Cali. In Colombia there have been major protests against the government of President Iván Duque since the end of April. It started with a general strike on April 28th. This was directed against a tax reform that would tax the incomes of the middle and lower classes more heavily, while large companies and banks would continue to enjoy tax exemptions and government subsidies. After the mass demonstrations across the country, the government withdrew the reform. But the protests have become even stronger and more diverse. Do they have the potential to initiate a political upheaval? At the same time, the state’s response is becoming increasingly violent. In mid-May there are more than 40 deaths from police violence, over 550 people are missing.
We talked to Ani Dießelmann in Cali, Colombia, about the demands and perspectives of the protests and the reaction of the state. She has lived there since 2013 and reports from and about Colombia for amerika21, among others. She has been a member of the amerika21 editorial team since 2015.
Ani Dießelmann has a doctorate in linguistics and philosopher and escaped the academic ivory tower – as she says – through her work as a journalist and human rights monitor in Colombia. Through her work in the Colombian NGO Redher (Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia), she also knows the political situation from the perspective of social movements. As part of a post-doc, she is doing research at the public Universidad del Valle in Cali on the demobilization of the Farc-EP guerrillas, on political communication by the government and image campaigns by the military.
–
– .
