Social Leaders under threat: A critical analysis of the Colombian government and its party members discourse regarding threats, violence, and assassinations of Social Leaders.

• Main Author: Rengifo Pelaez, Cesar David
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper 2021
• Subjects: Critical Discourse Analysis; Social Leaders; Colombia; Pluriverse; Uribism; Political ontology; Earth and Related Environmental Sciences; Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-445294

Social Leaders in Colombia in their efforts to defend their territories and communities have been victims for years of threats, violence, and assassinations by some of the power structures present in the country. After the signing of the peace process Between the FARC and the government of Colombia in 2016, the situation has worsened. Social Leaders are catalysts for sustainable development and guaranteeing their protection is fundamental to the country's sustainable development goals. To analyze the situation the methodology applied was a critical discourse analysis, in which the thesis pursed was to understand the government's position and why this social wrong persists. With this aim, the thesis critically analyzed the texts of the government's development plan, tweets of the main channels of the national government, and the congressmen of the ruling party. The analysis indicated that the ideologies of the ruling party make it difficult to find solutions to wicked problems. In addition, the ideology of the governing party presented a combination of neoliberal, neo-conservative, and “caudillismo” discourses that make it difficult to see Social Leadersas potential solutions to problems and stigmatize them. Thus, increasing the risk of Social Leaders being attacked, threatened, or assassinated. The discussion indicates that the path to change requires a change in the polarized vision that the country has had in its history. It is discussed that change can be pursued through pluriverse. The pluriverse is required for the construction of a country that puts in the dialog different ontologies. The analysis proposed components of ontological politics as an option for the transition from the actual model to this pluriverse.