Farc Aims to Abandon Revolutionary War

[Monkey Riding Dragon]

The largest, and ostensibly Marxist, rebel group in Columbia, the Farc, has announced its intention to seek peace negotiations with the government (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10823797) so that they can "create an egalitarian society through political means". Almost humorously, new Farc leader Alfonso Canal simultaneously acknowledged that "The success of Juan Manuel Santos this past 20 June guarantees political and strategic continuity for the Colombian oligarchy."

The Farc has encountered many difficulties in recent years. The military offensive against them has made headway, their support has dwindled, the rebel army is now half the size or less of its 2001 level, and key Farc hostages have been found and freed by the reactionary government. Additionally, the group has experienced leadership crises in recent years, with many of their leaders having died or been captured. In short, the war effort on their side is going badly and apparently their new leadership believes that entry into the political establishment is the way out of an apparently losing conflict.

"Between all of us, we have to find common ground and, with the input of a majority of Colombians, we have to identify the difficulties, the problems and contradictions, and create perspectives and a way out of the armed conflict", Mr. Canal explains. This is not the first time the Farc(e) has agreed to this solution. In the 1980s, they reached an agreement with the government to abandon revolutionary warfare and enter the normal political/electoral processes. Once the rebels came out in the open, the government seized upon the opportunity to start slaughtering them systematically, exposing the whole agreement as a ruse to exterminate the rebels. The party apparatus the rebel army was connected to was destroyed in the process. Thereafter the surviving rebels claimed they would never again make that crucial mistake. And, on encountering new difficulties, here they are making it again.

Only revolution offers hope for humanity and the planet. All the "Marxist" trends that reject Mao Zedong and authentic people's war are moribund in this crucial respect. Here is but the latest proof.

[RedSonRising]

While this seems like what many would call a punk-out, it sounds like the FARC has ideological purposes for their tactic of disarmament.

"Between all of us, we have to find common ground and, with the input of a majority of Colombians, we have to identify the difficulties, the problems and contradictions, and create perspectives and a way out of the armed conflict."

I've said previously that the FARC had a disconnect with the Colombian working class and at best an ambiguous reputation in the countryside. If they use political means to educate the working class and politicize the public, then a revolution will start to grow. Rearmament is always an option in appropriate conditions, but engaging the masses in hopes of a social movement as opposed to an isolated insurgency is much more difficult.

[Adi Shankara]

Wait a minute, I read that in the BBC this morning, and they aren't abandoning the revolutionary war; they just offered an ultimatum to the Colombian government, but abandoning the struggle? no.

[GreenCommunism]

last time farc tried to stop the revolutionary war and negociate they had 70% of their member executed. i doubt they will fall in the same trick.

[The Vegan Marxist]

This is a tactic used by any revolutionary rebel group. When stakes are high & innocent peasants & villagers are being slaughtered by the opposing ruling class, peace negotiations are a necessity for some kind of relations deal between the two. It's never about abandoning revolutionary war, but rather to try & bring less conflict for the time being.

We've seen this all the time, whether it be the UCPN-M, or the CPI-M, or even the CPP/NPA. Right now, FARC is suffering through psychological warfare by the Colombian government. Propaganda has been used successfully against FARC. If anything, this could bring FARC a better image as well.

[Obs]

This is a tactic used by any revolutionary rebel group. When stakes are high & innocent peasants & villagers are being slaughtered by the opposing ruling class, peace negotiations are a necessity for some kind of relations deal between the two. It's never about abandoning revolutionary war, but rather to try & bring less conflict for the time being.

We've seen this all the time, whether it be the UCPN-M, or the CPI-M, or even the CPP/NPA. Right now, FARC is suffering through psychological warfare by the Colombian government. Propaganda has been used successfully against FARC. If anything, this could bring FARC a better image as well.
I sure as shit hope you're right.

[GreenCommunism]

yes the farc have a very bad image in colombia, the government is virtually totalitarian and people cannot criticize the government without being called terrorist.

[Barry Lyndon]

Only revolution offers hope for humanity and the planet. All the "Marxist" trends that reject Mao Zedong and authentic people's war are moribund in this crucial respect. Here is but the latest proof.

Proof that your a fanatical sectarian. Your organization doesn't even support the Nepalese Maoists and the Naxalites, but only those who worship Avakian. Please spare the FARC your pompous lectures.

[Obs]

Proof that your a fanatical sectarian. Your organization doesn't even support the Nepalese Maoists and the Naxalites, but only those who worship Avakian. Please spare the FARC your pompous lectures.
guys it's totally not a cult would you like a picture of bob avakians belly button

[The Vegan Marxist]

guys it's totally not a cult would you like a picture of bob avakians belly button

As much as I agree with you guys, let's not make this an anti-Avakian conversation. We have too many of those already here on RevLeft. Stick with the topic at hand, please.

[Obs]

True, I apologise.

[fa2991]

Isn't this what Hugo Chavez has been asking FARC to do for years?

[The Vegan Marxist]

Chavez & FARC haven't made any deals. There's no direct line of communication between the two. Accusations of them talking, planning deals, etc., are only being used to justify possible attacks against Venezuela by the Colombian government.

[fa2991]

Chavez & FARC haven't made any deals. There's no direct line of communication between the two. Accusations of them talking, planning deals, etc., are only being used to justify possible attacks against Venezuela by the Colombian government.

Didn't Chavez negotiate the release of some hostages...? And host some conferences with the mothers of hostages saying something like "the age of the guerrilla fighter is over" and saying FARC should become a political party and release its hostages...?

[The Vegan Marxist]

I believe I heard Chavez state that FARC should release their prisoners. Though, this only makes a clear example of why FARC & Chavez do not work together, for it shows how Chavez doesn't understand FARC's situation nor the actions they take, in which have been blanketed over through propaganda by the ruling class.

[KurtFF8]

There may be some very limited contacts between the Chavez government and the FARC, but I doubt that they're significant.

As for the FARC giving up its struggle, I doubt that will happen too, considering the same BBC report shows that the President Elect in Colombia will likely continue Uribe's aggressive stance on the FARC.



While this seems like what many would call a punk-out, it sounds like the FARC has ideological purposes for their tactic of disarmament.

"Between all of us, we have to find common ground and, with the input of a majority of Colombians, we have to identify the difficulties, the problems and contradictions, and create perspectives and a way out of the armed conflict."

I've said previously that the FARC had a disconnect with the Colombian working class and at best an ambiguous reputation in the countryside. If they use political means to educate the working class and politicize the public, then a revolution will start to grow. Rearmament is always an option in appropriate conditions, but engaging the masses in hopes of a social movement as opposed to an isolated insurgency is much more difficult.

Actually, the FARC-EP is quite influential in the country side and is a defensive organization for the Colombian peasant class (and speaking of education, the FARC has built countless schools and hospitals for peasants)

I'm not too sure how popular they are amongst the urban working class (although once I'm done with the FARC book, I may know ;) )

[Soviet dude]

Sometimes I wonder about MIM's claims about the RCP being a CIA front...

[gorillafuck]

Sometimes I wonder about MIM's claims about the RCP being a CIA front...
Then you are an idiot. All my political disagreements aside, the RCP are in no way whatsoever connected to the CIA, it would be absurd to think they are.

[BLACKPLATES]

I think your onto something. Chavez is faced with the possibilty at all times of US attack.He is experienced enough to know that he has to gaurd against giving the US any pretense, no matter how tiny. The US of course is perfectly happy to manufacture an old pretense so he must be careful not to make it easy for them.

