Autonomy and Resistance
(Español) Compartición de la Iniciativa y Colección Al Faro Zapatista
Compartición de la Iniciativa y Colección Al Faro Zapatista
Al Faro Zapatista (AFZ) es una iniciativa en la que más de medio centenar de personas de la Europa insumisa y del Chiapas/México Rebelde hacemos un homenaje al zapatismo en su 28 aniversario a la vez que es nuestra forma de acuerpar -desde lo que somos trabajadorxs de las Ciencias Sociales, artivistas, activistas, feministas- lo que lxs zapatistas y el CNI-CIG han llamado la “Travesía por la Vida”. AFZ es también un sumarse a las acciones mundiales de ¡No a la Guerra! ¡Sí a la Vida! digna, justa y plena para todxs, sobre todo para las mujeres, niñas(os), jóvenas(es), ancianas(os), otroas y hombres de los pueblos zapatistas, de los pueblos de Chiapas, México y el mundo.
Lo que ustedes encontrarán en nuestro sitio web, el video y los primeros libros que hemos co-creado, tienen el sentido de ser materiales que pueden ser consultados libremente y que pueden ser de apoyo a todos aquellos que, en el planeta Tierra, luchan por la Vida. Se trata de materiales audiovisuales y escritos en línea que nos podrían ayudar a comprender por qué, dónde y cómo el zapatismo ha sido un faro para las luchas y movimientos antisistémicos, anti-racistas y antipatriarcales del planeta Tierra. Nos podría aportar algunos elementos contextuales para dimensionar la profundidad histórica y actual de la Travesía por la Vida-Capítulo Europa.
Pretendemos que esta iniciativa y colección contribuya al debate sobre el colapso civilizatorio, los sistemas de muerte en curso y los otros mundos posibles realmente existentes. Contribuya a combatir la invisibilidad de esos otros mundos en los medios de comunicación hegemónicos y a seguirnos tejiendo en esta compleja, cruenta y retadora Lucha por la Vida. Aspiramos a que contribuya pues al sembrar, tejer, compartir, agrietar, todo ello, caminando al Faro Zapatista, del CNI-CIG y de las luchas alter, anti, trans, pluri del planeta Tierra.
Sitio web Al Faro Zapatista
Videolanzamiento Al Faro Zapatista
Colección Al Faro Zapatista
Libro de bolsillo
Este libro sentipiensa el movimiento zapatista y las redes neozapatistas como fundamentales para la emergencia y el desarrollo de las luchas contrahegemónicas dadas desde abajo y a la izquierda, primordiales para la globalización de la esperanza y la creación de alternativas ante los proyectos de horror, muerte y guerras en curso. Me pregunto: ¿Qué violencias? ¿Qué guerras? ¿Qué cuerpos? ¿Qué cuerpas? A la vez que, desde un conocimiento situado y encarnado, abordo históricamente el tejido de redes, esperanzas y luchas inspiradas en el zapatismo.
Libro de bolsillo
Un somero acercamiento al zapatismo
El zapatismo nacido en Chiapas ha sido un proceso complejo que ha tenido muchas etapas y ajustes. Desde su aparición pública, en el primer minuto de 1994, hasta 2021 se ha caracterizado por su originalidad y por su gran capacidad de innovación continua. Este movimiento ha sacudido las certezas acostumbradas en torno a la democracia, y ha alumbrado nuevas formas de hacer política para la construcción cotidiana de un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos. Se le ha querido circunscribir a lo regional, pero ha roto todos los cercos en los que se le ha pretendido encerrar con acciones y pensamientos que han tenido fuertes repercusiones a nivel planetario. Se hará una sintética descripción de su devenir y una primera reflexión para destacar que la defensa de la vida ha sido fundamental.
