Tag: Chiapas
-
Chiapas communities organize to protect sacred lagoon from tourist highway
The reeds and grasses are as tall as Sebastián Pérez Méndez, if not taller. The vegetation is so thick it’s hard to see the water in the Suyul Lagoon that he and other local Maya Tzotzil residents are working hard to protect. Pérez Méndez crosses the road to point out where aquatic plants serve as…
-
What side were we on?
When the Zapatista uprising appeared in world media on January 1, 1994, it wasn’t out of the blue; Maya communities had been holding assemblies to discuss the ramifications of armed defense of their democratic way of life for well over a decade. What was new was the EZLN alliance of Mayas with non-indigenous Mexican revolutionaries…
-
A Dangerous Trojan Horse
The charm of ecotourism loses its varnish when penetrating virgin territory becomes a means for US and Canadian mining companies to dispossess indigenous peoples. As noted by Hermann Bellinghausen in an interview posted at Upside Down World, “All the major resorts of Mexico started with dispossession.” Even the patina of ethnic tourism loses its gloss…
-
Urgent Need for Zapatista Supporters to Spread Truth
Schools for Chiapas asks you to take a moment to help “Spread the Truth” about the recent kidnapping of a prominent right-wing Mexican politician. Despite claims of their involvement, the fact of the matter is: the Zapatistas just DIDN’T DO IT! The Mayan communities of Chiapas and their supporters in “The Other Campaign” are being…
-
Unending Violence for the Indigenous People of San Juan Copala
Despite a growing outpour of international support and solidarity, there is no end in sight to the paramilitary violence being waged against the Indigenous Triqui people of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just this week, two more Triqui women were attacked by members of the Union for the Social Well-being of the Triqui Region…