[Andropov]

I've said previously that the FARC had a disconnect with the Colombian working class and at best an ambiguous reputation in the countryside.
Ambiguos reputation in the countryside?
Such utter nonsense, that simply contradicts all factual evidence at our disposal from agencies like Human Rights organisations and what not.
The fact that peasants in their hundreds of thousands flee to FARC-EP controlled territory when they have an opportunity speaks volumes.
In the likes of San Vicente del Caguan in the 1998-2002 peace negotiations the FARC-EP demilitarised zone had less than 100,000 peasants at the start of the peace negotiations and by the time the Colombian Military invaded it in February 2002 it had roughly 740,000.
Documented evidence shows that the rural population indeed follows FARC-EP.
Since it is so hard to gauge FARC-EP support from the likes of polls when agencies dont bother to enter FARC-EP controlled territory and usually restrict them to the wealthier suburbs of Medellin and Bogota since lets not forget the media that conduct the polls are the same Narco-Bourgeois that support Uribe's quasi-facist regime.
FARC-EP does also have a presence in many of the barrios's of the major urban centres with Milicianos Urbana, MBNC, PCCC and the Milicianos Popular all active.
But all support for FARC-EP must remain clandestine because of the likes of the AUC whose ruthlessness is second to none. The likes of the AUC put the Nicaraguan death squads to shame, in the 1990s alone the Para's killed 40,000 innocent peasants.
Indeed it has led to Colombia having one of the largest internally displaced populations in the world.
Not only do Para's commit their genocide on territory previously controlled by FARC-EP by rounding up peasants seen as "sympathisers" but also executing relations and family of peasants supporting FARC-EP.
These the very same Para's who rule the Colombian narcotics trade after the Medellin and Bogota cartels headed by Escobar were crushed.
Since the 1990's the AUC headed by Castano started using Narcotics to fund their genocide against the Colombian working class.

If they use political means to educate the working class and politicize the public, then a revolution will start to grow.Rearmament is always an option in appropriate conditions, but engaging the masses in hopes of a social movement as opposed to an isolated insurgency is much more difficult.
More nonsense devoid of fully conextualising the situation in Colombia.
Colombia where the state and Yankee Imperialism both fund the tens of thousands of Para's which now also control the narcotics trade.
The likes of the AUC was responsible for 1145 massacres between 1997 and 2000 alone.
Kirk documented in 2003 that...

they mutiliated bodies with chainsaws. They chained people to burning vehicles. They decpitated and rolled heads like soccer balls. They killed dozens at one time, including women and children. They buried people alive or hung them on meat hooks, carving them. They threw their dozens of victims like damp and flyblown trash to the side of the road. Rarely were their victims uniformed guerillas.....Castano's victims were civilians accused of supporting the guerillas by supplying them with food, medical supplies, and transportation. The Germans have a word for what Castano did - Schrecklichkeit, meaning frightfullness. It was applied in their invasion of Belgium and France, to circumvent the civilian resistance that did not threaten but could delay troops. German soldiers burned homes, shot whole families, and pillalged and raped. It was not homicidal mania, but deliberate, part of the plan.
There is a reason why Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist because free assosciation and mobilisation is crushed with such ferocity that any organisation must be clandestine to survive and for the familys of the involved to survive the state sponsored terror.
But as I stated before FARC-EP does try and do that through such organisation as Milicianos Urbana, MBNC, PCCC and the Milicianos Popular with of course involvement in the Unions.

[Nolan]

Actually, the FARC-EP is quite influential in the country side and is a defensive organization for the Colombian peasant class (and speaking of education, the FARC has built countless schools and hospitals for peasants)

Do you have some sources for this, as well as specific examples?

[RedSonRising]

Ambiguos reputation in the countryside?
Such utter nonsense, that simply contradicts all factual evidence at our disposal from agencies like Human Rights organisations and what not.
The fact that peasants in their hundreds of thousands flee to FARC-EP controlled territory when they have an opportunity speaks volumes.
In the likes of San Vicente del Caguan in the 1998-2002 peace negotiations the FARC-EP demilitarised zone had less than 100,000 peasants at the start of the peace negotiations and by the time the Colombian Military invaded it in February 2002 it had roughly 740,000.
Documented evidence shows that the rural population indeed follows FARC-EP.
Since it is so hard to gauge FARC-EP support from the likes of polls when agencies dont bother to enter FARC-EP controlled territory and usually restrict them to the wealthier suburbs of Medellin and Bogota since lets not forget the media that conduct the polls are the same Narco-Bourgeois that support Uribe's quasi-facist regime.
FARC-EP does also have a presence in many of the barrios's of the major urban centres with Milicianos Urbana, MBNC, PCCC and the Milicianos Popular all active.
But all support for FARC-EP must remain clandestine because of the likes of the AUC whose ruthlessness is second to none. The likes of the AUC put the Nicaraguan death squads to shame, in the 1990s alone the Para's killed 40,000 innocent peasants.
Indeed it has led to Colombia having one of the largest internally displaced populations in the world.
Not only do Para's commit their genocide on territory previously controlled by FARC-EP by rounding up peasants seen as "sympathisers" but also executing relations and family of peasants supporting FARC-EP.
These the very same Para's who rule the Colombian narcotics trade after the Medellin and Bogota cartels headed by Escobar were crushed.
Since the 1990's the AUC headed by Castano started using Narcotics to fund their genocide against the Colombian working class.

More nonsense devoid of fully conextualising the situation in Colombia.
Colombia where the state and Yankee Imperialism both fund the tens of thousands of Para's which now also control the narcotics trade.
The likes of the AUC was responsible for 1145 massacres between 1997 and 2000 alone.
Kirk documented in 2003 that...

There is a reason why Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist because free assosciation and mobilisation is crushed with such ferocity that any organisation must be clandestine to survive and for the familys of the involved to survive the state sponsored terror.
But as I stated before FARC-EP does try and do that through such organisation as Milicianos Urbana, MBNC, PCCC and the Milicianos Popular with of course involvement in the Unions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JFiH_vdFXA&feature=channel

I don't think it's totally out of the question to call the FARC's operations in the countryside ambiguous when our ability to gauge their popularity and operations is, as you stated, limited. When I hear of events such as these, I can hardly support them out of wishful thinking just because there is a propaganda war against them.

[KurtFF8]

Do you have some sources for this, as well as specific examples?

I don't have specific page numbers of this book I'm currently reading, but the book itself deals with this quite a bit:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Q%2BJsblWVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Social-Change-Colombia-Direction/dp/074532875X)

[Andropov]

I don't think it's totally out of the question to call the FARC's operations in the countryside ambiguous when our ability to gauge their popularity and operations is, as you stated, limited.
All verifiable evidence from independant sources has shown that it is anything but ambiguous.
It is only ambiguous if you actually take the Corporation Media's mouth pieces at face value but that is absurd when those very corporations are whose financial interests are being targeted by FARC-EP.

When I hear of events such as these, I can hardly support them out of wishful thinking just because there is a propaganda war against them.
I neither support them out of wishfull thinking, I make my judgements on an informed basis.
That quaint little clip there is irrelevant to the debate at hand because not only does it remove all context to why FARC-EP allegedly removed them from the jungle and it only offers the ridiculous assertion that FARC-EP "wanted to better control the area".
Inane emotive clips like that are irrelevant to the debate at hand and not to mention that it is from a mainstream media corporation.

[RedSonRising]

All verifiable evidence from independant sources has shown that it is anything but ambiguous.
It is only ambiguous if you actually take the Corporation Media's mouth pieces at face value but that is absurd when those very corporations are whose financial interests are being targeted by FARC-EP.

I neither support them out of wishfull thinking, I make my judgements on an informed basis.
That quaint little clip there is irrelevant to the debate at hand because not only does it remove all context to why FARC-EP allegedly removed them from the jungle and it only offers the ridiculous assertion that FARC-EP "wanted to better control the area".
Inane emotive clips like that are irrelevant to the debate at hand and not to mention that it is from a mainstream media corporation.

Clearly the native americans of the region were not voluntarily relocated, blame the FARC, and were not part of the decision-making process of the group. While the corporate media is a lying propaganda machine, we don't live in a fascist conspiracy world where every single thing said in the news is an outlandishly constructed lie and it's just impossible for a group claiming to be leftist to find themselves in a situation of power which affects the people negatively. There are relevant topics outside of what fits the positive image of the FARC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2GRhSE7i54

It seems to me that not all who are subject to FARC operations or living within the area are a part of any social transformation and exist outside of their process, which is contrary to popularly based focoism. It would be stupid to pretend the FARC do not have a measure of support, but it would also be against objective judgment to reject consideration that many in Colombia that find themselves among the FARC do not find themselves better off, more politicized, better educated, or even have a say in such high-stake matters. As the Indigenous leader presented expresses, one does not have to be for the disgusting capitalist Colombian state to acknowledge the faults of the FARC. To wave a magic wand and sweep away any criticisms as "bourgeois propaganda" doesn't help any working class or revolutionary struggle anywhere.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Colombia: The Real FARC-EP Inside & Out
By Nicholas DeFilippis

In the jungles of Colombia, hidden from the eyes of the first world, the class struggle rages on a scale unknown to many 21st Century political activists. It is a struggle of the disenfranchised and downtrodden against the ruling elites of their native land and the United States. I’m talking, of course, about the old, hardened, and ongoing guerrilla struggle of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army, or FARC-EP (sometimes they’re simply called FARC).

