Labor Day 2024 in Colombia deserves a detailed analysis as a special day which highlighted the political struggle that the country is experiencing between supporters and detractors of the government of President Gustavo Petro. Beyond phrases, discourses and symbolisms, such as the flag of the former M19 guerrilla, which disappeared almost 35 years ago and to which the current head of state belonged, yesterday’s popular mobilization is the counterbalance to the opposition protest marches of April 21.
The traditional day of workers’ mobilization in favor of workers’ rights became this year in Colombia a thermometer to measure the public support for Gustavo Petro’s government. After almost a year and a half in office, the wear and tear caused by the president’s own mistakes, the inability to win over opposing parties to his social reforms, and the systematic boycott of a traditional ruling class that continues to hold an important social and economic influence, divide the country between supporters and detractors of the changes promoted by the first leftist government in Colombian history.
An ideological presidential speech for Labor Day
After several days of uncertainty as to whether President Gustavo Petro would have a platform to address the people gathered in Bolivar Square in Bogota, finally the Mayor’s Office of Carlos Galan confirmed hours before May 1 that the head of state would be given a platform.
For his part, the Colombian president had affirmed that “with or without a platform” he would be marching through the streets of the capital together with the citizens, and that he would address them at the end of the tour in the central and historic Bolivar square. From there, Gustavo Petro launched all kinds of ideological slogans that those gathered gladly accepted.
In the emblematic space he charged against traditional Colombian politicians, whom he described as “ignorant pseudo-aristocracy, dressed as slavers”, in reference to some controversial comments of former vice-president Francisco Santos, who had stated a few hours before that the government was looking for “the rent of indigenous people” to swell the May 1st marches.
With harangues in favor of the Palestinian cause, Petro announced, in an unusual scenario, the rupture of relations between Colombia and Israel, after months of disagreements and political tension with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The announcement was greeted with jubilation by those present.
Finally, he defended his social reform projects, such as that of Health, which was recently rejected in Congress. “Health is not a commodity, it is not like buying beer or fine whiskey, that those who have the money buy, and those who do not make do with chicha“, exclaimed the president in reference to the universal right to health.
Counter-demonstration by supporters of the president
Gustavo Petro’s words were evidently an ideological discourse designed for his supporters. Colombia’s first leftist president is facing significant attrition, when he has not yet reached the halfway point of his term. With disapproval rates that, according to some studies, stand at 60 percent, his support nevertheless remains strong.
This was evidenced by the massive demonstrations that Colombia experienced in Bogota and beyond on Labor Day. In fact, it was the president’s reaction to the massive opposition protests of April 21, which representatives of the political opposition described as “historic”.
Taking advantage of a favorable situation, a world day for the vindication of labor rights, the president called on his supporters to stage a show of strength and obtained the expected response.
In reality, what Colombia is going through is not an abnormal “political polarization”, as some politicians or analysts close to the opposition thesis claim. Colombia today, like the rest of the world, is torn between the defense of the role of the State as redistributor of wealth and the defense of a free market without public controls.
President Javier Milei’s Argentina is experiencing a similar scenario, but with the defenders of the private sector in the executive power and the opposition trying to prevent political reforms that point in the opposite direction to those advocated by Gustavo Petro in Colombia. The scenario is the same, but with the actors reversing roles.
Global scenarios of political tension
Beyond Colombia and Argentina, the situation is the same in other parts of the world. The United States, Brazil and most European countries are experiencing moments of political tension that their protagonists have taken onto the streets.
What all this highlights is the need to renew the social pact that gave birth to liberal and later democratic societies throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in the western hemisphere. In the case of Colombia, it also represents an opportunity to create a true political alternative that had not existed until now in its more than two centuries of existence as an independent country, something, certainly, that has proven difficult to accept for those who have always held power.
In reality, political division, but not polarization, is not only not bad, but necessary in a democratic context that defends the right to majority dissent. The problem lies in the inability to understand the plurality of our societies and the need to integrate the different sectors in the debate as political decisions are converted into law.
See all the latest news from Colombia and the world at ColombiaOne.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow Colombia One on Google News, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and subscribe here to our newsletter.