Important Dates
Conversation: "La Primera Línea: An Emerging Social Movement in Colombia"
2021-10-25 19:00 to 21:00
S 21, GEO II, Bayreuth University
Speaker: Dr. Rigoberto Banguero Velasco (University of Valle)
Convener/translator: Valerie Gruber (University of Bayreuth)
Discussant: Diana Mignano (University of Bayreuth)
Artistic video performance: Carolina Beleño & Matchume Zango
Photo: Primera línea: ESCUDOS HUMANOS de resistencia en el paro - Testigo Directo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEor5nIeysg
The resistance movement La Primera Línea (The Frontline) emerged in Colombia amidst nationwide social protests and violent repression in the past months. Its demand for the political class to take the concerns of all citizens into account transcends the street protests and is signifi cantly propelled by young people. It is linked to the political organization El Pacto Histórico por Colombia (The Historical Pact for Colombia) which brings together center-left groups fi ghting for communities excluded by the Colombian state and the financial sector. By presenting recent audiovisual and artistic productions, we will discuss the historical development as well as the socio-political causes and effects of the emerging movement La Primera Línea. We will focus on three aspects: the unpopularity of the president due to fi scal, health and educational reforms; the indifference of the state in the face of the homicides against social leaders; and the laxity in the negotiation of the peace agreements with subversive groups. This will trigger a dialogue on new social and political protest movements in Colombia and beyond.
Dr. Rigoberto Banguero Velasco, born in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao in the Colombian Department of Cauca, is member of the research group “Colombian Narratives” of the University of Valle, ranked in category A by Colciencias (Colombian Department of Science, Technology and Innovation). He teaches Humanities in the postgraduate programme of the University of Valle and the University of Santiago de Cali. He holds a PhD in Humanities and a Magister degree in Popular Education and Community Development, both from the University of Valle, and graduated in Social Sciences at the University of Santiago de Cali. He is author of different publications on the territorialities, memories and ancestral practices of black communities in Northern Cauca, and has vast experience in Participatory Action Research and Oral History. Among his recent book publications are: Derecho indígena en Colombia (Cali: Poemia, 2021, with Elizabeth Correa Vidal), Historicidad y culturalidad afro en el norte del Cauca (Cali: Poemia, 2020), and Territorialidad en los Reales de Minas en el norte del Cauca, 1851-1930 (Cali: Programa Editorial Univalle, 2018).