Well gee that was an aweful long time to go without writing a blog! Yeah. Lo siento. Things have been crazy and then some, plus access to technology has taken a nosedive since I left Chiapas (as those of you who´s emails I have left unanswered can attest to. Sorry about that. I probably read part of it, more probably wrote you an email saying I would read it, and most probably didn´t finish that email saying I would write you back later before internet time was up)
I´ve been in Tlaxcala, a state just to the east of Mexico City where cactus are harvested all year round, one quarter of most rural families have family members working in the USA, and my nine year old brother catches rattlesnakes. Like actually. He tried to sell a two litre former coke, now live rattlesnake, bottle to me for a few pesos. Needless to say I didn´t buy it, even though it was certainly under the artificially deflated NAFTA market price for 2 litre bottles of live rattlesnake.
To those of you who may have been wondering, the rumors are true. My relationship with my latest ACL, though longer than any physical relationship I have ever had with either person or implanted ACL came to a jolting halt last month. Please don´t ask me about it. I´m dealing and I´m fine.
Still learning lot´s and lot´s. We are living with members of the Consejo Nacional Urbano y Campesino, a state-wide (the Nacional part is a little deceiving) social movement of urban and rural people fighting everything from the privatization of water to mistreatment in public hospitals; well more accurately lack of treatment in public hospitals. Interestingly, though part of la Otra Compaña (the international anti-capitalist campaign started by the Zapatista Rebellion), CNUC fights by demanding the services the government is mandated to provide rather than breaking from the government all together. Still the people are politicized and unaffiliated with political parties and the movement is incredible.
A quick clarification of definitions. To Become Politicized: people taking the economic, social, and political elements that shape the world of their communities and lives into their own hands, making choices and fighting fights in order to directly ensure that their lives are managed the way they want them to be. To Become Political: actively participating in political campaigns where people organize every few years to choose and support an individual candidate to (hopefully) represent their interests in the higher offices that be. Big Difference: in very significant ways.
Much love
Gabe
jueves, 2 de abril de 2009
jueves, 26 de febrero de 2009
Un Blog Rojo
Ok so I´m not a socialist or Communist, yet. Certainly not a Marxist, though impressed by his grasp on economics. Still, this whole trip has got me to thinking.
A quick life plan update. I had planned on spending the early half of my twenties traveling around, learning about the different struggles and difficulties people have, volunteering and working with small local organizations in various regions (how Che of me!) and then taking this knowledge to some powerful wealthy important institution (like perhaps the government) and seeing if I couldn´t help make some institutional reforms based on what I had learned people needed.
Unfortunately my plans are going to hell based on what I am learning here. Questions like who am I to work with, to ¨help¨, people so different from me, and whom would I even choose to ¨help, (how that word stinks as it rolls of the tongue! or maybe that was the tuna pattie and garlic tomatoes I had for breakfast) abound in that scrambled confused brain of mine. Some ideas floating around my head thanks to my experiences and education here, banging up against my carefully laid plans and understanding of the world, permanently altering my mind´s structure to some new, as of yet unknown form: ¨To work for a cause you must join in solidarity with a movement become part of a community, never ¨help¨. Struggles should be political. Politics is screwed, at least in the States. The system is what is screwed. The system of capitalism that is. Infinately more important than government and NGO band-aides which perhaps perpetuate a system of oppression and exploitation is the struggle to change the ownership of the means of labor so that people can work for themselves not for a hierarchical leader. The power hierarchy of the world is immoral and representative Western ¨democracy¨only perpetuates this problem.¨ I´m probably not even sounding too coherent as I write this! Maybe this happens to all great revolutionary socialist leaders!
But wait, I´m no socialist! I could never win a senate seat if I was a socialist. Besides, revolution? Che? How cliché of me!
Anyway, as you can imagine, my whole system of thinking is going through the rollerpins here. Maybe its the lack of organic peanut butter. Or too many corn tortillas perhaps?
Either way, I am becoming great friends with the little Zapatista revolucionaritos that live here. I haven´t seen the Che or Marx dolls recently but have been pushing the kids around in a cart and telling them stories (in Spanish! oh yeah!) The kids don´t mind that I´m not as commie-pinko as some of the people here (or am I??) I´m learning to play a song that goes Que Triste se oye la lluvia en los Techos de Carton. (How sad to hear rain on roofs of cardboard)
Anyway. We visited a refugee camp of Zapatistas displaced by paramilitary violence (they steal their land and the government tells them to stuff it. Actually the government pays the paramilitaries and then claims it is an intercommunity conflict. Breaks down the moral of the Zapatista struggle. Low-intensity war. And so on) There were 5,000 people living in the community. They don´t have access to enough land to grow their own food, nor money to buy it. At least their roofs are made of tin.
