COLOMBIA: The Peasant Prophets

Facebook
Twitter
Email
WhatsApp
Print

CPTnet


7 April 2017

COLOMBIA: The Peasant Prophets

by Jhon Henry.

Micah
was a peasant farmer born in Moresheth, a quiet village located in Judah,
southwest of Jerusalem; This peasant farmer prophesied against greed and
cruelty that abounded in his time.

In
Micah’s time people were selfish and opportunistic and therefore justice was
mismanaged, always seeking self-benefit over truth.

Micah’s
strongest words were against the corruption that permeated all areas of
society, a society in which those who had power took advantage of it ignoring
the call of God to act with justice. Of course in that historical context poor
people were not only the result of an unequal society, but also their poverty
resulting from corrupt laws and judicial processes that favored only the owners
of power. 

One
of the options used by Micah to denounce corruption in this context is the
following, which refers to the administration of power that fosters inequality:

Micah 2:1-2 
1 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those
who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is
in their power to do it.  2 They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob
them of their inheritance.

In
biblical contexts such as the one of Micah’s, to be a prophet implies a
vocation. The willingness to be called by God to enter into a deep
relationship, where God brings to the table the great injustices to which the
rich and powerful subjected the poor and humble of his time. The role of the
prophet was to receive this divine inspiration and denounce in all spaces,
seeking that through this denunciation a change be generated and all seek God.

Women Farmers  

Photo: Caldwell Manners/CPT

Today
the peasants have decided to accept the divine gift of prophecy. They have
scolded the rich and powerful of our time on the serious social, political and
economic injustices that exist in Colombia and especially in the countryside.
The government’s response to the peasants’ allegations has been to assassinate,
vanquish, torture, displace, threaten, and so on.

These
government strategies to silence the voices of the peasant prophets have been
like fire in a dry field, as it has generated the birth of new prophets who
take the voice of their brothers and sisters to continue the difficult work of
being a prophet in Colombia. As a countermeasure the government has decided to
prosecute these prophets of the countryside, depriving them of their freedom
through false accusations such as conspiracy to commit a crime or support of
revolutionary structures such as the Farc-ep or the ELN.

Why
take away their freedom? They suppose that with this mechanism they take away
the force of the grassroots organizational processes? Or do they try to fill
people with fear? Or do they simply want to fill the prisons with innocent
people? To criminalize is cheaper than giving land to peasants or hospitals,
schools, roads and electricity? We do not know exactly what the reason is, but
something we can say is that if one prophet dies another is called. If one
loses his/her freedom another continues with his/her work… The voice of God
continues to be expressed through the poor and humble of Colombia no matter
what the government does… Because where a people demands freedom and justice,
God is present and there is nothing to stop them.

I
extend a prayer for all those prophets who have lost their lives and their
freedom performing the sacred task of denouncing the structures of death and
oppression. Their voice is not lost. It goes silent as the wind cooling the
fields of Colombia and renewing the strength of those who still wage the hard
battle of seeking peace.

Categories

Read More Stories

An aerial view of Oak Flat lands, red stones and mountains under a blue sky with a layer of white clouds

Kill the sacred or stop the mine

At Oak Flat, the capitalist powers of destruction seem to want to play God – but how does one destroy all that sustains life in favour of scars of death?

A compilation of the logos of the undersigned organizations

Sekiz Yıllık Şiddet, Ayrımcılık, Tecrit ve Dışlanma

Mart 2016’da AB-Türkiye Mutabakaı’nın yayınlandığında, devletlerin mültecilerin haklarını koruma konusundaki uluslararası yükümlülüklerini tamamen göz ardı etmesi nedeniyle insan hakları grupları tarafından şiddetle kınanmıştı

A compilation of the logos of the undersigned organizations

Eight years of Violence, Discrimination, Segregation, and Exclusion 

On the eighth anniversary of the EU-Turkey Statement, we denounce Turkey and EU states’ consistent failure to uphold their international obligations with regard to migrants and refugees, and strengthen our joint commitment to challenge all official and unofficial policies that lead to the discrimination, segregation, and ultimately exclusion of migrants.

Skip to content