Dear Sujit, putting you in touch with Xochitl Leyva and Gustavo Esteva, both academic-activists in Mexico who are close to the Zapatistas (and both on the Global Tapestry core team), for their suggestions ... Xochitl, Gustavo, see request below re. films and other materials on Zapatista. thanks ashish On 04/10/21 11:55 am, Sujit.Sinha wrote:
*Dear PeDAGoG members *
**
*This is about a Class on Zapatistas *
This is one of the stories which we have discussed in our MA classes , with urban activists , and with indigenous activists in India. With this last group we have done this in Hindi with activists in the state of Maharashtra and Odisha, and in Bengali with rural activists in West Bengal . In every space, this is one of the most exciting stories for the participants.
I am attaching the power point we have used ( I have removed most of the pictures we use as that makes the file close to 15 mb) . I am also attaching a one page 11 point write-up which we also use for individual reading and group discussion before a larger discussion starts.
I and my colleague Pallavi have no direct contact with the Zapatistas. We have gathered all the information from books, writings , seminar lectures , and audiovisuals available in the net.
I think quite a few in this *PeDAGoG* group are directly associated with the Zapatistas and we would be glad to get feedback , rectifications, modifications, additions etc.
The number of people , communities, marez and caracols have to be upwardly revised as per latest reports we are getting.
We have so far not used the film mentioned by Laurence in class , although I have seen and taken notes myself :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqlZOa7DMiU <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqlZOa7DMiU> ('People Without Faces' - Documentary about the Zapatistas)
I am writing my notes on the above film here to assist anyone who would like to use this film
*On history and conflict with Mexican state *
0 – 3:30 : indigenous people of Mexico : their history of awakening, map of Mexico ,their poor socio economic status, less crime , migration into and formation of urban centres in Chiapas
3:30 – 6:20 : Radio Zapata , Declaration from lacandon forest for autonomy , Basta! , EZLN – Zapatista Army for National Liberation , War 1994 onwards, Sub-commandante Marcos speech.
6:20 – 9:00 : Land issue and precarious status of indigenous people , interviews including of people hired in 1990s by Govt to repulse the Zapatistas but now changed.
9:00 – 13:40 : Interviews with various external activists talking about the status of indigenous people ,the “war” between Zapatistas and Mexican govt, , the indigenous congress in 1974, scenes of a big ( current 2016 ? ) meeting of Zapatistas
13:40 – 21:30 : In a caracol office a meeting explaining Zapatistas to a whole bunch of national and international visitors, the murders by para-military forces in Acteal in 1997 while the govt. was treacherously holding talks with Zapatistas, , about the large refugee camp of people displaced by the para-military , the San Andreas agreement , formation of autonomous municipalities , formation of caracols in 2003 , why the symbol of “snail”, caracols major task is dealing with external people/agencies / visitors , presence of external observers ( 2016) as situation with Mexican govt has never been “amicable”.
21:30 – 26:40 : Visitors come to Ejido Pueblo. Talk with displaced persons describing govt atrocities , how para military gave the ultimatum to join them or else ! , Lot of fresh displacements in 2013 , disruption of coffee farming , coming back in 2016 and re-building farms.
26:40 – 33:50 : A big meeting in Realidad , empty promises by govt , teacher Galeano assassinated by para-military , Marcos declares that someone has to die for Galeano to live on, and symbolically “Morcos dies” and he takes the name Galeano.
*More on their new governance , economy, schools *
33:50 – 35:40 : telling the myth of golden people ( the exploiters) , wood people, corn people of multiple colors and types.
35:30 – 38:00 : Argentinian activist describes “production autonomy” of Zapatistas, says lots of self-organizing work is still left , contrasts Zapatista philosophy with state and market led consumerist society and individualism.
38:00 – 42:25 : Visitors travel into Zapatista territory to a caracol meeting where people are present from all “three levels” , talk on women’s equality and liberation, and indigenous people’s autonomy and self govt.
42:25 – 45:36 : Explaining the three levels pf governance : local , municipal ( marez) and zonal ( caracol )
45:30 – 46:30 : the school
46:30 – 49:40 : while many who receive govt pensions are happy, the Zapatistas refuse such handouts and depend upon their own sweat and earnings . Collective agriculture and animal husbandry and other occupations. Collective decisions on what to do with earnings . Coffee cooperative
49:40 – 51:00 : general assembly ( not clear what level ) . Different tribes getting together ( not so common before )
51:00 – 52: 50 : Teacher talking about their gods and spirits, about how they are appointed by community ,their autonomous schools , how they willingly took voluntary outside help to set these up.
52:50 – 55:50 : their autonomy from national govt, their own birth certificates and driver’s license,
55:50 - 57:30 : nice faces of various indigenous people.
This is also a request for any films on Zapatistas which show more details about their autonomous three tier governance , meetings at the local level, decisions and actions at marez and caracol levels , their economy including non agri-cooperatives, their schools and university and students engaged in practical activities outside class, their health systems etc .
Sujit
*From:*GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Davis, Laurence *Sent:* Thursday, September 30, 2021 6:09 PM *To:* Ted Trainer <[email protected]>; Hari DK <[email protected]>; David Barkin <[email protected]>; Ariel Salleh <[email protected]>; Carlos Tornel <[email protected]>; Tom Abeles <[email protected]>; [email protected]; to: Radical Ecological Democracy list <[email protected]> *Subject:* Re: [PeDAGoG] The communitarian revolutionary subject, new forms of social transformation
This is a very nice amination. Thank you for sharing it.
