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Women, War And Peace: The War We Are Living

Francia Márquez, leader of the Afro-Colombian community of La Toma, Suarez, delivers a speech at a government meeting on May 26, 2010. The community faces the threat of eviction from their ancestral lands due to authorization of mining licenses without their prior consultation.
Courtesy of Oscar Bernal
Francia Márquez, leader of the Afro-Colombian community of La Toma, Suarez, delivers a speech at a government meeting on May 26, 2010. The community faces the threat of eviction from their ancestral lands due to authorization of mining licenses without their prior consultation.

Airs Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

WOMEN, WAR & PEACE is a bold five-part PBS television series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. The vast majority of today’s conflicts are not fought by nation states and their armies, but rather by informal entities: gangs and warlords using small arms and improvised weapons. The episodes are "I Came to Testify," "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," "Peace Unveiled," "The War We Are Living" and "War Redefined."

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WOMEN, WAR & PEACE is on Facebook. For breaking news on subjects related to women in conflict zones around the world, follow @WomenWarPeace on Twitter.

For in-depth interviews with people who have responded creatively to the plight of women living in conflict zones, subscribe to our podcast.

The series reveals how the post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, with women becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties. Yet they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

With depth and complexity, WOMEN, WAR & PEACE spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframing our understanding of modern warfare.

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Featuring narrators Matt Damon, Tilda Swinton, Geena Davis and Alfre Woodard, WOMEN, WAR & PEACE is the most comprehensive global media initiative ever mounted on the roles of women in war and peace.

Learn More About Colombia

Links to more information about Colombia and women working for peace there.

"The War We Are Living" - In a mountainous region in Colombia’s Pacific southwest, two extraordinary Afro-Colombian women are fighting to hold onto the gold-rich land that has sustained their community through small-scale mining for centuries.

Clemencia Carabali and Francia Marquez are part of a powerful network of female leaders, who discovered during Colombia’s 40-year civil war that women can organize more freely than men.

As they defy paramilitary death threats and steadfastly remain on their land, Carabali and Marquez are standing up for a generation of Colombians who have been terrorized and forcibly displaced as a deliberate strategy of war. Alfre Woodard narrates.

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More stories from Columbia:

'Avatar' Hits Home with Indigenous Colombians

The World’s Most Famous Female Hostage - An interview with Ingrid Betancourt

New Breed of Colombian Paramilitaries

Vanished From Justice: Colombia’s Paramilitary Leaders

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Watch The War We Are Living on PBS. See more from Women War and Peace.