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

Tue Mar 6 10:45:32 CET 2018

Greetings All, thanks Adam for the sharing of the world of the Zapatistas,

On the Buckminster Fuller adage quoted there [ *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 ] maybe what is required is that we enable, collectively, a recovery
of the plethora of indigenous ways back into our realities of modernity,
not in exploitative, acquisitive ways, but with humility, considering the
way that coloniality has destroyed (and continues to destroy) so much human
earth resources. There now is a call to support those who are seeking a
genuine resurgence of sound ways of restoring shared benefit between human
and the Earth.

Some of those ways are amongst us and within us, if we will admit to them
and we might do worse than re-attune our sensitivities so that we can hear
and recognise them.

My work at Soil Hack last year was a light beginning of that processes. I
hope those who participated have allowed it to sink in and marinate and
produce in them beautiful things. I hope to bring another level of
engagement with the sentient world to the next Soil Hack, if permitted :)

Peace

Mama D

On 6 March 2018 at 08:11, Adam Ormes Court <ormus23 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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-uni
> tierra-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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> soilhack-announce at lists.ourproject.org
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>
>

-- 
With Earth Blessings,

Peace
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