formacion politica: political education or political formation?

I got to thinking about this term because CISPES is doing a fantastic tour of the US with the compas from Equipo Maiz, who are offering political formation sessions.

We don't really use the term political formation in English. You could use political education or training or workshop - but I would argue for importing political formation and explaining the broader meaning of the term in Spanish if and when you have the chance. Formation points to so much more than what we think of as education, described well here. I think it comes out of liberation theology, though I'm not sure of that. Simas argues here that "Political formation could be understood as an education of the mind, body and spirit to be able to fully engage in collective movement work."

This broader take is more important now than ever in the United States - as is the ejemplo and lessons of our compas who have resisted dictatorships across the Americas for decades!

(photo is a morning 'mistica' at an MST training) 

Curious to hear if you think it works to import this term - please comment!

paño de agua tibia: piecemeal measure

Obviously this is not a literal translation, but I think it is a far more accurate one for most uses of this term. I got this rendition from the great article:

 

Alves, J. A. (2019). “Esa paz blanca, esa paz de muerte”: Peacetime, Wartime, and Black Impossible Chronos in Postconflict Colombia. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 24(3), 653-671. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12424

cimarrones: maroons

Cimarrones were historically freedom seekers - that is to say, fugitives from slavery. Notice the difference between framing it this way and the old term of 'escaped slaves.' They were people who were enslaved. This emphasizes their humanity, over calling them slaves. I got to thinking about these changes in terminology thanks an article by Zavala Guillen. As she puts it:

“In recent decades, Maroonness has been reclaimed by communities of descendants of fugitives from slavery and other Afro-descendant groups, primarily in rural settings, to obtain land rights, for example, in Brazil (Bledsoe, 2017; De La Torre, 2013). Black activists have also identified as Maroons when they have performed ideological escapes from oppression, such as capitalism, patriarchy and European knowledge systems” (Zavala Guillen, p. 1)

Zavala Guillen, Ana Laura. “Feeling/Thinking the Archive: Participatory Mapping Marronage.” Area Accessed June 12, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12869.  [online early]

a swarm: un enjambre

to swarm is enjambrar

so for swarm the state how about enjambremos el estado?

image, of course, is from the fabulous beehive collective
 

Their amazing art that tells stories of the struggle is available at beehivecollective.org.

comunitario is not communitarian, another false cognate to avoid

I have blogged here about many dangerous false cognates related to social change, such as municipio and judicialización and proyectos productivos and plataforma (search false cognate in the search bar for many more, I've been at this for a while).

Comunitario is another. In English communitarian, Webster says, means of or relating to social organization in small cooperative partially collectivist communities. Sometimes this might be what comunitario refers to - but at least in Colombia it often seems to just mean community, or community based.

Beyond tired

 "! تعبنا, تعبنا, I hear over and over again, when watching Gaza in Arabic. It could be rendered in English as simply we are tired, we are tired, but a more accurate translation would be, we have come to the limits of ourselves, we are empty, exhaustion consumes us. تعبنا, تعبنا, Gazans repeat, speaking in plural even when interviewed alone. As miraculous as Palestinian sumud may be, it is not limitless. Our endurance should be a means, not an end. What Gaza longs for—deserves—is justice, liberation, and life."

From this gorgeous essay on the work of the witness, which also addresses the translation conundrum of the word martyr. I can't recommend this essay enough.

endosexism: endosexismo

I can't believe I only just now learned this word. Endosex is the opposite of intersex. I am an endosex person, as my physical and hormonal presentation fits normative medical and social ideas of what a woman's body is "supposed" to be like. Endosexism then is discrimination against intersex people. It has google of only around 6,500 in English and 350 in Spanish, but I did find this definition of it in Spanish as "incurrir en sesgos, discriminar, marginar o patologizar cuerpos intersexuales". Go Universidad de los Lagos in Chile for posting this!

N.B.: this is the intersex pride flag

engentada: peopled out

I just learned this word in Spanish here in Mexico City and made up this English translation. Captures perfectly how I feel after several days here. There are just SO MANY people a toda hora! 

maloca

I noticed today in this interesting Guardian article about indigenous drug runners in the Amazon that they kept the term maloca and followed it with "circular communal house." That nagged at me because it does not convey that it is a traditional indigenous structure, nor that it is sacred and ceremonial space - and I know that some of them are not circular. Interestingly the wikipedia entry calls them "an ancestral long house used by indigenous people of the Amazon." Hmm, that also seems a bit off, because they are often round, not long (though in fact I've been in several long ones). I would certainly keep the word maloca and then describe it. I've seen it described as a "big house" in other places. I don't love that either, for the reasons above. I'm curious to hear how you have described malocas in your translation and interpretation. Please comment!

