Hanging out with the Zapatistas
FLASHBACK TO 2002
Zapatismo is both an ideology and a revolutionary indigenous mass movement in Mexico’s mountainous South-East, involving men, women, workers and peasants fighting for democracy, autonomy and liberation from the brutal market forces of neo-liberalism. The great Mayan nation is being reborn by revolutionary means in what is, in fact, the first grass-roots, post-modern, anti-capitalist uprising in the Americas. In standing up and wielding their sword of solidarity against the Mexican state and global capital, the Zapatistas have inspired millions like myself the world over. They are utilizing the internet to their advantage, waging a ‘social netwar’ and building solidarity and consciousness across the globe. I sorely wanted to meet the people involved in the courageous struggle to construct their own world and to break free from the shackles of capitalism, finding their power through unity. I just had to experience the revolution first-hand.
From Guatemala City, I jumped on the bus headed for Mexico. The road wound through the moist, cloudy highlands and hugged the steep valley walls. Far below, snakes of turbulent white-water cut their way through spectacular gorges. The looming mountainous landscape had a wild frontier-feel and was quite imposing. Twelve hours, five buses, and three military checkpoints after leaving Guatemala, I had arrived in the heart of Zapatista territory.
Into the conflict zone I headed, past the lines of the Mexican military and into a Zapatista autonomous enclave to be amongst the warriors and revolutionaries who have dared to challenge the monstrous world economic system. There I had arranged to work in solidarity with the Zapatistas in a volunteer program for their new, autonomous, universally-free education system, taught bilingually in both Spanish and Tzotzil. Education is one of the central tenets of the Zapatista philosophy and is part of their eleven-word program. The other ten principles of their revolutionary program are Work, Land, Shelter, Bread, Health, Democracy, Liberty, Peace, Independence and Justice.
My stay in the Zapatista autonomous areas was with a solidarity tour/volunteer program of about thirty people; mostly Mexican, but also some Argentines, Canadians and Americans. I was very excited as our bus, full of lefties and revolutionaries, rolled up at the gates to the village. On the side of the road was a big sign reading ¨WELCOME TO OVENTIC: LIBERATED TERRITORY¨, and a large red painting of Che Guevara and Emiliano Zapata. Kids waved to us, and a masked Zapatista woman checked all of our ID´s, then ushered us through the gate. Slowly, we became integrated into the community and rhythm of life. We had forums and were given welcome-speeches by various community conveners (under Zapatismo, there are no leaders). Every night we would watch educational videos and have round-table discussions, and by day we were given tours to places like the cooperative farms, collectivised shoe-factory, autonomous highschool, and community hospital, laboratory and medicinal herb store; all run by the people for the people. We did some construction work at the autonomous highschool and were also lucky enough to have a meeting with the councillours of the Zapatista Autonomous Municipal Council of San Andres. These autonomous Zapatista rebel-authorities have been set up parallel to the official Mexican government institutions.
There was art everywhere in the community; lots of beautiful murals depicting Zapatista women, revolutionary heroes and Mayan spirituality. I enjoyed learning and practising Tzotzil from the locals, which is the first language throughout much of the Chiapas highlands. We played lots of basketball with the locals, which has curiously been adopted as the ´game of resistance´ in the Zapatista villages, because of the lack of flat ground for soccer pitches in the mountainous terrain. Being at 3000m altitude, a cloud would blow over us every now and then, enveloping the whole community in a misty white bubble.
One of my fondest memories was of all of us sitting around with a guitar and some percussion, singing revolutionary songs under the light of the full moon, with fireflies flashing all around us in the freezing mountain air. We were also able to go hiking with our Zapatista comrades and visit some beautiful waterfalls, with the sight and sound of the white-water providing fantastic therapy. I looked around me and knew that the trees, the rocks and the water were also Zapatistas. After all, the liberation of humanity from the chains of capitalism goes hand in hand with the liberation of nature from the chainsaws of capitalism! Women´s emancipation has also been achieved under Zapatismo.
After a week in Oventic, we visited another autonomous Zapatista community named Roberto Barrios, this time in the steamy Lacandon jungle in the northern lowlands. Every morning we would wake up to the sounds of howler monkeys, and the nearby waterfalls produced a constant dull roar. This community was in a much more precarious situation than Oventic. Paramilitary threats were a daily occurrence and just two weeks before our arrival, a Honduran Zapatista supporter was murdered, but not before having his testicles and ears cut off as torture. Every night we would go on guard-duty in three-hour shifts, at the gate to the village. I always chose the 1am to 4am shift, for I loved that time of night when all was still and serene; seemingly, at least, for the threat of attack was always present. We were accompanied in the community by International Peace Observers with whom we made several trips to the nearby waterfalls. The swimming was divine, but all along the banks, the paramilitaries had set up booby-traps that we had to be wary of.
