As Colombian students living in the UK, we are accustomed to student strikes and taking to the streets to promote causes such as higher education and social justice issues almost always in a peaceful manner. Protesting in Colombia, however, is a vastly different experience. Although protests are generally peaceful and filled with cultural and artistic expressions in Colombia, they often result in disturbances and frequent confrontations between protesters and state forces.

In the United Kingdom, however, we have found that strikes are frequent phenomena and strongly guaranteed. Negative externalities do occur, of course. As students, we have had to recalculate our route and miss some lectures due to ongoing public transport strikes. However, affected services are usually announced in advance, protesters are polite, and the protest is not perceived as insecure by those not directly involved. Business owners do not seem to fear vandalism of their premises, and opponents of the protest typically do not resort to violence to weaken it.

Although comparisons between Colombia and the United Kingdom may seem out of place due to differential starting points in terms of development, socioeconomic trajectories, and the political economy issues of both countries, we must inevitably reflect on the difference in experiences and outline at least three conjectures about their reasons. The first is related to civic space and respect for freedom of association. The second concerns using state and non-state violence against protesters and social leaders. And the third is about trade unions’ role and scope of action.

Civic space and freedom of assembly

Civic space in Colombia is more restricted, protests are more violent, and both state repression and the guarantee of freedom of assembly are weaker than in the UK. Civicus Monitor, defines civic space as the respect in law and practice for the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and calculates a civic space rating for different countries. The rating goes from closed civic space (0 - 20) to an open one (81-100). In the last edition, Colombia has a score of 33 out of 100 for civic space, classifying it as repressed (21-40), while the United Kingdom has a score of 60, indicating obstructed civic space (41-60).

In its democratic and liberal tradition, Colombia recognises freedom of assembly as part of its constitution. However, in practice, protests in Colombia can be repressed, human rights abuse is frequent, and stigmatisation of social protests by the government is recurrent.

This has been observed in the last two mass protests that paralysed the country in 2019 and 2021 and in previous student and indigenous demonstrations. On the contrary, in the United Kingdom, freedom of assembly is generally respected in theory and practice, although there have been some complaints of possible police surveillance of the some NGOs.

On 21st November 2019 the “National Strike #21N” began and became the largest mobilization since 1977. The aim was to protest against the government's social and economic policies, its lack of governance and to ask for the actual implementation of the Peace Agreement. The mobilization lasted nearly three months, and although it tried to be peaceful, the confrontation quickly broke out, leaving deaths, several injured, and damages to the infrastructure.

Despite the differences in freedom of assembly, governments in both countries have recently enacted restrictive laws that grant state forces greater powers to suppress protests. In Colombia, the Citizen Security Law was sanctioned in 2022 and heavily criticised by human rights organisations. For example, the law increased the penalties for actions commonly related to protests such as the blocking of roads or the interruption of the transport service, this allows the use of the figure of "preventive prison" and thus limits the right to the presumption of innocence. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, the Police, Crimes, Penalties and Courts Act was approved in the same year, granting the police greater authority to restrict mobilisations, raising concerns among civil society.

Although the differences are significant, in both countries, there seems to be a regression in the freedom of peaceful assembly, surpassing the global average, which may have stemmed from the implementation of new laws. According to V-Dem, between 2019 and 2022, the "Freedom of peaceful assembly" indicator decreased by 0.36 points for Colombia and 0.50 points for the UK.

Use and presence of violence

The Global Protest Tracker has recorded 6 significant protest events in Colombia since 2018 and 10 in the United Kingdom. In both countries, the largest protest mobilized over one million people at its peak. In the United Kingdom, these protests occurred in 2018 and related to discontent with the state of Brexit negotiations. In the case of Colombia, the largest event was the national strike that began in November 2019, triggered by rumors of pension cuts, challenges in the implementation of the country's peace agreement, and increasing violence.

Two elements are relevant for comparison. Firstly, while in the United Kingdom the majority of protests involve the general public as participants, in Colombia, protests are led by opposition supporters, indigenous groups, unions, teachers, and university students. Secondly, while none of the 10 protests in the United Kingdom received a violent response from the government, 2 out of the 6 protests in Colombia involved a violent response.

In addition, Colombia has difficulty in achieving effective participation and mobilisation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Many of these NGOs are led by social and community leaders who constantly face violent reprisals from armed groups for their involvement. Even though the State has a legal framework for their protection, its implementation is ineffective. Colombia accounted for 46% of the world's murders of social leaders in 2022, with 180 community, peasant, indigenous, and Afro-Colombian leaders, among others, being killed. Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations can operate freely and without restrictions in the United Kingdom. This enables individuals who choose not to take to the streets but still wish to voice their concerns to organise and make their voices heard. The presence of such accessible avenues for association implies a more inclusive and open civil environment in the UK.

Unionisation and Civil Organization

Unions are expressions of the validation of rights, such as free association, and an important source of accountability that can influence the government's decisions. According to the International Labour Organization, in 2019, 23.4% of employees in the United Kingdom were union members. Although this is not particularly high compared to other developed countries, it is five times the union density of Colombia, where only 4.7% of workers are union members.

Union organisation is notably higher in the United Kingdom than in Colombia. Although the power of unions in the United Kingdom has been questioned, particularly in the private sector, in the public sector, institutional channels appear to work quite well and allow for a considerable degree of influence. People gather and turn to unions to promote their interests, and although strikes sometimes disrupt daily life, they do not lead to violent consequences. In 2019, there were 96 labor strikes promoted by unions in public administration, social services and transportation sectors, and it is common to receive prior notifications of disruptions due to protests but without witnessing confrontation. At least in our recent experience as an international students in United Kingdom.

In Colombia, on the other hand,  sometimes unions promote social mobilization, such as the demonstrations called to support the labor and pension reforms of the current president Gustavo Petro in March 2022. However, the killing of union leaders has been recurring in the last three decades, and the stigmatisation of union organisations and their association with leftist groups or guerrillas by the political and economic elites of the country has been repeated. This has widely discouraged unionization, the support of some of its agendas, and the use of this negotiation mechanism among workers.

"Not civilian, not military, not guerrilla, not one more death.” In Colombia people tend to use art, dancing, music, and cultural pieces to express their voices in mobilizations. March 18th 2019

Then…

Colombia is characterised by limited civil space and freedom of association, use and presence of violence from the state and non-state armed actors towards protesters, and restricted and limited-reaching institutional channels such as unionisation. This can influence the more confrontational and convulsive nature of protests in Colombia compared to the United Kingdom, even though strikes are more frequent in the latter.

In both countries, the civic space appears to be regressing. In the case of Colombia, this could fuel more violent mobilizations that are already linked to widespread social discontent. In the United Kingdom, increasing pressure on institutional channels could stifle them and lead to more disruptive mobilizations.

In both countries, mobilisations, strikes, and protest are experienced in meaningful but different ways. The voices of citizens take various forms of expression, and the institutional channels to ensure expressions can vary in their strength and effectiveness. Understanding these characteristics is crucial for those who, as students or visitors, settle in a new country. This comparison is just one of the many possible ones, and we invite you to think about what "protest" or "strikes" mean, reflecting on the factors that explain the form they take in each society. Don't  take anything for granted and assess whether you want to get involved, participate, understanding the struggles and social issues both in your country as well as in your new home.

Written by Amy Baquero (MAGov23) and Eva Vargas Diaz (MAGov23)

This is one of a series of blogs supported by the IDS alumni office and written by current IDS students and PhD Researchers from academic year 2022-2023 Spring Term. All images are the authors own.