As phase 1 of the “Art That Protects” project comes to an end, it has received much media coverage including on TV news.

Beatriz Elena Arias López, principal investigator of the project, summed up their work so far, saying: “This project has allowed us to identify how community ideas take away space from death in places where confrontations have been very strong.”

As part of their work, the collective of researchers and artists have produced murals and even a salsa song to communicate the protective power of artistic collaboration. You can listen to the song and read more about the project here (in Spanish).

By Laura Jimenez Ospina, Network Research Assistant for Latin America

The auditorium was completely dark and silent. On the stage, images of comparsas – groups who parade and dance in disguise in festivities – touring the neighbourhoods of Medellín began to be projected. Men on stilts dressed in brightly coloured costumes, women and young people somersaulting back and forth, a band of percussionists animating the atmosphere. The carnival took over the streets and the inhabitants surrounded the artists with cheers and shouts of happiness.

As the projector is turned off, a cast of actors comes out to give life to La Fiesta, a play created by the master Óscar Manuel Zuluaga, also known as El Juglar (The Juggler). First scene, the revelry of neighbourhood joy: community sancocho (stew), loud music, dancing among neighbours. Shots are fired, the protagonists take cover, lest a bullet kills someone. Total silence. Everyone is quiet. Then the party restarts.

La Fiesta is a piece inspired by the findings of the research project “Art that protects, phase 1: Contributions of artistic-cultural initiatives to the self-protection strategies of young people and women in the context of urban conflict in Medellín, 2022“, implemented by the Faculty of Nursing of the University of Antioquia and the Cultural Corporation for Development Arlequín y Los Juglares (Harlequin and the Jugglers), with the support provided by the Network Plus Creating Safer Space. On 17 May 2023, the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater, one of the most important in down-town Medellín, became the stage on which an auditorium of about 600 people were spectators of this magical piece. Among the attendees were children, young people and women who are part of the artistic-cultural organizations that we approached during the research. All of these groups work in areas of the city that are highly vulnerable and affected by urban violence. Also present were artists involved in other social processes, human rights activists and a large general public who attended thanks to the play’s wide dissemination in social networks and the media by the Arlequín team.

La Fiesta is a story where hope beats death through joy. In it, the street becomes the stage and the stage becomes the street. It tells us how the inhabitants of the deprived neighbourhoods of Medellín have resisted with celebration the advance of a conflict that has torn the soul of a wounded city. Drums, chants, books, music, carnival, juggling, rap and hip hop become the art that protects, a community art whose main purpose is to serve as a platform for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood to express themselves, to denounce, to undergo catharsis, to resist. This art is the umbrella that protects civilians from violence.

Por Laura Jiménez Ospina, Asistente de investigación de la Red para América Latina

El auditorio estaba completamente oscuro y en silencio. Sobre el escenario se empezaron a proyectar imágenes de comparsas recorriendo los barrios de Medellín. Hombres en zancos vestidos con disfraces de colores alegres, mujeres y jóvenes dando volteretas de aquí para allá, una banda de percusionistas animando el ambiente. El carnaval se tomó las calles y los habitantes rodearon a los artistas con vítores y gritos de felicidad.

Se apaga el proyector, sale un elenco de actores para dar vida a La Fiesta, una obra de teatro elaborada por el maestro Óscar Manuel Zuluaga, también conocido como El Juglar. Primera escena, el jolgorio de la alegría barrial: sancocho comunitario, música a todo volumen, baile entre vecinos. Vienen los disparos, los protagonistas se cubren, no vaya a ser que una bala cobre algún muerto. Silencio total. Todos quietos. Se reinicia la fiesta.

La Fiesta es una pieza inspirada en los hallazgos del proyecto de investigación “Arte que protege, fase 1: aportes de iniciativas artístico-culturales a las estrategias de autoprotección de jóvenes y mujeres en el contexto de conflicto urbano en Medellín, 2022”, ejecutado por la Facultad de Enfermería de la Universidad de Antioquia y la Corporación Cultural para el Desarrollo Arlequín y Los Juglares, a través del apoyo brindado por la Red Creando Espacio Más Seguro. El 17 de mayo de 2023 el Teatro Pablo Tobón Uribe, uno de los más importantes del Centro de Medellín, se convirtió en el escenario sobre el cual un auditorio con cerca de 600 personas fuimos espectadores de esta pieza mágica. Entre los asistentes se encontraba niños, niñas, jóvenes y mujeres que hacen parte de las organizaciones artístico-culturales a las que nos acercamos durante la investigación. Todos estos grupos trabajan en zonas de la ciudad fuertemente vulneradas y golpeadas por la violencia urbana. Además, estuvieron presentes artistas de otros procesos sociales, activistas defensores de los derechos humanos y un amplio público general que asistió gracias a la amplia difusión en redes sociales y medios de comunicación que hizo el equipo de Arlequín.

