From silence to outburst: Indigenous communities and social protest in Colombia

Abstract

This article analyzes from a decolonial perspective two events that occurred in the framework of the National Strike of the year 2021 in Colombia: the demolition of the statue of the Founder of the city of Cali, Sebastian de Belalcazar, by members of the Misak indigenous people, and the attack carried out against the indigenous Minga in this same city. Methodologically, twenty documents were analyzed, including press articles, communiqués, reports by non-governmental organizations related to these events and information obtained in autobiographical form by the authors. It is concluded that the events analyzed show situations of stigmatization, discrimination and violence, based on a colonial logic that underpins the power structure of the Colombian State. It recognizes the social impact of the actions analyzed, by questioning the official version of history, proposing alternative ways of organizing and occupying public space and claiming their right to dignity and recognition as a people. It highlights the articulation between the indigenous struggle and popular movements, especially of the impoverished sectors of the big cities that share a colonial history and of armed conflict, traversed by logics of racial, capitalist and patriarchal oppression. For the analysis of the facts mentioned, it is assumed the decolonial perspective derived from the approaches of the so-called Latin American group modernity/coloniality.