Formed on May 27, 1964, the FARC-EP succeeded the rural self-defense groups originally formed by the Colombian Communist Party (PCC) to protect peasant communities from attacks by liberal and conservative government forces. Since then, the USA has backed military operations against the communist forces and continues to do so today (Brittain, 8). The mainstream media attacks on the FARC-EP are well known. We have all heard the stories about how they are a “narco-terrorist” organization void of any political and ideological content. In recent years we have even heard that the guerrillas are on the verge of defeat. We must wonder, as any informed citizen should, if these claims are true. Starting with the accusations of being big, bad drug dealers, moving on to accusations of terrorism, popular support, supposed military weakening, and finally politics and culture I will examine whether or not what we have been told about the FARC-EP is true.

Donnie Marshall, a former Administrator of the American Drug Enforcement Agency, and James Milford, a former Deputy Administrator, both said that there is no evidence that the FARC guerrillas are taking part in the drug trade through selling, producing, or smuggling (Brittain, 94). Marshall himself testified to the US House Committee that no conclusion could be made regarding the claim that the guerrillas take part in the narcotics industry. He also testified that there is no proof that FARC is laundering, smuggling, or trafficking drug money. Former US Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette also said that there is no clear evidence of FARC being involved in the drug trade. According to known writer Robin Kirk, both Frechette and Rosso Jose Serrano would say that the tales of FARC being highly involved with narcotics is a lie used by the military in order to get more money from the US for counter-insurgency operations (Brittain, 95).

Former US Special Forces officer Stan Goff said:


“My own personal experience as a military advisor in Colombia in 1992 leads me to conclude that the ‘war on drugs’ is simply a propaganda ploy, a legitimizing story for the American public. We were briefed by Public Affairs Officers that counter-narcotics was a cover story…” (ibid).

Andres Pastrana Arango, former Colombian president and ambassador to the US, said that the state couldn’t find “any evidence that they’re [the FARC] involved directly in drugs.” It has been widely noted that FARC has worked to prevent coca from completely taking over entire rural sectors of the country. They began to work with the United Nations in the 1980’s on projects involving crop substitution, replacing coca, in areas they controlled (ibid).

Klaus Nyholm, former director of the UN International Drug Control Programme in Colombia, said:


“The guerrillas are something different than the traffickers, the local fronts are quite autonomous. But in some areas, they’re not involved at all. And in others, they actively tell farmers not to grow coca” (Brittain, 96).

During the 1990’s and 2000’s the FARC successfully supported the transition from coca to legitimate crops in the mayoralty of Micoahumado in the Morales municipality of the Bolivar department. The guerrillas implemented similar programs in the Casanare department of the central northeast (ibid). FARC-EP independently started a program of replacing illegal crops with normal ones in Caqueta during 2000. This program had the full support of the European Union and United Nations. After several months, the guerrillas held a conference open to the international community and Colombian peasants regarding this program (Brittain, 97).

However, many farmers in FARC territory have to grow illegal crops because it is hard for them to make a living from normal crops and subsistence farming due to the land centralization programs that were carried out by the Colombian state and the neo-liberal foreign trade policies for food that Colombia and the US take part in. Understanding the economic hardships faced by farm workers, FARC allows them to grow coca, but a class-based tax system is used for those involved with coca. FARC has similar tax systems in place for other things such as coffee and oil. Landless and subsistence peasant farmers aren’t taxed, but drug merchants and multi-national corporations (MNC’s) are. The tax money is then forwarded to a local democratic body and used for local schools, health services, and other infrastructure (Brittain, 98-101, 109 also see Dudley, 52). Basically, FARC only taxes coca but doesn’t involve itself in the growing, selling, or transportation of it.

FARC also protected the civilians from aggressive drug traffickers and didn’t allow the use of dangerously addictive coca derivatives (Dudley, 52). Drug traffickers once planned an attack against the FARC’s Casa Verde (headquarters) involving paramilitaries led by British and South African mercenaries, but the attack never happened. As a matter of fact, late FARC leader Jacobo Arenas was afraid drug traffickers were out to assassinate him (Dudley, 57).

Guerrillas don’t get paid and receive three meals a day and medical treatment if they need it, but sometimes even those are scarce. They live in camps in the forest, sleep on wooden planks, bathe in rivers, and fight with diseases. It isn’t a life of luxury, which lead journalist Garry Leech, who once spent time in a FARC camp, to say:


“And if guerrilla leaders like Reyes are little more than the heads of a criminal organization, then they must be considered miserable failures. After all, other Colombian criminals live in luxury. The leader of the former Medellín cocaine cartel, Pablo Escobar, lived lavishly in magnificent mansions, as have many other Colombian drug traffickers over the past thirty years. Paramilitary leaders have also lived well on their vast cattle ranches in northern Colombia, enjoying the riches wrought from their criminal activities” (Leech).

Colombia’s first paramilitary group was formed by drug traffickers (Dudley, 73). The Colombian government would disproportionately target coca areas by exterminating coca in the FARC regions but seldom target areas under AUC (paramilitary) control. Antioquia, an area long under AUC control, saw coca increase by 71 percent, but FARC-controlled Putumayo saw a decrease in the plant by 68 percent between 2002 and 2004 (Brittain, 147).

In the 1980’s, the FARC-EP sought to join the political process and build support and change peacefully after decades of fighting. This came in the form of the political party called the Patriotic Union, or UP going by its Spanish acronym. In less than two years, the UP became a major player in Colombian politics (Dudley, 88). As UP support grew, so did the number of FARC recruits. When this began to happen in areas under the influence of drug lords, their interests conflicted with each other. And so the drug cartels had serious issues with the FARC that they’d take out by killing UP members (Dudley, 98). In 1986, Jaime Pardo Leal, a UP candidate, got more votes than any leftist candidate in the election (Dudley, 91). The number of UP members killed in 1987 is 111. In 1988, it was 276. The real estimates are thought to be much higher (Dudley, 130).

The FARC-EP practices something called “retention,” but the media calls this kidnapping. What FARC does is study an individual’s political activity and class background to decide if this person is worth capturing. FARC most often retains prominent right-wing ideologues, military personnel, and rich politicians. These people are held as prisoners of war until a humane exchange is worked out or a fee is paid (Brittain, 118-9). Retention is also aimed at multi-national corporations because some small merchants support FARC, but MNC’s pay paramilitaries to attack and scare off small businesses in order to hold a monopoly (Brittain, 264). FARC arresting politicians, in the author’s opinion, is no different than when the British arrested Rudolf Hess. Politicians work within the Colombian state to make it better, including in its attacks on FARC and the poor. It’s war, it’s necessary to retain such people.

As far as abuse of prisoners goes, FARC doesn’t do that. For example, former detainee Ingrid Betancourt was reported to be in good health after leaving the custody of the guerrillas. She was even in good mental health. If she was abused, then she wouldn’t have talked about writing a play about her detention only one day after being released. Any talk from her about abuse is propaganda from the mouth of a bourgeois princess. In fact, 80 percent of attributable atrocities, such as extrajudicial executions, were committed by government forces (Whitney). In 1980, Amnesty International said that the Colombian state had over 33 torture centers (Dudley, 25).

Out of all abuses against non-combatants from 1993-2007, abuses from all guerrilla groups in Colombia combined (not just the FARC) don’t even reach 40% at any time. In 2007, guerrillas committed less than 10% of the violations. This information comes from a chart in the book by James Brittain that is being used as one of the sources. He gets the information from many Colombian sources such as the Colombian Coalition Against Torture (Brittain, 133).

