Hunger Series - Violence

Colombia has been torn apart by violence since the beginnings of the civil conflict in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The initial conflict was between guerilla groups that were seeking agrarian reform and the state of Colombia. In the early 1990s a third element was added, “paramilitary” forces.

The origin of the paramilitary forces is complex and different sources give different answers. A common state explanation is that they developed largely on their own, meaning that citizens tired of the conflict formed “self defense units” to take on the guerilla fighters. However, this explanation does not address the evidence that shows a clear link to the Colombian military through supplies and training. The paramilitaries have been able to commit crimes that the regular military would get “in trouble” for like displacing rural communities off of their land or targeting human rights defenders.

The paramilitaries operate in many ways as an extension of the State, doing the “dirty work” while the Colombian government can claim little to no control over their actions. Further complicating the situation is the apparent connection many of the paramilitaries have to the drug trade in Colombia. So what began as a struggle for just land reform has evolved into a multi-faceted civil conflict with a variety of players and a long list of victims.

The civil conflict has served as a force of displacement for many Colombians but in particular for rural communities. These farming communities have lost loved ones and land to the struggle for territory and power that continues to unfold between the guerillas, paramilitary and military. We may not immediately link hunger to war, thinking first of poverty or a simple lack of food and/or water. However war is one of the driving forces behind hunger in the world, think of Sudan, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq and the images of refugee camps, food lines – essentially thousands of suddenly homeless people.

Conflict takes a community and wipes out its structures – even informal structures – land is destroyed, homes, schools, stores, wells, pipelines, electricity plants etc. Everything that is relied on to help us live is destroyed and the ability to rebuild is held hostage. It is held hostage by whether or not the conflict ends and if monies will be provided by the government to help rebuild once the conflict is “finished.”

Hunger and violence are two faces of the same coin; you almost always have one with the other whether it is in situations of war or urban poverty. Yet you rarely see them linked together when it comes to designing solutions for hunger or violence. The Hunger Series is an attempt to link many different facets with hunger so that in understanding its complexity we can offer the complex solutions that are needed.

Please also check out the YouTube video on a nonviolent youth movement in Colombia, the meditation on St. Francis and the actions links below! Together we can help create spaces without hunger and violence.

Video
Watch this three minute video from Youth Network in Medellin. Youth Network's goal is to show that active participation can be achieved without weapons.

Actions
There's a lot we can do to stop rape as a weapon of war. Watch a video. Spread the symbol. Mobilize the media. Host an event. Write a letter to your elected official. Add your voice!

Join the campaign of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Musuem against genocide. Start with yourself and make your own personal pledge against genocide. Connect to others by listening to their stories and adding your own story. Contact the media and connect to decision makers. Get involved in relief efforts and learn more about genocide prevention today.

Meditation
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen