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Renewing the Earth

by Michael W. Stowell

January 28, 2002

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"Putting Human Values Before Profits Values!"

What has become Humboldt County, in northern California, was land so isolated by redwood rainforest and indomitable beaches that European colonizers were kept away until just 150-odd years ago. Their arrival was hurried, at that, by need of a port to expedite gold mining in the interior. Arcata, the town in which I live, was trailhead for the supply teams and center of the area's early exploitation and commerce.

When the gold rush ground to a halt, shortly after hitting high gear, logging and milling of redwood timber became this area's most important industry and Eureka, six miles to the south and nearer the main bay channel, became the seat of power. Support industries included, of course, distribution of alcohol and prostitution. Fabled in local lore are the dozens of houses filled with sex workers and the rowdiest damned taverns west of the Rockies.

Opposite Eureka in Humboldt Bay stood an island, known as "Injun Island" in those days, that held a village of Wiyot people and the tribe's most sacred ground, the site of annual Earth Renewal ceremonies. Not all the People lived there; some families camped in areas around the bay and near headwaters that fed the bay. A few passed their days in Eureka, doing what they could to nurse their alcohol addictions.

The island was of no value to the settlers, but a little more than 100 years ago the city's fathers decided that the heathens had to go. So, using the excuse that the Wiyots were coming into Eureka at night to engage in thievery (never mind that those caught were usually drunken loggers), a number of lumber barons crept out to the island early one morning after a Renewal ceremony.

There were more people than usual in the village that morning; many had slept over after the annual gathering. Nearly as can be determined, approximately 130 of them, men, women and children, elders to infants, were clubbed to death that morning.

The mayor of Eureka, Nancy Fleming, lives on that island today.

What brings this all to mind is an event being organized to raise some money in hopes of buying back a little piece of the island for the Wiyot descendants. They'd like to do some ceremonies there, again.

That and the Zapatistas.

Four thousand years ago, the Olmec people founded a civilization, which, like the Mayan, Zapotec, Mixtec, Toltec and Aztec societies, developed sophisticated culture, established a barter system in which jewelry was the first 'legal tender,' and made advances in mathematics, astronomy and other sciences.

When renowned Spanish crusader Hernán Cortes arrived in 1519, the region stretching from Nicaragua to what is the now southern United States was home to approximately 25 million people. (1) The Spanish brought exploitation, war, disease and destitution to those indigenous peoples. The conquistadors and the Catholic missionaries worked in harmony and quite diligently to exploit and destroy the pagans, their culture, and their land. However, by the 17th century the economy of 'New Spain' had collapsed due to lack of labor. Disease and overwork had reduced the native population from 12 million in 1520 to one million by 1720.

Terrorism in Mexico dates back to the early 16th century when Henadez de Corboda and Herman Cortes were the Spanish officers charged with conquering the vast Aztec and Mayan civilizations. In 1521, after two years of bloodletting, Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) fell to Cortes, and by 1525 Francisco Montejo had conquered the Mayan people. By 1540 most of northern Mexico was under Spanish rule and for the next three hundred years Mexico was a Spanish colony. The native population revolted in 1541, but the uprising was crushed.

The next major revolt occurred in 1810, it was led by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a parish priest who issued 'Grito de Delores', calling for an end to Spanish rule, redistribution of land, and empowerment of the people. Costilla and his followers were captured and executed. In 1814, an uprising led by Jose Maria Moreles y Pavon was also destroyed, and the disintegrating independence movement turned to guerilla warfare.

Vicente Guerrero led this new struggle and in 1821 he negotiated a treaty with the ruling Spanish elite to gain self-determination for the colony. A congress was elected, and after a military rebellion in 1823 Mexico became a republic.

In 1845, the U.S. Congress voted to annex Texas, war with Mexico ensued; by 1848 North American superiority overwhelmed the Mexican Army, and Utah, Texas, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and most of Colorado went under American control.

In 1857, Benito Juarez issued a new constitution abolishing the remnants of colonialism, but the land reforms were not enforced so most of the population remained trapped in poverty. Civil war broke out in 1858 between the liberals led by Juarez and the conservatives; many poor people were killed, but Juarez was victorious and some of his later reforms reduced the repressive power of both the church and the military. His liberal successors were not so successful.

In 1876, Porfio Diaz seized and held political power over the next thirty years and was a major cause of the revolution in 1910.

