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¡Ya basta! Enough is enough!

Thursday, April 27th, 2006

Grace Leung

Zapatista beginnings
On the 1 January 1994, two things happened that shook Mexican society and resounded around the world. zapatista wall mural The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect, devastating small producers and workers with policies that allow cheaper, heavily subsidised US and Canadian goods to flood into the Mexican market. On the same day, 3000 members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) seized six towns and hundreds of ranches in the Southern state of Chiapas, Mexico as an action of resistance against the imposition of neoliberal policies that favour already powerful multinational corporations. For two weeks, the state of Chiapas resounded with the chant “’¡Ya Basta! Enough is enough!” as the people called for an end to five centuries of indigenous repression and exploitation and of the encroaching globalisation of corporate hegemony and cultural homogenisation. The Mexican army responded with bombs and bullets, killing at least 145 indigenous people. Mexican civil society responded with massive demonstrations across the country calling for an end to the military repression, and a ceasefire was called on the 12th of January.

From the ceasefire to now
Peace talks began in February 1994 and continued until February 1996 when an agreement, called the San Andrés Accords, was signed by the Zapatistas and the Mexican government, outlining a program of indigenous autonomy, land reform and cultural rights. In December of that same year, newly elected president, Ernesto Zedillo, officially turned his back on the San Andres Accords. The Zapatistas, and sympathising communities, have since endured continual persecution from the Mexican military and paramilitaries and have been singled out as a threat from multinational corporations such as the Chase Manhattan Bank.
This has resulted in tragedies such as the Acteal massacre of December 1997, where 45 Zapatista sympathising civilians in the community of Acteal, mostly women and children, were gunned down in a church by paramilitaries with the aid of the Mexican military. Despite this, the Zapatistas refuse to tolerate any more oppression, be it physical, economic or cultural. The resistance continues and grows until this day.

What do the Zapatistas stand for?
The Zapatista movement is rooted in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), an uprising for land reform, communal land rights for the indigenous and freedom from imperialist repression. Named after one of Mexico’s great revolutionaries, Emiliano Zapata, the movement strives to break through the neoliberal mode of profit over people and a government seeped in corruption, to create a space for justice, equitable public participation and respect for Mother Earth. zapatista meeting Indeed, the leaders of the movement famously mask their faces with balaclavas or bandanas to symbolise their anonymity and equality with the suffering indigenous, peasants and workers. The movement has organised countless consultations and meetings at community, national and international levels, but always prioritising the voice of the people. As a result, they have established strong, autonomous communities with health clinics, schools and cooperatives producing various goods as deemed suitable for the communities by the communities. A dynamic form of government, (el Buen Gobierno, the good government) modelled on traditional indigenous frameworks, has been established, where leaders are seen as servants of the people and extensive community involvement occurs.

Do people support the Zapatista movement?
The rebellious dignity of the Zapatistas, coupled with their savvy use of the media, has inspired civil society worldwide and international solidarity has been proliferating over the years. In 2001, a Zapatista caravan, lead by the charismatic spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos, completed a three week long March from Chiapas to the capital, Mexico City to demand that the government honours the San Andrés Accords. As they marched into the city plaza, they were greeted with 250,000 supporters from a colourful cross-section of Mexican and international society.

Are they winning?
Despite the strength and successes of the Zapatista movement, many communities still suffer from extreme poverty, exacerbated by the fact that many of them are situated in remote mountainous regions. Access to potable water and medicine remains a leading cause of illness and fatalities in the communities, especially for children and women. To epitomise the gravity of the situation, Subcomandante Ramona, one of the EZLN’s most loved leaders and a beacon of equality for women in the movement, died of a curable kidney condition whilst en route to a health clinic from an isolated mountain community.

Problems facing the Zapatistas
While the movement is steeled by its uncompromising principles and integrity, it is hindered by a lack of resources and infrastructure. Currently there are only a handful of facilities in Chiapas that train young indigenous people vocational skills to bring valuable skills back to their communities. There has also been support from international solidarity groups. However, since the Zapatistas are autonomous, external aid is accepted only from non-governmental sources. In spite of the death of Ramona and the continuing poverty of communities, the movement has been growing stronger in spirit, especially in recent months.

candle lit shrine

“The Other Campaign”
As a response to the opaque processes and mudslinging of the looming Mexican presidential elections, the Zapatistas have launched “The Other Campaign”. The comandancia are currently touring Mexico to educate and empower civilians about the alternatives for the corrupt government that serves the insatiable capitalist machine that is currently in power. Although primarily an indigenous rights movement, the Zapatistas embrace all peoples fighting towards democracy, justice and liberty. They are part of a global wave of people standing up against a system that values profit over people and nature and striving for a global citizenry of dignity, democracy, freedom and justice.

