PCSJA members honour those who lost their lives for standing up for peace in Colombia’s civil war. (www.cdpsanjose.org)Last summer – one year after finishing The Power of Staying Put – I went back to La Holandita, Colombia, home to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (PCSJA). My admiration for the PCSJA’s perseverance, resourcefulness and commitment to nonviolent resistance in the face of war had not diminished one bit. Still facing repression and stigmatization from armed groups stationed in their area, this small farming community in northwestern Colombia continues to engage in an impressive array of civil resistance tactics which have sustained the lives and livelihoods of its residents for almost two decades. As a peace community, the PCSJA does not cooperate with or rely on any group or entity that derives power from the barrel of a gun – state forces, the FARC, and paramilitary groups alike.
First established in 1997 in San José de Apartadó, PCSJA villagers did not flee the violence these actors were perpetrating. Instead they stayed put as an act of nonviolent resistance, declaring total neutrality. Many villagers have paid the ultimate price for this choice. In 2005, they were forced to move their headquarters a few miles down the road to La Holandita, when a military outpost was built in San José de Apartadó (which overtly violated their raison d’être of neutrality). Nevertheless, the PCSJA today has grown into a robust, sophisticated peace community which operates its own school and self-sustained economic activities. Many major international actors, including the Fellowship for Reconciliation, Operazione Colomba, and Peace Brigades International, as well as burgeoning peace initiatives around the world recognize the PCSJA as a model and authentic, grassroots peacebuilder.
Returning to La Holandita this past summer felt like going back home; warm smiles and friendly greetings welcomed me. I had the chance to meet the new members of the Internal Council, play with the kids, help with the community vegetable garden, enjoy a few days refreshing community life, and learn about recent developments since my last visit in spring 2014.
