The dance of those who are left over? Emerging classes and popular revolt in the national strike in Colombia

Abstract

The objective of the article is to analyze the protest actions, mobilization days and establishment of permanent points of resistance in the framework of the National Strike in Colombia. The theoretical perspective of the document sees in the contradictions inherent to the process of capital accumulation in a given historical period the material foundation of the class struggle, of which social movements are mediate and indirect expressions. The analysis of social forces and their class content updates the debate on the forms of social exclusion in dependent capitalism and the relative weight of relative overpopulation in social protest demonstrations. Consequently, the article analyzes three moments: the social outbreak of 2019; the economic prolongation of political slogans caused by the pandemic in 2020; and the moment of greatest volume and intensity of social mobilization in 2021.