Some of the following videos may also be useful for teaching purposes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyqG-71zOi0 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyqG-71zOi0> ('Accidental Anarchist - What is the Rojava Revolution?')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqlZOa7DMiU <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqlZOa7DMiU> ('People Without Faces' - Documentary about the Zapatistas)
...and my personal favourite...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPl_Y3Qdb7Y <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPl_Y3Qdb7Y> ('Living Utopia: The Anarchists and the Spanish Revolution')
I use all of them in my third-year Government and Politics undergraduate module, 'Contemporary Ecological and Anti-Capitalist Politics', which I have taught for many years here at University College Cork, Ireland.
The following readings on their module syllabus, useful for those new to the subject matter as well as more advanced readers, are also generally well received by the students:
John Clark, /Between Earth and Empire /(PM Press, 2019) and /The Impossible Community/ (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Murray Bookchin, /The Ecology of Freedom/ (AK Press, 2005)
David Graeber, /The Democracy Project /(Allen Lane, 2013)
Amadeo Bertolo, ‘Democracy and Beyond’, /Democracy and Nature/, Vol. 5, Issue 2, July 1999, also available at www.democracynature.org/vol5/bertolo_democracy.htm <http://www.democracynature.org/vol5/bertolo_democracy.htm>
William Morris, ‘Useful Work Versus Useless Toil’, in A.L. Morton (ed.), /Political Writings of William Morris/ (Lawrence & Wishart, 1979)
William Morris, /News from Nowhere /(1891)
Michael Robertson, /The Last Utopians: Four Late 19th Century Visionaries and Their Legacy/ (Princeton University Press, 2018)
Ursula K. Le Guin, /The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia/ (Harper & Row, 1974)
Laurence Davis and Peter Stillman (eds.), /The New Utopian Politics of Ursula K. Le Guin’s /The Dispossessed//(Lexington Books, 2005)
Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, /Ecofeminism/ (Zed Books, 2014)
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, /As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance/ (University of Minnesota Press, 2017)
George Orwell, /Homage to Catalonia/ (1938)
/Martha Ackelsberg, Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women /(AK Press, 2004)
/Sam Dolgoff (ed.), The Anarchist Collectives: Workers’ Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution 1936-1939 /(Black Rose Books, 1974)
Valérie Fournier, ‘Utopianism and the cultivation of possibilities: grassroots movements of hope’, in Martin Parker (ed.), /Utopia and Organization/ (Blackwell, 2002), 189-216
Dylan Fitzwater, /Autonomy Is in Our Hearts: Zapatista Autonomous Government through the Lens of the Tsotsil Language /(PM Press, 2019)
Ashish Kothari et. al. (eds.), /Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary/ (Tulika Books, 2019)
Laurence Davis, ‘Anarchism’, in Vincent Geoghegan and Rick Wilford (eds.), /Political Ideologies: An Introduction/ (Routledge, 2014), ch. 9
Colin Ward, /Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction/ (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Solidarity,
Laurence
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*From:*GTA-PeDAGoG <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Mofwoofoo <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> *Sent:* 29 September 2021 22:15 *To:* Ted Trainer <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; Hari DK <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; David Barkin <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; Ariel Salleh <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; Carlos Tornel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; Tom Abeles <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; to: Radical Ecological Democracy list <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> *Subject:* [PeDAGoG] The communitarian revolutionary subject, new forms of social transformation
*[EXTERNAL] *This email was sent from outside of UCC.
I am writing as a long time radical anarchist activist "on the ground". I am not a scholar, but I have read a lot over 55 years. While I view the article (The communitarian revolutionary subject, new forms of social transformation) worthwhile, it is nothing new at all. Anarchist literature and scholarship goes back to the 1860's when these same ideas were expressed. Anarchists have seen through the problem of hierarchies in gov't. and in general. I have submitted the 7 minute animation that I made in 2020 which explains a lot about organizing in a horizontal fashion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8&t=5s <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8&t=5s>. And how it might be the only way to eliminate once and for all corruption in governments.
Citizen participation a la transition towns initiatives, localization, collectivism, decentralization, deconsummerism, self-reliance, economies that promote the good of the whole, cooperation, respect for the environment, etc. are ideas whirling around throughout the internet and the world. And as I am sure it is clear to everyone in this group, that the current system of capitalism is the perfect recipe for suiciding the human race.
Meanwhile, as capitalism is collapsing or is being collapsed, there seems to be a rush to assert authoritarianism as soon as possible. And clearly the vaccine mandate and the pcr tests are ways to do this. But since the vaccine mandates will not go away no matter how hard the pushback is, they seem to have plan b ready to go: world-wide food shortages which would result in world-wide food riots and chaos, which will justify martial law and state of emergency declarations, which at least in the USA would empower FEMA to overstep the Constitution and do whatever they want due to the executive orders that give them total power.
To avoid this from happening, people need to check on where their area's food sources are coming from and if they will be available or not. And in this way, using google or duck, duck, go one can ascertain what really is happening and what is going to happen in these regards. And if food shortages are indeed imminent, alert the citizenry to prepare by storing up on rice, beans, lentils, grains, tins, and storing food in preserves and salt for perhaps 6 months and setting up programs for those who don't have a few hundred dollars to spend to be able to be prepared as well.
Finally, I am the founder of a mostly latino, artist, eco-community in Ecuador (chambalabamba.org <http://chambalabamba.org>, under construction) since 2012, and believe me, this is not the solution for the world. It takes years to get it going, most communities fail for lack of funds or cohesion, it is not for everybody, and it is a false hope for those who believe that this is the way, imho.
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