Compañeras, compañeros, compañerxs.
People who have stood up in solidarity to fight for dignity and justice, both inside of their own geographies but also for those far away.
Here we are, in 2024, after 28 + years of learning to walk, and walking, learning to listen, and listening.
Thirty years ago, the indigenous peasant uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in the mountains of the Mexican southeast became an unlikely reference not only for all of Mexico, but for the whole world. Their “Para todos todo, nada para nosotros” (everything for everyone, nothing for ourselves) ,“un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos” (a world where many worlds fit) and “mandar obedeciendo” (governing by obeying) articulated a vision shared by many people around the world engaging in the struggle “from below.”
Schools for Chiapas was born from a grassroots group of activists and educators who were in attendance at the 1996 “First Intergalactic Encounter,” the first gathering of International Civil Society by the EZLN.
Widening the Cracks
That same year, the Congreso Nacional Indigena (National Indigenous Congress) or the CNI, was born. The CNI is a sister organization to the EZLN, a network of peoples throughout Mexico who defend their territories and ways of life that are based on harmony within the community and with nature, and are grounded in centuries of communal indigenous tradition. In Mexico, which for decades promoted a “national mestizo identity” that effectively suppressed the legitimacy and political viability of unique indigenous cultures and identities, indigenous peoples, despised and marginalized in mainstream Mexican culture, became a visible force to be reckoned with, permanently changing the political landscape. Articulated first by the Tsotsil Maya Comandante Ramona in 1994, “Never Again a Mexico Without Us” became the rallying cry and slogan of the CNI.
These developments also had global implications — the message of the struggles of the Indigenous Maya campesinos and their counterparts throughout the Mexican countryside converged with emergent global justice and climate justice movements. On the front lines in defense of Mother Earth, indigenous struggles for well-being and their ways of life became iconic to a global movement that envisages a future for humanity and the planet. Widening the cracks in the wall of global capital to glimpse what is on the other side to dare to envision a better world, they have literally framed the conversation.
Similarly, the organizing of the peoples of Mexico has laid the foundations for agreements based on the Zapatista principles of mandar obedeciendo (governing by obeying), a common global struggle against capitalism and patriarchy, and for ways of living that allow all others to live in “a world where many worlds fit.” Today, organized communities, neighborhoods, and peoples in resistance speak a common language of struggle in defense of life against the ravages of Capital and the State which serves it. The shared definition of this struggle and the principles which characterize the movement are what we refer to as “Zapatismo.”
An Ongoing Apprenticeship
In the early years of this extraordinary movement, Schools for Chiapas was created to support the Zapatista schools with resources and building supplies. And later, with the birth of the Caracoles and Juntas de Buen Gobierno, we accompanied communities in their long caminar (path made by walking) in various aspects of autonomy, which has included education, health, climate resilience and supporting the development of artisans’ collective and bringing delegations to learn and share alongside the communities. The organization kept its name, keeping in mind that our lessons from Zapatismo, that classrooms were everywhere, and that education is multidirectional. Hence, throughout this journey, we have dedicated ourselves to sharing the context of the ongoing struggle, to building and supporting networks of solidarity, and to learning alongside the Zapatista communities to support processes of autonomy in any capacity that we can.
Over these decades, we have witnessed the power of the Zapatista example and of the movement it has inspired. We have heard the rumble of the collapse of the old world, and we can see the cracks where the light gets in. But we have also seen how the collapse of the old world has intensified the war on indigenous peoples and its assault on Mother Earth. The plunder and violence institutionalized by cartels and their government lackeys is but one element of “the storm,” as the Zapatistas have described it.
Evaluation and Adjustment
In light of this, last year, based on their experiences in Chiapas, and of what they had seen in their Journey for Life in “Unsubmissive” Europe, the EZLN announced some major changes in its organization. The support base communities (BAEZLN) had been working intensively in self-assessment and reorganization for several years. At the 30th Anniversary celebration of the EZLN, held in Zapatista territory December 30, 2023 – January 2, 2024, they announced their reorganization. At this event and in a series of communiques (the 20th and last of which can be found here), they described the creation of a new structure, one that would invert the pyramid of power that they had unintentionally created, and which would restore the weight of power to the communities. They shared what they saw was necessary to weather the storm. This willingness to analyze, self-criticize and change based on an extended conversation amongst the communities is itself an inspiration, and perhaps less common in the history of revolutionary movements.
