Social Uprising, Racism, and Resistance in Cali’s National Strike

Abstract

To understand the social uprising that occurred in Colombia starting on the day of the national strike, April 28, 2021, particularly in the city of Santiago de Cali, this article examines three postulates: 1) Cali is an ethnicized/racialized and young city; 2) Colombia has one of the highest rates of extreme poverty, inequality, and violence on the continent; 3) being both Black and poor is not exactly a coincidence. Although there are many reasons behind the protests in Colombia, here I focus on the structural and everyday expressions of racism that lead to a multiplicity of oppressions that fall on the bodies of racialized men and women in a city with an intensely racist imaginary. In the strike, these people, young people without a future, said enough is enough and strengthened their dignity through struggle.