La Fiesta es una historia donde la esperanza le gana la partida a la muerte a través de la alegría. En ella la calle se vuelve escenario y el escenario en calle. Nos cuenta cómo los habitantes de los barrios de Medellín han resistido con fiesta el avance de un conflicto que ha desgarrado el alma de una ciudad herida. Tambores, cánticos, libros, música, carnaval, malabares, rap y hip hop se convierten en el arte que protege, un arte comunitario cuyo principal fin es servir de plataforma para que los habitantes del barrio se expresen, denuncien, hagan catarsis, resistan. Este arte es la sombrilla que protege a los civiles de la violencia.

In June 2023, a new edited volume titled Unarmed Civilian Protection: A New Paradigm for Human Security is being published by Bristol University Press.

The frequent failure of military or armed interventions to protect civilians is well known. This edited collection provides a comprehensive account of a different, effective paradigm: unarmed civilian protection (UCP).

The principles and methods of UCP have been used for many decades to protect both specific, threatened individuals as well as whole communities. Featuring contributions from around the world, this book brings together a wide range of UCP practices in order to examine their underlying theory and interrelated strategies. 

The book provides an important illustration of the contributions UCP can make, while also discussing its limitations and failures.

Featuring chapters by N+ Creating Safer Space members and associates Ellen Furnari, Louise Ridden, Moses Monday John, Beatriz Arias López, Laura Jiménez Ospina, Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Jeyamurugan Vyappareddiyar, and many other knowledgable authors.

Despite challenges including the lengthy processes required to gain permission for data collection in fieldwork sites, increasing costs of fuel and food, and a deteriorating security situation, the research team on the ‘Visual Early Warning and Preparedness in Civilian Protection’ project have this month commenced fieldwork.

Researchers Haji and Doria from the partner organisation CARD (Community Aid for Relief and Development) carried out research in the village of Kakuwa, Juba region throughout April 2023.

They conducted interviews with civilians in the village who explained Early Warning processes which are used in preparation for possible eruptions of violence, as well as in periods of open violence. In their conversations about Early Warning Early Response mechanisms, researchers were told:

“Our community is headed by a Sultan, and Chiefs who act as councilmen. […] We have three ways for preparing for attacks and the last option is normally to run away.

The community prepares for attacks according to the kind of insecurity or danger that’s about to happen. We ask, is the insecurity affecting livestock, plantations or is it an attack from another community? Depending on the danger we prepare accordingly. As a community when news of an impending insecurity is rumoured, normally a messenger/ community member runs to inform the Sultan. 

Once news of insecurity reaches him, it is spread by messengers to the people around to either pack and run, or gather at the sultan’s house for the information to be shared and a way forward is known.This information is also passed by using a local instrument called telure/owi , this instrument is blown and the bearer climbs up a high tree to observe the movement of the enemy and blow the instrument accordingly. This person acts an observer and as an alert system. 

The other way of passing this information is normally through drumming. Now drumming is used for different reasons depending on the beats of the drum. A certain way indicates death, and the other indicates gathering and lastly danger etc. The drummer normally shouts or speaks as well to communicate what the drumming intends to communicate. These systems alert the community members and makes them aware of what is happening within the community and act accordingly.”

In addition to these operational mechanisms to convey early warning information and prepare for possible attack, researchers also found such culturally-specific practices enhance community solidarity and collective identity. This increases community cohesion for at-risk villages and tribes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that such practices have become more widespread in the last few years, not less as a result of repeated attack and continued insecurity. 

Creating Safer Space is aware of the sensitivities connected with UCP/A and how traditional methods of evaluation are often top-down or output-focused, and therefore risk missing important nuances connected with civilian protection efforts. Over the past few months, a group of practitioners and scholars have discussed good practice approaches to evaluation and developed principles that should inform evaluation design.

We welcome applications for pilot projects of participatory evaluation and learning related to Unarmed Civilian Protection and Accompaniment (UCP/A). We offer two types of funding.

• Type 1: We will fund up to three small projects that meet the criterial set out in the Call for Applications and are led by an organisation that is registered in a Low and Middle Income Country (LMIC) or which has a country/field office in an LMIC (CfA for eligibility details). Grants per project range from £3,000 to max. £4,500 GBP.
• Type 2: We will fund one small project that meets the criteria set out in the Caff for Applications whose Lead Organisation is as US 501 (c) (3) non-profit organisation that can receive funding from a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF).

The application deadline is 12 June 2023. Please see Call for Applications and Application Form linked below for further details, and contact creating-safer-space@aber.ac.uk with any enquiries.

On Wednesday, May 10, thanks to the funding provided by the Creating Safer Space Network to the project ‘”Ritualising” Protection in Conflict’, the elders of the Nasa people of the Indigenous Territory of Huellas were able to meet in the Tulpa intermedio. During this meeting, the spiritual knowers shared their main concerns regarding the care of seeds and plants, the need to strengthen spirituality within the family and in the territory, and the importance of passing on the knowledge of traditional medicine.