Often the government and media carry out attacks and blame them on the FARC. In 1998, Maria O’Grady once wrote a news article about how the FARC-EP had booby trapped a truck to explode and kill state forces, but it went off early and killed civilians. Luis Alberto Galvis Mujica, a survivor and witness from said attack, wrote a letter to her and the Wall Street Journal saying he saw the attack being carried out by state and paramilitary forces, not the FARC-EP. In another incident, a bomb went off in Bogota and killed one civilian and 26 soldiers. It was immediately blamed on the FARC, but then an army commander came out and said the army had planted the bombs (Brittain, 172-3). Unlike the guerrillas, the government encourages the killing of civilians. The Uribe administration would encourage the military to kill civilians without strong family connections, such as drug addicts and homeless people, then dress the dead in guerrilla uniforms to create fake military victories (Brittain, 244).

It’s important to keep in mind that during any war, both reactionary and revolutionary forces will make mistakes and civilians will get caught in the crossfire and sometimes innocent people will suffer. This can’t be helped, only minimized. The important thing to keep in mind is that things will be significantly better in Colombia after the revolutionary victory. If we on the revolutionary left stop supporting groups and individuals because of a few bad things they did, without even looking at their reasoning and the situation, then we will run out of allies and become isolated and weak politically.

Despite it’s mistakes, the FARC has tons of support. During the peace negotiations of 1998-2002, tens of thousands of peasants, small and medium producers, Afro-Colombians, and indigenous Colombians migrated to FARC-EP territory, especially San Vicente del Caguan. Before the negotiations, that region only had 100,000 residents, but after the negotiations ended it was discovered that roughly 740,000 people had migrated to that part of FARC-EP territory. Known journalist Gary Leech said that many peasants like living in rebel territory because it provides security and the chance to build new, community-based projects (Brittain, 31).

Meredith Aby, an American who traveled through Colombia, had this to say about life in FARC territory:


“At FARC checkpoints, I was welcomed and never threatened. …average Colombian people openly welcome the FARC fighters. Talking politics with campesinos and FARC soldiers, I experienced freedom of speech at a level I don’t even feel in my own country. In addition, campesinos reported that they felt safer in rebel-held territory” (Brittain, 32).

A 43-year old campesino from Caqueta once told James J. Brittain, an author who spent time in FARC-EP territory, that, “The guerrillas are a necessity. The insurgency lives with the people and has allowed the community to sustain its way of life” (Brittain, 33).

A banana worker in Uraba once told the Washington Post, “In meeting with us, the FARC presents itself cordially, discusses things, and is willing to compromise” (Dudley, 81).

Although there was a major anti-FARC protest in 2008, it first began organizing on the internet. However, less than 5% of Colombians have internet access. The protest was also promoted by pro-government media. Bosses pressured their employees to take part, and schools did the same with students. At the head of the marching protest were leaders of paramilitary death-squads and right-wing politicians. This protest was mostly urban-based as well. We must call into question how many people actually wanted to take part, and also how representative the protesters are of Colombian society as a whole. Clearly this was a protest of middle and upper class people and not representative of all Colombians, and anyone who has taken a statistics class will agree (Brittain, 38).

Polls are also taken to see how many Colombians support the state. However, these polls are mostly done by phone via landline. Most Colombians don’t have landlines because they are either too poor or can’t use them due to geographical reasons. Another problem with these polls is that almost all participants called are from specific sections of the major cities. Finally, interviewees can be easily located if someone traced the call through the landline. So the polls aren’t truly anonymous and may intimidate many (Brittain, 41). Therefore, they don’t represent all of Colombian. They don’t represent the poor in the urban areas and especially not in the rural areas.

Unlike government psywar statistics, the FARC-EP is truly representative of the masses. This is proven by the diversity of those that make up the FARC guerrillas. 65 percent of its members are from the countryside (of which 13 percent are from indigenous groups) and 35 percent is from urban areas. 50 percent of FARC-EP members are women, and anywhere from 30 to 55 percent of the women are comandantes. Subsistence peasants and small producers make up the majority of these guerrillas, but FARC-EP has grown to include people from the urban workforce, indigenous people, Afro-Colombians, intellectuals, doctors, lawyers, priests, teachers, and unionists (Brittain, 28).

FARC-EP recruitment expanded in the mid to late 2000’s. For every 100 subversives that were killed or deserted, the guerrillas were able to recruit 84 new combatants from 2002-2007. The number of guerrillas in Colombia is over 42,500, and FARC-EP makes up the vast majority of that number. In the mid 2000s, FARC-EP had between 40,000 and 50,000 soldiers according to research carried out by scholarly author James J. Brittain. Ecuadorian intelligence has stated that insurgent encampments doubled by 2008. Alan Jara, former governor of Meta, said in 2009 that the FARC rebels’ ability to obtain immediate material solidarity from local populations hasn’t been weakened. The state claims the FARC-EP has been severely weakened due to its decrease in guerrilla fronts, but in reality the FARC has only reconsolidated and relocated its members from weaker fronts into stronger ones in order to better maintain its positions. Other “proof” of the demise of the FARC is the fact that some of its top leaders have been killed (Raul Reyes, for example). However, the majority of these leaders were members of the political wing of the rebels. The military wing is still intact (Brittain, 19-21). As a matter of fact, the Colombian government manipulates statistics regarding guerrillas in order to make Colombia seem safer in order to encourage foreign investment and discourage support for the rebels, and former director of Colombia’s National Administrative Department of Statistics, Cesar Caballero, even said so himself (Brittain, 24).

The mid-2000’s saw the FARC increase in strength to the point that is was able to launch assaults on Bogota (the capital of Colombia) through support networks. In 2008, General Oscar Naranjo and Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said that very little had changed since the latest operations against FARC and that the guerrillas still had the ability to target the capital. FARC had an estimated 12,000 members in urban areas around the year 2005 (Brittain, 29). In 2008, FARC was able to destabilize the most important oil infrastructure facility in Colombia, destroy major oil and military transportation routes, and eliminate an entire battalion of the Colombian military, and that is just one example (Brittain, 23).

While in a FARC-EP camp, Garry Leech discovered how the guerrillas put their philosophy of equality into practice. He was told that everyone in the camp must take turns cooking, both men and women. He noted how the male guerrillas would treat their female counterparts with respect and had a lack of machismo. The gender equality in the camp was so deep that the men and women trusted each other enough to bathe together. Leech also witnessed a mock beauty pageant while in the camp, which he found to be very funny and described it as “a parody on the sexist nature of beauty pageants and the objectification of the female body” (Leech).


“Culture occupies a very large space and plays an important role in the life of each guerrillero in the FARC-EP,” late rebel leader Jacobo Arenas once said. Leech stated that guerrillas would read poetry inspired by revolutionary Marxist beliefs during the camp “cultural hour” (Leech). The cultural hours are also open to the public so that all may learn about the revolutionary struggle (Brittain, 200). The FARC also has a solidarity and support structure that involves the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party and Bolivarian Cells which carry out underground political work for the FARC-EP in urban areas (Brittain, 35). In communities across Colombia, FARC-EP has also set up communalized judicial bodies. FARC has called for the transformation of the legal apparatus and stated that “inequalities between humans” must be eradicated if crime is to stop (Brittain, 215). FARC-EP also builds schools and provides medical services to poor people in their territory (Brittain, 103).

If we are to believe that the FARC-EP has lost all of its political ambitions and has been corrupted by the drug trade, then one must wonder why they would feel the need to take care of the people, promote revolutionary culture, and practice gender equality. Nor would they pay so much attention to various crops and international organizations. This essay has shown that government claims about FARC-EP and its strength are quite shady, and that the rebels must be stronger than is claimed. With the continued and long-standing support of the working masses, guided by revolutionary Marxist ideology, the FARC-EP will eventually illuminate the path towards revolutionary society in 21st Century Latin America.

Works Cited:

Brittain, James. Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia: The Origin and Direction of the FARC-EP. London: Pluto Press, 2010. Print.

Dudley, Steven. Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.

Leech, Garry. “Life in a FARC Camp.” Dissident Voice (2007): n. pag. Web. 15 Jul 2010. .

Whitney, Mike. “A Few Words from the FARC.” Information Clearing House (2008): n. pag. Web. 15 Jul 2010. .

http://kasamaproject.org/2010/07/29/colombia-the-real-farc-ep-inside-and-out/

[Glenn Beck]

Chavez & FARC haven't made any deals. There's no direct line of communication between the two.

