The Condition of the Displaced Person
The Condition of the Displaced Person
As noted above, internal displacement is generated in an experience of profound terror. This is not limited to the fear of losing one’s life, but is also usually fed by methods of persuasion such as torture and public execution in front of family members and friends, threats and selective assassina- tions—which in some cases take on their own symbolic forms.
Uncertainty and fear propel the flight from one’s land, thus the future of the individual and family life is put at risk. Like “a patriots” (apátridas), the displaced have lost their homes, that is, the social framework into which they were born and built their lives. When they abandon their prop- erty, customs, habitual forms of relationships and the social ties that had allowed them to define themselves, the displaced lose their place in the world.
In contrast to those who die in conflict, the displaced are living victims who in their flight bring with them the pain of having their place in the world snatched away from them. They carry into their displacement all of the painful weight of what is lost, that is, of the violent deaths of their family or friends, of the loss of their home and their land. It is precisely this condition that reveals that their citizenship is not effective, and that the general laws that organized their everyday world no longer apply.
The condition of the displaced, as is true of the condition of people in other persecuted cat- egories, reveals their nakedness, their purely human nature–nuda vida. Hence, the internally dis- placed person, according to Agamben, shows man without the mask of citizenship that constantly conceals him (Arendt 1987: 370; Agamben 2000: 84). Nonetheless, in contrast to “a patriots,” this type of persecuted person has state citizenship. It is precisely because of that that the displaced person is
a manifestation of the political crisis that makes his or her position possible: her citizenship does not assure the real recognition of her rights, meaning that it is a “formal” citizenship that is not based on concrete and effective recognition. Through their tragedy, the displaced show the precarious- ness of the national political construction. In spite of their supposed condition as full legal citizens, they have not only been expelled from their homes without recourse to the protection of the state, but they also have no opportunity after the fact to establish a new home in their own country. As a result, they are de facto “a patriots.” To paraphrase Arendt, the displaced become the dregs of their own society.
As shown above, displacement is generated through norms of war that appear when the military hegemony of the dominant group in the region is at stake. In this way, the condition of displacement is generated not by acting outside of the law, but rather by finding oneself in the middle of a clash of legalities that demand submission and offer no rights (Uribe 2001: 67). Displace- ment is shaped by the confrontation between different politico-military agendas that express their dispute through norms. We can, therefore, trace the norms that express strategies of war, the aim of which is not the defense of the life and autonomy of the communities or respect for their rights, but rather terror.
Furthermore, enjoyment of a home is closely linked to the protection that the state offers its citizenry. In the case of “a patriots,” state protection has been denied through a legal norm that strips them of their nationality. Hence, they have lost their citizenship de jure. These persecuted persons have been expelled from the “purview of the law,” such that they cease to belong to a political community that would allow them to exercise and demand their rights. Such expulsion is not at this point determined by their ideas or political opinions, which might allow them to seek political asylum in another country. “A patriots” are persecuted not for their thoughts or actions, but rather for having been born into a certain race, class, religion or condition. This defines one of the central characteristics of this category of persecuted peoples: their innocence.
(...) they were and appeared to be nothing more than human beings whose very innocence— from any point of view and especially from that of the government persecutor—was their greatest disgrace. Innocence, in the sense of a complete lack of responsibility, was the mark of their condition of being outside of the law, as well as the sanction of their loss of political status (Arendt 1987: 373).
This innocence, which defines their status as victims, is a common characteristic among “a patriots” and internally displaced Colombians. The innocence of the displaced makes the enormous pain of their loss even more profound and overwhelming, given that as innocent victims they can- not identify a precise cause that allows them to explain their situation: they are persecuted for merely having lived in a certain part of their country. The displaced people of Riosucio have been persecuted for living on their lands and for developing a life that is consistent with their cultural customs and traditions; that is, for being innocent citizens. The conflict between the different armed groups for control of their land became so intense—and the precariousness of the state institutions that could protect them became so evident—that the only way they found to protect their lives was to leave their lands and organize an internment camp. Nonetheless, what was most notable about this situation was the ability that the displaced developed to resist the merely disciplinary practices of the camp and to transform them into forms of autonomous organization and convert the “intern- ment camp” into “peace communities.” The restoration of their condition as citizens was possible thanks to the genetic reconstruction of their cultural practices.
Despite deficient sanitary conditions and constant threats and harassment by the military authorities and armed groups, the Pavarandó settlement became an environment in which the dis- placed could reconstruct a humane world; a public space in which it was possible to develop actions directed at the recovery of their lost homes.