Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Speaking Truth to People, Not Power
By PHILLIP CRYAN
No one can ignore tens of thousands of people marching, disciplined and peaceful, along 60 miles of highway in the middle of a country at war. When large numbers of people are organized enough to pull off such a mobilization, not even media outlets skilled in the arts of pro-government distortion and omission can help but pay attention. And the government listens up too.
From September 14-16 about 60,000 people marched along the Panamerican Highway in southwestern Colombia demanding respect for their autonomy and protesting President Alvaro Uribe Velez's economic and security policies. Led by regional and national indigenous organizations, the march also included peasant farmers, Afro-Colombians, union members and students.
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