The
election carnival that came onto the agenda right in the middle of a deep
economic crisis and a refuelled war gives a headache to the ruling classes and
their masters in the White House.
A
High level of poverty and misery affecting 34 million out of a total population
of 43 million adds to the uneasiness of the people. The sweltering developments
in the political, military, economic and social arenas; recession-crisis plans
imposed by the IMF and other international financial circles which rule and drag
the country towards the ALCA (American Independent Trade Region), excessive
increase of public debts (about 53 per cent of the GDP) etc., all these make it
increasingly difficult for the oligarchy to rule, and have damaging effects on
the people and on national sovereignty.
We
are witnessing a new revival of the guerrilla movement against the state terror
intensified as a result of Pastrana's suspension of the dialogue with FARC in
February 2002 and the declaration of a "total war". Prior to this,
during the second half of 2001 the promises made to the ELN were not kept, and
EPL's proposals through comrade Francisco Caraballo were refused. This new revival of the guerrilla movement has taken place as
a result of this process.
These
factors have also motivated the political struggle of the masses to a great
extent. Political demands are increasingly being expressed both in the trade
union movement and the popular movement. The revival of the mass movement, which
began in late 1990s, is continuing and growing despite the genocide attempts
against the workers' and the popular movement, and despite the opportunities
provided to the bourgeoisie by the opportunist and social democrat bureaucrats
of the mass organisations.
In
this framework, as communists, we have decided to join our forces in action to
carry out a political campaign with other revolutionary and democratic forces.
The aims of this campaign are as follows:
Intensification
of the struggle against the attacks of the national and international capital;
building up forces to establish a National Constitutional Assembly defending the
interests of the people; establishing a democratic and popular government
through the existing popular struggle and leading this process into one that
would crush the bourgeoisie.
This
political campaign depends and relies on the strength and energy of the workers,
peasants, women, youth and the progressive intellectuals of Colombia. It also
draws strength from all those steps taken to turn the anti-imperialist unity
into something concrete in this part of the world. Here, we want to draw
particular attention to the importance of the Quito seminar called by the
International Conference of ML Parties and Organisations, the Sao Paulo forum,
and the anti-imperialist meeting organised by the Cuban government.
Large
sections of Colombian people keep a close eye on the class struggles developing
with a new momentum in the southern countries of the continent. They have great
sympathy towards the popular struggles in Ecuador and Argentina. They do not
share the joy of the Latin American bourgeoisie who supported the coup in
Venezuela, nor do they support the imperialist embargo on Cuba. They also
condemn the imperialist-Zionist aggression towards the Palestinian, Arab, Iraqi,
and Afghan peoples.
Fraudulent
elections under the shadow of the paramilitary forces
The
illegitimacy of the regime has become even clearer following the March 10
parliamentary elections which resulted in a failure for the parties of the
oligarchy despite the extensive fraud which was admitted officially, and despite
the fact that the opposition had no guarantees.
After
the colossal corruption cases involving the Senate, 75 per cent of its members
have been re-elected, 35 per cent of whom have admitted to have been involved in
paramilitary activities (and at the forthcoming presidential elections the
paramilitary candidate Alvaro Uribe Velez is expected to win).
All this proves the fact that the reactionary state is infected with
cancer.
The
degeneration of bourgeois parties and of the system has reached its peak.
Bourgeois party leaders claim to reform their democracy which is imbedded in
blood. To this end, there are people who even suggest that the senators resign
and the senate be renewed. In other words, the bourgeoisie have not come out of
these elections as renewed.
14
million people (60 per cent of the electorates) not going to the ballot box, and
2 million people using invalid votes show the extent of protest and rejection of
the existing system by the people. The election results in fact reflect people's
discontent and their resolve for struggle.
The
manoeuvres to get people forget the illegitimacy of the regime using the
"threat of boycott in the elections" did not work either. It was
thought out by the members of the government, bourgeois politicians and the army
in order to prove that "the people demonstrate their trust in the
institutions and their opposition to violence by going to elections in
mass". In reality there was no organisation calling for a
"boycott". However, it is a government policy to use terror at any
given opportunity. The terror atmosphere during the elections was part of the
"total war" launched by Pastrana. In the name of fight against armed
revolutionary groups, an attack has been launched against the people, against
all those who fight for revolution and democracy.
No
political surprise
The
capitalist crisis has manifested that a fascist and militarist political stance
is becoming stronger in the ranks of the oligarchy. This trend is being
confirmed by facts such as the lining up of the fragmented parties of the
oligarchy, the withdrawal of the conservative candidate in favour of Alvaro
Uribe in the name of "authority, law and order", etc. It was also a
requirement of this rightward trend that people like Horacio Serpa and Noemi
Sanin supported Pastrana who, having terminated the dialogues with FARC,
declared a total war.
Majority
of those who called themselves "independent" are social democrats and
friends of Horacio Serpa. They aim to gain a position, to deceive naïve people
and to gain privileges by favouring up with those who control the system.
It
is not surprising for anyone to see the presence in parliament of some of the
leftist elements that were not included in the 1998 re-assembly. They are an
expression of the aspirations of the popular movement. However, it is necessary
to mention that what really represents these aspirations is not those who are
elected to the Senate from the ranks of Political Social Front, but it is the
struggle for the unity of action and organisation of the working people and for
their urgent demands with a perspective of seizure of political power.
The
conclusion from this panorama is the fact that a large section of the people
will not vote for Uribe Velez, Serpa or Noemi. These individuals are the
defenders of the interest of capital and they are the ones who were part of the
former governments which have rooted neo-liberalism with all its bad
consequences in Colombia.
