Political Participation in “Post-Conflict” Colombia: Social Movements, Community Radio and the Challenge of Implementing the 2016 Government-FARC Peace Accords in the Countryside

Mario A. Murillo, Hofstra University


Thursday, April 19, 2018 | 04:00 pm - 05:00 pm

Hibben Center, Room 105

About:

Join us for a presentation with Professor Murillo of Hofstra University as he addresses questions regarding political participation in "post-conflict" Colombia.

Point two of the six-point peace agreement signed by the Government of Juan Manuel Santos and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, focused on political participation as an important pre-requisite for building a lasting peace peace in a post-conflict Colombia. Along with providing security guarantees for leaders of social movements and representatives of the political opposition, the peace accords also emphasized the important rule of community radio as an essential tool for citizens to engage in the construction of a democratic culture, particularly in areas hit hardestby the fifty-plus years of armed conflict. In this presentation, Murillo will explore the state of community radio in Colombia within the context of the post-conflict period, and project it against other aspects of the peace accords that have faced major obstacles in their implementation in the period since it was signed.

Murillo is professor of communication and Latin American Studies at Hofstra University. As a journalist, radio documentarian, writer, and researcher, he has focused much of his attention on the cultural and social role public interest, community-oriented radio plays in local and national contexts, and considers citizens' media to be a fundamental tool of cultural armation, artistic expression, civic engagement, and political participation, all of whichare underlying themes of his current project, the manuscript Voices of Resistance: Indigenous Medi and the Struggle of Justice in Colombia. He is the author of Colombia and the United States: War, Unrest and Destabilization (Seven Stories, 2004) and Islands of Resistance: Puerto Rico, Vieques and U.S. Policy (Seven Stories, 2001), in addition to countless essays, articles, and radio reports and documentaries.


Notes:

This event is free and open to the public. An information fair will be held preceding and following the lecture, from 3:00-4:00 pm and again from 5:00-5:30.


Sponsors:

Latin American and Iberian Institute (with support from the US Department of Education Title VI), Study Abroad - Colombia, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Department of Linguistics, Generation Justice, Department of Communication and Journalism, Department of Anthropology, Community Engaged Learning and Research