Today we met with a group of young people from all different sectors of barrancabermeja who are organizing against the war and violence here in colombia. We cant even tell you how amazing they are. They use dance, music, and art in public action as a means of political resistance. The youth have been travelling around by foot to barranca and to other communities of displaced people in colombia to bring life, peace, and joy back to places that have been affected by the violence. These young people hope to get 25,000 youth out of the armed conflict and there are many conscientous objectors working in this group at counter recruitment as well. They especially want to show adults that there is an alternative to violence and that peace and a life of dignity are possible. You can read more about their story at cpt.org in the archives under the article titled Stripping War Bare with Art and Culture posted July 28. They danced for us, some traditional dances and some break dancing and even got us up on our feet with some amazing drum beats. Their energy and passion were incredible. You could but sit in awe of these young people and what they were doing to build a better world for themselves and for their community. We closed the event with a sacralizing or sacramentalizing of the time and space we had shared together. Holding hands we created a human mural of diveristy while shouted out various words and proceeded with a physical response. When we said positive words like union, acceptance, peace and life, we raised our hands to show that those are the sorts of things that should define our community. With negative words like war, violence, and oppression, we lowered our hands and bent forward, signifying that those things had no place in our community. May more young leaders like this be empowered and rise up to create a better life for all of us.
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