The 1910 revolt was led by Francisco i Madero, who didn't advocate much of anything so, with conservative support, another general, Victoriano Huerta, overthrew Madero. The peasants continued the revolt begun in 1910 and Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata became the two key figures in the struggle against Huerta. Huerta was defeated and control fell into the hands of Venustiano Carranza, a rich landowner who had supported Madero. Civil war broke out between his forces and those of Villa in the north and Zapata in the south but by 1920 that popular uprising had also been cut down.

The economic depression of the 1930's caused further erosion of land reforms and widened the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' The 30's also saw the establishment of the Party of National Revolution, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional or the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); novelist Vargas Llosa called it "the perfect dictatorship."

In 1968, a major student uprising was suppressed and the PRI party became more indifferent towards the oppressed masses.

On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista Front of National Liberation (EZLN, for Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional), an unheard-of revolutionary organization, seized power in parts of Chiapas, southern Mexico, calling for the reforms Emiliano Zapata had fought and died for. Now a legendary folk hero, Emiliano Zapata was born in the village of San Miguel Anencuilco in the state of Morelos on the 8th of August 1879. Zapata grew up to become the most famous leader of the Mexican Revolution; he is paid much lip service by the Mexican establishment, but his revolutionary ideas are ignored by those who inherited the power won in the Revolution. The core of Zapata's 'Plan de Ayala', produced in November 1911, was clearly influenced by anarchist ideas spread in Mexico by people like Ricardo Flores Magón. Zapata demanded the socialization of land:

"The lands, forests and water that have been usurped ... will be immediately restored to the villages or citizens who have title to them ... Because the great majority of Mexicans own nothing more than the land they walk on ... one third of these properties will be expropriated ... so that the villages and citizens of Mexico may obtain ejidos, sites for towns, and fields."

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!"

The Zapatistas struggle against exactly the same social ills that Zapata fought against: large landlords and (often foreign-owned) big business running a corrupt and repressive régime that leaves the peasants, particularly indigenous peoples, landless and exploited.

Five hundred and four years after Columbus' first expedition, Mexico is still home to 56 different indigenous peoples, each speaking their own language. (2) The largest tribes are the Tarahumaras, Nahuas, Huicholes, Purépechas, Mixtecos, Zapotecas, Otomís, Totonacas and Mayas. They are still majority population groups in some regions of the country, but as in many parts of the world, indigenous peoples in Mexico are considered stupid and uncivilized by 'pure European' Mexicans and mixed race mestizos. Theft of their homeland and destruction of their culture has caused high levels of migration to cities, and on to the USofA when they can get away with it, where often they end up as the cheapest of the cheap labor.

January 1, 1994 was also the date of Mexico's entrance into the First World. They entered NAFTA with a flurry of excitement from both American and Mexican big business. We all read about the 'Mexican Miracle', but within one year Mexico's trade deficit increased so rapidly that the Peso was devalued and foreign investors began pulling out, taking $11 billion in profits with them. Clinton stepped in with an initial $18 billion 'co-signer' bail-out, courtesy of the American taxpayers, in an unsuccessful attempt to calm the panicky investors and save his own and NAFTA's face at home. When that failed and Congress refused any more money, Clinton loaned another $20 billion via an obscure Treasury Department Exchange Stabilization Fund, the International Monetary Fund loaned another $17.8 billion, another $10 billion was loaned by the Bank of International Settlements, $3 billion more was loaned by US commercial banks and $2 billion was loaned by Canada and Latin-American countries. All this has served to vastly increase Mexico's foreign debt and insured economic stagnation.

What has NAFTA done for the people of Mexico? Forty-one percent of the population has no running water; 34% are without electricity; 63% of the people live in accommodations of only one room; 19% of the workforce has no possible income, and 67% live on or below the minimum wage. (3) According to the National Consumers Attorneys Office, twenty of the most essential products that make up the basket of goods consumed by families in Mexico cost the equivalent of between 7 and 10 minimum wages. A liter of cooking oil and a kilo of rice cost roughly one day's pay. Fifty million people live in poverty, while twenty-four billionaires top Forbes' list of the wealthiest people in the world.

And what of the Zapatistas? What follows is an edited version of the "Chronological History of the Dialogue Between the EZLN and the Mexican Government, 1994-1998" by Joshua Paulson: (4)

January 1, 1994: The primarily indigenous Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) stages an armed uprising in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, demanding democracy, liberty, and justice for all Mexicans. The EZLN's General Command issues the "First Declaration of the Lacondan Jungle."

