Grupo Rayo del Sol, Caracol 7, by Radio Pozol – Check them out!
Until recently I saw art as a vital but secondary force for the real work of sustaining social movements. This changed during “Rebel y Revel Arte,” a week-long gathering convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Held between two autonomous territories — Caracol #7 Jacinto Canek, a collective self-governance hub, and the University of the Earth (CIDECI) — the event called civil society to explore art’s role in organized struggle. It became clear that art is not merely a complement to struggle, but a language of autonomy integral to collective life and liberation.
Entrance to Jacinto Canek
Personal favorites:
A play titled Nature Rebels by Zapatista youth. Diverse animal tribes denounced the “pinche sistema capitalista” and united to drive exploitative companies from Mother Earth (video clip at the end).
The Art of Starting a Fire workshop. Exactly what it sounds like.
La Otra Rima, hip hop for the organized struggle, who rapped homage to figures like Víctor Jara and a searing indictment of class politics.
“Capitalism tells us: Your life belongs to me. Do you agree? I don’t! Do you?” by Radio Pozol
At the final roundtable, speakers including Subcomandantes Marcos and Moises articulated central themes in relation to the present moment of crisis and collapse. Here are some take-aways.
Subcomandante Moises, by Radio Pozol
Imagining Alternatives
There’s no building a better world without first imagining it. Art is a means.
When the education NGO I work with told me kids had “autonomy” I thought “what the hell?” until I saw it in practice and understood. But where alternatives are not in practice (often where they’re most needed) art can do the same as travel: expand our worldviews beyond our daily lives.
In a single mural, a mother nurses her baby, an old man tills the soil, raiders burn a village, a tyrant whips a slave, blood flows, a young boy plants a seed. It’s all connected. Art can communicate how the big picture affects our lives, how our actions affect the big picture, and what we can do about it.
Macro meets micro: this painting features the continents, an autonomous school and an open health center. A world where many worlds fit
Imagining the problem
Displacement is pattern born of terror and violence. It often begins with the incursion of organized crime, and ultimately benefits multinationals and the governments corrupted to serve them. A play by the older Zapatista youth shed light on dynamics converging to accelerate this process, the widespread loss of land, and with it, autonomy.
In one vignette, a young couple falls in love on Facebook, but the girl’s family of alcoholics demands a stockpile of beer and Coca Cola in exchange for her hand. The blend of humor and heartbreak is poignant. Her fiancé’s family is penniless, so despite their grandfather’s dying wish, they sell half of their land to cover the cost. In another, a migrant leaves home to repay his family’s debt but is caught by the “migra” authorities before earning a cent, forcing his family to surrender their land under violent threats.
As far as I know, he never stopped in Chiapas, but he’s painted at just about every Caracol
Imagining the solution
A return to The Commons
The play’s conclusion clarified the Zapatista proposal to return to “el común,” or The Commons, a framework rejecting private land ownership while still recognizing a degree of private property. Whoever works the land is entitled to its fruits, and whoever wants to buy a car or build a home is welcome to. El Común is an invitation extending to non-Zapatista communities to confront the “capitalist hydra” of narco-state sanctioned violence together.
The conclusion was also ripe with humorous reminders of what they don’t mean to say: significant others are NOT COMÚN!
by Radio Pozol
The Next Day, “El Día Después”
This is one of those pithy one-liners from the Zapatistas that I hadn’t really given much thought to. I finally grasped that it’s about accepting the “tormenta”—the present storm of social/environmental crisis—as realistically irreversible, and focusing instead on planting seeds of resilience for what comes after. This doesn’t necessarily mean passively trying to “weather the storm,” but rather preparing for the world that emerges from it. The “seeds” are the values, structures, and practices we cultivate: deeper community bonds, sustainable practices, mutual aid networks, and an ethos of solidarity.
by Juana Machetes
This kind of resilience doesn’t ignore the reality of collapse or struggle—it embraces it as a condition for transformation.
We are All Palestinians, “Todos Somos Palestinos”
I attended the gathering with Acción Palestina Chiapas. We were moved by the many tributes to Palestine throughout. To declare “We are all Palestinians“ is to understand that the genocide in Gaza epitomizes the very same processes of militarization, displacement, and violence targeting Indigenous communities worldwide. Palestine, in this sense, is a crucible for their most extreme manifestation — but also an exemplary case of dignified resistance against ethnic cleansing.
In conclusion, DANCE!
Every night ended in music and dance. There’s a lot to be said for that, if you ask me!
Note on the festival’s title, “Rebel y Revel Arte”
Arte = art (duh)
Rebelarte = To rebel (in the second person)
Revelarte = To reveal yourself
Original article by Isalia McIntyre at https://isalia.substack.com/p/art-in-struggle-a-zapatista-encounter