#CAPAZ Recommendations: Peace from below – challenges and opportunities for another kind of peace
The book, Paces desde abajo: desafíos y oportunidades de otra paz , edited by John Jairo Uribe (Universidad de Ibagué), Iokiñe Rodríguez (University of East Anglia) and Jairo Baquero-Melo (Universidad del Rosario) was recently published by Universidad del Rosario. The former two universities are CAPAZ partners.
The publication gathers local and community experiences of peacebuilding processes in various parts of Colombia. Click here to share and download the book free of charge: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QHUCUYwa3SLNz6ANYl9bPDBWrPVZ7tYR/view
Abstract
Peace built from within the territories is the result of the interaction between the processes of state recognition/alignment, the presence of violent actors, and the dynamics of local autonomy. The chapters that make up this book broaden, deepen, and problematize these axes. Each chapter addresses and offers a rich panorama of the ways in which local peace is built. With special emphasis on the department of Tolima, this book is intended to provide a narrative to challenge the dominant discourses on peace in Colombia and to examine the diverse ways in which local communities have been creating other conceptions and practices of peace.
The journey highlights the need to recognize other ways of building peace, beyond the official narratives and institutional arrangements focusing on reincorporation, victim reparations, and reducing violence. The regional tensions analysed show that, despite the constraints imposed by violent actors and even by public policies, organisations and communities have managed to build multiple proposals that involve dialogue with each other, but also with academia, the media, activists, Colombian society, and the international community.