January 12, 1994: Following nearly two weeks of heavy fighting, with casualties in the hundreds or possibly thousands, a cease-fire is declared by the Mexican government, and honored by the EZLN.

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT PEACE

February 21, 1994: The first direct dialogue between the EZLN and the federal government, moderated by San Cristóbal bishop Samuel Ruiz García, begins in the cathedral of San Cristóbal de las Casas.

March 2, 1994: The peace talks in San Cristóbal come to an end. 24 "tentative" agreements are reached based on the government's responses to 34 demands of the EZLN. The government has refused to make commitments regarding political issues on a national level. The EZLN declares that the results of the talks will be submitted to a long consultation among all the zapatista communities and civilian bases of support.

June 12, 1994: The "Second Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle" is issued by the EZLN. The results of the consultation are made public: 97.88% reject the government's proposals for reaching a definitive solution to the conflict, while only 2.11% are in favor of signing peace. However, only 3.26% manifest a desire to return to hostilities, so the decision is made to continue abiding by the cease-fire, while opening a new dialogue with Civil Society. The EZLN calls for the realization of a National Democratic Convention.

SHADOWS OF WAR

October 11, 1994: The EZLN breaks off all talks with the federal government, citing continued repression, a build-up of the Mexican army's forces around their territory, and increased military provocations.

December 13, 1994: Subcomandante Marcos, spokesperson and military commander of the EZLN, declares that the reinitiation of hostilities appears "imminent."

December 19, 1994: The EZLN launches a new, "nonviolent" military offensive in Chiapas with the help of the civilian population. Overnight, over half of Chiapas becomes "rebel territory" without a single shot being fired. 38 municipalities now remain under EZLN control.

January 2, 1995: The EZLN issues the "Third Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle," calling for the formation of a new "National Liberation Movement." Declares that peace will only come "hand in hand with democracy, liberty, and justice for all Mexicans."

February 9, 1995:The federal government suddenly announces arrest warrants for those it accuses of being the "top Zapatista leadership," unilaterally breaking the cease-fire, and launches a vast military offensive against the EZLN and their communities of supporters, both inside and outside of Chiapas. The EZLN, however, retreats into the mountains, as do most of their support bases, and refuses to return fire against the government troops.

February 9-March 11, 1995: The government continues its terrorism, destroying and permanently occupying communities such as Guadalupe Tepeyac, bombing and wreaking havoc in other such as El Prado, and forcing over 20,000 indigenous supporters of the EZLN to flee into the mountains. The army is never able to locate the leaders of the EZLN in order to apply the arrest warrants. However, several dozen people in Chiapas, Mexico State, Veracruz, and Mexico City are arrested, tortured, and jailed on trumped-up terrorism charges for supposedly being members of the EZLN.

March 11, 1995: Upon tacitly recognizing the failure of the military terrorists, the Mexican Congress approves (and the President signs) the "Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation, and a Just Peace in Chiapas." The law calls for a reinitiation of peace talks, and a suspension of military operations against the EZLN (as well as a suspension of arrest warrants against its supposed leadership), as long as the dialogue continues. A legislative commission, the Commission on Concordance and Pacification (Cocopa), will be in charge of facilitating and laying the bases for this new dialogue.

THE DIALOGUE OF SAN ANDRES

April 20, 1995: The EZLN and the federal government representatives meet for the first time in San Andrés Sacamch'en de los Pobres (Larrainzar), a Tzotzil Zapatista community in the highlands north of San Cristóbal, which will be the "permanent site of negotiations" between the two sides.

May 10, 1995: The EZLN rejects the government proposal to resolve the conflict by essentially cordoning off the insurgent troops of the EZLN into "autonomous" areas of relocation, which under the most favorable interpretations were seen as comparable to U.S.-style Indian Reservations; and under the least favorable interpretations, were viewed as concentration camps.

June 8, 1995: The EZLN, frustrated by the government's refusal to negotiate anything on a national level, and by the continued insistence that the EZLN's presence, influence, and demands are "limited to four Chiapas municipalities," decides to convoke a massive national and international Consulta (consultation, or plebiscite) to let all Mexicans, and even foreigners, vote on the EZLN's demands, as well as on the very future of the rebel organization itself. The dialogue with the government, meanwhile, seems to stagnate.

