The “waiting” in colombia’s displaced population. A way of suffering and social dominance

Abstract

Internal forced displacement in Colombia is a complex and dramatic phenomenon due to the dimensions it has: the heterogeneity of the people affected, its multiple causes and perpetrators, the persistence of displacement processes, the high level of impunity, and the insufficient response of the State. This article focuses on the displaced people as a violated and vulnerable population that “awaits” for State intervention. From the waiting arises an unbalanced relationship between the State and the displaced population, one of creditor/user, in which the waiting operates as a source of social suffering and it is a form of domination of the State over the displaced people. The analysis of some features of waiting and its implications in the life of the displaced population presents the development of a process in which the objective conditions and circumstances of the lived tragedy become a subjective subjection. This leads to the depoliticization of internal forced displacement and the fact that the victims are reduced to passive actors who must wait patiently for the help of the State to obtain solutions to their vulnerable condition.