The community government in the house of thunder: Catatumbo Peasant Association in Colombia

Abstract

This article presents a reflection and a theoretical analysis from a concrete reality in Catatumbo, seeking to identify and interpret the expressions of community government in the Peasant Association of Catatumbo (Ascamcat) under the communal government skills. More specifically, it examines the process of demonstration and political negotiation at the Interlocution and Agreement Board (MIA) of Catatumbo in 2013. The article is one of the results of the research project “Community forms of management and territorial government for the construction of peace scenarios”, carried out by the Interdisciplinary Group of Political and Social Studies (Theseus) together with the peasants of Catatumbo who are members of the Ascamcat. The research was proposed in two phases: a heuristic phase consisting of a documentary level, a level of design of field work strategies and a level of participatory research with the community; then, a hermeneutic phase in which the content of the research results was constructed in three moments: an initial moment of systematization of information and primary construction of results, a second moment of validation of the exercise with the communities and incorporation of new elements to advance in the construction of the proposal, and a third moment of final construction of contents and results. The recent peasant struggle in Catatumbo is the story of a community historically in resistance to the right to land and territory, in whose organization, protest, and political participation and decision are revealed practices and dynamics characteristic of a form of government constituted from the bottom up, by all and for all, with a horizontal perspective in the exercise of power.