TAKE ACTION!

Learn more about the Zapatistas from www.ezln.org.mx, indymedia or from a range of publications at the Freedom Shop on Cuba Mall (I recommend the book “Our Word is Our Weapon, by Subcomdante Marcos)
Support international solidarity programs
Visit Chiapas and work with some of the communities. Organisations like Chiapas Peace House (www.chiapaspeacehouse.org) act as centres to support and delegate overseas volunteers in Chiapas.
Learn more about the state of indigenous peoples and their rights in your area.
Learn more about the negative impacts of corporate globalisation and the effect of multilateral free trade agreements like NAFTA

Tags: Activism, community development, conflict, corporations, democracy, education and training, government, health, indigenous rights, justice, Media, Mexico, poverty, schools, sovereignty, Zapatista
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Beyond fair trade - brewing hope

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Grace Leung

The Fair Trade movement has been growing significantly over the years and many more cafes and shops now sell fair trade coffee. However, a campus group at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, called “Brewing Hope” works to take a step beyond fair trade by creating relationships between consumers and the communities which grow and harvest their coffee. Brewing Hope buys coffee directly from the autonomous, Zapatista-affiliated coffee cooperative Yachil in Chiapas, Mexico. Taking Fair Trade a step further, Brewing Hope organizes exchanges programs. It brings coffee farmers and cooperative members from Chiapas to Ann Arbor to teach communities about their struggles for autonomy and freedom. Conversely, Brewing Hope brings delegates from Ann Arbor to Chiapas to learn about the stories behind their daily cup of joe.

In July 2005, I was one of 12-person delegation to visit San Cristobal de las Casas and nearby communities in Chiapas.

Our visit included meeting with local and international social and economic justice groups ranging from Chiapas Peace House (an organization that supports overseas volunteers) to CEDICI (a research and advocacy group that investigates into the Mexican military’s oppression of autonomous communities). We visited a vocational training school for indigenous youth so we could see how the next generation acquires skills to bring back to their communities, so that they may be autonomous and independent of government agencies.

We were also fortunate enough to stay the night in Chixilon with a community affiliated with Las Abejas, a non-violent group with similar principles to the Zapatistas. In accordance with the community’s needs, we brought with us medical supplies and other provisions to improve their water storage system. We also visited Acteal, a community who lost 45 members to an attack by paramilitaries, with the aid of the Mexican military, in 1997. It is highly likely that the attack was a response to the community’s quest for autonomy and independence from a corrupt government. We were all deeply inspired by the determination for true justice, and rebellious dignity of the people that we met at Acteal.

One particular woman at Acteal, who had introduced us to the women’s handicraft cooperative, recounted the murder of her brother and father in the 1997 massacre. Speaking only her native tongue of Tzetzal at the time, the event provoked her to learn Spanish, make contacts in nearby cities and organize a women’s handicrafts cooperative to revive and bring economic independence to her community.

Despite the benefits of Fair Trade, many potentials remain to be fulfilled. Indeed, despite getting the certified fair trade price of US$1.26 per pound of unroasted coffee beans, the community that we visited must still walk up to 2 hours to the nearest source of marginally potable water in the dry season. Moreover, with the global price of coffee rising, Fair Trade prices are beginning to be less lucrative for farmers, many of whom are tempted to avoid the processes of fair trade and cooperative participation and selling to middlemen (locally called coyotes) instead. Although in the short term, this means less work for the farmers, it leads to the loss of their Fair Trade certification and leaves them vulnerable to the price fluctuations determined by the coyotes.

Because of the recovering prices of conventional coffee on the international market, the next few years will be testing for the Fair Trade communities to continue to comply with the Fair Trade regulations. Many communities also face labour shortages due to the migration of young people to urban areas in search of waged labour. These were some of the concerns that the community shared with us that consumers usually give limited thought

The delegation provided a valuable opportunity for a reciprocal interaction between consumers and coffee growers, the complexities of which go far beyond a cup of coffee. Visits like ours are a small but significant way of showing solidarity with people struggling for justice and freedom. Perhaps this is a future direction for the Fair Trade movement, one in which the consumer looks beyond the latte in their hands and indeed, all goods, creating a new global economy which brings consumers and producers together in the fight for justice and sustainability.

TAKE ACTION!