Libro de bolsillo
El zapatismo: una brújula civilizatoria para Slumil K’ajxemk’op
“Soy una semilla zapatista germinada en tierras mediterráneas. No soy única, por el contrario, represento uno de los muchos corazones que, aun siendo originarios de esta geografía conocida como Europa, nos hemos convertido en semillas rebeldes tras ser atravesadas por el zapatismo. Hemos hecho un viaje anticolonial en nuestro propio cuerpo. A contracorriente, fuimos a desaprender al Sur del Sur, a conocer a los hombres, mujeres y otroas de maíz porque sus palabras hablaban otro mundo y ese mundo otro nos ha permitido remirar nuestra propia geografía, nuestra propia historia, nuestras raíces y nos ha empujado a transformar nuestra realidad”. Con estas palabras la autora de este libro nos invita a remirar la trascendencia del zapatismo para las luchas de la “Europa insumisa”, hasta el punto de considerarlo una brújula civilizatoria, imprescindible para navegar hacia un mundo nuevo.
Libro de bolsillo
La insurrección zapatista se produjo en un momento histórico especial, cuando las fuerzas contrahegemónicas estaban debilitadas y desarticuladas. Operó en esas circunstancias como un despertador mundial de movimientos antisistémicos. La travesía zapatista de 2021 tiene lugar en un momento semejante. La pandemia produjo desconcierto en mucha gente y en los movimientos sociales y políticos. Proliferan planteamientos e iniciativas que resultan obsoletos en las nuevas circunstancias. Una vez más, los zapatistas ponen el dedo en las llagas que hacen falta e inspiran pensamientos y comportamientos de la nueva realidad. En la primera sección de este libro examino las crisis del patriarcado, el Estado-nación, la democracia y el capitalismo, así como las opciones abiertas desde abajo, para mostrar la importancia de la nueva iniciativa zapatista. En la segunda sección reflexiono sobre los principales aportes teóricos y políticos del zapatismo. Finalmente, relato actividades e iniciativas inspiradas por él.
Libro de bolsillo
Haciendo otros mundos posibles: por qué los zapatistas nos importan
“La Gira Zapatista es un verdadero regalo para nosotros […] Nos alegra tenerlos aquí, paseando con nosotros, haciéndonos preguntas, aprendiendo mutuamente de nuestras luchas”. Así cierra este libro su autor, al tiempo que le dice a lxs zapatistas: “gracias por venir”. En diálogo con ellos y con todxs lxs lectorxs de este texto, Laurence Cox nos convida a recorrer la ciudad de Dublín y las luchas de la República de Irlanda desde tiempos remotos hasta hoy en día. De esa manera nos invita a comprender por qué los zapatistas importan, les importan, nos importan.
Our journey there felt like an odyssey
By Isabel Cortès
Isabel Cortes is a member of Chile Solidarity Network & Bordando por la Memoria. Isabel is also an organiser at United Voices Of the World.
Our journey there felt like an odyssey.
We spent one hour travelling and took 3 trains to arrive at our destination.
I didn’t sleep very much the night before, I had that feeling I get just before am going into a space where I will be surrounded with love, power and acceptance.
I think I had “the channels” which is the feeling seafarers get before the embarking on a voyage according to Comrade Mcintosh.
We arrived early, Pelusa and I, first and second generation together, sitting together, walking side by side, laughing, talking, bound together although there is over 30 years between us, by the same life changing events.
We were on our way to an event that we knew would be a learning experience, and ultimately a privilege and we told each other this.
We were on our way to meet the Zapatista delegation on their European tour, a closed meeting, no social media, no pictures, no recordings, a space where we leave our egos (and phones) at the door so we can share experiences, eat together and reflect.
Activists talk about holding space, a concept that is less about physical space and more a metaphorical one.
The physical space where we met, held us.
A Kurdish community centre, tucked away between a railway bridge and an unassuming residential area.
As we walked through the iron gates, decorated with a rising sun (socialist dawn I thought) I saw a table outside the community centre, smiling young faces of people welcomed us at a registration table, a group of men, young and old, jet black hair, no hair, smoking and talking in Kurdish. This felt so familiar.
