1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media, Hello, and welcome to Cool People Did 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: Cool Stuff, your weekly reminder that wherever they are a 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: bad things doing by people, there are good people bad 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: fight those things. All of history is a give and take. 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to look at our society and history 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 1: and see how bad she is and be like, how 7 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: come we never win and make things great? But that 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: is selling ourselves short. Without the incredible work and sacrifice 9 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: of millions of people, we would just live in a 10 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: totalitarian hell world instead of you know, a complicated hell 11 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: world with moments of startling beauty. Anyway, I'm your host, 12 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy, and right now I'm doing a series about 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: the pretty successful fight against neoliberalism, starting with the Zapatistas, 14 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: the indigenous rebels in southern Mexico who have a bottom 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: up democratic structure and who use a pretty diverse set 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: of tactics in their fight for local autonomy and for 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: this of autonomous politics across the world. We're on part 18 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: four of that. Well, I guess we're in part four 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: of the neoliberalism thing. The part one was just what's neoliberalism? 20 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,479 Speaker 1: But we're on part three of the Zapatistas. We've talked 21 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: about this Appatistas rise, and we've talked about their politics, 22 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: and now I want to talk about how they're structured 23 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: and some of the things that they've accomplished over the decades. 24 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: Before next week, we're going to take a detour into 25 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: another antecedent of the alter globalization movement, which is the 26 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: thing that smash neoliberalism. Neoliberalism still exists. We always think 27 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: of things in this block and white like winning losing way, 28 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: but there is no static win condition. Anyway, you're thinking 29 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: to yourself, Margaret, why haven't you introduced your producer or 30 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: your audio engineer, and you'd be thinking, right, I have 31 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: a producer. Her name is Sophie. I have an audio engineer. 32 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: Hi Eva. Everyone has to say hi to Eva. And 33 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: I also want to tell you that the music was 34 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: written forced by n women. But I also want to 35 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: say that once the Zapatistas took territory and declared it autonomous, 36 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: they just started running everything as they believe it should 37 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: be run through local assemblies and seeing their concept of 38 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: good government, which they use in opposition of the bad government, 39 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: which is the Mexican government that is oppressing them. But 40 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: they didn't keep their heads in the sand. They spent 41 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: most of the latter half of the nineties involved in 42 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: political campaigning trying to get the autonomy of indigenous groups 43 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: in the San Andreas of Kords enshrined into the Mexican constitution, 44 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: or at least to get the government to respect the 45 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: document that they'd already signed, right, which is that document 46 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: that was like, hey, respect indigenous autonomy that was signed 47 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six, and the government was like, yeah, 48 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: we don't actually pay any attention to what we sign 49 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: if it's with indigenous people. I mentioned last time that 50 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: Mexico was ruled by one political party for most of 51 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. It is the PRI, the Institutional Revolutionary Party. 52 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: This party was founded in nineteen twenty eight and then 53 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: it ruled as a one party state more or less 54 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: until the year two thousand and They had like this 55 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: thing where they would be like, oh, each president only 56 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: sits one term, but then each president would sort of 57 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: hand pick their successor. When I talked about government loyalists 58 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: who are harassing asapatistas, I'm talking about people associated with 59 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: or loyal to the PRI. It's hard to pigeonhole the 60 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: PRI with a specific ideology. Besides, they like being the 61 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: people in charge. It started off leftish and then it 62 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: went rightish, and it was them who did all the 63 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: neoliberal restructuring that we talked about. I would say that 64 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: their politics are more defined by like corruption and power 65 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: than any specific ideology. And then in the year two thousand, 66 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: the PRI lost a presidential election. They lost to a 67 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: right wing party, the National Action Party and a guy 68 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: named Vincente Fox. Yet despite this being the election of 69 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: a right wing guy, people were honestly kind of excited 70 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: because he had some big promises about respecting Indigenous rights. 71 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: But also he just wasn't the party who had been 72 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: killing them, because the PRI had been funding paramilitaries to 73 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 1: kill everyone, and so people were like, hooray, not the PRI. 74 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: Marcos wrote the outgoing president from the PRI and said, 75 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: you did everything you could to destroy us. All we 76 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: had to do was resist, because they outlasted those fuckers. 