[Marxism] Impressions of May Day, 2008 in Bogotá

[Anthony Boynton]

Impressions of May Day, 2008 in Bogotá



Today I went to the May Day demonstration in the Plaza Bolivar here in
Bogotá. It's the first time in many years that I have attended one of these
events.

Two march routes, each around thirty blocks long, fed the main demonstration
at the Plaza Bolivar. The demo was pretty interesting, because it showed one
more sign of the revival of the non-guerrila left in Colombia – despite the
almost continuous bloody repression of the last six decades in this country.

First, a detour into history.The plaza is sort of a living symbol of
Colombian political reality.

On the southern side, in front of which was the sound stage for this demo,
is the Capitol. It houses Colombia's Congress, 25% or more of whose members
are in jail, fugitives, or under investigation for ties to the paramilitary
organizations here.

 On the western side is the Alcadia, city hall – currently occupied by
Alcade Samuel Moreno a leader of the Polo Democratico Alternativo and
grandson of military dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. The Polo has controlled
city hall for 5 years now.

On the northern side of the Plaza stands the Palace of Justice, home of the
Supreme Court. Currently the Supreme Court and President Alvaro Uribe Velez
are locked in a battle that could turn into a Constitutional crisis, one of
several potential constitutional crises here. The building itself is the
third Palace of Justice.

 The first was destroyed by a fire during the Bogotazo in 1948. The Bogotazo
was the uprising that shook Colombia's capitol city following the
assasination of Liberal Party Presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitain,
and opened the gates for "La Violencia" the nearly two decades of very
violent political warfare between Liberals and Conservatives which led,
among other things, to the formation of the modern FARC, and to the modern
paramilitaries.

 The second Palacio de Justicia was destroyed by the Colombian army after it
had been occupied by armed guerrillas of M-19. M-19 was the guerrilla
movement descended from the political party of Rojas Pinilla. M-19 later
made a peace deal with the government – the deal that forms the basis of the
current constitution of Colombia. The political descendants of M-19 make up
one of the most important currents within the Polo Democratico Alternativo.

 And on the Eastern side of the Plaza sits the Cathedral. The Catholic
Church is the gray eminence of Colombian politics, gray because its black
robes are fading, but black and white and red all over – not like the
newspaper or the nun in the blender, but like the paramilitary butchers the
church has sponsored and protected since Spain arrived here in the Andes.
This is the bulwark of all that is reactionary in Colombia, and it has its
tentacles everywhere.  It is fading, and faded, but hardly out of action.

 The sponsors of the event were the Polo Democratico Alternativo and the
three trade union federations: CUT, CGT, and CCT .  Their banners hung from
the Capitol and the city hall.

 The marches began sometime around ten, and soon contingents began to fill
the Plaza. it is pretty hard to estimate how many people participated
because as the plaz filled, many people left. They marched, and left.
Between 11:00 and 1:00 there must have been a steady 10,000 people in the
plaza, but maybe twice that number had arrived in the plaza. By 1:00 more
contingents were still arriving.

 Orgaizations of the displaced, survivors of the massacre of the Union
Patriotica, and  the Polo probably had the largest contingents. Many, many
union contingents marched, but none appeared to be very large, or lively.

 The most impressive contingents were those of university and high school
students – mostly hooded and wearing black – Rude Boys, Anarchists, Bloque
Obrero, and the Anti-imperialists, each of these contingents had between 50
and a few hundred members. The anti-imperialist contingent came into
conflict with the police sometime after one PM. More on theat later.

 The communist left was present in force, with many different groups with
Red banners, Maoists, Trotskyists, traditonal CP, and many others with red
banners with hammers and sickles but no clear organizational affiliation.

 The interesting thing about these contingents was that, as far as I could
see they were led by "veterans" – older people in their 50's or 60's – but
full of young people between maybe 15 and 20, the same ages as the ranks of
the Rude Boys, Bloque Obrero, and Anti-imperialists.

 The dominant politics of the speeches and banners were calls for the
resignation of Uribe, and the Congress. Many banners called for a
Constitutent Assembly. this is now the central slogan of the Polo, and is
supported by many – but perhaps not all – of the organizations participating
in the demo.

 We left shortly after one to have lunch. The Plaza is located on the
western fringe of the neighborhood called Candelaria. This is the old
colonial neighborhood of the city, which is also the center of many of the
city's main museums and theaters, and is the most bohemian of the city's
neighborhoods. It is a place where you can find lots of restaurants, most of
them affordable.

 As we were leaving the confrontation between the police and the
"Anti-imperialists" had begun. The police here use anti-crowd tanks with
tear gas mortars and water cannon, the more confrontational demonstrators
here throw explosive potatoes at the police. These are filled with broken
glass, nails, etc. So we decided we should walk a few blocks further away
before finding a place to eat, just in case.

 We found a little restaurant near the Botero Museum – pretty cheap prices,
7,000 pesos for lunch – and went in. Just as soup was served people started
running by the restaurant. Then there was a boom, and tear gas started to
come in the front door. There were a few European tourists who spoke very
little Spanish who tried to leave the restaurant. We advised them not to.

After the tear gas cleared we finished our lunch. The tourists left. We
decided not to go back to the demo.

Now I hav a collection of the various little left newsappers that are hard
to find here – weekly and monthly Maoist, Trotksyist, anarcho- whatever, and
other papers and a pile of leaflets.

 The thing is, the non-guerrilla left here is alive, and growing. It is
centered in the Polo, but is much more than that.

 Anthony