The
Political and Social Front
The
Political and Social Front (FSP) (1) represents the hope for a broad
anti-imperialist and democratic political movement becoming a concrete one. The
results of the parliamentary elections verify this situation. The oligarchy is
deliberately taking the results out of proportion. Pampering the leaders of the
FSP they express their desire for a formation which would not question their
system and which would play the role of a decoration for democracy.
The
expectations of a large number of FSP members are, on the other hand, to do with
overcoming parliamentarism, the roles of the individuals not being exaggerated,
putting an end to solving problems by personal contacts with high rank
individuals, and claiming the decisions of the Constitutional Congress of August
2001. A much broader rank and file people, on the other hand, expect the
development of real alternative political stances uniting the working people
against the Yankee imperialism, globalisation and neo-liberals attacks.
Despite
the existing majority in the leadership, there are people in the FSP who believe
that their work must be based on the rank and file, that the organisation must
be built in the fire of the struggle, that the FSP must become an entity
guarding the daily interests of the people and educating them with the
perspective of coming to power. Moreover, there is still a great amount of work
that it needs to carry out among the masses, as there is a large section of
working people out there who are not members of the organisation and who are not
participating in its political activities because either they do not know enough
about it or have no trust in it.
The
“Democratic Camp”
The
newly established "Democratic Camp"2 is a hopeless alliance set up for
the elections to support Lucho Garzon as a candidate for presidency. One should
not be mistaken by the name camp or bloc, or assume that this is a formation
with a clear programme with strategic aims. Its dominant ideology is social
democracy, and it aims to bring together those sections which are terrorised and
harmed by the attacks of capital, but which are not prepared for a harsh
struggle to improve their situations.
The
election platform of the Democratic Camp is a hurriedly set up one, which has no
aim whatsoever to educate the people, organise or mobilize them, or help build
strength to establish a democratic, patriotic and popular government. It does
not even have a plan to broaden the mass struggle. The demands for political
freedoms and national sovereignty are weak, lacking and even some are wrong.
They have a very wavering attitude towards issues such as work, salary, pay,
public service costs, etc. which is in harmony with the social state of the
composition of the "Camp".
The
majority of the elements of the "camp" consider themselves as the
centre, and with a typical social democrat attitude they show great care not to
startle imperialism and the bourgeois parties and to find common points to come
to conciliation. In other words, they have that attitude trying to conciliate on
main issues and raising their voices as much as they can on unimportant
secondary ones.
In
his party platform, Lucho Garzon states that he is for "a national
sovereignty that is limited and agreed upon".
In this way he shows that he does not oppose globalisation and quietly
supports the American Free Trade Region (ALCA). He is being stupid enough to
consider Plan Colombia not as a plan of the Yankee imperialism but as an
initiative that will work in favour of the rebels. Without saying anything
against the savage state terror, he calls for "an end to the war",
etc. The political reform that he proposes involves some cosmetic changes
without any reference to the constitution, blesses the "limited
democracy", and aims to criminalize the struggle of the working people.
Armed
war and peace
The
struggle for peace and social justice is of great political value and continues
to be the aspiration of the majority. However, they can have a different content
in accordance with the interests of the class, and at times can turn into
something that is unrelated to the one demanded by the people. This is the basis
for the proposal for a constitutional assembly that defends the interests of the
people and for a democratic, patriotic and popular government.
The
regime and the opportunist forces want the people to believe that social,
economic, political and armed conflict can be resolved by a new government and
by bureaucrats that consider themselves as "civic society". Their foremost aim is to isolate the rebel movement from the
masses and force it to surrender. They also want to turn popular masses into
mere spectators of the process of dialogue and agreement.
After
the announcement of total war, those who believed in bourgeois pacifism have
proposed to "surround the guerrilla with agreement offers" and force
them to disperse. However, the regime's opportunity to defend and implement the
reformist proposals has seriously weakened. This is the reason for the tactic of
holding over the social, political and economic demands of the ELN and gaining a
temporary ceasefire.
Regime's
attention has been concentrated on showing its capacity to defeat the guerrilla
on the war front (we leave this possibility to a side). For this reason,
military operations of the government and of paramilitary forces are being
exaggerated, while the financial and political effects of the rebel movement are
being overlooked. Guerrilla activities are being portrayed as terrorist actions,
militarily unsuccessful, while sabotage is being presented as part of the art of
war.
There
are open talks of some provocative activity plans, similar to that of fascism,
in order to dissolve the struggle of the people and their organisations, and to
diminish the prestige of the guerrilla. On
the other hand, contrary to government announcements, there is no regression or
slowing down of the guerrilla movement. They just need time and attention to get
ready for more effective and important activities.
At
large, the guerrilla movement has consolidated its strength when the dialogues
were in halt. The thesis has been verified that methods of struggle are not a
matter of negotiation, that different methods of struggle can be used to fulfil
social, economic and political demands for the people and the country. On the
other hand, there are examples of the fact that, even though there was a
dialogue, it is more effective if it was not limited between the government and
the guerrilla alone, but people are also given the opportunity to participate in
this process.
Footnotes:
(1)
FSP's roots go back to that united effort which organised the 1999 strikes. It
was set up in 2000 with the initiative of the CUT, the confederation of workers' unions, and this initiative was approved at the 5th
Congress of the CUT in Cartagena.
(2)
Democratic Camp is an election alliance that was set up following the March 2002
elections as a result of two politicians supporting Luis E. Garzon's candidacy
for presidency. One of them is Antonio Navarro Wolf
(One of the chiefs who dissolved the M-19 guerrilla group in 1990). His
list received 210 thousand votes, and was able to nominate two senators. The
other politician is Jaime Dussan who was the former leader of the teachers union
and one of the founders of the Colombian Social Democratic Workers Party. He was
re-elected as a senator with 90 thousand votes.
Communist
Party of Colombia (ML)