On the toilet in the Zapatista hospital | CASA
On the toilet in the Zapatista hospital | CASA:
"I am a patient in the Zapatista caracol Oventic in Chiapas. The one hour journey from San Cristobal de las Casas to Oventic is a journey from fancy cafés filled with western tourists to little comedoras where indigenous people in ski-masks sell tamales, boiled corn and atole. It is a journey from smooth paved streets to incredible quantities of black mud. Despite my best attempts to stay well and participate fully in the Intergaláctico, I find myself doubled over with the illness caused by the amoebas and parasites that plague the bellies of the people of the region who continue to lack access to potable water. However, there is a lot to be learned from the toilet of a Zapatista hospital, and I have the chance to ask a lot of questions about the way the Zapatista health system works.
In Oventic, indigenous people who belong to the EZLN, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, govern autonomously. In practice, this means that the Zapatistas have created systems of health care and education independent of the state of Mexico. The promoters of health and education are people who teach children and care for the sick without pay. The funding that is available for such projects comes from civil society all over the world who stand in solidarity with the Zapatistas, and never from the government, which, for hundreds of years, has neglected its responsibility to provide these basic services in indigenous communities in Chiapas."
"I am a patient in the Zapatista caracol Oventic in Chiapas. The one hour journey from San Cristobal de las Casas to Oventic is a journey from fancy cafés filled with western tourists to little comedoras where indigenous people in ski-masks sell tamales, boiled corn and atole. It is a journey from smooth paved streets to incredible quantities of black mud. Despite my best attempts to stay well and participate fully in the Intergaláctico, I find myself doubled over with the illness caused by the amoebas and parasites that plague the bellies of the people of the region who continue to lack access to potable water. However, there is a lot to be learned from the toilet of a Zapatista hospital, and I have the chance to ask a lot of questions about the way the Zapatista health system works.
In Oventic, indigenous people who belong to the EZLN, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, govern autonomously. In practice, this means that the Zapatistas have created systems of health care and education independent of the state of Mexico. The promoters of health and education are people who teach children and care for the sick without pay. The funding that is available for such projects comes from civil society all over the world who stand in solidarity with the Zapatistas, and never from the government, which, for hundreds of years, has neglected its responsibility to provide these basic services in indigenous communities in Chiapas."
posted by Alice at
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
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