YouTubers and social leaders: the new initiative of Daniel Samper

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Through a song, Daniel Samper and other Colombian YouTubers seek to give voice to social leaders

The song 'Un líder en mi Lugar' (A leader in my place) was released on the morning of Monday, May 13 on the YouTube channel #HolaSoyDanny, by journalist Daniel Samper Ospina. In the video appear different social leaders, such as the renowned France Márquez, and YouTubers like Juan Pablo Jaramillo and Maria Paulina Baena, from La Pulla. The song is a call to pay attention to social leaders and their work in the countless attempts to reap peace in Colombia.

Leer en español: YouTubers y líderes sociales: la nueva iniciativa de Daniel Samper

The journalist Daniel Samper Ospina started his channel more than 3 years ago. Since then he has used the platform to show politics in Colombia, always with his satirical tone and using challenges and activities that the 'ordinary' YouTubers do to attract a younger population that is interested in political issues. One of its formats has been to create songs, as he did with 'El Reguetón de la Corrupción,' where some politicians participated, and it was sought to encourage voting in the Anticorruption Consultation.

The initiative, as Samper Ospina often does with his videos, ends up being a criticism of the current situation and reality of the country. With phrases like "No, we do not have views, no, we do not have likes […] now we take, all this channel. Today I am influencer, no no, not a social leader," pretends to reflect on how little visible social leaders are, their work usually goes so unnoticed, that people like him have to give them the position so that someone pays attention to them, because without that they would still not be at the center of the discussion.

In it, he also criticizes to some extent the few actions that the Government has taken with the attacks on social leaders. Where, sometimes, has been labeled their murders as "mess of skirts," as once said the then Minister of Defense Luis Carlos Villegas, in 2017.

According to the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (Codhes), during the first 4 months of 2019, 114 attacks against social leaders were committed, and there have already been 42 murders. Taking these figures into account in just one-third of the year, it is also clear that there is an internal war against people as human rights activists to silence them. These results in only a few months are also against the Government when it has referred to the deaths as isolated events, and unrelated to each other, and not as the systematic murders that they claim are happening.

The video aims, in short, to make visible all that happens to these people in the communities most affected by the conflict in Colombia. Afros, indigenous, trans and all kinds of activists seek guarantees to continue exercising their aid to their communities without fear of losing their lives. Or, at least, that the murders do not go unpunished. As a result of this, thousands of social leaders gathered in the capital of the country for 5 days to ask the Government for more support and security.

Read also: 'Refuge for life': social leaders demand guarantees

The idea is not to let that week vanish in the many marches and demonstrations and orders that remain in the air many times. For that, in the coming days is likely to be seen in media, networks and different YouTube channels, the hashtag # UnLíderEnMiLugar, to give them the place and use crowded platforms to express their voice.

On the opening day of the song, the station La W also participated and for a while, the morning conversation table, which is directed by Julio Sánchez Cristo, was directed by Francia Márquez, an Afro leader who has fought for the environment and was recently the victim of an attack in which, thanks to her safety, she was unhurt. With such moments, the activists will be able to show their voices and thus arouse more interest for them, and therefore try to promote more security measures for them and that they can continue their work in the regions affected by the paramilitary groups and criminal gangs.

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Suárez

Translated from "YouTubers y líderes sociales: la nueva iniciativa de Daniel Samper"