The solidarity-tour was indeed one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My feeling was that I was on the front-line of world-wide global change; that the Zapatista revolution was merely just the beginning of something far bigger. I was so incredibly inspired by all of the courageous people I had met, so full of spirit and determination. Living the revolution has left such a sweet taste in my mouth and has compelled me to take an active role in broadening the global resistance. Capitalism creates its own gravediggers, as the Zapatista uprising has shown. And now I have been won over to the ranks of gravediggers. The Mexican government’s war on the indigenous people of Mexico is part of the global elites’ war on the world’s poor. The difference is that their war is to exploit and kill, whereas our war is TO LIVE. To quote a Zapatista poem, “We are made of true words and we are constructing true worlds”.
posted by J A G U A R I T O (Marco Hewitt)
Zapatismo is both an ideology and a revolutionary indigenous mass movement in Mexico’s mountainous South-East, involving men, women, workers and peasants fighting for democracy, autonomy and liberation from the brutal market forces of neo-liberalism. The great Mayan nation is being reborn by revolutionary means in what is, in fact, the first grass-roots, post-modern, anti-capitalist uprising in the Americas. In standing up and wielding their sword of solidarity against the Mexican state and global capital, the Zapatistas have inspired millions like myself the world over. They are utilizing the internet to their advantage, waging a ‘social netwar’ and building solidarity and consciousness across the globe. I sorely wanted to meet the people involved in the courageous struggle to construct their own world and to break free from the shackles of capitalism, finding their power through unity. I just had to experience the revolution first-hand.
From Guatemala City, I jumped on the bus headed for Mexico. The road wound through the moist, cloudy highlands and hugged the steep valley walls. Far below, snakes of turbulent white-water cut their way through spectacular gorges. The looming mountainous landscape had a wild frontier-feel and was quite imposing. Twelve hours, five buses, and three military checkpoints after leaving Guatemala, I had arrived in the heart of Zapatista territory.
Into the conflict zone I headed, past the lines of the Mexican military and into a Zapatista autonomous enclave to be amongst the warriors and revolutionaries who have dared to challenge the monstrous world economic system. There I had arranged to work in solidarity with the Zapatistas in a volunteer program for their new, autonomous, universally-free education system, taught bilingually in both Spanish and Tzotzil. Education is one of the central tenets of the Zapatista philosophy and is part of their eleven-word program. The other ten principles of their revolutionary program are Work, Land, Shelter, Bread, Health, Democracy, Liberty, Peace, Independence and Justice.
My stay in the Zapatista autonomous areas was with a solidarity tour/volunteer program of about thirty people; mostly Mexican, but also some Argentines, Canadians and Americans. I was very excited as our bus, full of lefties and revolutionaries, rolled up at the gates to the village. On the side of the road was a big sign reading ¨WELCOME TO OVENTIC: LIBERATED TERRITORY¨, and a large red painting of Che Guevara and Emiliano Zapata. Kids waved to us, and a masked Zapatista woman checked all of our ID´s, then ushered us through the gate. Slowly, we became integrated into the community and rhythm of life. We had forums and were given welcome-speeches by various community conveners (under Zapatismo, there are no leaders). Every night we would watch educational videos and have round-table discussions, and by day we were given tours to places like the cooperative farms, collectivised shoe-factory, autonomous highschool, and community hospital, laboratory and medicinal herb store; all run by the people for the people. We did some construction work at the autonomous highschool and were also lucky enough to have a meeting with the councillours of the Zapatista Autonomous Municipal Council of San Andres. These autonomous Zapatista rebel-authorities have been set up parallel to the official Mexican government institutions.
There was art everywhere in the community; lots of beautiful murals depicting Zapatista women, revolutionary heroes and Mayan spirituality. I enjoyed learning and practising Tzotzil from the locals, which is the first language throughout much of the Chiapas highlands. We played lots of basketball with the locals, which has curiously been adopted as the ´game of resistance´ in the Zapatista villages, because of the lack of flat ground for soccer pitches in the mountainous terrain. Being at 3000m altitude, a cloud would blow over us every now and then, enveloping the whole community in a misty white bubble.
One of my fondest memories was of all of us sitting around with a guitar and some percussion, singing revolutionary songs under the light of the full moon, with fireflies flashing all around us in the freezing mountain air. We were also able to go hiking with our Zapatista comrades and visit some beautiful waterfalls, with the sight and sound of the white-water providing fantastic therapy. I looked around me and knew that the trees, the rocks and the water were also Zapatistas. After all, the liberation of humanity from the chains of capitalism goes hand in hand with the liberation of nature from the chainsaws of capitalism! Women´s emancipation has also been achieved under Zapatismo.
After a week in Oventic, we visited another autonomous Zapatista community named Roberto Barrios, this time in the steamy Lacandon jungle in the northern lowlands. Every morning we would wake up to the sounds of howler monkeys, and the nearby waterfalls produced a constant dull roar. This community was in a much more precarious situation than Oventic. Paramilitary threats were a daily occurrence and just two weeks before our arrival, a Honduran Zapatista supporter was murdered, but not before having his testicles and ears cut off as torture. Every night we would go on guard-duty in three-hour shifts, at the gate to the village. I always chose the 1am to 4am shift, for I loved that time of night when all was still and serene; seemingly, at least, for the threat of attack was always present. We were accompanied in the community by International Peace Observers with whom we made several trips to the nearby waterfalls. The swimming was divine, but all along the banks, the paramilitaries had set up booby-traps that we had to be wary of.
The solidarity-tour was indeed one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My feeling was that I was on the front-line of world-wide global change; that the Zapatista revolution was merely just the beginning of something far bigger. I was so incredibly inspired by all of the courageous people I had met, so full of spirit and determination. Living the revolution has left such a sweet taste in my mouth and has compelled me to take an active role in broadening the global resistance. Capitalism creates its own gravediggers, as the Zapatista uprising has shown. And now I have been won over to the ranks of gravediggers. The Mexican government’s war on the indigenous people of Mexico is part of the global elites’ war on the world’s poor. The difference is that their war is to exploit and kill, whereas our war is TO LIVE. To quote a Zapatista poem, “We are made of true words and we are constructing true worlds”.
posted by J A G U A R I T O (Marco Hewitt)
posted by Alice at
Thursday, January 25, 2007
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