National Strike in Colombia: Spiral of Nonviolent Civil Resistance, Mass Media and Mechanisms of Impunity

Abstract

From April 28 to the end of July, Colombia underwent a national mobilization that involved all social sectors. This article argues why, rather than an outbreak, this three-month period of civil resistance may be characterized as a social uprising. In addition, the different forms and logics of action identified through interviews with social actors involved in the strike, carried out within the framework of the International Observation Mission for the Guarantees of Social Protest and against Impunity in Colombia (SOS Mission) are analyzed. The article also proposes a conceptualization of both a spiral of violence and a spiral of nonviolence. In this sense, the authors, who were commissioned by the SOS Mission, describe the adversary’s response, reviewing its main findings and, more specifically, the impunity and role of mass media during the protests, as well as question: what’s next? The authors expect that these reflections are useful in preventing the spiral of violence from reversing the efforts of social transformation of those who have decided to fight in Colombia.