August 27, 1995: The Consulta Nacional e Internacional is carried out, with the participation of over 1.2 million Mexicans, and more than 100,000 people from outside of Mexico. 97.5% of national voters expressed agreement with the principal demands of the EZLN; 92.7% agreed that all the democratic forces in the country should unite in a broad social and political opposition front in order to fight for those demands; 94.5% approved of a "profound political reform" in order to guarantee democracy; 93.1% agreed that women should be guaranteed equal representation and participation at all levels of civil and governmental responsibilities; and 52.6% suggested that the EZLN should convert itself into a new and independent political force (while 48.7% suggested this should be done through a unification process with pre-existing organizations). This was, indeed, the greatest success yet of the EZLN's attempts to dialogue with civil society.

October 18-22, 1995: The first phase of talks are held between the EZLN and the Federal Government with regards to Indigenous Rights and Culture. The working groups are divided into the following:
  1. Community and Autonomy: Indigenous Rights;
  2. Guarantees of Justice to the Indigenous Peoples;
  3. Political Participation and Representation of the Indigenous Peoples;
  4. The Situation, Rights, and Culture of Indigenous Women;
  5. Access to the Means of Communication; and,
  6. Promotion and Development of Indigenous Culture.

November 13-18, 1995: The second phase of talks regarding Indigenous Rights and Culture are held in San Andrés (with the same working group themes as phase I).

December 31, 1995 - January 1, 1996: Despite continuing threats of a new military offensive by the Mexican Army, the "Fourth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle" is issued by the EZLN, calling for the formation of a new zapatista organization, the Zapatista Front of National Liberation (FZLN), which is to be a national, nonviolent, and independent civilian political force with its base in the EZLN. This carries out the EZLN's promise to abide by the results of the Consulta Nacional e Internacional held five months earlier.

January 3-10, 1996: The National Indigenous Forum is held in San Cristóbal de las Casas. The Forum, called for by the EZLN and its advisors, was devised so as to receive the opinions and thoughts from indigenous peoples and representatives all over Mexico — not just from Chiapas — whose decisions and proposals would then be taken up by the EZLN in the San Andrés talks. 24 comandantes of the EZLN, as well as nearly 500 representatives of over 30 indigenous groups from throughout the country attended the Forum.

February 16, 1996: Following a prolonged consultation with the indigenous civilian bases of the EZLN, the Zapatistas and the federal government sign the first set of accords resulting from the Dialogue of San Andrés: 40 pages of national reforms to be undertaken regarding Indigenous Rights and Culture. But Comandante David warns: "This is only a small agreement, on paper. We will not be tricked into thinking that what has been signed is a peace agreement."

March 21, 1996: The negotiations on the issue of Democracy and Justice finally begin in San Andrés Sacamch'en de los Pobres. The government's representatives refuse to discuss any of the EZLN's proposals; in fact, they seldom utter a single word. To the press, however, they insist that they are only interested in resolving local issues of "democracy and justice," not national reforms. The talks are further marred by increasing repression against indigenous and campesino groups in Chiapas, in police attacks which leave dozens dead, wounded, or taken prisoner whenever the negotiations seem to be on the verge of moving forward.

June 30, 1996: The "Special Forum on the Reform of the State," sponsored by the EZLN, begins in San Cristóbal de las Casas. The Forum is organized in a similar manner to the National Indigenous Forum of January, in the way that it attempts to open up the San Andrés talks on Democracy and Justice to otherwise excluded representatives of Civil Society.

July 27, 1996: The "First Intercontinental Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism" begins in the Zapatista Aguascalientes of Oventic, Chiapas, with the participation of nearly 5000 people from 42 countries.

August 6, 1996: The final plenary session of the talks on Democracy and Justice begin in San Andrés, with only minimal participation from the government's representatives.

August 12, 1996: The plenary session on Democracy and Justice ends with no agreement between the parts. The government attempts to close the negotiations on the theme, and move on to a new set of talks on other issues. This is firmly rejected by the EZLN.