77 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: Fox agreed to meet with indigenous leaders and this Apatistas 78 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: toured the country and held a bunch of rallies and shit, 79 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: and then showed up in Mexico City in time for 80 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: the inauguration. It was finally going to happen. Indigenous rights 81 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: were going to wind up in the constitution. The Apatistas 82 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: were excited to become simply a civil political organization, and 83 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: then all three of the political parties in the Senate 84 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: of Mexico, including the Social Democrats, the most left wing party, 85 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: came together to be like, nah, we don't really want 86 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: to do that. We want to force indigenous assimilation instead. 87 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: So by two thousand and one, that dream of having 88 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: autonomy while fully at peace with the Mexican state was dead. 89 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: A leader named Cammodante Bruce Les declared on January first, 90 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, quote, let us not wait around 91 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: for the bad government to give us permission. We should 92 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: organize ourselves like true rebels and not wait for someone 93 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: to give us permission to be autonomous. We govern ourselves 94 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: with or without the law. Then, by August of that year, 95 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: they declared the creation of five good Government Councils. They'd 96 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 1: been ruling themselves already for about a decade, but they 97 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: wanted to create a bit more of this formal structure 98 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: because they wanted the various regions to better redistribute resources 99 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: amongst each other. And crucially, according to the sixth Declaration 100 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: of the Lacandon Jungle, quote, we saw that the easy 101 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: len with its political military component, was involving itself in 102 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: decisions that belonged to the democratic authorities. So basically they 103 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: bolstered the civilian governmental structures so that the military leaders 104 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: can no longer participate in civilian government and to try 105 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: and create that pretty essential separation between military and civil leadership. 106 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: These good Government councils were in five regions that they 107 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: called caracolas, which is a word that sometimes means snail 108 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: or curl, but in this case it's actually referencing conch shells, 109 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: which traditionally were blown to some and aid from other communities. 110 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: They built their bottom up democracy based on three organizational tiers. 111 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: There's the community or village level, then the municipal level, 112 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: which coordinates dozens of villages, and then you have a 113 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: region which ties together several municipalities. There are assemblies at 114 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: every level, and people are elected to serve on these assemblies. 115 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: Despite the earlier version presented by Marcos in nineteen ninety 116 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: four where there were no term limits. You can go 117 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: back to part three and hear them talking about the 118 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: indigenous ways of doing things that they wanted to incorporate. 119 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: By the end of this system, the Good Government Council 120 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: system in twenty twenty three. I believe that people serve 121 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: two or three year terms and these can only be 122 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: served once, and your leadership position can be revoked at 123 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: any time by your constituency. Proposals will come from the 124 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: top level, the Council of Good Government, down to the 125 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: regional assembly. These are then sometimes passed along further down 126 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: to the community delegates who go around and consult people 127 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: in their area. Concerns and amendments and such are passed 128 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: along back up the chain, and new proposals are sent out. 129 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: This can happen several times with any given decision, with 130 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: ideas and thoughts going up and down the chain. They 131 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: put a lot of work into making sure that it 132 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: was you know, the people rule and the government obey 133 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: like the science say when you go into Zapatista territory. 134 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about how they revisited this 135 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. But along the way they put 136 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: in a lot of safeguards. Being in politics is seen 137 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: as a responsibility without any afforded privileges or pay. You 138 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: can't nominate yourself for positions of leadership. Other people have 139 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,199 Speaker 1: to pick you, and there are a lot of formal 140 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: checks and balances, like a commission that audits the various councils, 141 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: and there's the term limits and revocability. Basically, the appetizers 142 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: work very hard to de specialize the role of political leadership. Sometimes, 143 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: though especially in military matters, the government commands because it 144 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: needs to act quickly. They can only give commands that 145 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: they genuinely understand to be the will of the people. 