Young people from the Magdalena Medio region and the Santander department met from April 13 to 17 with the goal of sharing knowledge and experiences about conscientious objection and non-violence. During our discussions, we decided to publicly declare that:
1. We reject all unthinking and unjust practices that are sustained and validated by the indifference of those who with our silence contribute to perpetrating this model.
2. We object against everything that does not let us be, that does not allow us to freely develop, that restricts our thoughts, that limits our way of being and of feeling.
3. We reject the use of our bodies for ends other than those that we choose in accordance with our values. We will not allow ourselves to be used by other people nor by institutions or systems that require us for their ends. We want to be sure of ourselves, autonomous, capable of self-determination, and able to decide what to do with our bodies and our minds.
4. We say no to social conditioning that leads us to invalidate and put aside our feelings; to certain roles that tell us how to behave in different kinds of situations, guided by a morality that often limits us but does not benefit us.
5. We object against authoritarianism, war, and family violence. We object against the way young people are disrespected and judged, stigmatizing and eliminating them. We do not accept the lists or the elimination of young people in the places where we live.
6. We say no to the militarization of society and to the military as a tool of oppression, repression, regression, and practices that violate human rights, such as “false positives.”
7. Our objection is to any form, whether conscious or unconscious, of the use of violence against another human being. We reject practices of abuse carried out by sexist males permeated by a patriarchal culture that, along with militarism, is part of a culture of control, subjugation, and the violation of rights. We also reject sexism that we as women unconsciously reproduce. We reject the mistreatment and violence that take place in work, religious, and social spheres, among others. 8. We refuse to conceive of a world with a uniform single order, without all of its diversity and richness.
9. We do not want a democracy based on the arbitrary exercise of power, or a model that “invests” money in more weapons to restrain, contain, and harm, while limitations are placed on the exercise and access to rights that make possible the conditions needed for a dignified life, such as health, education, and the creation of new jobs.
10. We do not join the group of the bought-off consciences, the submissive, those who act without thinking, the unfeeling and selfish, those who blindly obey, the sexist and racist crowd. We refuse to believe that there is anything that takes precedence over the dignity of living.
OUR COMMITMENT AND REQUESTS
11. Our fundamental goal is the ongoing construction of knowledge and the broadening of our skills, in order to build alternatives to the context of violence that entangles young people as victims and as victimizers.
12. Our position is day-to-day, personal, and emotional. It is based on education, popular communication, participation, unification, collective experiences, dialogue, the transformation of conflicts, knowledge-sharing, and action. Since one can not, therefore, be a theoretical conscientious objector seated at a table, it is in practice where one’s life choices are put into action.
13. We ask for the distance between those of us who are poor and those who are rich to become smaller and smaller, and not the contrary. Improved living conditions for young people and others will help our country’s situation improve.
14. We want our opinions and arguments to be taken into account to reach consensuses.
15. We have rights and duties, but we also have arguments and principles that make us responsible for respecting our own life and the life of others.
16. We affirm our commitment to life in all its forms, to our existence as human beings. Some of us, as part of our Catholic and Christian duty, defend life at all times and in all places.
17. We have the right to say yes and to say no. We are not asking to get rid of the army, but that respect be given to those who opt to refuse to be part of the army or any other armed group. We reaffirm our principles and commitment to non-violence and our conscientious objection to mandatory military service, because we do not agree with the logic of subjugation and the elimination of difference.
18. Our purpose is to bring together our voices as conscientious objectors to demand our rights.
19. It is important to recognize the other, because it is not useful to keep reproducing practices of elimination and subjugation. It has become necessary to confront any kind of practices and fears that contribute to the militarization of the body and mind. Our challenge is to walk toward genuine freedom and not to remain tied to practices that reproduce injustice and violence. It is important for all of us to constantly conscientiously examine our ways of thinking and acting.
20. “What is different is not reasoning, or thinking; it is finding the humanity in the other.” It can be found by approaching the other as a human being. We can build a social fabric in which ideas can write a different kind of history, where we understand that life is above any interest or role that is being played out.
Signed by more than 25 young people
This process is promoted by "Corporación COMPROMISO", together with the Peace and Justice Service of Ecuador, Civis and the "Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia de Bogotá", and is funded by the "Servicio de Desarrollo de las Iglesias Protestantes de Alemania (EED)".
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