In Colombia, a country marked by decades of armed conflict, nonviolent self-protection has become a widely used practice in communities’ struggle for survival in violent environments. In both rural and urban areas, social organisations have been at the heart of creating and developing a range of self-protection strategies. In cities, violence is an integral part of everyday life, experienced through forms of invisible boundaries between territories controlled by different armed groups, extortion, behavioural norms, selective killings, finger-pointing and intra-urban displacement. Culturally, militarised masculinity and submissive femininity dominate, affecting the socialisation of boys and girls and favouring forms of cultural consumption that reinforce violence.
Research has shown the crucial role of art and performance in the construction of collective memories of violent conflict. They allow multiple narratives to be debated, especially where power asymmetries are deep. Academics have shown that art has a transformative and even therapeutic function. Artistic-cultural collectives and initiatives have also played an active role in the dynamics of urban conflict, resistance and social cohesion. For some, this has been one of their main objectives; for others this role has emerged incidentally, as a positive side-effect of their artistic work. They have helped to foster communities where members understand themselves, not as passive recipients but as active political agents with a critical understanding of their political and socio-economic circumstances, and to empower marginalised groups such as women and ethnic minorities.
Our project Art that Protects explores nonviolent self-protection through artistic and cultural practices developed by community-based organisations in Medellín. Since April 2022, we have engaged with 20 artistic-cultural organisations to identify their initiatives, activities and impact. A central finding regarding their effectiveness in creating safer spaces for civilians has been that artistic and cultural groups generate legitimacy among communities, including local armed actors. This legitimacy allows them to influence and participate in social conflicts over spaces and people. This is particularly important with regard to young people who are at high risk of being recruited into armed groups or drug gangs. It is this question of the legitimacy of artistic and cultural interventions and their potential for self-protection that we focus on in this article.