With registration out the way. We walked into the centre and were met with the warm embrace of banners. Everywhere, on the floor directly in front of me, vinyl, handmade, with slogans in English, Spanish and Kurdish. Face of martyrs, banners and flags watched over us.
A table at the top of the hall, not a top table like a conference where people sit and tell you how it is, instead a space to share and look at each other’s faces (or eyes in our case because we were all masked up), with chairs assembled in a horse shoe hugged me even tighter.
Smells of tea, coffee, stew and rice emanated from the kitchen! Yes at 9am, and I could smell rice. This was a community space. I immediately wanted to move in with ALL my family.
Young people were adding the final touches to the hall, testing the PA system and moving around excitedly.
Pelusa and I slipped in, no fuss, we were already part of the furniture when at the rising sun iron gates, so making ourselves at home on the front row was nada.
The event started half an hour late, just before it did as I was busy talking to Pelu, I heard her say “Buenos dias companeros” . I look up to see a group of small, brown masked men wearing masks and caps walk passed us smiling. I greeted them as we do, como compañeros.
And then lift off, the event began.
What can I say about the morning session… we had the mic first.
We spoke in the international solidarity section about the work of a lifetime, about being proud to be exiled, that we were like seeds scattered by the wind to all corners of the globe, that our fight is intergenerational, it’s international, that it was not only about looking back and preserving historical memory and about tirelessly denouncing and demanding justice for our martyrs, for our disappeared but also about Chile today, about the practical solidarity we offer to those that held the streets, because we know what solidarity looks like, because it’s not a trendy term that we use off the cuff, but a real lived experience, that helped us to live, that taught us what and how to do. We talk about the role of organised labour and about women, the women that founded and drove all the spaces we were in. I told them they taught me, not a book, but they taught me through doing.
The mic was passed on and others spoke about climate justice, about Kurdish solidarity and anti-imperialism, de-colonising the mind, about how to treat each other, how to be activists together, how to not burn out, how to practice love and revolution, how to learn together and be self-critical. They were good, I was moved by their analysis, by their youth and optimism, their self care, and care for each other.
I realised that Pelusa never lost that joy and youthful rebelliousness, and that I never will either.
We had lunch together, we talked, we connected, we saw familiar faces and we shared stories.
The afternoon belonged to the Zapatistas, all Mayan, all members of EZLN. Faces covered, no pictures, pura clandestinidad. This was real. they were real. Real storytellers.
The told their story in 5 parts, each taking a section, starting with their great grandfathers and grandmothers and how they used to live at the hands of the landowners, in a cruel feudal system that used violence against women to control men and women. Talking in the first person, from the heart, short sentences, direct and plain language, that used “pues” to replace full stops, commas, and to help them catch a breath.
They took us through the 1930s as if it was yesterday, it was clear this was oral history handed down, a lived history, not read in history books. The interpreters struggled to translate this into English, I felt bad as I basked in the power of their words, no messing, no attempts at intellectualising, practical, honest and “then this happened” kind of story. My kind of storytelling ?
They took our hands and led us through their declaration of war, they named their martyrs using first names only, then onto their years in the jungle, how they set up their autonomous region and to today, how they continue to resist and rebel.
I tried to take notes but gave up I needed to be there, to listen and let my heart soak it all in.
The 7 principles is when I did take notes. I thought about the similarities with Allende’s 10 point plan, the panthers plan. They have no jails, community work is how they do their justice, 50% women on their councils, each council has a rotating chair, and is autonomous. They work the land together, have their own schools, medical centres, they are truly autonomous.
They took questions on gender violence and trans rights – no rhetoric. “We respect and accept” is was what they said.
They delivered very simple but powerful words of wisdom during the 3 hours they told their story
“We came here to learn from you, we came here to tell you what and how we do. Do not do as we do, do what you need to do. El pueblo manda”
The journey back was like travelling on a cloud, I felt like I was floating on air, heart full. It was the feeling I get when I know I my soul has been nourished and the vitamins will take a while to wear off. I woke up at 6am to write this, I had to get this down however rough and ready. Now to shower!