146 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,479 Speaker 1: So for the majority of the history of the Zapatistas, 147 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: that was the structure. But in twenty twenty three they 148 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: changed their system and restructured themselves again. Mainstream news is 149 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: more or less universally use this as an excuse to 150 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: claim that the Zapatista project is over, or that its 151 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:30,720 Speaker 1: star has waned so dim that it doesn't light up 152 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: much at all anymore. I don't think that that's the 153 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,559 Speaker 1: best way to look at this situation. Though the Zapatzas 154 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: have been it seems losing ground recently to the tide 155 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: of gang and cartel violence, especially along the border with Guatemala, 156 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: and the Zapatistas have become more isolated from the rest 157 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: of Mexican society. According to some sources, people have been 158 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: leaving the area. The Mexican state has sent troops to 159 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: the region, but rather than trying to stop the cartels 160 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: with these troops, well, according to a statement from the 161 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: Easy ln Quote, the only reason they are here is 162 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: to stem migration. That is the order they got from 163 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: the US government, and this is under the Biden administration. 164 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: It's worth pointing out. So the Zapatista has declared the 165 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: dissolution of their autonomous municipalities. This is not the abandonment 166 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: of autonomy, but its refinement, at least as far as 167 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: I can tell. I'm kind of looking at this with 168 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:29,199 Speaker 1: rose tinted glasses, but they have made a lot of 169 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: statements around this very idea. The social centers they've built 170 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,959 Speaker 1: with schools and health clinics remain open, but the regional 171 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: administrations have been dissolved. The good Government councils have been 172 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:47,560 Speaker 1: replaced by the local autonomous governments. This isn't a fracturing, 173 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: but a decentralizing. There is still a three tier system 174 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: of decision making assemblies, but now more of the power 175 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: is invested at the local level because the larger structures 176 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: aren't permanent, but are instead called for by the local structures. 177 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: So basically you're like, oh, we need to coordinate this big, 178 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: so you call for the next level up. And then 179 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: if that level is like, oh, we need to call 180 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: this even bigger than you call for the highest level 181 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: of it. These three levels are the local autonomous government, 182 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 1: the collective of local autonomous governments, and the assemblies of 183 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: collectives of local autonomous government. They did this for two reasons. One, 184 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: I read that it allows them to better focus on 185 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: self defense against the cartels and stuff. I actually am 186 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: unsure the mechanism for how this helps them focus on 187 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:36,439 Speaker 1: self defense. I don't know. Two, they realized that their 188 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: good government councils were becoming, as Subcommandante Moyses put it, 189 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: pure middle power was beginning to become more clearly invested 190 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: in the top instead of the bottom. Moyses said, quote, 191 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: the proposals from authorities did not go down as they 192 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: were to the people, nor do the opinions of the 193 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: people reach the authorities. As part of this shift that 194 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: they did in twenty twenty three structuring, they're also looking 195 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: to get even more radical with how they're handling property 196 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,680 Speaker 1: in land. For the past few decades, land was either 197 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: owned individually or by families or was part of formalized 198 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: collective land projects. They want to start making more land 199 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: and actual commons that can be worked by Zapatistas and 200 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,679 Speaker 1: non Zapatistas alike, basically being like, you know what, we're 201 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: going to go back to just complete non ownership of land. 202 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: Part of the reason for that is probably ideological, but 203 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: it was also a practical decision. Violent arguments over land 204 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: rights are a huge part of the incursions against Zapatista territory. 205 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,599 Speaker 1: We talked about this last time that basically like the 206 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: Sapatista's like claimed by force an awful lot of indigenous 207 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: territory and took it back in declared it autonomous right, 208 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 1: and there have been a lot of conflict around land 209 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: rights and who owns land. And so they can say, look, 210 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 1: anyone can use this, including you, including us, They can 211 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: hopefully de escalate some of that tension. I don't know 212 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: how that's gone yet. Unfortunately, I've mostly just found lots 213 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: and lots of information about when they made this transition. 214 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: I haven't been able to find as much coming in 215 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: a year and a half two years later to see 216 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: how that's been going. But through various means they've ruled 217 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: themselves autonomously for decades, despite the political and military pressure 218 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: applied to them by the Mexican State, and it's honestly 219 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: just breathtaking how much success they've had. And if you 220 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: want to have a lot of success, if you buy 221 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: our goods and services, you will succeed at the very least. 