Hi All,
This week at Oventik has been really fun and full of breakthroughs. I am going to send another email about it if people are interested in learning more, but suffice to say that I feel I am learning so much politically and feel extremely inspired.
This week we talked a lot of the paramilitary groups in the area and their effect on the Zapatista and indigenous communities. To begin with, one third of the Mexican Army is currently in Mexico. In addition to these “official troops” there are also a large number of paramilitary groups, including one that is ironically called “Paz y Justicia”. These troops are able to carry out violence against indigenous communities without being “officially” tied to the Mexican government, who can call the violence “intertribal” or “regional” conflicts. These paramilitaries, despite being indipendent from the Mexican government, constantly have new training and tactics much of it probably stemming from trainings by the USA for the “War on Drugs” and from the school of the Americas. There have been numerous deaths of indigenous people at the hands of the military, the most famous being the Acteal massacre of 1997 that resulted in the death of almost fifty people mostly women and children. These people were not Zapatista but part of a PACIFIST group called Las Abejas. The victims were gunned down as they worshiped in church within hearing distance of the Mexican military that actually watched as the paramilitary group marched past them about two kilometers to carry out the massacre. At least five of the women who were killed were pregnant and their bodies were mutilated as survivors could hear them laughing about, “killing the seed”. This was a way of scaring other organized indigenous groups from working with the Zapatistas in any form. After the massacre, many of the members of Las Abejas actually became Zapatistas and were radicalized not just by the horrific experience, but the reaction of the Mexican government that has not brought one of the perpetrators to justice. One of the reasons it happened in Acteal was because the elected head of the municipality is actually the head of the paramilitary group.
The paramilitaries continue to intimidate and kill indigenous people and push them off their land. There have been many confrontations with the military by indigenous groups, including women and children literally forming a circle around their community and pushing away fully armed soldiers with their hands. There are a lot of great films about Zapatismo put out by Paper Tiger Television (http://papertiger.org/) and Big Noise Tactical (http://www.bignoisefilms.com/
Despite all these terrible murders and assaults, the Zapatistas are absolutely against acting out in vengeance and personal anger. There have been no violent actions against paramilitaries by Zapatistas because they are disciplined and smart enough to realize that being provoked into violence by these paramilitaries would be an excuse for the Mexican government to come in and wipe them off the map.
This weekend we went to a refugee Zapatista community called Polho that currently has about 5,000 refugees living there but at one time had up to 7,000. These are refugees who have been forced off their land by the paramilitaries and cannot return for if they even venture close to gather firewood they are threatened by the paramilitary group in the area. The community of Polho used to be just another Zapatista community but opened up to accept all the refugees (or “displacidos”) who began pouring in around 1995. The community has a school, stores, and cooperatives among other things.
We had information session with a few local officials and then climbed up a large hill (very very steep) to see the view from the highest place in the community. There were several houses up there made of wood and tin and families putting out their laundry and turning their coffee to dry (this is very good coffee growing country and many displaced communities lost rich soil to farm coffee that has been a good produce for them to sell). For where we were we could look out across the green mountains and see Acteal in the distance. There were other flat patches of green in the woods covered mountains that are other abandoned communities. I can't imagine the pain a person must feel to wake up every morning and see their home in the distance but be unable to go back there for fear of death. It was heart breaking, infuriating, and I was humbled by to think of my own life so full of blessings that I could never imagine a pain and struggle so great.
On another note, on the way back down the mountain I started sneezing because of all the pollen and plants around (or for whatever reason because after all I am always sneezing). Suddenly I heard someone in the distance going, “aheee!aheee!” and I turned the corner to see several meters away an old woman with her little grandchild mocking my sneeze! It was really funny and we laughed and waved. I guess some things are universal.
Some other things I have learned this week are about examples of the Mexican government giving aid to indigenous communities that is totally empty. In one video an indigenous man held up a bottle of medicine that the Mexican government had given them for their clinic, demanding to know why the government, if it cared so much for the people, would give them an unmarked bottle of medicine that had no instructions or event the name of the drug! “It could be very very old. It could be poison for all we know!” the man said shaking the bottle around. Sketchy as usual. We also learned about the woman one of our leaders is married to. She is involved with our program (I'll talk to people more about it in person) and because of her involvement several years ago the Mexican military entered her home killing everyone in her house, including her husband, and leaving only her and one other person alive.
All in all this has been amazing week. I am making friends with the other kids here and loving everything, even the awkwardness and hard moments which have been teaching me a lot too. Next week I will be going on Spring Break with some friends to Oaxaca and because I don't want to travel with my computer (I am giving it to the director of the program to bring with him to Mexico City), I will be unable to write anything to all of you. Next stop on my amazing experience is Tlaxcala! We will be moving closer and closer to the border for the rest of the program. I am very sad to say goodbye to Chiapas, Oventik in particular and all the amazing people I have met. However I hope to keep their example of organizing, of strength, bravery, “digna rabia”, community, and love in my heart for the rest of my life.
Besos y abrazos,
Marlena
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