panfleteo (Col): (threatening) flyering

In Colombia usually the term panfleteo references the spreading around town or just left in front of certain people's houses of short one page flyers with death threats. To use the term pamphleting or even pamphlet for this does not work well. In English pamphlets are usually in color and folded, at least once but usually as a trifold. I don't see death squads taking the time for this sort of layout and folding! Usually the sorts of things the death threats use in U.S. English we would call a flyer. But just calling this flyering in English would not carry the connotation of death threats, thus my suggestion of adding the term threatening.

This term and the false cognate jumped out at me in this powerful article, which despite this term hiccup I strongly recommend:

Ruette-Orihuela, Krisna, Katherine V. Gough, Irene Vélez-Torres, and Claudia P. Martínez Terreros. “Necropolitics, Peacebuilding and Racialized Violence: The Elimination of Indigenous Leaders in Colombia.” Political Geography 105 (August 1, 2023): 102934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.102934.

 

As the authors put it, panfeleto has "been widely used since the 1970s by illegal armed groups as a way of intimidating social leaders, generating fear, encouraging displacement, and attempting to gain territorial control. These pamphlets are associated with ‘social cleansing’ that has become part of everyday life."

junt*s instead of junt@s

It used to be somewhat common to use the @ to denote, say, juntos y juntas. The problem is that it still reinforces the gender binary.

I don't think the * solution is common, but I like it. I was reminded of it by the book Junt*s transformamos a Colombia. Not sure how you pronounce it though - as juntes? The e ending has become more and more common since I first posted about it in 2015 (my all time most read post). I like it, but some are insisting on including the a and o as well, so in this case juntos, juntas, y juntes - meaning that e would not capture male and female, but just nonbinary folks. Good grief. I'm fine with just the e for everyone, but if you want to be more inclusive, maybe the * is the ticket. Doubt it will catch on though.

Comuna 13 (Col): District (comuna) 13

Comuna 13 (Col): District (comuna) 13

This is another one that sometimes gets rendered with the extremely misleading false cognate commune. I wish that everyone held property together in the comunas of Medellin but that is most certainly not the case! You could also use borough for this, but that is such a New York City specific term for large divisions inside a city that I think district is a more global English rendition. You could also keep it as comuna and just add the definition of district the first one or two times it comes up. 

Comuna 13 is particularly known for Operation Orion, carried out in 2002, where the area was occupied by some 3000 paramilitaries working openly with the army. They were ostensibly seeking FARC guerillas and collaborators but many civilians were disappeared that day. The photo here is from the grassroots work to push for and support the work to find and identify their bodies. There are dramatically more disappeared in Colombia than in any other country of the Americas, and the peace accord established a unit to search for them.

caserío: small rural community vs. small village

I have posted about caserío before, and rendered it as small village. But yesterday I was showing my reconciliation seminar students the Basta Ya video about the war in Colombia as part of our study the outputs of truth commissions (as an aside, this video is from 2013 but frustratingly the recent truth commission has not subtitled any of their videos and the few translations I have found of their texts into English have not been done by translators and are chock full of errors). I noticed that in the video they subtitled caserío as small rural community and I think that is not half bad. Village has almost as many connotations as hamlet, the other option. Community is more vague, but that's not always a bad thing. 

acumular fuerzas: build the base

As in build the number of people active in the organization, the grassroots base. 

I got this great translation in a lovely email describing 'acumular fuerzas' as one of the urgent priorities for stopping Bukele's neodictatorship in El Salvador. The letter was from CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. My first paid organizer gig was with CISPES a zillion years ago and they taught me so much about solidarity, I'm grateful and proud to be a monthly sustainer now. 

I know what a difference having a steady income flow makes for grassroots groups so this is a plug for those of you making year end donations - consider instead upping the total a bit but breaking it up and making it an automatic monthly sustainer pledge on your credit card. It will be easier on your budget and much better for theirs.

dar la cara

Dar la cara, in Colombia at least, carries the double meaning of both face the music (acknowledging responsibility) and press the flesh (physical presence). I don't know of any way to convey both meanings in English - do you? I appreciated the discussion of the meanings of this term and how the Colombian state does and doesn't dar la cara in this episode (particularly around minute 55 and on) of the podcast Colombia calling, with Gwen Burnyeat and Andrei Gomez-Suarez discussing Gwen's new book
"The Face of Peace: Government Pedagogy amid Disinformation in Colombia."