In a context where the Indigenous population finds itself ever more in the midst of the violence between armed groups, threats against spiritual knowers have increased. The Tulpas, sacred sites for the Nasa people, are currently the target of some armed groups, who want to weaken the Nasa culture, for being considered places for the exercise of self-education and self-government. One of the conclusions of this meeting is the importance of strengthening the spiritual knowledge of the Nasa people as a measure of self-protection against armed groups and to ensure the Nasa’s pervivencia (survival) in their territory.

Conversa de mayores y mayoras en la Tulpa intermedio, Caloto- Cauca 

El día miércoles 10 de mayo se realizó un encuentro entre mayoras y mayores del pueblo Nasa del Resguardo Indígena de Huellas, gracias a la financiación proporcionada por la Red Creando un Espacio Más Seguro para el proyecto ‘“Ritualizando” la protección en conflicto’. En esta juntanza los sabedores espirituales compartieron sus principales preocupaciones respecto al cuidado de las  semillas y plantas, la necesidad de fortalecer el tema espiritual en la familia y los territorios, y la relevancia de compartir los conocimientos de la medicina tradicional.

En un contexto donde la avanzada de los grupos armados pone en medio a la población indígena, las amenazas hacia sabedores espirituales han aumentado. Las Tulpas, sitios sagrados para el pueblo Nasa, son en estos momentos objetivo de algunos grupos armados que quieren debilitar la cultura Nasa por ser considerados lugares para el ejercicio de la educación propia y el gobierno propio. Una de las conclusiones de este espacio es la importancia de fortalecer el conocimiento espiritual del pueblo Nasa como medida de autoprotección contra los grupos armados y la pervivencia en los territorios.

El próximo 17 de mayo tendremos el estreno de la obra de teatro titulada La Fiesta, bajo la dramaturgia y direccion del maestro Oscar Zuluaga Uribe. La obra se deriva del proyecto de investigación “Arte que protege“, que explora aportes de iniciativas artístico-culturales a las estrategias de autoprotección de jóvenes y mujeres en el contexto del conflicto urbano en la ciudad de Medellín.

Lugar: Teatro Pablo Tobón Uribe , Medellin, Colombia.

Fecha: miercoles 17 de mayo / Hora: 6pm

Entrada libre – todxs bienvenidxs!

On 17 May, we will premier the play La Fiesta, written and directed by Oscar Zuluaga Uribe.

The play derives from the Creating Safer Space research project “Art That Protects”, which explores contributions of artistic-cultural initiatives to the self-protection strategies of young people and women in the context of urban conflict in the city of Medellín.

Where: Theatre Pablo Tobón Uribe, Medellín, Colombia

When: Wednesday 17 May 2023 at 6pm

Free admission – all welcome!

The aim of the Creating Safer Space Café is to enable people in different parts of the world to exchange knowledge and to help build a community of Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) researchers and practitioners.

This month, Dr Kara Blackmore (LSE), PI on the Network+ Project ‘Strategies for Safety and Solidarity: Understanding Protection through Creativity in South Sudan and Colombia’ shared her insights into designing and preparing visual policy briefs, as well as using arts-based methods to map UCP practices.

See the recording of this even on our YouTube Channel

In February, the team of researchers working on the project: ‘Exploring unarmed civilian self-protection in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict’ undertook successful data collection in Cameroon. They used Arts-based methods entailed drawing workshops, poetry workshops and storytelling workshops with local civilians affected by the conflict. Based on a prior mapping exercise, residents from conflict ‘hot spots’ were identified and transported to safe locations where the workshops were undertaken.  

Although some participants were a little anxious  at first about their abilities to draw or compose poems, we found that everyone relaxed into the task and produced very good accounts of their experiences by means of drawings or poems. Some participants stated afterwards that it had been beneficial to  express traumatic experiences through drawing or writing poems.  One-to-one interviews were  also undertaken with selected community organisers, including leaders of women’s and youth groups, and NGO workers. Such fieldwork in the midst of armed conflict can be complicated, and unexpected challenges can arise, as they experienced. 

As they began their fieldwork, scores of boys and young men from one small town in the Southwest region were arbitrarily rounded up and detained by the Cameroonian military, and were unjustifiably accused of being separatist supporters.  This was the same small town from which many workshop participants had been invited.  

This abuse of power by the military, terrible in itself, also disrupted the researchers’ plans as local people were clearly preoccupied in seeking the release of their young men. On the morning of the planned workshops, the mothers of the captured boys and young men led a women’s peace march to demand the release of their sons and family members. This involved several hundred women walking 17 km from their town to the prison where the young men were being held.  

The women marched holding peace plants as a symbol of their non-violence.  The outcome was really gratifying – the women’s interactions with the authorities were largely successful, and the release of most of the detained boys and young men was secured.  This was, perhaps, an example of unarmed civilian protection in itself. The workshops also went ahead  thanks to the amazing efforts of the Cameroonian team members who organised alternative workshop participants at short notice. The researchers’ also had the added bonus that two of the women on the peace march made a detour to attend the workshop and provided everyone with a first-hand account of their experiences.