222 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: And having bought goods and services and maybe that'll get 223 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 1: you used to success and successes will just start rolling in. 224 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: I can't promise that, but I can promise that, and 225 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: we're back. One of the main things that these local 226 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: governments and the bappatiste in military accomplished was keeping neoliberal 227 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: extractive projects out of the region. They stop mining and 228 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 1: shit like that. Recovering land from the capitalist state is 229 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: pretty much the fundamental idea of autonomy. They've also done 230 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: an admirable job improving the lives of people in the area. 231 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: Although the people in the area remain poor as fuck, 232 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: with a lot of issues around malnourishment and just general 233 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 1: like it sucks to be poor. The Zapatistas have refused 234 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: all government handouts. They are at war with the government, 235 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: after all, and their isolation has certainly led to problems 236 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: of poverty still, everything I've read leads me to believe 237 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: that people of the area saw their material lives improve 238 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: dramatically under their own autonomy. Zapatistas have set up health 239 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: clinics and schools everywhere. As of twenty twelve, it was, 240 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: to quote Raoul Zabyci, quote two hospitals, eighteen clinics, and 241 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: about eight hundred community health houses in the five regions, 242 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: with no less than five hundred health promoters trained under 243 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: the criteria A adopted by the Zapatistas. The community health 244 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: houses did basic medical care, and they also teach hygiene, 245 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,400 Speaker 1: sexual health and safety, and sit like how to boil 246 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: water in all of that. Also, as of twenty twelve, 247 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 1: which is just the last numbers I've found, they've built 248 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: three hundred schools, just more schools than I've ever built. 249 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: The schools that they've built teach bilingually to keep people 250 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: from losing their indigenous languages. There are many in the area. 251 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: They teach actual indigenous history. That has been a race 252 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: for Mexican education. And you're not going to be surprised 253 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: to realize this. The pedagogical differences, it's not just that 254 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: they teach slightly different stuff. How they teach it is 255 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: fundamentally different. Zapatista pedagogy is designed to encourage autonomy and 256 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: free thinking. The children and the elders co developed their curriculum. 257 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: There are no grades, and the class advances only as 258 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: everyone in it has learned the topic. Bapatistas also build 259 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: worker cooperatives, where people who work collectively on a project 260 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 1: share in the decision making and the rewards. Why should 261 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 1: democracy stop at the doherty er job? And they're not 262 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: fully isolated from the economy of the world. They are 263 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: looking to undercut the coyotes, the middlemen who rip off 264 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: the producers, so they set up distribution cooperatives that supply 265 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: both Zapatista and non Zapatista stores. They also sell coffee 266 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: all over the world. As best as I understand, they 267 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: have a fairly strict no alcohol or hard drugs policy. 268 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: In Zapatista territory or at least several individual areas that 269 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: I have read about do and all told, they are 270 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: about three hundred thousand people, or about five percent of 271 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: the population of Chiapas living in these autonomous communities. The 272 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: most well known Zapatista town, the Zapatista city, is Oventic 273 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: which from nineteen ninety four to two thousand and four 274 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 1: went from a tiny rural community to an urban center 275 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: or a high school and a hospital. Even some folks 276 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: who don't support the Zapatistas in the area prefer going 277 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: to their hospitals because they won't be treated as racistly. Basically, 278 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 1: there's a lot of racism against indigenous people in Mexico, 279 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: and much like in the States, racism is applied in 280 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,160 Speaker 1: medical situations very dramatically, and so a lot of people 281 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 1: are like, Yeah, I'm going to the Zapatista hospital because 282 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 1: it's going to be better. The medical system they're building 283 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: refuses to erase traditional knowledge. It mixes modalities from Western 284 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: medicine and indigenous medicine, what they call the two medicines. 285 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: The author Gloria Mignot's cited as Zapatista who told her quote, 286 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: this dream started when we realized that the knowledge of 287 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,680 Speaker 1: our elders was being lost. They know how to cure 288 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: bones and sprains, they know how to use herbs, they 289 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: know how to oversee the delivery of babies, but their 290 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,640 Speaker 1: knowledge was being lost with the use of medicines purchased 291 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: in the pharmacy. So he came to an agreement and 292 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,160 Speaker 1: brought together all the men and women that know about 293 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,719 Speaker 1: traditional healing. It was not easy to bring everyone together. 