Their solution at its most basic, was to extend the material bases of well-being (land) to non -Zapatista brothers and sisters, to declare that this land, identified as “non-property” would be shared “in common.” Tierras recuperadas (stolen lands which have been recuperated by Indigenous communities) which had been worked collectively amongst Zapatistas, would be held in common with non-Zapatistas, (excluding paramilitaries, private companies and crime gangs) and utilized according to agreements between Zapatista and non-Zapatista brothers and sisters. Production on those lands would be rotated according to agreed upon times, and the fruits of one’s labors would be one’s own. The land would remain “in common” in perpetuity. In cooperating in this way, campesinos, both Zapatista bases and their brothers and sisters outside the organization, work together to ensure that they can feed their families, and help to dispel rivalries over ownership. This is to say, in the face of the tearing apart of the social fabric, the Zapatistas begin to weave.
New Horizons
So it is that the caminar carries on with a gaze that looks generations into the future. We are inspired by this new era in the ongoing evolution of organization and strategy in the rebel communities, and in our ongoing commitment to their struggle, we take inspiration in their reflection and restructuring. So in 2024, we also began a new chapter of our own.
In the face of the storm that threatens community integrity and well-being in Chiapas, we see the courage and determination of kindred communities organized in defense of community and territory and sharing the principles of Zapatismo-some belonging to the CNI, some organized through the church, some organized independently. These families, while not BAEZLN, are committed to creating community-based alternatives to a system that seeks to divide them, to make them sick, to bury their community ethics in individualism, and to dispossess them of their language, their culture, their land and their water.
Fostering Autonomy
So, this year for the first time, Schools for Chiapas began to work with these other communities in resistance in supporting their own processes of building autonomy, namely in education and preventive health, for now. Informed and moved by the models demonstrated over years in Zapatista territory, these efforts are shared by the community to benefit everyone.
In community-based education, adults chosen by the community learn skills in popular education so that they can share responsibility of teaching the children. For communities whose schools have been closed or are not accessible (due to violence), this model allows for education to carry on despite often precarious external conditions. Working closely with a Tsotsil-speaking educator in such a community our role has been to support their pedagogical training and design emergent learning programs, so that they can then carry on independently, and sustain the model themselves with occasional support from us when needed. Hearkening back to our roots, we also help to raise funds for school infrastructure and supplies.
In health, we are currently working with organized communities on the coast of Chiapas to create a network of knowledge-sharing. In the face of a healthcare model that does not serve them and pharmaceuticals that are costly and often harmful, the power of the collective, both in experience and in resources, is vital. Women representatives from eight communities, join us for workshops in herbal medicine, preventive care and nutrition, to then share with their communities.
The organizing of women for community and territory is another area that we consider to be of vital importance. From all the practical and daily acts of caretaking, to community organizing for resistance to violence, women’s organizing is an area that we specifically support for the health and well-being of the women themselves, and for the networks that they build. We raise funds to support the participation of women in encuentros (encounters, or organizing gatherings) both regionally and nationally. Additionally, through our online store, we support women’s collectives, which has a direct impact on the economies of families and communities.
Finally, at the confluence of all of the above and other community services and activities, is our work in Sendas. A collaboration with ImagenArte, Sendas is a community cultural center and gathering space established for the purposes of education, art, and the nurturing of solidarity economies. The space hosts events and classes, weekly film screenings and biweekly seminars in an effort to make Chiapas a school for visitors from around the world. There also, in coordination with FrayBa Human Rights Center we hold preparatory workshops for human rights observers who are about to serve in the BriCo program. Sendas is a market for products from communities in resistance from natural foods, and agroecologically-grown produce, to artisanry from diverse collectives. Through the relationships that we build, we offer support for collectives in the development of their products. Sendas is our home base, a place where the many facets of education and community-building come together in the spirit of synchronicity and mutual aid.
Weaving Ourselves in Community
Despite the darkness that tries to envelop Chiapas, despite the chaos of the storm that tries to dispossess the peoples of everything, the intrepid organizing of indigenous communities in resistance glows, a little light creeping through the cracks of the system, and continuing to grow. Their determination and enthusiasm to build other possible worlds inspires us in our commitment to accompany them in their own autonomy.
As the recent Declaration of the Assembly for Water, Life, and Territory stated,“our task is to weave ourselves in community as humans, as brothers, as children who belong to the great mother, this planet Earth, that is to organize ourselves.” Over these nearly 30 years, the journey that we have traveled has taken many turns, but our commitment to the BAEZLN and to kindred organized communities in our shared struggle for life remains unshaken.