Sociology

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
12:00pm-1:00pm
Beveridge Arts Centre (Room 325)Acadia University

Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia: The Origin and Direction of the FARC-EP

by James J. Brittain (forward by James Petras)

Compared to other Latin American countries, minor sociopolitical analysis has been given to contemporary Colombia. This lack of investigation is perplexing due to Colombia's geographical and socioeconomic importance worldwide. The Andean country has one of the largest reserves of fossil fuels in the world, it is home to the longest running civil war in the hemisphere, it has the second highest number of internally displaced persons on the planet, it remains one of the most inequitable countries in the region, and is the poster-child of the international drug trade. Amidst such conditions, Colombia also holds a unique and interesting history of resistance against dominant political-economic interests. At the helm of this decades-long struggle has been the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP). Regarded by some as the largest and most powerful political-military force in Latin American history, modest research has been conducted on the FARC-EP and lesser still accessible to the public. With what little is propagated, much depicts the insurgency as nothing more than an outdated ideologically-lacking guerrilla movement violently enmeshed in Colombia's narcotic industry. Attempting to fill a much-needed void, Revolutionary Social Change in Colombia evaluates the unique theoretical and pragmatic composition of the insurgency and its relation to radical social change within Colombia. As the FARC-EP continues to be a symbolic power both regionally and globally, it is important to analyze where and why this organization came into existence and whether the insurgency has the potential to create conditions for an emancipatory transformation of Colombia. After spending the greater part of ten years analyzing the FARC-EP in both text and person, James J. Brittain addresses the question of who the FARC-EP are, what they are doing in Colombia, and if this insurgency can assist in the creation of a social and political revolution of, by, and for those marginalized in Colombia.

Sponsored by the Department of Sociology Brown Bag Committee