La Comuna 8, situated on the steep green slopes of el Cerro Pan de Azucar above Medellín’s bustling city centre, is home to thousands of the victims of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. Confronted by violence sweeping through Antioquia’s Andean countryside through the past 30 years, families fled their homes to seek safety in Medellín, the industrialised … More The problem with risk in Medellín
With ongoing peace talks seeking the end of Colombia civil conflict, the debate over obligatory military service in Colombia is a particularly important one. As deployment of child soldiers and forced recruitment by the FARC-EP are highlighted, it is important to consider the characteristics of Colombia’s obligatory military service. And too the socio-economic conditions that impact recruitment by … More Civil disobedience – through long trajectories and small victories
On a cool bright morning in Medellín, Maria works quickly, quietly along the slim patchwork sidewalk. Amongst the plastic bags of various shapes and sizes await the bottles and cans, books and boxes that she will collect, sort and transport. It’s a difficult and hazardous task, padding down then combing through the individually tied bags, … More Los recuperadores
On the steep green slopes of La Comuna 8, situated above Medellín’s bustling city centre, live thousands of the victims of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. Faced by violence from state and non-state armed actors across the fertile and mountainous region during the past 30 years, families of farmers and fisherman, shopkeepers and schoolteachers fled to … More A community vision for La Comuna 8
In the week of the official launch of Medellín’s monorail project, I thought I’d share some information on this most luxurious of projects. The monorail is part of the current administration’s urban development plan, known as the Cinturón Verde (greenbelt). The grand plan is to develop the city’s transport infrastructure and regularise and rebuild the peripheries of the … More Monorail, MONORAIL
Written by Julián Marín, first published here in May 2013 We are fed up with listening to the rhetoric of those in the city government tasked with protecting the lives of the city inhabitants. The ongoing violence facing the ‘comunas populares’ in the city requires a government with the capacity to lead initiatives that in … More A government that denies the obvious
Written by Durfay Elena Quintero Ruiz, first published here for el Observatorio de Seguridad Humana de Medellín in November 2012. It’s not easy to talk about the security of women when for centuries women have suffered subjugation, submission and violence of all kinds. Historically women have found themselves in different places than men. Our ancestors … More Women of utopia, peacemakers and pioneers of hope in Comuna 1 of Medellín
One of the most fantastic organisations I have encountered in Medellín is ‘el Observatorio’, based at the Universidad de Antioquia. A powerful and persistent collective of academics, students and community activists (now also researchers), this group connects scholarly processes to the wider population and the issues that affect them. I will explore here in the coming … More El Observatorio de Seguridad Humana de Medellín
In a green park beneath the towering concrete columns of the city metro system, there is each Sunday a very special dinner service. There gather a group of friends and family, acquainted through the years by way of schools, universities and the church they attend together in this northern reach of the city. Sat together … More Sunday service
by Carlos Amórtegui, Visión 8, October 2014 – “We are not merchandise. NO to the commodification of nature, water and life.” This statement launched the fifth gathering of the Festival of Women and Water in the populous peri-rural sectors of Medellín. The festival champions the human rights of women in Medellín and the fundamental right to … More A life without water, a life of oblivion
An alternative Medellín story 