Nicolas Neira, Martyr

Nicolas Neira, 1989 - 2005

Today, his anarchist companions, memorialized killed activist Nicolas Neira on the tenth anniversary of his death. Neira, a 15-year-old student, was killed in May 2005 after participating in May Day a protest on Carrera Septima just south of Calle 19, converting him into a martyr for other anti-state activists.

A candle for Nicolas Neira.

Neira, who had asthma, was reportedly overcome by tear gas and hit by riot police. He collapsed on the pavement, where he was trampled by the crowd. Neira was carried to a hospital, where he died May 6 from his internal injuries. The riot police did not aid Neira, forcing other protesters to find a taxi to transport him to a clinic. Police have alleged that Neira's injuries resulted from the protesters' own violence.

The individual police who allegedly hit Neira were never identified, but two police officials were banned from public posts for their responsibility in Neira's death. A judge ordered the Colombian government to pay Neira's family 160 million-pesos in compensation. That has not satisfied Neira's parents, but criminal charges against the police officials have not advanced and the family has taken the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The tragedy also converted Neira's father, Yuri Neira, previously an insurance company executive, into an activist for victims of state violence.

Another plaque for Nicolas Neira.

At this evening's memorial, the anarchist crowd called the state 'criminal' and 'murderer.' "Death to the state," they chanted, "long live anarchism."

Yet, altho state security forces clearly carry responsibility for Neiras death, that same state did issue a judgment against itself and order itself to pay damages to its victims.

Perhaps the state is not really pure evil after all.

The memorial's location, on the Carrera Septima shopping strip, did not smack of anarchism and anti-capitalism.

The other day, an anarchist 'colectivo' painted this portrait of Nicolas Neira on Calle 26 west of the Central Cemetery.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Encapuchados Warm Up for May Day

Hooded rioters prepare to hurl Molotov cocktails at the police.

May Day's around the corner, but the encapuchados at the Universidad Nacional aren't waiting. Today, the 'hooded ones' turned out in force to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the riot police, who fired back with tear gas and water cannons.

The rioters are supposedly supporting small farmers, who are holding marches and blocking roads once again in protest against low prices for their harvests and the high cost of supplies. It's not clear how the rioting helps the farmers, but the youths evidently enjoy causing havoc. And, since the university campus is 'autonomous', the police can't invade it, making the protesters almost invulnerable.

Tear gas cannisters explode on a campus lawn.

Why do the police insist on surrounding and confronting these anarchists? All they're doing is giving the rioters what they want. If the police stayed away, the encapuchados would march around, get bored and go home.

While all this was going on, most of the students went on with their days, eating lunch and going to classes. What would happen if anarchists like these appeared on a U.S. or European campus?

An anti-riot tank arrives at the university.

A line of riot police on Carrera 30, beside the National University.

A Molotov cocktail bursts into flame near a riot police line by the university's 26th St. entrance.

Jammed traffic on Carrera 26 heading toward the university. Of course, such traffic jams are a daily occurrence, anyway.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Anarchism: The Dream that Never Was

Even at the anarchist fair, capitalism happened.

Anarchism has gotten a bad rap. Say the word, and most of us think chaos, mindless violence and destruction. But, if anarchy can be those things, its theory is very different: cooperation, harmony and complete equality.

What's the reality? We may never know, since true anarchism has rarely, if ever, been tried.

Anarchism, in its idealized - if often unsettling - form is on display now in La Aldea, a cafe and cultural center on Calle 17, in La Candelaria, where the Second Anarchist Fair of Books and Fanzines is going on now.

Anarchism involves lots of pamphlets, both because that's how anarchists have traditionally spread their message, and because anarchism has so few concrete real-world examples to display.

In La Aldea the tables display pamphlets about abolishing work, sneaking into TransMilenio, the justice of robbery and technology as a system of domination. The System, then, in the form of everything that is organized, is a threat.

I didn't make the attempt, but I suspect that if I'd tried stealing those same pamphlets, the anarchists would have objected. And, as for technology, the minimally organized internet has become a tremendous platform and advocacy tool for anarchists and other anti-establishment organizations.

It seems to me that anarchism, a bit like its cousin communism, is a wonderful idea until it collides with selfish, violent and lazy human nature. Anarchism, which envisions a world without laws, capitalism or government, in which people cooperate spontaeneously and unselfishly, has rarely been tried - and perhaps there's a reason for that.

How to sneak into TransMilenio.

History's best known example of a supposedly anarchist society was the Paris Commune of 1871. But, however truly anarchist the Commune may have been, the fact is that it lasted only a few months and consisted of a small population of highly motivated people. Squats and communes may also call themselves anarchist. But decide for yourself whether a stateless, non-hierarchichal society could replace the modern state. After all, the places on Earth which most approach that stateless condition - Somalia, regions of The Congo and even remote parts of Colombia, also happen to be some of the most violent, miserable parts of the Earth.

And what about sneaking into TransMilenio without paying as a step toward overthrowing the Establishment? I guess it's too much to ask how the transit system will be paid for if passengers don't - except by that evil government which the anarchists mean to abolish.

Whatever its true nature, anarchism has become closely and probably justifiably linked to violence and the figure of a youth hurling a lighted hand grenade has come to symbolize the movement. It was an anarchist, after all, who murdered an archduke and triggered World War I, and anarchists are blamed for the violence and pillaging committed during recent protests in Bogotá.

Scenes from the Spanish Civil War, where anarchists and
communists battled fascists and each other.

An anti-authoritarian short story contest.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Thy Daily Protest

In Colombia protests are generally permitted, and in Bogotá we see lots of them.

This afternoon marchers took over Seventh Ave. apparently in protest against an alleged police killing of a student. However, when I looked more closely at the sign, I noticed that the kid died in 2005. The protesters looked like anarchist youths,

As usually happens, the several dozen protesters were surrounded by many more police officers, who seemed to be both escorting and trying to repress them.

Neither the protest's goals or impacts were clear (besides the traffic jams), but it made for some interesting photos.

Marchers fill up Seventh Ave. - Are the anti-riot police there to protect, accompany or repress?

Police follow protesters along Seventh Ave.

At Jimenez Ave, more police waited

At Jimenez: they shall not pass!

And they did not pass. The protesters undoubtedly wanted to reach Plaza Bolivar, the seat of government. But they resigned themselves to carrying out their demonstration at Jimenez. Perhaps that was lucky for them, as the rains suddenly turned torrential, dousing the protest.

Some yelling and flag waving and the protest ended. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours