Edited by José Girón Sierra
Parther of the Instituto Popular de Capacitacion (IPC)
Peace analyst of the Observatorio de Derechos Humanos of the IPC
Peace is probably the ultimate political theme, possibly the most political one. The reasoning is barely obvious: it is one of the most encompassing topics in which the best interests of a society should lie. Peace also harbors the most favorable political and social conditions so that constructive projects, from individual and collective projects to public and private ones, find the best conditions for their accomplishment. Peace is not then the white dove that is portrayed; peace is contaminated in the best sense of the word by politics.
In peace, interests are clearly expressed, especially models of society that are based on words as a vehicle. Others will occupy themselves with war; it is the other model, in which different interests in society are settled. The main difference being that in this case, destruction and deadly forces are unleashed and words are sacrificed. Without a doubt the country is currently at this crossroad and facing the dilemma of which direction to take.
In the last two weeks, the press has given unusual emphasis to the twitter based confrontation between ex-presidents Uribe and Pastrana, and the government of the president Santos. The topic is the current peace process. What are amazing are the poor quality of the arguments, the desire for prominence, and the appearance of a struggle of personalities and vanities in which it is impossible to hide personal antagonism. The idea that behind this bland, immoral and grotesque debate lies the protection of an authoritarian model of society threatened by the possibility of another one considering a democratic option cannot be ruled out.
Uribe flies the transparency flag when he was the driving force of one of the most obscure negotiation processes that the Colombian society has witnessed, such as that carried out with the paramilitary groups. Pastrana, on the other hand, calls on political neutrality in the current process when his coming to power was marked by the publication of his contacts with the FARC. Arguments of this kind indicate the debate is also immoral.