SUSPENSION OF NEGOTIATIONS

August 29, 1996: The EZLN, following a process of consultation with its civilian bases, suspends its participation in the peace talks of San Andrés. In a communique published on September 2nd, the EZLN lays out the five "minimum conditions" which it insists must be fulfilled before the EZLN will return to the negotiating table:

  1. Liberation of all the presumed-Zapatista prisoners across the country, and of the members of the EZLN's civilian base being held in the Cerro Hueco prison in Chiapas.
  2. A government negotiating team with decision-making capacity, political will to negotiate, and respect for the Zapatista delegation.
  3. Installation of the Implementation and Verification Commission, and the immediate fulfillment of the agreements already signed between the EZLN and the government on Indigenous Rights and Culture.
  4. Serious and concrete proposals on the part of the government for the negotiations on Democracy and Justice, as well as the commitment to reach an accord on this topic.
  5. An end to the climate of military and police persecution and harassment against the indigenous communities of Chiapas, as well as the disappearance of the guardias blancas (or the promulgation of a law which officially recognizes them and gives them uniforms so they do not operate with impunity).

October 9, 1996: The EZLN announces that Comandante Ramona will be the Zapatista representative at the meeting of the Permanent National Indigenous Congress, beginning in Mexico City the next day.

November, 1996 - November, 1997: More meetings, more hedging by the government, more military violence against the Zapatistas and their supporters.

November 29, 1997: The EZLN responds to the government's calls for "blank slate" negotiations, reiterating that the Zapatistas will only return to the negotiating table when the government begins to implement the San Andrés Accords and fulfills the remaining four conditions layed out when the dialogue was suspended on August 29th, 1996.

December 22, 1997: Following several months of threats and periodic terrorism against civilian Zapatistas in the municipality of Chenalhó, approximately 70 heavily armed members of a PRI-backed paramilitary group descend upon the town of Acteal, temporarily inhabited by hundreds of refugees from other communities in the municipality. The terrorists launch a 5-hour killing spree, murdering 45 people — mostly women and children who were trying to flee — and wounding at least 25 others. Members of the public security police, who refuse to intervene, observe the massacre. Following the brutal attack, the military is placed on "maximum alert," and additional troops are brought in from the states of Campeche and Yucatán to reinforce the army presence in the municipalities of Ocosingo and Las Margaritas. Meanwhile, both the Interior Minister (Emilio Chuayffet) and the Interim Governor of Chiapas (Julio César Ruiz Ferro) are forced to resign in the aftermath of the massacre.

THE NEW OFFENSIVE: PROVOKING A WAR

January 1, 1998: Using the massacre of Acteal as an excuse to make a call for "total disarmament of all the armed groups in Chiapas," the federal government violates the "Law for Dialogue, Reconciliation, and a Just Peace in Chiapas" by launching a new military campaign designed to disarm the EZLN. Indigenous Zapatista communities are occupied or put under military siege by the army, while PRI-backed paramilitary groups responsible for the Acteal massacre continue to roam freely throughout the state. The EZLN does not respond militarily, insisting it still wants to see a political solution to the conflict. However, it warns the government that it has no intention of giving up its arms.

January 13, 1998: Interior Minister Francisco Labastida insists the army will remain "indefinitely" in Chiapas, and that it will "be the responsibility of the EZLN" to avoid armed clashes.

February 28, 1998: Chiapas governor Roberto Albores Guillén announces a "State Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Chiapas," a thirty-page plan containing 25 key points which Albores insists will lead to peace in the region, many of which actually indicate renewed belligerence against the EZLN. The unilateral "agreement" also backs the presence of the Mexican Army in indigenous communities in order to "keep the peace," and will prohibit certain types of demonstrations as well as authorize the use of force to prevent or repel land invasions or protests, which block roadways.

February - March, 1998: The federal government launches a high-powered national and international public relations campaign in order to convince the public that its constitutional reform proposal complies with the San Andrés Accords, and that it is the EZLN that refuses to dialogue in good faith, threatens violence, and does not want peace.

At the same time, terrorist military incursions into indigenous communities in Chiapas continue; the Air Force practices bombing runs with new aircraft; the number of military flights over Zapatista Aguascalientes are doubled or tripled; and heavy artillery is seen entering military bases in the Lacandon jungle for the first time.

June 2, 1998: 30 families of EZLN sympathizers in the community of Nabil, in Tenejapa, are driven out of their homes by paramilitary squads and public security police. It is reported that there are now over 19,000 internally displaced refugees in Chiapas, almost all of them Zapatistas bases of support or members of Las Abejas.

