A community event is coming to South London on 21 September. Talks and interactive workshops will teach attendees about new bills signed and sealed by the current Colombian government; and a pro-Palestinian people’s assembly will unite Latin Americans in the goal of strengthening support for the Palestinian people. “The purpose of this is educational, it is not a demonstration or a protest”.
Zac Liew
For the first time in its history, Colombia has a progressive government. In his two years in government President Gustavo Petro has passed legislation inclusive of working classes and tried to tackle corruption. But arguably the most radical thing has been to cut all ties with Israel. For many working, vulnerable and marginalised people across the country, this is a win. But getting there is only half the fight. Staying there is the real battle.
That’s why Vive Colombia UK has organised this event called “Gran olla comunitaria” (Big community pot), which will be accompanied by Colombian food, drink and dance.
Yonatan Mosquera, a member of the collective, says that keeping people informed is a huge lever: “The purpose of this is educational, it is not a demonstration or a protest. We want to drill home that foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy. It is not a coincidence that those who are pushing for a coup d’etat in Colombia, when they go out to protest, can be seen holding up Israeli flags.”
But it goes deeper. Mosquera details how the Israel-Palestine conflict has concerned Colombia for decades: “Back in the 80s the far-right paramilitary leader, Carlos Castaño, sought advice from Israel on how to push the ideology of displacement, how to take their land away, and how to train paramilitary armed forces. So, we want to teach the Colombian people that they should come out and support Palestine. If you support Petro’s domestic policies, you should support his foreign policies as well.”
President Petro has not just stopped all arms trading with Israel; he has also stopped exports of coal to Israel. Mosquera believes that the UK should follow suit and cut all ties.
“It’s nearly a year of genocide, so it’s about time we make concrete demands from the UK. Calling for a ceasefire is meaningless; even Netanyuhu calls for a ceasefire,” Mosquera said.
Mosquera thinks that “the outcome of the Palestinian struggle for liberation will be decisive to all struggles for emancipation around the world, today and tomorrow”.
“A victory for Palestine would be the most uplifting event for the oppressed in 100 years”.
Conversely, Mosquera says that an Israeli victory would be demoralising.
For all of the above reasons, Vive Colombia UK’s educational and cultural event has included the People Assembly Pro-Palestine in its programme. (The other informative talks will address the land reform, education and health projects of Gustavo Petro’s government.)
‘Olla comunitaria’
Vive Colombia UK is a community group inspired by the “ollas comunitarias” that came to the fore during the 2021 uprisings in Colombia. In working class districts, obtaining food became a challenge, so people banded together to set up communal kitchens. Soup would be boiled in big pots filled with whatever people had to give. “It’s powerful to have a cultural and social tradition where everybody brings their own little bit of food, or whatever, cooking everything together and sharing, you know, to fight the food scarcity we had in 2021. We are the ones organising the event, but we are inviting everybody in the community. Everyone is welcome,” Mosquera says.
Even though this is more about education than demonstration, more about digest than protest, Mosquera says that this event offers an opportunity to join a movement that is growing every day. “We feed on the fact that more and more people are coming to the protests in support of the Palestinian people”.
“There are new people who have never ever been in a protest before and that give us a lot of encouragement. We also see what’s happening in the UK with college students camping out and other actions for Palestine too, which encourages us. Things are changing and every day there are more of us”, he adds.
The event will take place at Burgess Park, where there has historically been a strong Latin American community. It starts at 2PM this Saturday and will go on till the early evening.
(Photos: Pixabay)
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