294 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: There were some twenty men and women, older people from 295 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,200 Speaker 1: the communities who acted as teachers of traditional health. About 296 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty students signed up, most of them 297 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: Zapatista campagneros. Now the amount of midwives, bone setters and 298 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: herbalists in our communities has increased. And this is such 299 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: a fascinating story, like this could have been its own episodes. 300 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:34,159 Speaker 1: You know, this method of saving traditional knowledge that was 301 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: done not kind of like institutionally, where they found twenty 302 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: healers out of there's three hundred thousand zapatistas, you know, 303 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: they found twenty of them and from that they have 304 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: been able to save this traditional knowledge in the modern world. 305 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: And I think that's cool. The folks who work directly 306 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:59,399 Speaker 1: for Zapatista infrastructure do so without any sort of wage labor. 307 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: A teacher at a Zapatista school will just be directly 308 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: supported by the community with people meeting their needs. I've 309 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: read a couple different ways that this could happen. For example, 310 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 1: depending on the land arrangement in the area, like if 311 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: everyone kind of has like parcels and gross food and 312 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: to sustain themselves, which is a arrangement that I've seen 313 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 1: in traditional communities all over the world as I read history. 314 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: If that's what's going on in this given village, for example, 315 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: other people will work the teacher's parcel to grow food 316 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: on it for the teacher, or as another account put it, 317 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: the students bring the teacher a chicken as tuition. They 318 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: also built an activist training school in the Ricardo Floris 319 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,679 Speaker 1: Mcgonn municipality together with Greek comrades, and there's like all 320 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: kinds of pedagogical stuff that they did there that ended 321 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,880 Speaker 1: up influencing a lot of things, where they like set 322 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: the room up in a hexagon so that everyone can 323 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,160 Speaker 1: see each other, and like, I don't know, it's just interesting. 324 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 1: And there's this like this back and forth internationally that 325 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: they talk about very consciously where they're like, we don't 326 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: want people to come here and like school us how 327 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: to do things, and we don't want people to just 328 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: come here and just learn from us, because we know everything. 329 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: They talk all the time about how they're like, no, 330 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: we want to share, we want to participate as equals. 331 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: In a global community from the bottom and the left, 332 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,919 Speaker 1: and so some of what they've done, just some of 333 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: what they've done. In nineteen ninety four they threw a 334 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,359 Speaker 1: National Democratic Convention. I think we talked about that a 335 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: little bit. By nineteen ninety six, with the San Andreas Talks, 336 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: they helped start the National Indigenous Convention. That same year 337 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,120 Speaker 1: they also started the international talks that became the Ault 338 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: Globalization movement, which were called the Gatherings for Humanity against Neoliberalism, 339 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: the first of which was held in Chiapas. In two 340 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: thousand and one, they did the March of the Color 341 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: of the Earth, in which millions of supporters came out 342 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: and greeted as Apatista caravan touring the country for thirty 343 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: seven days. And this was done to support that indigenous 344 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: autonomy law that was going to end up included in 345 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: the constitution, ratified into the constitution. That's the word I 346 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,360 Speaker 1: think that of course didn't happen. But while they were 347 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,880 Speaker 1: doing this, while they were doing the march, they traveled 348 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: four thousand miles and through seventy seven events before speaking 349 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 1: to Congress and having all of the ruling parties left 350 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: and right reject indigenous autonomy, Marco said about this quote. 