[soilhack-announce] The Zapatistas and the Struggle to Decolonize Science

Tue Mar 6 09:11:28 CET 2018

I've an immense amount of respect for the Zapatista movement of Mexico.
Unlike most 'revolutionary' groups, their outlook underlines a concern for
both the personal and local, and is free from the usual fanaticism; indeed
their words are often beautifully poetic.

Initially inspired by Marxist national-liberation philosophies, it would
appear that by putting the theory into practice, they have found their own
path, which is far more rooted and practical than anything the minds of
alienated western intellectuals can produce.

Here is an article examining a recent conference held at the CIDECI (*Centro
Indigena de Capacitacion Integral *– roughly translated as ‘An Indigenous
Centre for Integral Learning’) / Universidad de la Tierra (University of
the Earth) on their territory to address the role of science in the
struggle for a sane existence.

https://towardfreedom.com/archives/americas/cracks-in-
the-wall-of-capitalism-the-zapatistas-and-the-struggle-
to-decolonize-science/

There's a good deal of information about the movement both online and
published in book form, here's a recent Guardian article that gives some
background into their history.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/
17/mexico-zapatistas-rebels-24-years-mountain-strongholds

This page gives a brief overview of their work with agroecology.

http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/advances/sustainable-agriculture/

And here's a report of a visit to their university.

http://enlivenedlearning.com/2013/01/16/visiting-another-
unitierra-in-san-cristobal-chiapas/

This site also has a documentary on the Uniterra (earth university)
movement:

http://enlivenedlearning.com/2016/07/01/releasing-our-new-film-re-learning-hope-a-story-of-unitierra/
Best,

Adam

--
*In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and
change the problematic model /* *You create a new model and make the old
one obsolete /* *That, in essence, is the higher service to which we are
all being called. //* Buckminster Fuller
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