raspachin: coca picker

I was reminded of this term by this spectacular long read analysis in the New Left Review by Forrest Hylton and Aaron Taus of the current Colombian conjuncture, placed in the long arc of Colombian political history. I can not recommend this article enough. If you are looking for a good recent Colombia 101 piece to give someone (say students) this is a great option. Fair warning, it took me an hour and forty five minutes to read - but they were well spent!

hackles up: erizado

To get your/their hackles up refers metaphorically to the literal act many mammals do when threatened, of raising their shoulders to protect their neck. On dogs it's particularly clear, as their hairs there stand up. I understand it to refer to how we can automatically puff up to defend ourselves,
without it being a thought out response. Gracias a Diana Ojeda for this fabulous suggestion of a Spanish equivalent. Nos erizamos, we get spiny like a sea urchin.

desaliñado/a (noun): Scruffy, disheveled.

Or gender neutral: desaliñade. Not exactly a social change related term - other than that social change folks may tend to be (though certainly not the folks in this picture). Also not sure if this use if particular to Colombia? I was reminded of this term, and given the translation, by the great compas at Pirate Wire Services, which I highly recommend. Check out their inspiring story this week on a gang truce in Colombia (that the picture is from) and subscribe! You can subscribe for free though donations help them keep doing this good work.  

a skill share: una circulación de saberes

Yesterday I participated in Reeds and Roots, a very sweet earth skills skillshare event. Here we're learning about composting using the bokashi method, which I'm excited to try. I also learned a ton about the latest soil science. The way bacteria communicate and move around in the soil blows my mind. It all left me feeling really hopeful. There's so much we can teach each other in spaces like these.

hacer una denuncia: issue a public condemnation (or ...)

hacer una denuncia: issue a public condemnation (or ...)

Depending on the context sometimes 'file a complaint' will be a better fit. Sometimes you can just use denunciation (it has surprisingly high googlage actually) but I think public condemnation will be more clearly and widely understood.

vivir sabroso: living deliciously

I suppose this could also be deliciously alive, but vivir sabroso is clearly a play on vivir bien - and since that is living well it makes more sense to me to keep the same structure. Note that this is quite different than vivir bonito. For those who haven't been following the Colombian election campaign, vivir sabroso is a tag line being used by the historic pact on the left. Here's a ton of energy and excitement for real change this Sunday! And a goofy fun short video to set the mood. 

terrajero: tenant farmer

 This term is used in Colombia. Is it is also used in other countries? If you've heard it elsewhere please say so in the comments. I saw this translation in this NACLA article about the inspiring resistance of the Misak: Indigenous Community Confronts a Colombian Paper Giant. 

They are “reclaiming the territory to reclaim everything.” Indeed.

grassroots diplomacy: diplomacia desde abajo

I usually render grassroots as popular (and vice versa), but sometimes as 'de base.' I've posted before about trabajo de base, and organización de base. An exception is comunidad de base (in the liberation theology tradition), where instead of grassroots I would use organized community. For grassroots diplomacy (people to people work, like delegations and exchanges) you could use de base too, but I heard this desde abajo rendition from Maguemati Wabgou and I love it. He used it on a panel entitled Geografías afrodescendientes y diálogos con las Áfricas which was part of the section Diálogos improbables: movilidades y disputas de saberes en el Segundo Encuentro Latinoamericano de Movimientos Socioespaciales y Socioterritoriales. 

bollard: bolardo

Perhaps not normally a social justice term, but back in 2016 there was an explosion of bollards in Bogota, which was seen by many as a misuse of city funds by the mayor to cover up other scandals. They even put in bollards to protect other bollards, such as those in this photo (thanks to @ContraGodarria on twitter for the pic).

Plan Lazo: the Snare Plan

I have always seen plan lazo imported into English in discussion of Colombian history and politics, so I was surprised by this rendition in this recent very mainstream timeline of US-Colombia relations published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). 

Plan Lazo is widely written about as establishing paramilitaries. Note how the CFR reframes this in the following text:

Plan Lazo Creates Counterinsurgency Blueprint

In response to the persistence of armed guerrilla groups in the countryside, U.S. military advisors, led by General William P. Yarborough, work with the Colombian army to develop a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy known as Plan Lazo (the Snare Plan). The plan centers on public works projects, civilian defense networks, and an aggressive military assault on “independent republics” formed by communist insurgents during La Violencia. Plan Lazo becomes the template for decades of counterinsurgency and civic action programs in Colombia.

(photo is of Yarborough)