Filed under: Mexico
Prior to the Zapatista uprising, for generations, the 900,000 indigenous people of Chiapas have lived in oblivion. From the perspective of the global economy, being neither large consumers or producers, they have been ignored and simply in the way. The endless appetite of the global economy has resulted in, according to Subcomandante Marcos (leader of the Zapatista Army), “the destruction of our land, our culture, our collective way of working, the destruction of our women, the lack of appreciation for our elders, and the merchandising of our youth. All of this, including the lack of maintenance of our educational system and the social security system is for the benefit of the grand capital extranjero [foreigner].”
On New Years Day 1994, the first day NAFTA took effect, the Zapatista National Liberation Army rose up and took over municipalities throughout Chiapas, birthing a movement which today continues not only to resist the theft of their resources but is also creating alternative autonomous governing bodies, schools, clinics, cooperatives and means of communication. On December 29 to January 2 the Zapatistas invited internationals from around the world to come together for an Encounter between the Zapatistas and the people of the World. The invitation stated “At this encounter the Zapatista communities will speak on the experiences we have had these past years with our autonomous governments; the challenges and problems that we have faced constructing this anti-capitalist project and we will try to, with humility and respect, to respond, speak and exchange, and above all, share our errors and stumbling, and also our modest achievements.”Haves and the have nots
The gathering took place in Oventic, one of the five caracoles (municipal seats) of the 32 Zapatista municipalities. On the way to the gathering, driving through the rural villages one can clearly see that very little money is making it to these communities. Federal and state government policies have benefited the foreign investors that exploit resource rich Chiapas and in turn line the pockets of the politicians and Mexican elite. With this setup, the indigenous people are losing land and many have been forced to migrate to the North, relocate to the urban centers or work on large agribusiness farms to provide low wage labor. Racism from the government is also clearly at work in Chiapas as shown in the poverty statistics. In a community where the indigenous population is less than 10 percent, 18 percent of the people are at or below the poverty line; for municipalities where the indigenous population is between 10 and 40 percent, 46 percent of the people are poor; and for those where the indigenous make up more than 70 percent of the population, over 80 percent are poor. The majority of the Zapatistas are Mayan Indians who live in wood slat and mud houses with dirt floors and do not have running water even though Chiapas provides close to 90% of the water consumed by the rest of Mexico.
Encounter begins
Recognizing the reality most of the Zapatistas live in it is clear where the fuel came from to ignite this struggle, and yet with access to so few resources it is hard to imagine what alternatives they could be capable of creating. On the first day of the encounter thousands of Zapatistas who attended the conference set up stick structures covered in black plastic sheeting to sleep in for the duration of the encounter. In sharp contrast, the 2,000 internationals from 44 countries began to set up fancy tents. The structure of the encounter included a series of workshops providing updates on the progress of the autonomous governments, schools, health care systems, and cooperatives in each caracol as well as the struggles for land and for equality for women. I could feel such strong unity and pride in the Zapatistas who attended the encounter and it was an incredible experience to sit with them as the leaders they selected laid out their accomplishments throughout the workshops.
The tactics of the Zapatistas have been extremely diverse throughout the thirteen year struggle from the initial armed uprising and government negotiations to the creation of the autonomous communities. The Mexican government response has been fairly consistent and limited to the use of force and intimidation mixed with rhetoric and promises never fulfilled. Even within this climate, much has been accomplished as in achieving autonomy as highlighted by the workshops. As one of the representatives explained “Because we can not change the world we struggle so that the world will not change us.” Reports from three of the workshops are included below.
Autonomous education
From the internationally recognized health clinics to the primary and secondary schools, many of the communities are receiving services they never received from the government, often with support of NGOs and internationals. The Zapatista educational promoters, who are chosen by their communities to develop schools and train teachers from within the community, explained that the government schools their children used to attend were staffed mostly by teachers from the city who spoke only Spanish. “The government schools discriminated against the indigenous culture, language and traditions of our youth. They did not respond to our realities in the villages. They prepared our kids for the city, not to stay in our communities.” Many parents decided to pull their students out of the government schools with the hopes of creating autonomous schools that “teach liberation, not domination” and “the value of being not having.” Schools have been constructed in all five of the caracoles and many recently celebrated the graduation of their first class. Although the teachers are not paid, the community provides them with food. Each region also expressed a lack of resources to train future promoters and to build new schools. Their eyes lit up as they shared the largest dream of one day establishing an autonomous university.
Autonomous Governments
The representatives of the caracoles are selected through their community for a three year term. They can not run again to give all opportunity for leadership and to prevent people from becoming disconnected from the community and power hungry. They too do not receive payment but the community also provides them with food. Initially when the government councils were first created they were male dominated but today there are six women and seven men. Although clearly they have the capacity to govern themselves, the representatives explained that they have faced many challenges with few resources and villages with great need. The leaders stressed the huge contrast between themselves and the bad governments, those who run the state and country. For example, unlike the corrupt justice system throughout Mexico, the caracol representatives deal with conflicts by first attempting to find a solution through dialogue and compromise and if no compromise is reached the one who is found wrong must complete work to benefit the community, like the construction of a bridge. Repeatedly the representatives stressed that they “lead by obeying” and “propose not impose” with “humility and no self promotion.”
Struggle for land
Due to armed uprising in 1994 many wealthy landowners abandoned their land. The Zapatistas have reclaimed much of this land to work collectively to sustain their communities. “The land belongs to those who work it” and “to sell the land, would be to sell our mother.” Each region faces different struggles over land. The threat of losing land remains strong and paramilitary activity continues with intimidation and even the murder of Zapatista community members. Currently in the Aguazul region the government is attempting to force a Zapatista community off the land by the creation of an ecotourist destination, which will also allow the government to exploit water reserves and other resources. Also the implementation of neoliberal programs by the government, such as PROCEDE, also work to destroy the possibility of collectively worked lands. “Today we are living a global offense of exploitation, of being kicked off our lands, and of a development of politics that will destroy us. The only way to confront this is by struggling for the impossible, or in other words, the necessary,” explains Sergio Rodriguez from the Zapatista Rebeldía magazine. The lands that they have recuperated are farmed organically without the use of genetically modified seed. Agro-ecology promoters have recently been selected to educate themselves and then their community on sustainability practices.
Life of resistance
On January 1 at close to 2 am in the morning, Subcomandante Marcos and many members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army arrived to celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of the rebellion. The cultural event lasted for hours with music and dance. In the indigenous language of Tzotzil, Marcos stated, “What we have learned on the road of our struggle is that we could not win unless we united with the people who struggle everywhere.” The Zapatistas need the support of internationals to achieve their goals in the face of a system that continuously tries to eliminate them. As they establish stronger and stronger concrete alternatives their threat to the system grows. The eyes of internationals are critical in preventing the human rights abuses the Mexican government is notorious for. We have a long way to go to cross the cultural barriers necessary to provide the ultimate in solidarity, but on the last night looking through the mist out on to the basketball court where thousands of internationals and Zapatistas were dancing together to traditional music, it felt possible. As I watched the dancers, many in their early twenties, I realized that the rebellion began for many of these Zapatistas when they were less than ten years old; they have truly lived a life of resistance. Throughout the length of the encounter I was struck by their humble spirit mixed with the depth of their accomplishments, not only the autonomous governments, schools, clinics, radio stations, coffee and craft collectives but also the incredible wealth of beauty in their vision and their unity.
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