least in the US, in some of the coverage of the Colombian elections. How do you interpret Hernandez's decision to put a lot of emphasis on TikTok as a way to get his message out? 

I think it's smart because it's what's trending. But at the same time, he does it because it's something that it historically hasn't been done or is not done by many politicians. He wants to portray himself as this cool alternative guy who doesn't need the historically in power parties to support him. And even though in the past he's been involved in politics, he is not a politician or what we would want to think as a politician, because anyone could be involved in politics and a politician, but he's not that. And he wants to represent something different. 

We all know that he is a right-wing politician, he is conservative, and now it's clear that he's supported by those who he continuously criticizes and whom he criticized to get where he got, which is the second place. Even though the Centro Democratico or Democratic Center tried so hard to get their candidates to pass to the runoff, to the second round, they didn't. But what we realized as soon as he lost was that the Democratic Center decided to support Hernandez. What I think is that this is part of his marketing of his plan of portraying himself as a different candidate who doesn't fall under the normative general politician character. And even when he won second place in the first round of the elections, he just went live on Facebook. He didn't go and stand up and talk to the people. 

Like a traditional politician. 

Exactly. Like a traditional politician. He decided not to do that. And people interpret that in different ways. What I saw was after they were like, "oh, Petro spent X amount of money in his post-election speech. What did Rodolfo Hernandez do? He just sat in his kitchen and went live." That demonstrates that he's not going to spend their money like past politicians have been doing. And that demonstrates his main argument, which is combating corruption, is going to be a shift, even though we know that he's going to trial for it in a few weeks.

So you grew up in Colombia, but I know that you've spent time outside the country as well. You've spent a couple of years studying in the United States. And Colombia has a large diaspora population. There's a 2021 project at Harvard University estimating that roughly 10% of Colombians are living primarily outside the country. So that's a significant factor in a political situation like the one that we've been discussing. So how do you see the role of the diaspora in relation to the changes that are happening inside Colombia right now? 

It's a very tricky question, because as you mentioned, Colombia has a large diaspora population that cannot be simplified into one group. People have migrated for different reasons and have different political views. What I've realized is that when you're abroad, it's very easy to disconnect from your country. I think we must first acknowledge that we live in a different reality to those back home. But at the same time, I think our role should be to try our best to keep in touch and support our country so that less people will have to migrate.

And what role can young people in particular play in shaping the direction of the country at such a crucial moment in Colombia's history?

I think that the first thing is that we must be both informed and involved. There are various resources. We have academic articles, but we also have social media, which can be used and has been used for bad, but also very good purposes. So now, more than ever, the resources are there. And as young people, as people who are going to live in this country, want to live in this country, it is our job to research and of course to assess those resources, to maintain ourselves informed. But there are also different ways in which one can participate, from going out to protests, getting involved with your local government, going or listening to debates, participating in political conversations, and of course going out and voting. Very important because historically the Colombians that choose their governors are less than 50%. So we need people to go out and vote. It is not only a right, but it's also a responsibility.

I'm sure a lot of our listeners will want to learn more about the situation in Colombia. Are there particular sources of information, grassroots organizations that you would like to highlight that can provide useful perspectives? 

I would say that NGOs like Mutante, La Silla Vacia, and Temblores are all very good and reliable sources that I believe also have information in English. There is also a very good diaspora initiative that I've been following for quite a while. It's called Red Condor Collective. Their content is mainly, if not all, in English, and their main goal is to secure material to support Colombian activists. And they're posting quite often these days because of the upcoming elections.

Thank you for sharing those with us. We'll make sure to pass those on to our audience and in the notes for today's episode. 

So I think we'll need to wind things up as we prepare for the runoff elections in Colombia, on June 19th. Camila Gonzalez Herrera, thank you so much for joining us today and lending your perspective as a young Colombian and a grassroots journalist and helping us understand this complex situation.

Thank you for having me. This was fun, and I'm very happy to share my perspective with you.

Thanks for joining us today on interweaving I'm John Collins, you can find me on Twitter @djleftover. See you next time!