We know the importance of television and media in modern life as a communication tool. We can also see the how the bosses, conscious of the risks of using it excessively as a tool of repression, use it in a much more subliminal way now. In one case, they are doing this through “Reality TV”.

Recently, a new TV show entitled “Inversiones el A.B.C.” (“The ABC Investments”) has been aired on a local Colombian TV network. The TV show is based on the real life story behind the David Murcia Guzmán (DMG) group. The DMG group is a controversial company disbanded in November 2008 by the Colombian government under suspicion of money laundering and using a Ponzi scheme. Essentially, they got people to spend 100,000 pesos on pre-paid cards they could use to buy various things distributed by the DMG group. They would then get their money back for buying the cards (and maybe even make a profit) only if they got others to buy a lot more cards.

Strangely enough, the majority of the working class here in Colombia did not feel robbed by the DMG group. They felt, rather, that the government robbed them when it precipitated the bankruptcy of the DMG group (acting under pressure from bankers and the U.S. Embassy). The government is now working hard to twist the necks of an important sector of the working class by using the media to show the incident from their perspective.

Why Are TV Shows So Important For The Bosses Right Now?

There are a lot of reasons why the government needs good publicity right now. Lately, the housing problem in Colombia has been getting much worse. According to figures from the Supreme Judiciary Council, the number of foreclosures in 1999 was 550,000 and 347,000 in 2003. According to figures from the organizations of victims of the financial system, there are over 500,000 families that have been evicted by the banks and 400,000 more arein the process of eviction. According to the World Bank, Colombia is the second largest country in concentration of wealth in the world, and five groups control 92% of the financial sector.

The pressure is mounting on this capitalist system, especially when it comes to the local systems. They act as a shield and protection for the global financial system. Because of this, the debt can be maintained even as the dollar falls. Here things happen with this very special formula: when the consumer price index (CPI) falls, the debt remains, but when the CPI rises, the debt rises.

For example, if you go to the bank and give them 100 pesos, hoping to have 105 or 110 if you save it, then the bank says that because of management expenses, card balances and taxes now you only have 80 pesos. Where is the motivation to save? There is none, and if another site, DMG namely, tells you that if you put those same 100 pesos in their pyramid scheme you can expect to get 200 back, then you’ll do it because you have to take the risk.

A survey of the International Youth Organization 2008 says: 120 million young people between 15 and 24 years of age in Latin America suffer an unemployment rate of 12.5%. In Colombia almost 30% of the youth are unemployed. This rate is increasing because of the bosses’ crisis. “It is said that only about 48% of children have access to Preschool. Also, teen pregnancy rates continue to increase reaching more than 20.5% in women 15- to 19-years-old and 16% of poor households living in precarious positions.”

The Fight Against Sexism is Vital to Defeating Capitalism

PLP combats sexism, opposing the attacks against women and developing women leaders in our movement. We also continue to spread our communist analysis of sexism: that it is necessary for the bosses because it divides the working class and makes revolutionary struggle that much more unlikely. The fight against sexist ideas cannot be separated from the struggle against the system that creates them.

In a study of the Public Defense Organization and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Pasto, capital of Nariño, 43.3% of women reported having been the victim of physical violence and 70% did not report it or ask for help. Likewise, 19.7% were forced into sex acts or sex against their will. Sexual violence appears as a central strategy of territorial control. The attacks against women around the world are growing. While this system exists, where economic exploitation turns women into a commodity, women will be abused and disregarded both on a small scale to a much larger scale.

When asked: “Has a member of your family ever been physically forced to have sex or sexual acts unwillingly?,” 11.1% of the population answered in the positive; 17.9% declared that sexual assault was the determining cause for moving away. Sexism increases oppression through economic, cultural and social means. Women earn less and are treated worse on a political level.

Sexism is not only the personal male chauvinism of a few right-wing and backward men and women or the outcome of the deployment of paramilitaries in the city. In Bogotá, the process of the exploitation of women is reflected in key areas of the formal economy (large projects) or the informal economy (drug trafficking).

For example, trade in San Andresito, money laundering in the neighborhood of Santafé, and other financial activities downtown all use the super-exploitation of women to make a profit. The steps they take are clear: infiltrate, control, prevent acceptance by the population or the institutions that have a presence in the area; create extensive networks in the neighborhoods, proliferate fear; execute the “Undesirable,” and attempt total domination of the area. This practice is not new but now it is being done systematically against women workers.

All workers need to combat inequality as an integral part of capitalism. Attacks against women also keep their brother workers in chains. The divisions between men and women help employers cut our salaries. Victory for the working class requires that we break these divisions and join in the fight for equality by destroying the capitalist system. The working class needs to destroy sexism in order to defeat capitalism and build a revolutionary struggle for communism to eliminate the oppression of all workers.