[p2p-research] union's in columbia, please forward

[Michel Bauwens]

thanks for forwarding to the appropriate channels, via ann harrison:


the Benetech Human Rights Program, released the paper which is
entitled, "Comments to the article 'Is Violence Against Union Members in
Colombia Systematic and Targeted?'"

Here is the link to the paper en Español
http://www.hrdag.org/about/colombia_es.shtml and in English
http://www.hrdag.org/about/colombia.shtml. More information about our
NGO can be found here http://www.hrdag.org/

Our paper examines an article written by Colombian academics Daniel
Mejía and María José Uribe which engages an important debate about the
nature of union violence in Colombia. Mejía and Uribe concluded that ".
. . on average, violence against unionists in Colombia is neither
systematic nor targeted."

My colleagues Megan Price and Daniel Guzmán of the Benetech Human Rights
Program analyzed Mejía and Uribe's study in technical and methodological
detail and conclude that their findings are overstated. Price and Guzmán
believe that weaknesses in the data, in the choice of the statistical
model, and the interpretation of the model used in Mejía and Uribe's
study, all raise serious questions about the authors' strong causal
conclusions.

Price and Guzmán point out that unchecked, those conclusions may distort
the truth about violence against unions and can mislead important
social, economic and political decisions in Colombia. Our analysts
welcome the opportunity to have a methodological rather than ideological
debate about union violence in Colombia.

I hope this paper is of interest to you and others. John and I both look
forward to hearing more about your ongoing work - and hopefully seeing
you in the Bay Area the next time your travels take you there.

All the best,

Ann Harrison
--
 Ann Harrison
 annh at fastmail.fm
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