351 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: At this point, we concluded that the path of dialogue 352 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,160 Speaker 1: with the Mexican political class was exhausted and we had 353 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: to find another path. And you know what path, the 354 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 1: Zapatistas probably didn't really go down. They probably didn't go 355 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: down the path of ads supported radio. But the thing 356 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: is is everyone does things differently in different regions for 357 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: different reasons, and we are an ad supported podcast. These 358 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:56,640 Speaker 1: are the ads that support us, and we're back, okay, 359 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: So now that they're like bitter and turned off of 360 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: electoral politics for whole. On January first, two thousand and six, 361 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 1: they launched what was called the Other Campaign, and it 362 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,960 Speaker 1: was basically a political campaign for no political candidate. It 363 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: wasn't a like don't vote campaign either. It was like, 364 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: we have to build an actual alternative while everyone else 365 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:22,560 Speaker 1: is busy campaigning. Subcommadante Marcos, calling himself Candidate zero, traveled 366 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: the country, listening to people and hoping to unite a 367 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: new left movement from below. He met with indigenous leaders 368 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 1: and workers, and people who were marginalized in all kinds 369 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: of ways, like sex workers and youth and women and 370 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,879 Speaker 1: students and the elderly. I think this is around the 371 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: time I first started really seeing the Zapatistas talk a 372 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,159 Speaker 1: lot about trans writes. But that's just for my own memory. 373 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: And so Candidate zero wasn't running for office, but instead 374 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: looking to build from the bottom up to create a 375 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: quote common language to unite people across various struggles, all 376 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 1: of these different struggles that weren't necessarily talking to each other. 377 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: That was his point, especially people who an't necessarily represented 378 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: by big groups or whatever. This campaign was not met 379 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,920 Speaker 1: with universal support. Some folks felt that it would pull 380 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: votes away from the Social Democratic candidate, the PRD candidate, 381 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: and the election. They're like, ah, why are you dividing 382 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,679 Speaker 1: the vote by not even running another candidate. You can 383 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,240 Speaker 1: tell by my tone of voice that I don't really 384 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: care about that particular concern. The Zapatista position was that, well, 385 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: the PRD had just rejected indigenous autonomy, doing what basically 386 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,160 Speaker 1: all political parties do, which is drift to the right 387 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: once they have power. The Zapatista's also set up a 388 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: system called Escalita in which students from all over Mexico 389 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: and the world come and learn in Chiapas, and they've 390 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 1: continued to be met with lots of people attacking them. 391 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, paramilitaries attacked them a lot. A compagnio 392 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: named Galliano was murdered on May second of that year. 393 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,439 Speaker 1: I believe fifteen other people were injured in that attack, 394 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 1: and it seems very likely it was tart. The unarmed 395 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: Galliano refused to surrender and was shot three times and killed. 396 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:07,920 Speaker 1: He was a school teacher, someone involved in the Escalite 397 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: the movement, and he wrote a lot in English about 398 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: that movement. The pair of militaries destroyed the school and 399 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: health clinic in the same attack, so it seems like 400 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: it was targeted. Those epetises believe it was a targeted assassination. 401 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: For nearly ten years. Subcommandante Marcos changed his name to 402 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:30,919 Speaker 1: Subcommandante Galliano in honor of his fallen friend. The pair 403 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 1: of militaries weren't done and they came back in the 404 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:37,160 Speaker 1: fall to attack more communities. They came into a collective 405 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,959 Speaker 1: workplace with guns and fired into the air and burned 406 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:44,400 Speaker 1: a Galliano lives poster. They killed a steer, basically trying 407 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 1: to run people off the land. Then they came back 408 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: and killed another steer, Then they killed a horse, and 409 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: they would just show up the rifles and chainsaws and 410 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: cut down trees and drive by and shoot into houses 411 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,240 Speaker 1: and just you know, be uh, let's go with generally unpleasant. 412 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: In August of that year, the Zapatistas were building a 413 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:04,960 Speaker 1: new collective workplace, like basically kind of building a new 414 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: village essentially, and the paramilitary showed up and yelled things like, 415 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,159 Speaker 1: these weapons we use are from the government, and this 416 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: land is ours and does not belong to the fucking Zapatistas. 417 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: And it's worth pointing out this particular paramilitary group was 418 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: not local to the area. They destroyed the new village, 419 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: all nine houses of it, and stole all the stuff 420 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: in the new store they've built, and just like basically 421 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 1: robbed the place. The displaced people were given some money 422 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 1: by the Zapatistas and given new places to stay. The 423 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: news I could find about these attacks comes from shortly 424 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,840 Speaker 1: after the attacks, so I can't tell you everything about 425 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,479 Speaker 1: how that played out, But in general, the Eazyln as 426 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: a military force, agreed to follow the will of the people, 427 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: which was that they didn't want force met with force 428 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 1: and an escalation of violence. In twenty eighteen, the Zapatistas 429 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: returned to electoral politics. Briefly, they supported an indigenous but 430 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,640 Speaker 1: non Zapatista woman as a presidential candidate, Maria de Jesos 431 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: Petrucio Martinez. She was with the National Indigenous Congress, running 432 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: as an independent. The National Indigenous Congress is mentioned as 433 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,520 Speaker 1: like a thing that the Zappatitsa has helped form, but 434 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: is not a Zapatista thing. It's a larger Indigenous Congress. 