[Marxism] CNN says "millions marched" marched against FARC.

[Anthony Boynton]

I think the CNN story is accurate as far as it goes. I
posted a note about this demo before it happened, but
haven't gotten around to commenting on it since it
happened.

I watched the TV coverage of the demonstrations for
about an hour in the middle of the day. The
demonstrations in Bogotá were mostly huge. In the
center of the city the main drag, Carrera Septima was
full for at least 20 blocks with people who could not
get into the main demonstration point at the Plaza
Bolivar which is the poltical center of the city where
the national government's offices are, and where the
city hall is.

The same thing was true for many blocks around the
intersection of Calle 72 and Carrera 7 which is the
financial center and the second demonstration point.

I could not judge very well how big the crow was at
Calle 127, but it filled the very large parking lot of
Unicentro, the largest mall in the city. 

The two cemonstration points in working class and poor
neighborhoods of the city, Tintal and Suba, were not
packed. RCN, one of the main TV and radio network
estimated 10,000 at Tintal, while only the Plaza in
Suba was filled (I guess less than 10,000 people). 

Demonstrations in all the major cities of Colombia
that I saw on TV: Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla and
Bucuramanga were massive, although I don't have any
bodies counts. I did not see the demonstrations in
other large cities, but have no reason to think they
were different. There wree also demonstrations in
small towns. 

I think it is accurate to say that the very large
majority of the petty bourgeoisie and petty bourgeois
workers were mobilized against the FARC on Monday. 

Most troubling to me is the fact that this included
the Polo Democratic Alternativo. Although they had
siad they were demonstrating separately before the
main demonstration, their banners, marchers,a nd some
of their political leaders continued on when the main
demonstration started. The effect on television was
that the Polo had participated in the main demo. They
had done nothing to publicly disspell this impression
the last time I looked at their website.

The CNN report is not complete, and what they left out
is important.

Although the idea for the demonstration was first
floated through a Facebook group in response to the
grim pictures and letters of and from FARC hostages
which were released during the process mediated by
Hugo Chavez, this was by no means a spontaneous
outburst by the Colombian masses.

The Uribistas, including all the legal Uribista
Parties, all the news media of Colombia, and the
websites of illegal Uribista organizations like that
of Salvatore Mancuso head of hte AUC (paramilitaries),
jumped enthusiastically on the band wagon and poured
money, resources, publicity and time into building the
demonstration.

The internet campaign here was enourmours, with
messages from businesses, the Chamber of Commerce,
members of Congress, etc. alongside the messages of
the sincere rank and file Uribistas.

Every day for more than a week before the march all of
the major newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations
prmooted and built the marches.

On the day of the demonstrations most schools closed
at 11:00 AM so students could go to the marches. Many
private schools sent the whole student body and the
teachers. Businesses and government offices gave
workers an extra hour off for lunch, or even the whole
afternoon to encourage people to go to the march.

Nevertheless, the size of the march, and the
enthusiasm of the marchers was not the product solely,
of the efforts of the biggest capitalists in the
country. 

Uribe is genuinely popular among the middle class
here, and among them the FARC is almost universally
hated. The poor and working class in this country are
mostly demobilized, but there is very little evidence
of any sympathy for the FARC anywhere, not even
graffitti.

This is not new, but the images of Ingrid Betancourt,
and the other FARC hostages which the government of
Colombia captured from FARC corriers, and which have
been repeatedly shown on TV and printed in newspapers
and magazines, has raised the level of enmity towards
the FARC.

After the demonstrations Monday for the first time I
heard Colombians talking about having a war with
Venezuela. Chavez's more provocative statements, such
as Venezuela does not have a border with Colombia in
some places, but rather with the FARC, have been
played over and over in the media. 

Many banners in the demnstration equated Chavez with
the FARC, and many others equated Senator Piedad
Cordoba (The Colombian mediator who helped Chavez gain
the release of Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez.)

Cordoba's life is now being threatened, as is the life
of Cesar Gaviria the leader of the Polo.

The Colombian military has threatened to encircle FARC
camps where hostages are being held, and may have
already done so. An offesnive against the FARC is
being waged along the Venezuelan border as well.

And in the midst of all this, Uribe is telling his
supporters that he does not want a third term as
President.

What does it all mean?

It may mean that Uribe thinks he can militarily defeat
the FARC before his term ends in 2010. What defeating
the FARC is commonly understood as here is capturing
and/or killing its main leaders.

More later, Anthony




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