Wink wink, nudge nudge

[Andropov]

Clearly the native americans of the region were not voluntarily relocated, blame the FARC, and were not part of the decision-making process of the group.
The native americans blame FARC-EP to the cameras but there are thousands of documented incidents of when any campesino's criticise the military or the Para's they and their familys are dissapeared.
So thus while all documented evidence has shown that it is indeed the Para's who ethnically cleanse whole territories of peasants there is little to no documented evidence from independant sources.
These campesino's could easily have been removed from the territorys by the Para's and merely resort to lies in order to safegaurd their familys from the very real threat of the Para's.
So taking isolated cases like this out of a much wider context is irrelevant, lets keep it to documented and verifiable figures instead of isolated cases where it is impossible to prove either way.
Not to mention these native americans could have been paid by "Democratic Security"who pay correspondants for information.
Whether that information is true or not is irrelevant, it is who the information slander which is important, i.e. FARC-EP.
Also like I state earlier that pathetic piece of reporting claims that FARC-EP ethnically cleansed the antive americans because they "wanted to better control the area" which simply doesnt make sense unless they are claiming that these native americans colluded with the Para's and the military.

While the corporate media is a lying propaganda machine, we don't live in a fascist conspiracy world where every single thing said in the news is an outlandishly constructed lie
You would want to educate yourself on this before you come out with inane statements like this one.
Firstly since the 1950's the Colombian state ahs been actively censoring the media under Decree 3000 which legalized state control over private media corporations. This has continued to this day.
Secondly the Colombian Military refuses to allow journalists to enter combat zones. This has ment that virtually all documented media reporting comes directly are produced by the Military and then fed to the media. Thus of course you have the scenario that Giraldo states,

Such practices not only censor the reality within but they subsequently misinform peripheral media outlets which unknowingly reproduce the "finding".
This is exactly what we see here with your posts, its just what you have been fed its not that you are any less intelligent or the like.
If in such cases indpendant journalists do attempt to breach the Military ban on entering FARC-EP controlled territory they are often dissapeared when passing through Para checkpoints.
Thirdly if on occasion a journalist does get his hands on a story that does reflect positively on FARC-EP or negatively on the state and its various appendages there is the new barrier that is "The Colombian Counter Terrorism Measures". Now under these wide ranging laws introduced by the quasi-facist Uribe....

One of the "anti terrorism" bills seek to hand down sentences of eight to twelve years in prison for anyone who publishes statistics condisdered "counterproductive to the fight against terrorism", as well as the possible "suspension" of the media outlet in question. These sanctions will apply to anybody who divulges "reports that could hamper the effective implementation of military and police operations, endanger the lives of public forces personnel or private individuals", or commits other acts that undermine public order, "while boosting the position or image of the enemy".
Hence if a journalist does get a significant story that boosts FARC-EP's profile or damages the Military and States reputation then he will receive jail time and the media outlet that carries it could risk being suspended.

and it's just impossible for a group claiming to be leftist to find themselves in a situation of power which affects the people negatively.
Of course, hence why the Campesino's have benefited massively from their relationship with FARC-EP not only offering them protection from the State and the Para's but also implemented social services, building roads, schools and hospitals. Not to mention they have single handidly attempted to combat rural illiteracy. They have aslo redistributed land from the massive Latifundia's which are owned by the Bourgeois in Bogota.
Not to mention helping to collect taxes and wealth from the Bourgeois to fund these schemes and fund the JAC's.
If FARC-EP did indeed impact the populace negatively then they would not have the support they do have nor the willing campesino's who serve in the revolution.

There are relevant topics outside of what fits the positive image of the FARC.
I dont understand what you are trying to say here?

It seems to me that not all who are subject to FARC operations or living within the area are a part of any social transformation and exist outside of their process, which is contrary to popularly based focoism.
Their social transformation is wide and varied but limited by the factors they find themselves in in their respective contexts.
But im not sure what you are trying to say here?
I dont see anyone claiming that FARC-EP have transformed Colombian class based society even in the territories they control.
They have helped reverse many of the social injustices and malpractices but even FARC-EP recognises there is alot more to do.

It would be stupid to pretend the FARC do not have a measure of support, but it would also be against objective judgment to reject consideration that many in Colombia that find themselves among the FARC do not find themselves better off, more politicized, better educated, or even have a say in such high-stake matters.
Indeed, the bourgeois find themselves distinclty worse off when under FARC-EP controlled territory since they have quite a distinct class based tax policy.
FARC-EP run schools and education programmes for campesino's in an attempt to curve rural illiteracy after generations of neglect from the state.
While such economic matters are decided democratically through the JAC's from whom the respective FARC-EP Fronts recieve orders from.

As the Indigenous leader presented expresses, one does not have to be for the disgusting capitalist Colombian state to acknowledge the faults of the FARC.To wave a magic wand and sweep away any criticisms as "bourgeois propaganda" doesn't help any working class or revolutionary struggle anywhere.
I have waved no magic wand.
I have merely provided documented varifiable evidence for my claims as to why there is one sided reporting and why mainstream media is not to be trusted or believed, which you have used twice now in two seperate posts in this thread.
You seem to asserting to some vague ambiguous claim of FARC-EP's faults?
Well what are its faults? And without the bourgeois media this time please.

[RedSonRising]

The native americans blame FARC-EP to the cameras but there are thousands of documented incidents of when any campesino's criticise the military or the Para's they and their familys are dissapeared.
So thus while all documented evidence has shown that it is indeed the Para's who ethnically cleanse whole territories of peasants there is little to no documented evidence from independant sources.
These campesino's could easily have been removed from the territorys by the Para's and merely resort to lies in order to safegaurd their familys from the very real threat of the Para's.
So taking isolated cases like this out of a much wider context is irrelevant, lets keep it to documented and verifiable figures instead of isolated cases where it is impossible to prove either way.
Not to mention these native americans could have been paid by "Democratic Security"who pay correspondants for information.
Whether that information is true or not is irrelevant, it is who the information slander which is important, i.e. FARC-EP.
Also like I state earlier that pathetic piece of reporting claims that FARC-EP ethnically cleansed the antive americans because they "wanted to better control the area" which simply doesnt make sense unless they are claiming that these native americans colluded with the Para's and the military.

You would want to educate yourself on this before you come out with inane statements like this one.
Firstly since the 1950's the Colombian state ahs been actively censoring the media under Decree 3000 which legalized state control over private media corporations. This has continued to this day.
Secondly the Colombian Military refuses to allow journalists to enter combat zones. This has ment that virtually all documented media reporting comes directly are produced by the Military and then fed to the media. Thus of course you have the scenario that Giraldo states,

This is exactly what we see here with your posts, its just what you have been fed its not that you are any less intelligent or the like.
If in such cases indpendant journalists do attempt to breach the Military ban on entering FARC-EP controlled territory they are often dissapeared when passing through Para checkpoints.
Thirdly if on occasion a journalist does get his hands on a story that does reflect positively on FARC-EP or negatively on the state and its various appendages there is the new barrier that is "The Colombian Counter Terrorism Measures". Now under these wide ranging laws introduced by the quasi-facist Uribe....

Hence if a journalist does get a significant story that boosts FARC-EP's profile or damages the Military and States reputation then he will receive jail time and the media outlet that carries it could risk being suspended.

Of course, hence why the Campesino's have benefited massively from their relationship with FARC-EP not only offering them protection from the State and the Para's but also implemented social services, building roads, schools and hospitals. Not to mention they have single handidly attempted to combat rural illiteracy. They have aslo redistributed land from the massive Latifundia's which are owned by the Bourgeois in Bogota.
Not to mention helping to collect taxes and wealth from the Bourgeois to fund these schemes and fund the JAC's.
If FARC-EP did indeed impact the populace negatively then they would not have the support they do have nor the willing campesino's who serve in the revolution.

I dont understand what you are trying to say here?

Their social transformation is wide and varied but limited by the factors they find themselves in in their respective contexts.
But im not sure what you are trying to say here?
I dont see anyone claiming that FARC-EP have transformed Colombian class based society even in the territories they control.
They have helped reverse many of the social injustices and malpractices but even FARC-EP recognises there is alot more to do.

