By: Ernesto Cardoso Camacho
Next week we Colombians will attend a novel experience of the democratic exercise of participation. The government has summoned its followers to express determined support for the reforms that will be processed in congress and for the National Development Plan.
For its part, the political opposition to the government coalition, represented mainly by leaders and militants of the Democratic Center, have called on the citizens to take to the streets so that, peacefully but enthusiastically, they may express their disagreement with such reforms that are considered drawbacks, loaded with ideology and aimed at consolidating the change offered by President Petro and his coalition of the Historical Pact.
Of course there have been experiences of street marches, but these have a very special connotation. On the one hand, President Petro intends to oxygenate his citizen support and, in turn, the opposition wants to pick up on the obvious dissatisfaction that is breathed in the environment with the announcements and proposals that have generated uncertainty and mistrust.
In other words, we will clearly see a political pulse that will surely set the course for the country in the coming years.
The polarization has worsened between right and left and it is evident that each leadership of the same should sharpen it in the streets to position itself with a view to the territorial elections in October.
In this context, the recent new dialogue that the natural leaders of each of the two ideological sectors in dispute have drawn attention. Petro from the presidency and in full exercise of power; while Uribe, beaten by the effective media strategy that he has suffered stoically for 6 years now, placed on the spit of justice and pointed out without objective and truthful arguments as the enemy of peace.
A scenario in which the one that has been harmed is democracy; the institutional stability of the Nation; as well as compelling evidence about the withering of the parties; the unusual growth of violence and corruption; phenomena that generate boredom and rejection of politicians and politics.
On the other hand, the citizen’s sensitivity is observed every day more anguished by the global economic crisis; by the massive migrations; by the geopolitical conflicts that threaten world peace and by the natural phenomena associated with climate change that the planet is suffering.
Curiously, humanity has made impressive advances in science and technology, but at the same time it seems that it is losing its essential human condition, where the values and principles derived from natural law are harshly questioned by the so-called progressivism that advocates defending life, but supports and encourages abortion. inexplicable contradiction.
Returning to the issue of political and ideological polarization in which it is insisted on placing the issue of peace as its central axis, now with the government of change “total peace”; The new dialogue between Petro and Uribe becomes important. First, because the feeling is transmitted that the differences, no matter how deep they may be, can be processed in a civilized and peaceful way, using the channels of democracy. In addition, because no one disputes that the epicenter of violence and crime is drug trafficking, an issue in which a national and international consensus is essential to achieve its control and eradication in the medium term.
For this reason, the government has already accepted that it is not possible to negotiate with these sectors of criminality, but to submit to justice; At the same time, sooner rather than later, they will also have to accept that the same must happen with the dissidents of the Farc; while with the ELN, political negotiation is possible, but they could not be granted more than what was granted to the FARC in the Havana Agreement.
On the other issues of an economic, social and political nature, in which the disagreement is even more difficult to resolve, the result of the street marches next week may serve as a more objective citizen survey than the recent surveys that allow visualizing where the public leans. The essential thing is that they develop in an orderly and peaceful manner.