1 had held this office during the election period between 1993 - - PDF document

28.5.05 / Draft, nor for quotation Introduction to the presentation by Antanas Mockus 31.Mai, 20.00, Kulturzentrum, Konstanz by Georg Lind When I went to Colombia the first time in 1998, I was motivated by the thought that I could do my share in helping to develop a poor undeveloped Third World country. Soon I started to discover that this was not a one-way process but that I, and we all, can learn something from this country. This is why we are here tonight to learn not only about but also from Colombia. Seven years ago, a group of Colombian citizens wrote me an email, asking me to advise them on their efforts to build democratic culture and civic competencies in their country. The group was called "PartipaCcion Ciudadana", civic participation and civic action. They found out that I have been doing research on the development of moral and democratic competencies, and how to foster them effectively in schools, universities and adult education. They invited me to speak at a conference that they organized in 1998 at Los Andes University, Bogotá, to mobilize Colombian academics, professionals, journalists, managers, teachers, and many others to join in their efforts to improve democracy and education in Colombia. Gustavo Bell, the vice president of Colombia and Minister of Defense introduced me. When the then acting Secretary of Education of Bogotá, Mrs. Cecilia Maria Velez heard of my visit, she invited me to speak to many teachers at an event called "Bogotá Foro de Competencias Ciudadana" (the Bogotá Forum of Civic Competences), and to address the general public about the role of education in a democracy, in interviews with national newspapers, radio stations and TV stations. I was re-invited several times since then, especially when -- in 2000 -- a new prime minister (Alcalde Mayor) was elected in the District of Bogotá, a state as populated as Baden-Württemberg with its 9 million inhabitants, though smaller in size. His name was Antanas Mockus, who then actually was re-elected because he already 1

had held this office during the election period between 1993 - 1997. I soon understood that Mr. Mockus was one of the driving forces behind this interest in democracy education. He was not only caring about school children's education but about the education of the public in order to overcome the legal and moral crisis of his war-ridden country. Like many Latin-American countries, Colombia, the second most populated country in South-America and four times the size of Germany, is still struggling with its colonial past. In the year 1527 Francesco Pizarro started to conquer Peru and the country between Peru and Panama, what is now Colombia, for himself and the Spanish King, because he wanted "eldorado", the huge gold treasure of the Incas. With the sword and the cross, he mercyless slaughtered the native indians to steal their country and their gold. Exploitation and suppression have ever since been ruling these countries, even after they became independent from the Spanish crown at the beginning of the 19th century. A small group of land- and mine-owners, off-springs of the conquistatores , had the country in its firm grip. Because of the tremendous social inequality, the tensions in the country built up, and finally erupted into the longest civil war in history. In 1948 it seemed that the tyrrany of the wealthy could be overcome peacefully. Jorge Gaitán, the popular leader of a left-liberal movement and candidate for presidency in Colombia, was sure to win the elections. But he was shot dead by his political opponents. This murder started a civil war which lasts until today and which has costed the lives of two hundred thousand people or more. In 1961, after a military dictatorship, a grand coalition was formed and the Colombian parliament passed a land-reform law, and also a law that made it possible for democratic politicians to run for the president's office for the first time. Unfortunately, the most likely candidate, the popular priest and politician Camilo Torres joint the guerillas to fight for his ideals though military action rather than 2

through political reforms. Bishop Emil Stehle wrote a moving book on Camilo Torres, whom he knew in person. In 1994, the Colombian people elected Andrés Pastrana as their president because he promised to end the endless civil war and make peace with the guerillas. Pastrana failed -- some say because he was too soft on the guerillas, others that he tried to play too many cards at the same time. When the peace talks ended, violence increased again. The guerillas, initially having a social cause, and who supported by many liberal Colombian citizens and foreign sympathizers, became more and more absorbed by criminals and drug traffickers. Besides drug-dealing, kidnaping became their main source of income. The Clinton administration in the United States, concerned about the growing imports of cocain and other drugs from Colombia put pressure on the Colombian government to end the civil war by military means. With its "plan colombia", the United States gave more than 2 billion dollars for military action, and even sent soldiers to help fight the guerillas. In addition, Colombian land- and mine-owners created a private army, the para- militaries, and death swadrons who killed systematically hundreds of alleged guerillas, mostly political opponents, disliked trade union leaders and town mayors who did not want to collaborate with them. Colombia ranks highest among the violators of human right according to amnesty international . The role of Europe in this is mixed. While there are many ties with Colombia on an individual and non-governmental basis, most European governments look the other way. The European Union promised to give Colombia also 2 billion dollars in order to strengthen its educational, legal and welfare system. As far as I know, this promise was not kept. The new developments in Eastern Europe, Russia and China absorbed most of our attention and money in the past 15 years. Is there any hope that Colombia will soon end its civil war and enjoy peace and its great natural wealth? In 1991, Colombia gave itself a new constitution, strengthening the states and the 3

communities, and strengthening the power of the citizens by mandating that all administrative top office holders have to be elected directly by the citizens. Although, 14 years are too short a time to judge the effects of the new constitution, one must admit that this has been a revolutionary change. For more than 200 years, we have believed Baron of Montesquieu , the most prominent "father" of modern democracy, that citizens are too dump to participate directly in public affairs, and therefore have to chose representatives to think and vote for them. In Germany, we still so strongly believe in Montesquieu's theory that we even do not let citizens elect the powerless Federal President, or to vote on the new European constitution. In Colombia, the voters have proven that Montesquieu was wrong. In many instances, they voted highly intelligently, especially when they voted for a particular politician. According to media news, this politician spent no more than the equivalent of about 1000 Euros for his election campaign, and did not make himself dependent on campaign sponsors and supporting parties who would demand their share once he was elected. This politician did not promise anything he could not hold, and he did not spend any money he did not have, and he had no hidden agenda that the public was not aware off. No wonder, that the citizens paid additional taxes once he told them that he would urgently need the money to improve public safety by putting on more street lights. This politician has become very popular in Colombia much beyond his home town of Bogotá. I have met many Colombians last year at a national conference on civic education, at which over 100 citizen groups from all over the country presented their activities to foster democracy and education in their country. Many of these citizen-activists alluded to this politician as their inspirer and hope-giver. This two-times Alcalde Mayor of the District of Bogotá, and now one of the candidates for the office of Presidency of Colombia has also become well known outside his country. The American paper New York Times, the British Economist, the German taz and other international media reported about him and his new kind 4