Soy Mujer con Dignidad Rabia!
I am a woman with dignified rage!
I couldn't spend more than a few hours inside the Caracol without this sense of empowerment, groundedness and conviction filling me. The Zapatistas, a name that may bring concern, or fear to some because they cover their face in an effort to be treated equally are humble family men, women, children. They come to this place, the Caracol, to work on human powered projects that are creating a new world- a place that is filled with beautiful murals and depictions of people from a revolutionary history, quotes about dignified rage, and the democracy necessary in education written boldly on the walls for students to see on their way to class, to eat, to sleep every day.
And life is normal here- except when those international students come and do some funny, things, like yoga-- or running to the outhouse to vomit!!
There is tortilla making and weaving and outhouse washing and floor scrubbing and football and basketball playing, getting up early to go to school. What is not "normal" for Mexico that happens inside this Caracol is the type of education and the harmony of true lived out democracy of this place that has taken many years to create.
The students are not taught by teachers in an authoritarian manner, but classes are facilitated and everyone is treated equally. Boys and girls, men and women are respected equally. We saw a lot of physical affection between boys, cutting each others hair, arms wrapped around each other on the way to class, so natural and friendly, but we internationals pointed it out to each other in wonderment.
We got the opportunity to discuss the philosophy of the Zapatistas in our classes and we had many questions, especially from those who had not started to read John Ross's book The War Against Oblivion: the Zapatista Chronicles. We talked about the history of Mexico and how it has been written and about those who give alternative histories and where to find them. And how the Zapatista movement fits into that history. And we watched documentaries made on how the military responded to the Zapatistas creating the Caracol and how the Zapatistas responded to the tanks and trucks and military back in 1995.
Another world takes time to build, a world built on socio-political convictions and consensus based decision making. They would say the Caracol, like a the shape of the snail shell is always growing in a circle including ideas of peace and justice for all from all corners of the world.
Zapatistas making an impression by their:
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona (http://www.serazln-altos.org/eng/sixth.html) Declaration of intention and reasoning for what they do.
Compelling view of the reality of the destructive nature of neo-liberalism and how it has effected not only the indigenous of Chiapas but other groups around the world.
Alternative view on what development means, sustainable, local, taking care of the earth.
Response to a government that has done nothing but treat them as sub-human. This response was planned for years and focused on taking down municipal level government buildings, but created international attention.
No longer trusting a government who has deceived them over and over- they were empowered and emboldened to create their own government, their own schools, their own clinics, their own economy, their own food system... not everything all at once but slowly.... like a snail.. their name reminds them that building another world takes time and goes slowly and if you put an obstacle in front of a snail the snail will just slowly move around it and find an alternative route... this is what they are doing what they are living here, now in the mountains of Chiapas, in the mist, in the damp cold.
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