Red Condor Hour: Recent Episodes

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In our third episode, Ezra invited Oliver Dodd, a PhD student at the University of Nottingham whose research focuses on Colombia's civil war. They discussed over half a century of armed insurrectionary history and its cultural impact, the peace accords, and the future of the armed struggle in Colombia.

The first half of our interview with Oliver was an overview of both the FARC's and ELN's histories. We then dove into the following questions with Oliver:

• Armed insurrectionists in Colombia are often painted as terrorists, gangsters, and narcotraffickers, why is that?
• Why did the FARC (Segunda Marquetalia) split from the legal political party, Comunes?
• Can you explain the daily routine of the groups, and how political theory is incorporated into their everyday life and routine?
• Can you compare and contrast political-military strategies between the ELN and FARC?
• What is your forecast for the future of these groups, and their struggles considering recent developments in regards to Colombia’s political economy and state formation?

Our intro song is 'La Vida Vale La Pena' by Petrona Martinez, the Afro-Colombian queen of Bullerengue. The outro song is 'De mi pueblo para la Guerrilla' by Julián Conrado, el cantautor de vallenatos de la guerrilla.

Sources:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jJs5WNhOqe4WpbDKZ5ri1\_MyoxQFOOoAjvY2ktOMpEo/edit

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In our second episode, Ezra and Alexis facilitate a conversation with Josué and special guest Carlos, a member of the Red Conder Collective and academic researcher, about the influence of indigenous activism on the Colombian communist movement. The conversation mainly touches on the first half of the 1900s leaving the second half open for further analysis in a later episode. From the Quintinadas of the first decades, to the indigenous and peasant leagues organized and the foundation of the Colombian Communist Party in 1930 with members like Jose Gonzalo Sanchez, Cesar Niño and Eutiqio Timote Tique.

*Correction from in the podcast: the quotes attributed to Juan Bautista at the 3rd National Workers Congress of 1938 were in fact quotes from Cesar Niño the Arhuaco leader

The song we chose for our outro today is Soy Colombiano that was originally composed by Rafael Godoy, who was involved in the indigenous communist movement of Natagaima, Tolima and the union movement in Barrancabermeja. He had to flee to Venezuela from violence due to his activism and that's where he wrote the song from

Sources:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KojvTDflu9zIfWI9doJ3b_MXF6UyGCUMBJ5jf-1wcTU/edit?usp=sharing

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In this episode, we briefly discuss imperialism in Colombia, introduce our podcast and other projects we partake in. One such campaign we are currently involved in is a gofundme page to support protestors and activists in Buenaventura, where Black Colombians are protesting against the violence and economic hardships they are facing due to the state and global capitalist imperialism. Below you can find links to our social media to find out more, as well as our gofundme.

We start by discussing the history of capitalist exploitation and violence in Colombia, and a series of key historical events in the imperialist project of the country. We then talk about how foreign capital, particularly transnational corporations, are a driving force of this violence and exploitation, and how narcotrafficking is also driven by the interests of the ruling class, within Colombia and abroad.
Some of the topics we discuss are:

• Spanish colonization
• War of Independence
• Panama Canal Anexation
• Banana Massacres and Banana Imperialism
• Suarez Doctrine
• Marquetalia and the birth of the FARC
• Pablo Escobar, Reagan and the War on Drugs
• Plan Colombia
• The Rise of the Prison Industrial Complex in Colombia
• Uribe: Uribismo and the "Falsos Positivos" Scandal
• Farc Peace accords in Cuba
• Duque and the current government
• Coca Cola, Mining Companies and the Coffee Industry
• Narcotrafficking

We finish our episode by talking about what we and our listeners can do to support the struggle in Colombia, as well as upcoming episodes we have planned.
Don't forget to check out the hashtag #SOSBuenaventura to find out more about what's going on, or you can check out our social media to learn more about the struggle in Buenaventura, but also in Colombia in general.

Also a note, this episode was a bit longer than planned, and we expect to keep most of our episodes under 1 hour, however considering the depth and long history of this topic, this episode was inevitably longer than intended.

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Diaspora Tribune (Our news outlet)
Diaspora Tribune twitter

You can become a Patreon here

Or donate to our gofundme to support protestors and activists in Buenaventura