Indeed, the bourgeois find themselves distinclty worse off when under FARC-EP controlled territory since they have quite a distinct class based tax policy.
FARC-EP run schools and education programmes for campesino's in an attempt to curve rural illiteracy after generations of neglect from the state.
While such economic matters are decided democratically through the JAC's from whom the respective FARC-EP Fronts recieve orders from.

I have waved no magic wand.
I have merely provided documented varifiable evidence for my claims as to why there is one sided reporting and why mainstream media is not to be trusted or believed, which you have used twice now in two seperate posts in this thread.
You seem to asserting to some vague ambiguous claim of FARC-EP's faults?
Well what are its faults? And without the bourgeois media this time please.

Violent insurrection without the statement you have in bold is exactly the reason that I don't completely buy into the idea that the FARC are using their insurgent violence to constructively make the lives of the working class better. When all is said and done, the amount of violence and the reason it gives the Colombian State the ability to ignore all other issues within the media and prioritize chasing the FARC down, much like bourgeois politicians in the US with the war on terror.

It seems whenever someone claims that the FARC are reported doing things that harm the people in the countryside, the best people can come up with is that paramilitaries are immediately to blame and the the people dislocated are simply misinformed or being lied to.

If there is no evidence against the word of those interviewed (by Al Jazeera by the way, not a Colombian private media source), and no evidence of improving social relations in their territories, then I don't see why the FARC's current ambitions should be supported. My cousin has schoolmates in Colombia who had their parents kidnapped while attending church with no association with any anti-labor bourgeois/political institutions, and in Cali I constantly see dislocated poor people holding signs asking for assistance because of the violence in the countryside. My father migrated to the United States in order to finish his University schooling in 4 regular years instead of a prolonged 7 or 8 due to the disruption of education services brought on by FARC agitators 30 years ago.

Support mainly comes from the impoverished conditions of the countryside and the lack of opportunities which the FARC provide materially, and there are sure to be revolutionary aspirations among the leaders of the group, but that doesn't make them constructive to working class struggle. Now, I am not trying to support any element of the Colombian State, the Colombian Bourgeois, or the disgusting paramilitaries who spread terror throughout the country in order to protect the interests of US corporations and the national bourgeois, but defenses against the FARC are circumstantial hypothetical assumptions that they are innocent of harmful practices that don't convince me.

[manic expression]

All warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity. When near, make it appear that you are far away; when far away, that you are near. Offer the enemy a bait to lure him; feign disorder and strike him... Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[Magón]

I think your onto something. Chavez is faced with the possibilty at all times of US attack.He is experienced enough to know that he has to gaurd against giving the US any pretense, no matter how tiny. The US of course is perfectly happy to manufacture an old pretense so he must be careful not to make it easy for them.

I don't think the US would ever send boots on the ground in Venezuela. For one, China is a major Venezuelan ally, along with Iran, and most of South America. Having been there twice myself, I'd say the US would rather have a proxy-war with Venezuela, than actually send their own troops. Maybe a sort of early Vietnam sort of thing, where we only had advisors in Saigon?

But a full on US invasion is unlikely.

[Andropov]

Violent insurrection without the statement you have in bold is exactly the reason that I don't completely buy into the idea that the FARC are using their insurgent violence to constructively make the lives of the working class better.
But they have improved the lives of peasants dramatically.
To say otherwise is simply in complete contradiction with the material facts at our disposal.

When all is said and done, the amount of violence and the reason it gives the Colombian State the ability to ignore all other issues within the media and prioritize chasing the FARC down, much like bourgeois politicians in the US with the war on terror.
FARC-EP does not use violence against the campesino's, that is the state.
FARC-EP is a working class mobilisation that has helped shield the campesino's from the violence so if anything you should be supporting FARC-EP if you are adopting the anti-violence stance.
The fact that you assosciate FARC-EP with violence shows your complete warped perspective on the context.
FARC-EP is used to shield campesino's from violence, it is a defensive force used against aggression, this is where its very birth came from in La Violencia.
FARC-EP was formed to protect the working class and if you remove FARC-EP from the context you will have mass ethnic cleansing combined with a mssive drop in the standard of living of campesino's and also with a massive upsurge in exploitation of campesino's.
Never forget that FARC-EP are a defensive tool used to protect the working class from state violence, FARC-EP did not create the violence.

It seems whenever someone claims that the FARC are reported doing things that harm the people in the countryside, the best people can come up with is that paramilitaries are immediately to blame and the the people dislocated are simply misinformed or being lied to.
Pure rubbish.
What I stated was...

The native americans blame FARC-EP to the cameras but there are thousands of documented incidents of when any campesino's criticise the military or the Para's they and their familys are dissapeared.
So thus while all documented evidence has shown that it is indeed the Para's who ethnically cleanse whole territories of peasants there is little to no documented evidence from independant sources.
These campesino's could easily have been removed from the territorys by the Para's and merely resort to lies in order to safegaurd their familys from the very real threat of the Para's.
So taking isolated cases like this out of a much wider context is irrelevant, lets keep it to documented and verifiable figures instead of isolated cases where it is impossible to prove either way.
Not to mention these native americans could have been paid by "Democratic Security"who pay correspondants for information.
Whether that information is true or not is irrelevant, it is who the information slander which is important, i.e. FARC-EP.
Also like I state earlier that pathetic piece of reporting claims that FARC-EP ethnically cleansed the antive americans because they "wanted to better control the area" which simply doesnt make sense unless they are claiming that these native americans colluded with the Para's and the military.
If you are going to debate with me please deal with all my points and stop chopping them down into convenient little soundbites, that wont wash.

If there is no evidence against the word of those interviewed (by Al Jazeera by the way, not a Colombian private media source),
The smae rules apply to foreign media corporations in Colombia so that point is irrelevant.

and no evidence of improving social relations in their territories,
There is of course documented evidence of improving social relations and social conditions in FARC-EP controlled territory.
That statement is just an utter lie.

then I don't see why the FARC's current ambitions should be supported.
Even ignoring the wide variety of social programmes FARC-EP have provided for the campesino's and if you remove FARC-EP you are effectively sentencing hundreds of thousands of campesino's to slaughter.
Even for that one reason the FARC-EP should be supported.
But of course there are numerous other reasons but that I feel would be the most pressing concern for those campesino's that you would have left to the mercy of the para's and military.

My cousin has schoolmates in Colombia who had their parents kidnapped while attending church with no association with any anti-labor bourgeois/political institutions,
FARC-EP does not kidnap people for no reason.
They were obviously of some strategic significance or they were merely wealthy bourgeois used for tiger kidnappings.
Which I have no problem with what so ever and neither should any Revolutionary.

and in Cali I constantly see dislocated poor people holding signs asking for assistance because of the violence in the countryside.
Started and continued by the State.
Never forget FARC-EP is a defensive organisation used to preserve campesino's life and social justice from the iron fist of the state.

My father migrated to the United States in order to finish his University schooling in 4 regular years instead of a prolonged 7 or 8 due to the disruption of education services brought on by FARC agitators 30 years ago.
And yet another perfect example of your political perspective and where your sympathys lie.
It was not FARC-EP who started La Violencia, it was the State, for someone who is Colombian you have a very bad grasp of your history.
I suggest you research it more.

Support mainly comes from the impoverished conditions of the countryside and the lack of opportunities which the FARC provide materially, and there are sure to be revolutionary aspirations among the leaders of the group, but that doesn't make them constructive to working class struggle.
A fairly arrogant and sweeping statement there.
FARC-EP play a pivitol role in the class struggle in Colombia since they are helping reverse the class position of the countryside in Colombia.
They are providing vital social services to the campesino's and spear heading education programmes.
Most of all they provide protection from state sponsored violence and help remove the grasp of social injustice which the state attempts to wrangle around their necks.
FARC-EP is pivitol to the working class struggle in Colombia and to suggest otherwise is either someone desperately misinformed or who has some suspect loyalties.

Now, I am not trying to support any element of the Colombian State, the Colombian Bourgeois, or the disgusting paramilitaries who spread terror throughout the country in order to protect the interests of US corporations and the national bourgeois,
No but you are gravely distorting the context of Colombia and its history in a way in which benefits the States version of Colombian history.
Making ludacrious assertions that FARC-EP are the cause of the violence and as such when the aggressor has always and was always the state.

but defenses against the FARC are circumstantial hypothetical assumptions that they are innocent of harmful practices that don't convince me.
That is just factually wrong, a blatant lie.
Independant human rights organisations and various independant agencies such as "Coalicion Colombiana Contra la Tortura" and "Comision Colombiana de Juristas" have documented the human rights abuses in Colombia for the past two decades.
In 2003 for example less than 5% of human rights abuses were committed by FARC-EP when over 80% were committed by the state sponsored Para's and under 20% were committed by the Colombian Military.
These are the facts but it is up to you to choose when to remove your head from the sand.

