The goal of the direct action was to reclaim this public space with graffiti and stencil art, in order to bring attention to the most serious challenge facing young people: the militarization of young peoples’ daily lives in Madrid.
The action involved two days of community work, with music, art, and free meals prepared by the community. Young people from Madrid and nearby municipalities used colour to express what they think about the militarization of their lives and its consequences on the very fact of being a young person today in the municipalities surrounding Bogota, in the context of the armed internal conflict. Public Art, shared community spaces, music and colour were proposed as alternatives, preferred by young people to war, exploitation, stigmatization, the criminalization of actions expressing their ideas, mistreatment, authoritarianism, and abuse of authority.
Why militarization?
Madrid, Cundinamarca, 39 kilometres west of Bogota, is a municipality with a little more than 67,000 residents (according to data from the 2005 census, conducted by the DANE). Since 1924, there has been a Colombian Air Force (FAC) base within the urban area of Madrid. This has had a significant impact on how the town has grown socially, culturally and economically, as well as on the way in which relationships among its residents have evolved. It is therefore possible to assert that this municipality is growing up around the dynamics generated by militarization, based on a narrow understanding of this phenomenon.
Nevertheless, the situation in Madrid has changed little from the early twentieth century until the present. The increase in industrial activities tied mainly to agriculture, as well as the continued presence of the Air Force base, have meant that social dynamics in the municipality have undergone only limited change. Thinking about the daily lives of young people in Madrid well into the twenty first century is not very encouraging: excessively conservative and traditional families; schools deeply rooted in a working class life project; cultural development marked by short-term political interests; minimal educational, health and development opportunities; and a complete lack of support for youth organizations’ initiatives.
All this has led to the development of constant tension and misunderstandings between young people, who are turning to urban artistic and cultural expressions as outlets for their identity, and traditional social institutions (family, school, work, government, etc). This situation has reproduced dynamics and attitudes that instead of recognizing young people as important actors for development, stigmatize, infantilise and criminalise their practices and initiatives.
And so...?
Young people in Madrid have once again found support to express themselves and share their opinions and their perspectives. But responses to this action were quick in coming. Even though the action was supported by the community, it has not been welcomed by institutions like the Municipal Police, who requested that the Leteo Association erase the mural. They particularly insisted on the elimination of a section referring to the murder of the young graffitti artist Diego Felipe Becerra, shot by a police officer in northern Bogota in early August. According to the Municipal Police, erasing the painting would be the condition for being able to “continue maintaining a cordial relationship.”
A month has gone by since the wall was transformed, and nearly a month since this message was received from the Madrid Police commander. The wall has not been touched. Perhaps the community has come to the same conclusion as one of the young people who took part in the action: “If this painting means ’reject drugs, reject violence, reject war,’ then what does it mean to demand that it be erased?”
Camilo Enrique Rios Rozo
Research Department – Leteo Association
Madrid, Cundinamarca – October 2011
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