This documentary explores the potential of local semilleros (seedbeds) in facilitating community-based research on strategies for the protection of unarmed civilians and wider issues of (in)security.

This documentary was produced by participants in the Creating Safer Space project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia: local experiences and lessons learned”.

The documentary was created by two students at Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) in Colombia, Santiago Hernandez and Manuela Romero, who presented it as their final year project under the supervision of Dr Natalia Campo (Co-Investigator on the Creating Safer Space project).

This series of five films was produced by the Creating Safer Space project “Art that Protects: Networks as strategies for self-protection in the context of urban conflict in the city of Medellín, 2023”. Further information about the films is available here.

For English subtitles: Go to the YouTube settings for the video, turn on subtitles, then turn on auto-translate and choose your language.

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 1: Category Cosmovision – Barrio Comparsa
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 1: Categoría Cosmovisión – Barrio Comparsa

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 2: Category Age – Robledo Venga Parchemos
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 2: Categoria Edad – Robledo Venga Parchemos

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 3: Category Socioeconomic Status – Biocomunidad
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 3: Categoria Estatus Socioeconómico – Biocomunidad

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 4: Category Ethnicity – Arlequín y los Juglares
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 4: Categoría Étnica – Arlequín y los juglares

Art That Protects and Intersectionality 5: Category Sex and Gender – Renovación Art Corporation
Arte que protege e interseccionalidad 5: Categoría Sexo y Género – Renovación Corporación Artística

This film explores the history and meaning of a community-based socio-cultural and political practice known as Minga, an indigenous form of protest and resistance.

The film looks at Minga in the context of armed conflict through the experiences of resistance of the Nasa indigenous communities in the department of Cauca, Colombia. It was created by a group of local researchers from the Indigenous Community of Caldono, Resguardo San Lorenzo, Ancestral land Sath Tama Kiwe in 2023.

This film was produced as part of the research project “Community strategies for Unarmed Civilian Protection in South-West Colombia”.

Produced by local film makers, this film documents the experience of Palestinian farmers and shepherds with civil protection in the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta). It explores the efficacy of unarmed civilian protection and how to strengthen self-protection against the threats of expulsion and dispossession by Israel and the settlers.

This film was produced as part of the research project Safety and dignity: Enhancing unarmed civilian protection amongst Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta).

Civil protection to stay on our land

Introduction by the film director Mahmoud Jamal Makhamreh

This documentary captures insights from an intergenerational and collective impact model adopted by the Jos Stakeholder’s Centre for Peace in Jos, Nigeria, to reduce violence in the context of two communities, Angwan Damisa and Balakaze, that have witnessed several episodes of communal conflict. The insights could help other Nigerian communities adapt the model to reduce or prevent violence in their specific context, such as in Maiduguri where ex-Boko Haram fighters and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are returning and changing the composition of the communities.

This film was produced as part of the Creating Safer Space research project Unarmed civilian protection through collective impact: Learning from the Jos Stakeholders Centre for Peace for enhanced civilian protection in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria.

This song/poem was written by Spontaneous the Poet, and recorded as part of the Creating Safer Space research project “Nonviolent Artivism Against Police Brutality in Kenya”.

Spontaneous the Poet says, “This piece was written in remembrance of people who’ve lost their relatives from extra judicial killings. It is actually based on a true story and I’m so grateful that they took part in the shooting of the video.”

This music video by Gio Monteadentro explores the importance of community art in the context of urban conflict in Medellín, Colombia.

The music video was produced as part of the research project Art that Protects: Contributions of artistic-cultural initiatives to the self-protection strategies of young people and women in the context of the urban conflict in Medellín.

This short film explores the impact of the conflict in southern Thailand on Malay Muslims, and their struggle to express their own identity and culture. It was produced by the Creating Safer Space project “UCP in Southern Thailand: Developing civilian protection guidelines for violence-prone communities”.

In Caring for Community Life, the Senú indigenous people of the Almendros 2 reservation in El Bagre, one of the municipalities hardest hit by armed violence in Colombia, tell how they have been organizing to resist armed groups and remain in their ancestral territories.

This short film was produced as part of the research project “The Social Process of Guarantees of Antioquia, Colombia, an experience of unarmed civil protection with indigenous and peasant communities of Bajo Cauca”.

The Creating Safer Space project “Water conflicts, violations and forms of self-protection” has produced a series of three short films about rivers, self-protection and community care.

These three films emerged from a research project that explored water conflicts around the rivers La Paloma (Argelia), Santo Domingo (San Francisco) and Dormilón (San Luis) in the Oriente region of the department of Antioquia, Colombia. Peasant communities and organizations in the region have a history of social mobilization against extractivist projects such as hydroelectric power plants, mining, and construction works in protected areas. These projects, often backed by armed actors, have changed the landscape and agricultural lifestyle of many municipalities. Community self-protection in these contexts includes cultivating social practices and relationships aimed at caring for water and life.

Reel: Let the rivers be for Life!

San Luis, Antioquia, Colombia: Rio Dormilón

Argelia, Antioquia, Colombia: Río Santo Domingo

Argelia, Antioquia, Colombia: Río La Paloma