Teaching Peace In A Time Of War

Adults are responsible for giving guns to children. They even train them in how to use them. So we began saying that we wouldn’t accept the presence of weapons in school. 

How many children were killed in your first year at school? 

Just at the school, two, but in the area around the school, many more. The whole reason for carrying the guns was to use them. In the early 1990s, even teachers were being killed by students who weren’t allowed to graduate. 

Were the children afraid of what would happen to them if they began leaving their guns at home or outside of school? 

Yes, they were afraid to admit that they were carrying guns. They were also afraid about what would happen outside. We realized that the situation was even more serious in the schools around us. We began discovering what the guns were being used for. 

One boy told us he had a gun to use at night to kill people pointed out by the drug dealers. After confessing what he was doing, he was found assassinated in a nearby barrio. 

One day some of the principals were talking about what to do about the kids who were arriving late. We found they were using drugs outside of school time and making connections in the school. That’s when we began to see that there were other actors involved. Investigating in the barrio, we discovered that organizations of drug dealers, guerrillas, and common criminals were all involved. Paramilitaries, too. 

How did the adults who were responsible react to this? 

They felt that this was none of the schools’ business, that it was their problem. Given the seriousness of the situation, we organized forums in the community called Agreeing to Live Together and tried to talk with the adults who were training the children. 

We had meetings with the heads of the different organizations about living together and about non-aggression. They would come to these meeting with hoods over their heads, so their identity would be hidden. 

At first, they tried to close their eyes to the problem, but after a while they got used to having to talk about it. We also realized that to make schools a zone of peace, we would have to present some alternative to arms and drugs for young people. All over the state we got the government to build playing fields for sports, so young people would have something else to do. We built cultural centers. 

The discussion about the violence became much broader than just the schools, to encompass the whole society. We told the women, “You’re the mothers of the children who are killing other children. We have to talk about this.” The discussion went on in the whole community. We were able to stop the war in our schools for two years. 

What is the situation in your school now? 

We no longer have children carrying guns. They are much calmer. Using the Peace Curriculum, the students speak about the benefits of understanding each other, and talking through disagreements. As a result, our school is a place to study and learn, for knowledge and investigation, not for conflict. Our parents now defend our school and try to get the government to give us the resources we need. We have agreements about appropriate behavior and sometimes parents accompany their children to class. They’re very concerned now about the quality of instruction. 

Is the escalation of the war having an impact on Medellin? 

This year the situation became very dangerous again, because the paramilitaries entered our city. They took over a big section of Medellin, in zones where we had been working. It’s much more difficult to have a dialogue with the paramilitaries. They’re organized and financed by the army. It’s a way for the government to intervene directly in our communities. 

Some schools have had to close for two or three months at a time, because the fights between the gangs have become much sharper. This causes the problem to spread, because the students who are displaced then go to other schools to finish their studies. Our classrooms are too small to accept them all. In some schools, there are 60 to 65 students in a single classroom. These schools then become the ones where the violence is the worst. The paramilitaries even stop public buses from entering those barrios, so the children no longer have a way of getting to school. 

Have you been able to get the cooperation of the government in controlling the paramilitaries? 

No, we haven’t been able to get the paramilitaries to have the same kind of dialogue with us. Other groups have respected the education process. But not the para- militaries. 

Is that because they look at teachers and unions as an enemy? 

To them, we are a military target. They accuse teachers of fighting against the government’s education reform law. When we try to organize parents to oppose it, they accuse us of being insurgents. 

We know the government is behind them. When workers began fighting the law that substituted individual negotiations for collective bargaining, many workers were killed. When they try to take over bankrupt businesses that still owe them back wages, the owners send paramilitaries to kill the workers. That’s called insurgency by the paramilitaries. 

How have teachers tried to assert their political rights, given that level of repression, and how has the government responded? 

In 1992 we participated in formulating Colombia’s basic education law. Teachers wrote some of the articles, which were incorporated into the Constitution, and established that education was a responsibility of the state, the family, and the whole of society. We broadened the concept of education to include defending the environment, preserving life, and the right to use technology. We looked at education as a process that goes on from birth to death. 

Preschool teachers helped draw up the law that covers that part of education. Teachers in technology or in academic subjects helped to decide what should be covered in those areas. We all contributed our experiences. The most important part of the law was Section 60, which mandated a special budget for education consisting of 60 percent of the net national budget. 

In May 2001 the Interior Ministry, at the command of the International Monetary Fund, decided to break the teachers movement and reform the education law by getting rid of the special budget. They substituted a system in which education became the responsibility of different states, without providing them any resources. Today we have no guarantee of funds for education. 

The reforms the government proposes are all coming from the International Monetary Fund. They want to privatize social services, making individuals responsible for their own education and health care, although people have no jobs and often not even enough money for food. The government wants to make it easier for foreign companies to exploit our natural resources and labor. 

Do you think peace is possible? 

This is a very critical moment, in which the war is flaring up again. But the people who are demanding peace are growing stronger. We are all working for peace. We have a strong civil society, which is very organized. We believe that we can each begin with ourselves. But there must be international intervention that demands the will to make peace. 

What is it like to be a trade union leader in Colombia? We know that over 150 union leaders there are murdered every year. 

Being a trade unionist is very dangerous in Colombia. We’re called terrorists, because we fight for better conditions, for collective bargaining, and because we oppose the restructuring of laws governing education, labor rights and so on. All these actions make us military targets. 

Many political points of view are represented in our federation, including the traditional parties, as well as parties which may sympathize with the insurgency. We are constantly struggling against increased prices for basic services, denouncing the exploitation of our natural resources and the revenues from that leaving the country, and fighting to keep the right to collective bargaining. 

Do unions see a way out? 

The CUT has proposed a number of steps towards peace. We want to include all social movements in this process—workers, women, youth, community leaders, and others. All should be able to express their needs, and propose their own agendas. 

We declare internationally that no one represents us—not the guerrillas or any other force. We are joining a large section of the population that is rejecting violence. We want the negotiations between the government and the guerrillas to begin again and civil society needs to be included. We need a cease fire. 

The U.S. Congress voted $1.7 billion for the Colombian military 2 years ago, under Plan Colombia, supposedly to fight drugs. What do you think of this policy? 

Plan Colombia is a time bomb. They fumigate the illegal crops, but they’re ruining the land and involving communities that have nothing to do with the drug war. The war has left a path of destruction, wreaking havoc in the areas of the oil pipelines, destroying many small towns. We need to build infrastructure in the country, reactivate our national economy and agriculture, and give people a way to make a living and stay on their land. 

The money for the military is really going to support the arms trade, instead of supporting Colombians. Instead of investing in war, we need to invest in peace. Z 

David Bacon is a freelance writer and photographer.