Labour, Capital and Society / Travail, capital et société

Some see Colombia as a perplexing anomaly when compared to the seeming leftward shift in electoral politics across Latin America. A claim could be made that Colombia is a demonstration of neoliberal efficiency accompanied by firm-fisted militarized security. Applause for Colombia have been heard from a variety of sources, be they the administration of Barak Obama or the International Labour Organization prompted by achievements in the economy, politics, and the civil war with a reduction in kidnappings and the killing of unionists, the cessation of conflict in certain areas, and the demobilization of a vast paramilitary network. Yet arbitrary disappearances, illegal searches, and harassments have dramatically increased. Furthermore, there is a shift to a more strategic targeting of labour leaders to deter organized labour activity. This special issue therefore seeks to unpack these issues by receiving papers that detail the continued labour, socioeconomic, political, and cultural aspects of this instability.

Colombia , home to the longest running civil war in the hemisphere, has the second highest number of internally displaced persons on the planet. It remains one of the most inequitable countries in Latin America and continues to be the poster-child for the international drug trade. Even more perplexing is how the state seems to garnish widespread political backing while en-raveled in numerous political crises: the bribing of government officials to enable the president to run for re-election; illegally wire-tapping sectors of the Catholic church, human rights organizations, judicial groups, organized labour, peace activists, and even the United Nations Human Rights Commission; the revelation of a ‘para-politica’ association between far-right paramilitary forces and over one hundred government and military leaders – including dozens of Uribe’s closest political partners, confidants, and family members; and a ‘false positive’ program that rewarded Colombian soldiers for murdering innocent civilians and subsequently dressing them as guerrillas so as to present a manufactured sense of national security.

This special issue of Labour, Capital and Society seeks to address the continuity and potential expansion of explosive issues facing Colombia that are otherwise not discussed, examined, or published in detail. This may include but is not limited to those topics above, the politics of agro-fuels and their consequence; the role former and still existing paramilitary forces play on labour; the problems facing campesinos leading them to choose the risk-filled productive activity of coca cultivation; current issues facing the urban political economy and workers; the effect another Uribe administration will have on socioeconomic and political and cultural life; the impact ‘democratic security’ has had on labour; and others.

Papers can present either empirical findings in an academic vein; or recount the experiences of workers or communities dealing with resource industries from an activist perspective; or engage in reflections on actions and alliances.
 
Timeline:
Proposal due April 1st, 2010.
Articles due August 1st, 2010.

Numéro thématique : La Colombie – La lutte continue