2. Sharayah McDonald- Free Choice Response 2

I attended Dr. Shauna Gillooly’s presentation entitled, “The Nexus of Political and Environmental Conflict in Colombia”, as I am an environmental studies major and also interested in politics. Dr. Gillooly is a postdoctoral researcher at the Teaching, Research, and International Policy Project at the Global Research Institute at William and Mary. She conducts fieldwork in Colombia as well as PhD research, and she studies the intersection of political and environmental violence. Dr. Gillooly began the presentation by first explaining the political history and situation in Colombia to give the context for the environmental violence. She related the civil-war like divide between the leftists and right-wing groups, and how they developed into paramilitary groups and guerilla war groups. She explained how Uraba in Colombia became one of the most dangerous places in the country, and that the laws do not protect citizens there. Furthermore, because the area is predominantly black, it became an experimenting ground for extreme militarization. Due to all of these things, the citizens in Uraba are subjected to horrible conditions, including environmental ones such as lack of clean drinking water and destruction of forests, beaches, and personal property. Furthermore, companies such as banana corporations provide most of the infrastructure in this area, not the government. Dr. Gillooly went into much more intricate detail about all of these political systems. 

    This event was extremely informative, regarding the political history of Colombia, as well as the present day crisis. Dr. Gillooly began by explaining the mass conflict starting in 1948 due to political differences, and how about 300,000 people were killed. I feel as though many Americans will claim that our country is the most divided politically, however this situation puts everything into perspective. In Colombia, right-wing paramilitary groups developed as well as left-wing guerrilla groups, and both committed horrible human rights crimes. Many different solutions were enacted to try and create peace between the two groups, such as The National Front, which was a power sharing agreement between liberals and conservatives, in which there would be one president from each party every four years, and it would flip-flop after every term. However, the lack of opportunity for other political parties to participate in politics led to the rise of leftist guerilla groups in the early 1960s. The government has and still is trying things like peace zones: giving up parts of national territory to certain groups so they will stop fighting over it. This has not worked, even though nearly every president has tried it. Situations such as this make me thankful to live in a country in which the citizens are at least protected by the government. The right-wing group occupied Uraba, which is an 80% African community. There is also a long history against colonization, as there have been many attempts to exploit and conquer the Darian gap in Uraba. It is rich in flora and fauna but is one of the most dangerous places. There are massacres against civilians, joint exercises between Colombian military and right-wing paramilitary groups, and forced disappearances of non-combatants. Through all of this, Uraba is a site of struggle and resistance. Citizens utilize music and art as a form of resistance, which is incredibly inspiring. African musical traditions are mixed with Colombian musical traditions, showcasing how two different groups can find and make commonalities to enjoy together. Furthermore, there is an environmental group of people who are volunteering their time to make sure that people who are drilling for oil off of the coast are following the rules, as these companies do not often communicate or get permission to drill, and the citizens have to just suffer through it. Communities in Uraba are frontline communities and have been for a very long time, which means they experience the first and worst effects of climate change. They are often lower income, people of color who are subjected to poor drinking water conditions and disease, as well as no protection from the government. There have been times when the US government attached human rights conditions on the military packages they give Colombia, but this only worked to an extent. I wish there was more we could do to help the citizens of Uraba, as well as the violent situation in general. I definitely expected this presentation to detail critical events such as these, but it is still heartbreaking nonetheless. Dr. Gillooly finished her presentation with a personal story about one of her friends. Her friend’s family had their land stolen from them by paramilitaries, and they shot her father in front of the entire family. Then, they burned the land and forest around it to turn it into a ranch. It is now 30 years later, and her family went through the legal systems and reparations to get the land back and turn it into a nature preserve. Her family is constantly under threat for doing this, and the law does not protect them. However, they were able to take something tragic and destructive and turn it into something beautiful for the greater good of their community. That is the biggest thing I am taking away from this event: even when you are put through terrible suffering like this family, you can still find a way to turn the bad into something positive and selfless for others.