The Zapatista insurrection in Mexico
Mat JACOB
This post is also available in: French
“…The Zapatistas show that it is possible to start building another world right now, based on the respect of territorial individuality and of multiple ways of life, while staying clear of the conventions of the consumer society, of competitive individualism and the compulsive “productivism” that is destroying the planet. They show that the concept of community and of a good life for all are not necessarily best served by the conventional model of the State. Notwithstanding extreme difficulties, the Zapatista women and men have opted for freedom. They have developed their own methods of governance. They defend and strengthen the ways of life that they see as their own. They have taken their lives in hand. It is this air of freedom – and of dignity – that you breathe in Zapatista territory. It is through this air of freedom that their experience, albeit fragile and isolated, touches and looks at us.” Jérôme Baschet (Historian, senior lecture at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and the Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas – Mexico.)