One battle over...
Sleep has been a rare privilege over the past four days and tensions have run high but the worst has been avoided.
Last night the President announced that National Government would assume jurisdiction over the CAM Tower occupation situation thereby superseding the local and regional authority of the Mayor and Governor. This was effectively a coup dÂ'etat on a local level given that it involved the subordination of the civil and political authorities and the police by military authority of the army, albeit under national control. This constitutional violation sanctioned by the President served as an external intervention in the negotiations between the Union, Mayor and Governor to pressurise the regional authorities and reiterate with cold clarity the threat of forced eviction by the armed forces.
Forced eviction takes place in three stages, the first of which being ÂisolationÂ. On arrival this morning I found the CAM Tower cordoned off with a 300 metre radius and heavily guarded by military police and ESMAD officers. At five oÂclock this morning the first stage of eviction had been implemented. Police violently removed supporters from the vigil outside the tower to further up the road where they were almost out of view for those inside. This is a new tactic in the history of the CAM tower occupations and is indicative of UribeÂs hard line policy on social protest and contempt for EMCALI.
Despite yesterday's hopes as people gathered last night outside the Tower numbers today were low in comparison with previous occupations. As such the jog of negotiators inside the permanent assembly was ever more difficult. The displacement of the vigil was demoralising both for supporters and workers inside but the people stood strong. Today was riddled with uncertainty. We waited and waited under the heavy burden of the imminent threat of military force as the negations pushed on inside the tower.
As the sun began to disappear an announcement was made that an agreement had been reached and that the workers inside were coming down. People assembled en mass at the road block where the buses would exit with the workers from the tower while some 200 ESMAD officers filed out of their buses to confront them. Ive never seen so many riot police in my life but it was more of a show of strength and tactically pointless in vbeiw of the fact that the supporters were hardly likely to attack the buses full of workers they had turned out to support. As the ten buses exited the awaiting crowd cheered support and piled onboard so as to protect the occupants from police stops further on (by mixing theselve amongst those who had been in the tower).
The agreement is more of a short term pacifier to facilitate further negotiations with a commitment to reviewing the GovernmentÂs recent restructuring proposal (which the occupation was in response to) and a continuing dialogue including public consultation regarding its implications. ItÂs not a full victory for either side and accordingly can be viewed as victory for both. On the part of the Government the CAM Tower is no longer occupied by the workers so victory could be claimed, but before the occupation occurred eviction was (obviously) not the GovernmentÂs goal so the victory is a shallow one. On the part of workers the issues surrounding the new proposal and its implications have been brought to the fore, negotiations opened and the people mobilized.
This is by no means the end, the threat of privatisation, increased tariffs, and removal of subsidies to impoverished sectors remains very real. What has been achieved is to show that inspite of his dogmatic stance and unremitting anti democratic tactics that the people are still ready to resist the President´s onslaught and present viable alternatives. Something that defined this battle from the last was the lack of build up, that few knew the implications of a rapidly imposed proposal with sufficient time for word to spread. Times change and effective methods one year, with one government, do not necessarily work in same way with the next. There remains much work to be done and this was the first step in a new process rather than the last in an established one as perhaps with the 2002 occupation.
Uribes determination, manifest in the real threat of the use of force, denial of food, water, and medical supplies, subordinance of local authorities and unwillingness to negotiate with the union during the Permanent Assembly demonstrate not only his lack of regard for constitutional human rights but also the crucial importance of the debilitation of SINTRAEMCALI in his vision of the Nation. He is all too aware of what it symbolises for the social justice movement both nationally and internationally. Unfortunately for the President, so are the people and the occupation has shown that they are willing to fight to protect it.
Last night the President announced that National Government would assume jurisdiction over the CAM Tower occupation situation thereby superseding the local and regional authority of the Mayor and Governor. This was effectively a coup dÂ'etat on a local level given that it involved the subordination of the civil and political authorities and the police by military authority of the army, albeit under national control. This constitutional violation sanctioned by the President served as an external intervention in the negotiations between the Union, Mayor and Governor to pressurise the regional authorities and reiterate with cold clarity the threat of forced eviction by the armed forces.
Forced eviction takes place in three stages, the first of which being ÂisolationÂ. On arrival this morning I found the CAM Tower cordoned off with a 300 metre radius and heavily guarded by military police and ESMAD officers. At five oÂclock this morning the first stage of eviction had been implemented. Police violently removed supporters from the vigil outside the tower to further up the road where they were almost out of view for those inside. This is a new tactic in the history of the CAM tower occupations and is indicative of UribeÂs hard line policy on social protest and contempt for EMCALI.
Despite yesterday's hopes as people gathered last night outside the Tower numbers today were low in comparison with previous occupations. As such the jog of negotiators inside the permanent assembly was ever more difficult. The displacement of the vigil was demoralising both for supporters and workers inside but the people stood strong. Today was riddled with uncertainty. We waited and waited under the heavy burden of the imminent threat of military force as the negations pushed on inside the tower.
As the sun began to disappear an announcement was made that an agreement had been reached and that the workers inside were coming down. People assembled en mass at the road block where the buses would exit with the workers from the tower while some 200 ESMAD officers filed out of their buses to confront them. Ive never seen so many riot police in my life but it was more of a show of strength and tactically pointless in vbeiw of the fact that the supporters were hardly likely to attack the buses full of workers they had turned out to support. As the ten buses exited the awaiting crowd cheered support and piled onboard so as to protect the occupants from police stops further on (by mixing theselve amongst those who had been in the tower).
The agreement is more of a short term pacifier to facilitate further negotiations with a commitment to reviewing the GovernmentÂs recent restructuring proposal (which the occupation was in response to) and a continuing dialogue including public consultation regarding its implications. ItÂs not a full victory for either side and accordingly can be viewed as victory for both. On the part of the Government the CAM Tower is no longer occupied by the workers so victory could be claimed, but before the occupation occurred eviction was (obviously) not the GovernmentÂs goal so the victory is a shallow one. On the part of workers the issues surrounding the new proposal and its implications have been brought to the fore, negotiations opened and the people mobilized.
This is by no means the end, the threat of privatisation, increased tariffs, and removal of subsidies to impoverished sectors remains very real. What has been achieved is to show that inspite of his dogmatic stance and unremitting anti democratic tactics that the people are still ready to resist the President´s onslaught and present viable alternatives. Something that defined this battle from the last was the lack of build up, that few knew the implications of a rapidly imposed proposal with sufficient time for word to spread. Times change and effective methods one year, with one government, do not necessarily work in same way with the next. There remains much work to be done and this was the first step in a new process rather than the last in an established one as perhaps with the 2002 occupation.
Uribes determination, manifest in the real threat of the use of force, denial of food, water, and medical supplies, subordinance of local authorities and unwillingness to negotiate with the union during the Permanent Assembly demonstrate not only his lack of regard for constitutional human rights but also the crucial importance of the debilitation of SINTRAEMCALI in his vision of the Nation. He is all too aware of what it symbolises for the social justice movement both nationally and internationally. Unfortunately for the President, so are the people and the occupation has shown that they are willing to fight to protect it.
