Juntarse es resistir

Solidarity can be defined in various ways. In the case of what a city like Medellín has experienced, it can be understood as a social practice that moves people to act in favor of another. In the city, this practice has become part of the life of many neighborhoods that have resisted violence, the absence of the State and lack, that is, solidarity actions have been undertaken at times when a situation is perceived as problematic and unfair in a territory.

30 years ago, in 1991, Medellín was classified as the most violent city in the world; That year 7,273 murders were registered, that is, an approximate of 266 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, the most difficult period in its history.

The previous one was in this panorama that solidarity, which already existed in many communities, especially in the periphery, was reaffirmed as a scenario of possibility to claim rights, as an alternative to the unjust situations that were being experienced and that ratified the importance of what had already been done since the middle of the 20th century in neighborhoods in the Northeast Zone: overcoming inequalities and addressing the pain of others.

In these neighborhoods, the history of solidarity began in 1948 with the assassination of the liberal political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitan, which detonated a wave of conflicts throughout Colombia and, above all, in rural areas. This period known as “La Violencia” caused forced displacement of thousands of people who came to the cities seeking refuge and ways to continue with their lives. Those who arrived in these territories realized that the only thing that existed was an informal layout of the space, a product of the division made by the owners of some lots, that is, there was no aqueduct, sewers, health centers or schools and each time More people arrived: in just 10 years it was estimated that 183,813 people already lived in these informal settlements, 15,000 of them in the Popular (Commune 1).

It was thanks to the solidarity that the communes of the northeastern zone developed, which became a paradigmatic model of this city.

One of the first ways in which solidarity is consolidated between these people who came from different municipalities, was through the construction of community works