435 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,160 Speaker 1: So Maria was like, all right, I'm going to run 436 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,360 Speaker 1: for fucking office. And in order to run for president 437 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: in Mexico, you need eight hundred and fifty thousand signatures 438 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: to get yourself onto the ballot. But those signatures have 439 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: to be verified in ways that prevent poor people from signing. 440 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: The digital signature had to be done with a phone 441 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: from a list of acceptable phones with like a certain 442 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 1: operating system and stuff, and even if people had those phones, 443 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,040 Speaker 1: it would sometimes take hours for people in rural areas 444 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 1: to download the required software onto their phones in order 445 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,399 Speaker 1: to sign. So she got two hundred and sixty seven 446 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: nine hundred and fifty three signatures, which wasn't an to 447 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: get her onto the ballot. And yeah, that's a bit 448 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,639 Speaker 1: about the Zapatistas. In twenty twenty three, they reorganized again, 449 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: and time will tell what that means. Mainstream media refers 450 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: to how their star is waning, and certainly they are 451 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: dealing with fierce attacks. But on the activist signal loops 452 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: I'm on, I still get calls and pronouncements from them 453 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: about events they're organizing, about how they're working to bring 454 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: activists from below into the left, from across the globe 455 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: to listen to each other. Of all of the things 456 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,120 Speaker 1: that stand out to me about the whole Zapatista project, 457 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: it's the attitude of listening together as peers and then 458 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 1: deciding together as peers that stands out to me. I 459 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: would argue that this is the attitude we need. I 460 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,960 Speaker 1: tell people I'm an anarchist, and that's true, but it's 461 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: not that I'm loyal to anarchism as an ideology. Specifically, 462 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 1: what I believe in is this stuff about creating and 463 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: respecting diverse movements. Not diverse like some people are vanguardists 464 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,199 Speaker 1: who want to tell everyone else what to do and 465 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: other people aren't, but diverse among people who actually respect diversity. 466 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: Diverse like different people with different backgrounds who desire different 467 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,639 Speaker 1: things and have different methods of going about it. Political 468 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: pluralism isn't about accepting ideological bullies in our ranks, but 469 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: looking around and saying, all of us who believe that 470 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,399 Speaker 1: the revolution comes from the bottom up, we need to 471 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: stand together and learn that compromise isn't a profanity and 472 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: to learn to respect our differences and see them as strengths. 473 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: I'm eternally grateful that the Zapatistas were the single largest 474 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: influence on radical politics and the movement that I came 475 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: up in. I think that if they collapse tomorrow, they'll 476 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: have already earned their places. Some of the coolest people 477 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: have ever lived, doing some of the coolest stuff that's 478 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: ever happened. But they won't collapse tomorrow. Their movement is 479 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: five hundred years old and it's still going. And next 480 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: week we're going to continue this series but cut over 481 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: to another part of the world and to another set 482 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: of tactics that have influenced the ault globalization movement and 483 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: talk to you. Then, I don't really anything to plug 484 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: to support the people who are trying to stop ice, 485 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: that's what I have to plug. And if you are 486 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: one of the people more directly, go read about how 487 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 1: to stay safe in crowd environments. Okay, I do have 488 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 1: something to plug. I would really recommend there's a bunch 489 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: of guides put out by a publisher called Crimethink. If 490 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:34,720 Speaker 1: you go to crimethink dot com where crime thchi NC 491 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 1: dot com, you'll find a lot of resources and some 492 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: of them are called a Demonstrator's guide to and those 493 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: will have everything you could ever want to know about 494 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: police less lethal munitions and gas masks and goggles and 495 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: how police use batons, and how to form affinity groups 496 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: and all kinds of stuff that can be used to 497 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: stay safe and stay dangerous. Because ice isn't going to 498 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: smash itself, it has to be smashed for them anyway. 499 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 1: Talked to you soon. Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff 500 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: is a production of Google zone Media. For more podcasts 501 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: on Google zone Media, visit our website goalzonemedia dot com. 502 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 1: Check us out on ieartradio, app, app a podcast, or 503 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.