June 3, 1998: The municipality of Nicolás Ruiz is terrorized and occupied by 3,000 troops of the Mexican Army, state public security police, state and federal judicial police, and members of the paramilitary group known as "Los Chinchulines." 167 people are detained in the operation, and clubs or tear gas grenades injure many more.

June 10, 1998: During a pre-dawn terrorist operation, more than 1,000 federal troops, judicial police, and state public security forces attack various communities of the Autonomous Municipality San Juan de la Libertad (formerly El Bosque), including its municipal headquarters. San Juan de la Libertad had long been recognized as one of the best-functioning Zapatista municipalities, with more than 90% of the communities (representing 30,000 people) in the municipality expressing adherence to the autonomous local government.

During the state sponsored terrorist activities, which include the burning of houses, tear gas and bazooka attacks, and the use of helicopter gunships to attack civilians, a gun battle allegedly breaks out in the community of Unión Progreso, between security forces and the Zapatista bases of support defending their community. At least six Zapatistas are killed, as is one policeman. At least two other Zapatistas are reported killed by security forces in the town of Chavajeval a short time later. Nine people are wounded, and 57 are detained and taken to the Cerro Hueco state prison. All the remaining inhabitants of Chavajeval abandon their homes and head toward Oventic on foot.

July 8, 1998: The federal government presents a new "peace plan" for Chiapas. More of a threat than a peace plan, the proposal calls for the EZLN to "hand in its weapons to the authorities" in exchange for "guarantees of personal security."

July 9, 1998 - The Present: More of the same.

The patterns should be quite evident to all, Subcomandante Marcos has clearly stated that the government is preparing a "war of extermination," using the peace talks to buy time to prepare a genocidal war intended to wipe out any remnant of resistance to the government line. Therefore we cannot interpret the EZLN's program as concessions to a negotiations process, but as political challenges to an imminent war. The Mexican people have stated clearly that they do not want a war and have organized successfully to avoid it, so the Zapatistas are pursuing a political solution in order to retain the trust of the people of Mexico.

What is different about the Zapatistas?

A new, armed rebel movement in at a time when such movements were meant to have recognized their own redundancy and ineffectiveness has demonstrated that history is not yet over; the capitalist hegemony is not yet complete.

On January 1, 1994, the EZLN, distributed a paper called 'The Mexican Awakener,' that contained their declaration of war and a number of revolutionary laws and orders for their army. They said they were fighting for "work, land, shelter, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace."

Nothing unusual about these demands, in the last couple of hundred years there have been thousands of organizations and movements, armed and otherwise, that have had the same aspirations. However, all other movements have attempted to assume power on behalf of the people, through armed seizure or through democratic election. Those 'revolutionaries' and 'reformists' are often portrayed as being very different but in reality they share an essential feature. The change they propose is a change of politicians and not a change in politics, and once in power they make sure their party rules alone.

In 1995, the main spokesperson for the Zapatistas, Subcomandante Marcos said, "It is perhaps for this reason, the lack of interest in power, that the word of the Zapatistas has been well received in other countries across the globe, above all in Europe. It has not just been because it is new or novel, but rather because it is proposing this, which is to say, to separate the political problem from the problem of taking power, and take it to another terrain."

There is hope in the Zapatista method that we can take home to our own city or region and, indeed, people around the globe are doing just that; 'be a Zapatista wherever you are.'

And I'm looking forward to that fundraiser for the Wiyots, and to the renewing of this earth.

 

Notes

1.  Mexico: History of Struggle  (back)
2.  Indigenous People  (back)
3.  Mexico: The Truth of the Economy  (back)
4.  Chiapas Timeline  (back)

Additional References and External Resources

       Michael W. Stowell is chairperson of both the City of Arcata, Humboldt County, CA, Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Commission and the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Arcata Library. He is the producer/editor/videographer of numerous public access television programs; he is a naturalist, a gardener, a bicyclist and a Swans' columnist.


[Ed. Note: The City of Arcata, incorporated in 1858, is located in Humboldt County, on California's Redwood Coast, at the juncture of California Highway 101 and 299 West. The city is approximately 289 miles north of San Francisco, 150 miles west of Redding and 760 miles north of Los Angeles. The 1990 census reported Arcata's population as 15,197 and the county population as 119,118.]

 

         Please, DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work on the Web without the expressed written authorization of Swans, which will seek permission from the author. This material is copyrighted, © Michael W. Stowell 2002. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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This Week's Internal Links

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Published January 28, 2002
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