Zapatista anniversary - Cover Story

Zapatismo is not an ideology, it is not a bought and paid for doctrine. It is an intuition. Something so open and flexible that it really occurs in all places. Zapatismo poses the questions: "What is it that has excluded me? What is it that has isolated me?" In each place the response is different. Zapatismo simply states the question and stipulates that the response is plural, that the response is inclusive.

--Sub-Comandante Marcos

The struggles and victories of the Zapatista movement have long been a source of discussion between my dad and I. Through the communiques of Marcos, the best-known spokesperson for the Zapatistas, and the calls for international solidarity from the Lacandon jungle, I have followed from a distance the progression of an important movement. And when an opportunity arose for me to visit and observe first hand, I could not resist. At the end of 2003 I traveled with 39 American activists and students brought together by the Mexico Solidarity Network to participate in the New Year's celebrations in the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico.

The Zapatistas have formed amazing Mayan indigenous communities. They have created a society totally autonomous from the government. Twenty years ago, inspired by traditional Mayan knowledge, liberation theology and socialism, the movement began in the state of Chiapas. On January 1, 1994 the armed faction of the Zapatistas took over areas of Chiapas in response to the Mexican government's signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Zapatistas are engaging in a struggle from the bottom up. Most are not theorists or academics. They have lived with the effects of colonialism and neoliberalism, and have declared that "enough is enough--basta--this is not the only way." Transformative, radical change that contributes to sustainable living is what the people of Chiapas, as well as other landless campesinos around the world, are struggling for. It was the 20th anniversary of the Zapatista movement and the 10th anniversary of the armed uprising against NAFTA and neoliberalism, that the Zapatista communities began to celebrate in late November.

Half of our delegation went to a community that was south of San Cristobal, while the rest of us went further up into the mountains to Oventic--the main, and oldest, caracole in the Zapatista communities. The caracoles act as community centres and house the local government and community buildings such as schools and clinics. Oventic is a community with a medical clinic, a language school, an elementary school, and three co-operatives: a boot shop, a general store and a weaving shop. The Zapatista communities have completely divorced themselves from the state. They receive no kind of subsidies for schools or health care.

They produce as much as they can for themselves on their own. Material and monetary goods from other areas of Mexico and from international solidarity movements help to fill in the gaps. The clinic is operated by a group of trained workers who train others to administer health care within the communities. The main focus is on preventive health care and the use of traditional herbal remedies. The weaving co-op is composed of 400 women who share their work and profits. The boot shop has about 25 workers who produce boots by hand for the communities. The focus is on the well being of the community, which has an energy that we rarely feel here in Canada.

Visiting Oventic were delegations from many countries--Sweden, Greece, Italy, France, Norway, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, USA, Australia. We were all humbly invited to participate in the planned festivities over the coming days. Our experience in Oventic was incredible. We were all a bit taken romantically with our first encounter with masked community members. People were very welcoming and generous. The music lasted all day and all night for days. There was a basketball tournament between the local communities and the visiting delegations. One afternoon was filled with poetry readings, theatrical performances and dance numbers. The New Year's celebration was alcohol free as the women had demanded years ago that alcohol no longer be allowed in the community because of how it contributed to violence against women. The event began with an address from one of the Comandantes, who encouraged the communities to continue in the struggles and victories of the movement.

A serious question on the minds of our delegation was our place within the movement. We recognized the privilege we possessed by being able to step in and out of active involvement at our convenience, and we struggled with the notions of solidarity. We never came to a clear conclusion, but our debate was resolved during our first visit with the leadership of the community. They welcomed us and thanked us for sacrificing things in our own lives to be in their community. They assured us that we act in solidarity every time we share information with others about the Zapatista movement. Buying locally produced goods or arranging for medical and educational supplies for the communities were other important acts of solidarity. It was made very clear that they did not expect us to move into their communities to fully participate in their movement of resistance. Another point that was expressed over and over again, was the need for international solidarity in order to keep the movement alive and relatively safe from the government and the paramilitary--who call themselves Peace and Justice. And lastly, they thanked us for helping to show the world by our presence that it was possible to create a world where all worlds fit.

As a delegation we learned to work together collectively for meals and the basic running of our camp. Time was very fluid and we spent it talking and getting to know each other as we prepared food or washed dishes. Many of our conversations revolved around the privileges we possessed in the USA and Canada and how we could exploit our privileges to act in solidarity with the Zapatistas.

We witnessed the hard work and dedication it takes to claim your own autonomy. It was surreal to see the collective dynamics working at a community level. We saw this whole community living the ideology that the movement espouses. After read about socialism, community organizing and revolution for so many years, and finally see it with my own eyes, it's an experience that I will always carry with me. It will inform my own community work.

Carrie Sinkowski is an outreach worker and public educator at a rape crisis centre, anti poverty advocate and activist in rural Ontario.

For more information on the Zapatista movement, or how to support it, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network or the Rebeldia Magazine (the Zapatista's magazine), both of which are available on line. To purchase videos that document various points of the movement contact the Chiapas Media project for films that have been produced by people within the Zapatista communities.

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