Depoliticization and Criminalization of Social Protest through Economic Decisionism: the Colombian Case
Keywords:
Social protests, criminalization, depoliticization, biopolitics, Protestas sociales, criminalización, despolitización, biopolíticaAbstract
This article argues that current manifestations of criminalization of protest in contexts rich in natural resources can be inscribed in a wider economic context that contributes to the neutralization of political claims to land, natural resources and self-determination. The first part suggests a view of the tendency to criminalize protests as underpinned by a biopolitical immunization of economic decisions from political contestation. By effecting a normative, impassable disjuncture between what is considered juridical-political and what is considered economic, a biopolitical articulation appears in order to functionally present economic decisions as technical and necessary, and consequently, non-political. The second part of the article presents a preliminary approach to the current configuration of criminalization of protests in Colombia. I argue that recent initiatives to criminalize protests exemplify the manner in which physical violence, whether realized or implied, is playing an important role in the legitimization, foundation, and operation of a new property regime characterized by a de facto land reform, a selective enforcement of property rights and an increasing shielding of economic decisions - concerning natural resources exploitation - from political debate.
Este artículo sostiene que las actuales formas de criminalización de la protesta social en contextos de riqueza en recursos naturales, pueden estar inscritas dentro de un contexto más amplio, que contribuye a la neutralización de las luchas en torno a la tierra, los recursos naturales y la autodeterminación. La primera parte presenta una perspectiva de la tendencia a la criminalización de la protesta, justificada como un medio eficiente de inmunización biopolítica de las decisiones económicas y de la confrontación política. Al producir un desentendimiento entre lo que se considera jurídico-político y lo que se considera económico, aparece una articulación biopolítica al presentar las decisiones económicas como herramientas de gobernanza técnicas y necesarias, y por consecuencia apolíticas. La segunda parte del artículo presenta una forma preliminar de entender la configuración actual de la criminalización de la protesta social en Colombia. El artículo demuestra que las recientes iniciativas para criminalizar la protesta ejemplifican una forma mediante la cual la violencia física, bien sea reconocida o supuesta, está jugando un papel importante en el fundamento, legitimidad y operatividad de un nuevo régimen de propiedad caracterizado por una reforma agraria de facto, una selectiva forma de implementación de los derechos de propiedad y un alto desplazamiento del debate político de las decisiones económicas en torno a los recursos naturales.
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