As UK-based scholars conducting research in Colombia, we express our horror at recent events in Colombia, and call on the British government to support calls to protect the right to peaceful protest.
Since the beginning of the National Strike on 28 April, over 380 people have been reported as disappeared. At least 20 people have lost their lives in clashes between the armed forces and protesters, and there have been widespread reports of the use of sexual violence, racialized persecution and indiscriminate force against protesters.
We are committed to supporting our partners and colleagues in Colombia. We admire the way in which university leaders in Colombia have offered to act as a bridge for dialogue between social movements, communities and interest groups. We offer our own good offices to support this dialogue from afar in whatever way possible.
We call on the UK government to do everything within its power to stop the violence and to encourage efforts for meaningful national dialogue and the resolution of the structural problems of inequality and impunity that have shaped the protests over the last days.
Signatures
- Ailsa Peate, University of Westminster
- Allan Gillies, University of Glasgow
- Andrei Gómez-Suárez, University of Winchester
- Alvaro Henao, SOAS
- Austin Zeiderman, LSE
- Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, University of Aberystwyth
- Bethan Fisk, University of Edinburgh
- Bryce Lease, Royal Holloway
- Charles Beach, University College London
- Cherilyn Elston, University of Reading
- Claire Taylor, University of Liverpool
- Clara Sandoval, University of Essex
- Clara Voyvodic Casabó, University of Oxford
- Clarissa Giebel, University of Liverpool
- Chiara Chiavaroli, LSE
- Dáire McGill, University of Oxford
- Elena Stavrevska, LSE
- Erin Mcfee, LSE
- Frances Thomson, SOAS
- Goya Wilson Vasquez, University of Bristol
- Gwen Burnyeat, University of Oxford
- Jamie Shenk, University of Oxford
- Jaskiran Kaur Chohan, University of Bristol
- Jenny Pearce, LSE
- Johanna Amaya, University of Essex
- Jonathan Goodhand, SOAS
- Jonathan Newman, University of Sussex
- Jorge Andrés Varela Yepes, University College London
- Juan Mario Diaz Arevalo, University of Sheffield
- Julia Paulson, University of Bristol
- Juliana Velez Echeverri, University of Reading
- Katherine Gough, Loughborough University
- Kerry Prior, King’s College London
- Kyla Sankey, Queen Mary University
- Larisa Sioneriu, University of Bristol
- Lars Waldorf, University of Essex
- Laura Fonseca, LSE
- Laura Hankin, University of Bristol
- Lina Malagón, University of Ulster
- Lucia Brandi, University of Liverpool
- Maria Paula Escobar-Tello, University of Bristol
- Matthew Brown, University of Bristol
- Mo Hume, University of Glasgow
- Monica Amador-Jimenez, University of Bristol
- Naomi Millner, University of Bristol
- Neil Burnside, University of Strathclyde
- Olga Sorzano Montana, City University
- Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Birkbeck, University of London
- Peter Watson, University of Leeds
- Roddy Brett, University of Bristol
- Roxani Krystalli, University of St Andrews
- Sabine Michalowski, University of Essex
- Sam Ritholtz, University of Oxford
- Sanne Weber, University of Birmingham
- Simon Rushton, University of Sheffield
- Sonja Marzi, LSE
- Tara Van Ho, Lecturer, University of Essex
- Tatiana Suárez, University of London
- Thea Pitman, University of Leeds
- Tobias Franz, SOAS
