A letter from Colombia

Dear friends and war resisters,

You receive a fraternal greeting from the National Assembly of
Conscientious Objectors - ANOOC, a network of organizations and groups
from different regions of Colombia who are promoting conscientious
objection against all - legal and illegal - armed groups, with a
nonviolent approach.



We're addressing this email to you with the intention to present you
our proposal to construct an international solidarity network for
conscientious objectors in Colombia, that contributes to the
strengthening of the processes of conscientious objection in Colombia,
through the diffusion of information, the development of actions of
political pressure in cases of forced recruitment and human rights
violations, and the brotherhood between international and national
groups of conscientious objection and nonviolence.



Online you'll find a more
detailed description of the proposal to construct a national and
international solidarity network, enclosing some antecedents, the
justification and the action plan, and the document we wrote (in href="http://wri-irg.org/co/colombia2007-es.htm">Spanish) for the
solidarity network about the situation of militarism and conscientious
objection in Colombia.



At this moment we are looking for groups from Europe that share our
position of war resistance and nonviolence and that are disposed to
support the processes of conscientious objection in Colombia,
considering the possibility to participate in the solidarity network
that we are constructing. That's the reason why we are inviting you:



1.      To participate in the events we will organize in Medellín to
mark the International Conscientious Objectors' Day, including:

• On the 12th of May: an antimilitarist festival, with the presence
  of various national and international groups of conscientious objection
  and nonviolence, social and human rights organizations, college youth,
  etc., where we will denounce - in an artistic way - the recruitment
  problem and the militarization of the Colombian society, we will
  visualize our position of nonviolent resistance and the alternatives
  we're developing, and we'll launch the international solidarity network
  for conscientious objectors in Colombia.
• On the 13th and 14th of May: the 5th National Assembly of
  Conscientious Objectors, in this occasion amplified with the presence
  of international delegates, to prepare the nonviolent direct actions
  that will be unrolled on the 15 th of May, to evaluate the 1st phase of
  the construction of the solidarity network and to determine the steps
  of the 2nd phase (speaking tours of the Colombian conscientious
  objectors in Europe, consolidation and functioning of the solidarity
  network, concrete protection strategies and mechanisms, etc.).
• On the 15th of May: nonviolent direct actions in various parts of
  the city of Medellín together with the different groups of
  conscientious objection and nonviolence from Colombia and the
  international delegates, with the purpose to denounce the recruitment
  problem and the militarization of the Colombian society and to
  visualize the position of nonviolent resistance of the groups of
  conscientious objection.
• On the 16th of May: evaluation of the whole event and the
  possibility to travel to another region to know the other local
  processes of conscientious objection.

With respect to the participation expenses, we propose the
international delegates to finance their visas and airplane tickets to
Medellín, and on the side of the ANOOC we'll contribute with the
accommodation and food expenses during the days of the event, from the
11 th till the 16th of May. The persons who would like to travel to
another region afterwards, will have to coordinate the logistic matters
with the local processes that they will visit.

2.      To publish information about the situation of militarism and
conscientious objection in Colombia in the communication media to which
you have access (reviews, news bulletins, web pages, etc.).



3.      To organize local actions to sensitize the community about the
situation of militarism and conscientious objection in Colombia and to
motivate other persons and groups to participate in the activities that
eventually will be organized during the visits of the Colombian
objectors in the month of June (cf. no. 4).



4.      To receive the visit of 2 Colombian objectors between the 31 st
of May and the 14th of June:

• to know more about the Colombian reality of war and militarism
  and the processes of conscientious objection,
• to exchange experiences related to conscientious objection,
  nonviolence, antimilitarism and war resistance,
• to organize local events (forums, workshops, radio interviews,
  direct nonviolent actions, etc.) to sensitize the common people, and
• to make concrete the strategies of diffusion, denouncement and
  political pressure towards the future.

For these visits we hope to count with your support to meet the
accommodation, food and local travel expenses of the objectors, and on
the side of the ANOOC we're looking for the money to cover the airplane
tickets from Colombia to Spain and the visa expenses.



Although all these activities take part of the whole proposal to
construct the solidarity network, it's not necessary that all
interested groups enroll all the activities. Each group can determine
which activities they can aim to, starting from their own interests and
capacities.



Every kind of support is welcome and will be received with much joy!

Thanks a lot for your attention and we hope to receive a soon answer,

 

Liesbet Niveau



Acción Colectiva por la Objeción de Conciencia en Colombia

National Assembly of Conscientious Objectors.



 

P.S.: Our apologies for the language errors! English is not our mother
language.

         You can comunicate with us in English, Spanish or Dutch.