[Soviet dude]

I don't see why the FARC's current ambitions should be supported. My cousin has schoolmates in Colombia who had their parents kidnapped while attending church with no association with any anti-labor bourgeois/political institutions, and in Cali I constantly see dislocated poor people holding signs asking for assistance because of the violence in the countryside. My father migrated to the United States in order to finish his University schooling in 4 regular years instead of a prolonged 7 or 8 due to the disruption of education services brought on by FARC agitators 30 years ago.

Your daddy had to leave the country and finish graduate school in America because of the FARC, therefore, FARC is bad...

Right...

[The Vegan Marxist]

Sounds more like the blame should go to the Colombian state that his dad had to leave. Like Andropov stated, FARC didn't start the violence, the Colombian state did, & so FARC are resisting. So to blame them instead of the state, I'd say they're a bit misguided.

[Victory]

I assure you, FARC will not lower their weapons with Santos in power. Santos will not meet FARC's demands, nor will FARC meet the demands of the US Puppet Juan Santos.

[RATM-Eubie]

I really cant stand on the side of drug traffickers

[The Vegan Marxist]

I really cant stand on the side of drug traffickers

If you're referring to FARC as drug traffickers, then you're clearly mistaken.

[Victory]

I really cant stand on the side of drug traffickers

As somebody who is supposed to be a conscious human being, I wouldn’t expect you to buy into the accusations of the FARC being drug traffickers.

The FARC have been forced into a position where the only possibility of them continuing the revolution is by making difficult decisions.

As the Cuban Government, or any other so-called Socialist government do not give finance to the FARC, they have been forced to make taxations. These taxations are put to the Ruling Class in Colombia. These taxations consist of taxing rich business people and businesses, including those who grow or produce coca.

If your willing to accept murder as a means to overthrow a government, you should too be willing to accept the taxation of a plant to overthrow a government.

[KurtFF8]

If you're referring to FARC as drug traffickers, then you're clearly mistaken.

Indeed, the book I just cited clearly debunks this myth. The FARC-EP's relation to drugs is simply coca cultivation, which was a trend that predates the FARC supporting it in any way: working peasants had to move towards coca cultivation due to various neoliberal policies that mad more traditional crop (like coffee) become less valuable, so it was more of a survival mechanism.

The FARC reluctantly accepted this development, as it is supposed to be an organization that represents the interests of the peasants. The FARC will tax traffickers (based on class) and is not involved in the process that turns coca into cocaine (only one of many many uses for coca). The FARC is also a leading organization in trying to move peasants towards the cultivation of other crops.

[RedSonRising]

But they have improved the lives of peasants dramatically.
To say otherwise is simply in complete contradiction with the material facts at our disposal.

FARC-EP does not use violence against the campesino's, that is the state.
FARC-EP is a working class mobilisation that has helped shield the campesino's from the violence so if anything you should be supporting FARC-EP if you are adopting the anti-violence stance.
The fact that you assosciate FARC-EP with violence shows your complete warped perspective on the context.
FARC-EP is used to shield campesino's from violence, it is a defensive force used against aggression, this is where its very birth came from in La Violencia.
FARC-EP was formed to protect the working class and if you remove FARC-EP from the context you will have mass ethnic cleansing combined with a mssive drop in the standard of living of campesino's and also with a massive upsurge in exploitation of campesino's.
Never forget that FARC-EP are a defensive tool used to protect the working class from state violence, FARC-EP did not create the violence.

Pure rubbish.
What I stated was...

If you are going to debate with me please deal with all my points and stop chopping them down into convenient little soundbites, that wont wash.

The smae rules apply to foreign media corporations in Colombia so that point is irrelevant.

There is of course documented evidence of improving social relations and social conditions in FARC-EP controlled territory.
That statement is just an utter lie.

Even ignoring the wide variety of social programmes FARC-EP have provided for the campesino's and if you remove FARC-EP you are effectively sentencing hundreds of thousands of campesino's to slaughter.
Even for that one reason the FARC-EP should be supported.
But of course there are numerous other reasons but that I feel would be the most pressing concern for those campesino's that you would have left to the mercy of the para's and military.

FARC-EP does not kidnap people for no reason.
They were obviously of some strategic significance or they were merely wealthy bourgeois used for tiger kidnappings.
Which I have no problem with what so ever and neither should any Revolutionary.

Started and continued by the State.
Never forget FARC-EP is a defensive organisation used to preserve campesino's life and social justice from the iron fist of the state.

And yet another perfect example of your political perspective and where your sympathys lie.
It was not FARC-EP who started La Violencia, it was the State, for someone who is Colombian you have a very bad grasp of your history.
I suggest you research it more.

A fairly arrogant and sweeping statement there.
FARC-EP play a pivitol role in the class struggle in Colombia since they are helping reverse the class position of the countryside in Colombia.
They are providing vital social services to the campesino's and spear heading education programmes.
Most of all they provide protection from state sponsored violence and help remove the grasp of social injustice which the state attempts to wrangle around their necks.
FARC-EP is pivitol to the working class struggle in Colombia and to suggest otherwise is either someone desperately misinformed or who has some suspect loyalties.

No but you are gravely distorting the context of Colombia and its history in a way in which benefits the States version of Colombian history.
Making ludacrious assertions that FARC-EP are the cause of the violence and as such when the aggressor has always and was always the state.

That is just factually wrong, a blatant lie.
Independant human rights organisations and various independant agencies such as "Coalicion Colombiana Contra la Tortura" and "Comision Colombiana de Juristas" have documented the human rights abuses in Colombia for the past two decades.
In 2003 for example less than 5% of human rights abuses were committed by FARC-EP when over 80% were committed by the state sponsored Para's and under 20% were committed by the Colombian Military.
These are the facts but it is up to you to choose when to remove your head from the sand.

Don't make assumptions about the knowledge of my people's history. I'm well aware the La Violencia was initiated after the murder of Gaitan and the reactionary attacks on labor that followed decades after the Bogotazo splitting the antagonistic political parties within the government at the time.

And again, your focus seems to be that the State and paramilitaries are the source of all the problems within Colombia, a valid point of context since they are murderous allies of the bourgeoisie. But just because I don't fully trust the intentions of the FARC when the only sources of media concerning them are A. bourgeois sources protecting their interests or B. blatantly pro-FARC defenses based on ideological sympathies doesn't mean that my sympathies lie anywhere except with the working class and my experiences lead me to believe there are aspects of the organization's conduct that don't seem to aid the working class. Don't pull the condescending questioning of ideological commitment that is all to often used to disrespect those of a differing opinion.

While the state initiates much of the violence, the FARC aren't simply campesino defense squads and seem to initiate violence which easily brands socialism as terrorism while endangering lives. The landmines they pepper throughout the countryside along with the army have incapacitated or killed countless campesinos and children. Somehow, I don't think a popularly supported rural revolutionary army would prioritize territorial control and weaponized insurrection over spreading information of revolutionized communities and attempting to create conditions for a social revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUHgQJMzSrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU8ujG9M7So&feature=related

Chiquita banana, along with jailed ex-FARC officers, also admitted to funding the FARC along with the paramilitaries, who we already know are accepting funds from US corporations, revealed in a claim to damages owed by Chiquita by kidnapped defense contractors from the US. http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/04/07/Hostages.pdf

With the FARC unwilling or unable-whatever the case may be- to more publically promote documented actions consistent with their ideological statement, the lack of social consciousness among much of the Colombian working class seems to be a challenge which the FARC have failed to conquer. Call me crazy, but the apparent disconnect between proletarian society and the FARC lead me to believe something about the group is non-conducing to nation-wide social transformation.

When I next visit, I'll be traveling all over the country and Ill be sure to engage as many workers, specifically rural ones, in conversations on the FARC and their experiences with the periodic violence (among other things) which I will document and examine.

