Zapatista Women Relate Their Struggle Against 'The System' - and Zapatista Men Gilberto Lopez y Rivas - La Jornada
go to original October 26, 2015

Mural for women's education and dignity in Oventic (James Daria)

Chapter 1 of the book "Critical Thinking in the Face of the Capitalist Hydra" (required reading for Level 2 discussion at Zapatista Schoolhouse) includes texts by Zapatista women that are shocking, especially the story of Comandanta Miriam regarding the situation of the women before 1994:

"Since the arrival of the conquistadores we women have had to endure a sad situation. They robbed us of our lands, they took away our language, our culture. It is where the domination of caciquismo [rule by local political "chiefs"] and landlords came from, where the exploitation, humiliation, discrimination, marginalization, abuse, inequality arose ... Because those damned bosses had us as if they owned us."

Her extraordinary description of acasillamiento [similar to indentured servanthood] touches on the various kinds of humiliation and forced labor of women at the hands of plantation owners [cotton, sugarcane, hemp], to the extent that some thought to take refuge in the hills:

"They gathered together, talked and formed a community where they could live. So they established community. But once again when they were in the communities, the patrón [boss], or the acasillado [indentured servant], brought another idea. As the patrón dealt with the men, so the men brought back these bad ideas, and they acted inside the house like the patroncito [little boss] ... It is not true that women were liberated, rather it was the men who were the patroncito of the house. Yet again, the women remained inside the house as if it were prison, they didn't go out; rather they again remained imprisoned there ... ."

Comandanta Rosalinda describes the recruitment, village by village, of the first women during the years of hiding, of the need to organize such that there might be female militia and insurgent comrades:

"until 1994 when we came out into public light, when we could not take the abuse that made us damned capitalists. There we saw that it is definitely true that our courage and strength is equal to that of the men, because we could confront the enemy, we were not afraid of anyone ... Then we realized (that) not only men have to make it (the revolution) [but it has to be also made] between men and women."

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

Related: Mexico: Zapatistas' Ongoing Work - "We're Stubborn. We Don't Give Up. We're Going to Continue" (Mexico Voices)

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