UTSA COPP
Annotated Notes
Political Violence of Global Capital: Dispossession and Repression in the Global South
- lecture by Jasmin Hristov
Agenda
- explanatory limitations and conceptual barriers exist in literature and media
- paramilitarism is a transnational phenomenon
- paramilitary violence is in direct correlation to class domination
Major Explanations
· 1st argument: organized violence relation to economic equality
- Poverty/inequality vs. a culture of consumption – no opportunities – involvement in gangs or other criminal activity
· 2nd argument: due to rural-urban migration
· 3rd argument: growth in illegal economies
- Need violent regulatory mechanisms
· 4th argument: weak state institutions/corruption
· 4th argument: weak state institutions/corruption
World Bank Statement
- 1 in 4, 1.5 billion people, live in violent conflict outside of violent norms
- Overcoming conceptual barriers
- Non-state violence is not necessarily anti-state violence
- Paramilitary violence can be carried out for politically dominant special interest groups
· Major corporations have used paramilitary violence (Coca-Cola, Chiquita banana)
Definition of Paramilitary Violence
- Armed citizens funded by sectors of economically/politically dominant classes with military/logistical support to carry out function
- Paramilitary violence has political objective to preserve status quo, this enhances state institutions
Function of Paramilitary Violence
- Repression
· Suppressing popular movements
- Dispossession
· Land, agriculture
Colombia: Laboratory of Paramilitarism
- Two waves (1960s + 1980s)
· State-led effort, elite support (external enemy)
· Elite-led effort, state supported (internal enemy)
Human Rights Impact
- Over 6 million internally displaced, living in destitution (no institutions/infrastructure)
- 80% of union deaths occur in Colombia, unionists assassinated
- 3,500 labor unionists murdered since 1985
- Massacres committed as tool of violence, fosters culture of fear
- Unionization from 12% in 1988 to 4% in 2009
- 0.4% of population owns 46.4% of total land
- 81.5% of agricultural land used for mining, agribusiness
Paramilitary Violence in “Post-Demobilization” State (2006-2016)
- 2013, 27 unionists, more than 70 human rights defenders were killed
- First 5 years, 1.5 million displaced, 205 unionists were murdered
- 2015, ONIC reported 35 killings and 3,481 indigenous displaced
- Death threats reported
Three Principles of Paramilitary Violence
1. Paramilitarism as a multidimensional phenomenon
- Economic, political, military
2. Structural social phenomenon
- Offensive/proactive instrument
- Requires violence to reproduce itself
- Paramilitary group - dispossession/repossession
3. Dialectical relation to state/paramilitary groups
- Paramilitary would not exist w/o state
- 50 years of massacre created
Weak State Argument
- If you have a country with paramilitary groups outside of state, it does not indicate a weak state
- Who benefits from violence? Who are victims?
Paramilitarization Indicates Transnationalization of States
- Making available resources for resources, labor, markets for global capital
Mexico
- 2005 à 2016, mining boom
- Peace and Justice paramilitary group
· Murdered 122 and displaced 4000 people in Chiapas
Paramilitary vs. Cartel Violence
- Political/economic model vs. singular illicit activity