[Andropov]

I really cant stand on the side of drug traffickers
FARC-EP are not drug traffickers, that is factually incorrect.
The rise of cocaine production actually came about when the bottom fell out of Coffee production that at its height in 1955 coffee accounted for roughly 84% of Colombian export income.
When the USA withdrew from "The International Coffee Agreement" in 1989 it drastically changed the context of Colombia.
This pushed former Coffee producers into producers for narcotics, simply to survive.
From the 1960's-1970's-1980's FARC-EP were adimantly opposed to narcotics production because of the class based background behind the production of narcotics.
For example in 1978 when the Medellin Cartel came to the department of Caqueta to distribute coca seeds, FARC-EP forbade farmers from planting the new crop.
Indeed throughout the 1970's and 1980's FARC-EP remained in armed conflict with the cartels who began openly co-operating with the military and state in an effort to combat FARC-EP.
The notorious Pablo Escobar stated...

that they try to present me as an assosciate of the guerilla...hurts my personal dignity...I am a man of investments and therefore I cannot sympathize with the guerillas who fight against property
Production of narcotics was banned from FARC-EP territory but when the ICA was scrapped and the price for Coffee fell to such an extent that campesino's could not survive on its production FARC-EP changed its policies.
It granted campesino's production rights over coco and it taxed traffickers accordinly.
But FARC-EP only allowed coco cultivation in its territory because of the wider economic context impacting on campesino's.
By the 1980's the drug trade accounted for 10-25% of Colombias exports.
FARC-EP merely taxed merchants and traffickers but it did not and does not actively engage with the production, tracfficking or smuggling of narcotics.
Indeed in the 1980's FARC-EP worked with the United Nations on crop substitution in an effort to wean the campesino's off coco dependancy.
Klaus Nyholm the former director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme stated...

The guerillas are something different than the traffickers, the local fronts are quite autonomous. But in some areas, they're not involved at all. And in others, they actively tell the farmers not to grow coca
This is not to mention the wealth of information from the enemys of FARC-EP who have said as much.
For example Alfredo Rangel Suarez the former military advisor to the Uribe administration stated...

it is a mistake to treat the FARC like a drug cartel because it ignores the fact that the principle goal of the FARC is not to make money from drug-trafficking but to take political power through violence
Even Donnie Marshall and James Milford the former Administrator and Deputy Administrator of the USA Drug Enforcement Agency have stated that FARC-EP are not involved in narcotics, even infront of the US House Committee.
A former US Special forces Green Beret officer Stan Goff stated..

My own personal experience as a military advisor in Colombia in 1992 leads me to conclude that the "war on drugs" is simply a propaganda ploy, a legitimizing story for the American public
One you seem to have swallowed whole.
Even the former president of Colombia Pastrana is gone on record saying FARC-EP is not involved in narcotics.
Now you may well ask who runs Colombias drug trade now that the major Cartels were crushed, well that would be the AUC.
The AUC now traffic the majority of narcotics through Colombia since the 1990's headed by Castano.

[Andropov]

Don't make assumptions about the knowledge of my people's history. I'm well aware the La Violencia was initiated after the murder of Gaitan and the reactionary attacks on labor that followed decades after the Bogotazo splitting the antagonistic political parties within the government at the time.
Exactly, it was started and perpetuated by the State, FARC-EP are only a defensive weapon against such naked aggression.
So dont forget that the next time you are pointing the finger at who is responsible for the violence.

And again, your focus seems to be that the State and paramilitaries are the source of all the problems within Colombia, a valid point of context since they are murderous allies of the bourgeoisie. But just because I don't fully trust the intentions of the FARC when the only sources of media concerning them are A. bourgeois sources protecting their interests or
Of course and all independant documented evidence suggest this.

B. blatantly pro-FARC defenses based on ideological sympathies
Thats an utter fucking lie.
I have clearly detailed numerous independant agencies which have documented abuses and it is cealry demonstrated that FARC-EP are not the guilty party you paint them to be.
Indeed they are the protectors of the campesino's human rights.

doesn't mean that my sympathies lie anywhere except with the working class and my experiences lead me to believe there are aspects of the organization's conduct that don't seem to aid the working class.
Well detail them then, stop giving vague assertions and start detailing them.
And this time give me some independant agencies which verify them instead of your usual inane posting of bourgeois media clips.

Don't pull the condescending questioning of ideological commitment that is all to often used to disrespect those of a differing opinion.
I do question your ideological standing on the issue since you seem happy to spout the states narrative over the context in Colombia by insinuating FARC-EP are responsible for the violence and continue to use bourgeois media sources that I have already demonstrated are not to be trusted.

While the state initiates much of the violence, the FARC aren't simply campesino defense squads and seem to initiate violence which easily brands socialism as terrorism while endangering lives.
FARC-EP do attempt to push back the State and Para's and this is done of course through violence.
After all this is a class war.
But FARC-EP were not the initiators of violence, always remember they were the defensive tool against the states aggression to the working class.

The landmines they pepper throughout the countryside along with the army have incapacitated or killed countless campesinos and children.
Baseless accusations without verifiable evidence from independant agencies.
As I stated before on average FARC-EP are responsible for less than 10% of human rights abuses.
Indeed it is more consistantly found in recent years at less than 5% of human rights abuses.
You keep resorting to either isolated incidents or vague assertions without any factual backing while I have cearly given documented factual evidence from independant agencies.
That is the difference here.

Somehow, I don't think a popularly supported rural revolutionary army would prioritize territorial control and weaponized insurrection over spreading information of revolutionized communities and attempting to create conditions for a social revolution
Bizarre logic here.
Firstly as stated before FARC-EP were a defensive tool against the states aggression against the working class.
FARC-EP did not priorities territorial control or weaponized insurrection, it was forced into these avenues because of the states repression and violence against the working class, so as usual that assertion is wrong.
Secondly FARC-EP do conduct literary classes and education seminars in their territorys and the barrio's of the major urban centres.
And thirdly FARC-EP are the aftermath after the conditions for social revolution were achieved and ruthlessly slaughtered by the state.
You seem to have this warped perspective that if FARC-EP dissapear tomorrow then it will be better for the Colombian working class when all documented evidence shows this to be bogus.

Chiquita banana, along with jailed ex-FARC officers, also admitted to funding the FARC along with the paramilitaries, who we already know are accepting funds from US corporations, revealed in a claim to damages owed by Chiquita by kidnapped defense contractors from the US.
Ohh absolutely, this is part of the FARC-EP class based tax policy.
This is where Merchants are taxed between 7-15%.
Drug Merchants are taxed 7-15%.
Large cattle ranchers are taxed 7-15%.
Colombians worth over $1 Million are taxed 10%.
And Multi National Companys are taxed 10%.
While landless and subsistance peasant farmers are not taxed at all and directly receive grants and bursaries. This is in the form of Monetary support and/or goods provided through FARC-EP or the JAC.

With the FARC unwilling or unable-whatever the case may be- to more publically promote documented actions consistent with their ideological statement, the lack of social consciousness among much of the Colombian working class seems to be a challenge which the FARC have failed to conquer.
Not at all, the campesino's of Colombia are some of the most radical in Latin America.
While also attempting to radicalise in the barrio's with clandestine organsiation that I have detailed to you previously.

Call me crazy, but the apparent disconnect between proletarian society and the FARC lead me to believe something about the group is non-conducing to nation-wide social transformation.
Your apparent disconnect is just that, apparent.
The reality on the ground is much different as is evident by the the documented support from human rights agencies and the like for FARC-EP.

When I next visit, I'll be traveling all over the country and Ill be sure to engage as many workers, specifically rural ones, in conversations on the FARC and their experiences with the periodic violence (among other things) which I will document and examine.
Dont expect much open praise of FARC-EP when in State controlled zones since the spector of Para violence is a very real threat for these people.

[Nolan]

As for the media's portrayal of the FARC as evil terrorists, I'll just say this: It's a war. Everything has to be seen in that context.

[Proletarian Ultra]

Then you are an idiot. All my political disagreements aside, the RCP are in no way whatsoever connected to the CIA, it would be absurd to think they are.

Ummm...how come Abimael Guzman got bagged right after meeting with one of their cadres?

(Not that I have time for the Sendero's either, but c'mon - two plus two, here.)