I´m making an artisan craft. It takes like 5,000 stitches. I don´t think I´ll finish but then again, the rebellion is never over. Especially one which isn´t focused on taking state power.
A quick life plan update. I had planned on spending the early half of my twenties traveling around, learning about the different struggles and difficulties people have, volunteering and working with small local organizations in various regions (how Che of me!) and then taking this knowledge to some powerful wealthy important institution (like perhaps the government) and seeing if I couldn´t help make some institutional reforms based on what I had learned people needed.
Unfortunately my plans are going to hell based on what I am learning here. Questions like who am I to work with, to ¨help¨, people so different from me, and whom would I even choose to ¨help, (how that word stinks as it rolls of the tongue! or maybe that was the tuna pattie and garlic tomatoes I had for breakfast) abound in that scrambled confused brain of mine. Some ideas floating around my head thanks to my experiences and education here, banging up against my carefully laid plans and understanding of the world, permanently altering my mind´s structure to some new, as of yet unknown form: ¨To work for a cause you must join in solidarity with a movement become part of a community, never ¨help¨. Struggles should be political. Politics is screwed, at least in the States. The system is what is screwed. The system of capitalism that is. Infinately more important than government and NGO band-aides which perhaps perpetuate a system of oppression and exploitation is the struggle to change the ownership of the means of labor so that people can work for themselves not for a hierarchical leader. The power hierarchy of the world is immoral and representative Western ¨democracy¨only perpetuates this problem.¨ I´m probably not even sounding too coherent as I write this! Maybe this happens to all great revolutionary socialist leaders!
But wait, I´m no socialist! I could never win a senate seat if I was a socialist. Besides, revolution? Che? How cliché of me!
Anyway, as you can imagine, my whole system of thinking is going through the rollerpins here. Maybe its the lack of organic peanut butter. Or too many corn tortillas perhaps?
Either way, I am becoming great friends with the little Zapatista revolucionaritos that live here. I haven´t seen the Che or Marx dolls recently but have been pushing the kids around in a cart and telling them stories (in Spanish! oh yeah!) The kids don´t mind that I´m not as commie-pinko as some of the people here (or am I??) I´m learning to play a song that goes Que Triste se oye la lluvia en los Techos de Carton. (How sad to hear rain on roofs of cardboard)
Anyway. We visited a refugee camp of Zapatistas displaced by paramilitary violence (they steal their land and the government tells them to stuff it. Actually the government pays the paramilitaries and then claims it is an intercommunity conflict. Breaks down the moral of the Zapatista struggle. Low-intensity war. And so on) There were 5,000 people living in the community. They don´t have access to enough land to grow their own food, nor money to buy it. At least their roofs are made of tin.
I´m making an artisan craft. It takes like 5,000 stitches. I don´t think I´ll finish but then again, the rebellion is never over. Especially one which isn´t focused on taking state power.
martes, 10 de febrero de 2009
¡Todavía estoy aquí!
Sorry I couldn´t come up with a better title for this blog. Though there is much going on, I couldn´t think of a better way to encapsulate it all then ´I´m still here´ ¡Todavía estoy aquí!
Because I am still here. In Mexico that is. Well actually, I´m kind of not. I am currently living in a Zapatista Caracol, or community center (direct translation being snail). Zapatista communities are considered Tierra Libre, or autonomous from the government. The Zapatistas consider their communities to be that way anyway. The Mexican military has other ideas. Still it is a really incredible and beautiful world here in Zapatista territory. A commune in the true sense of the word, this community of Mayan descendents decided in 1993, ya basta, enough with 500 years of oppression. They declared autonomy, fought a 12 day war starting on Jan 1 1994, and have been self-organizing a communal corner of the Earth ever since that would have brought tears to Marx´s eyes! In a good way. Makes you think a bit.
In class we are studying Neo-Marxism and the history of Neoliberalism in Mexico (think Reaganomics mixed with a douse of Pinochet and a dash of Margaret Thatcher, oh and add Wolfawitz to the mix). Everyone, including the teacher, is far enough Red (in the left-ward sense of the word) to make me seem like Milton Freidman. Actually the professor looked at me yesterday and asked ´Milton might you be able to explain the economic argument behind the IMF Structural Adjustment Program?´. Its funny really considering how anti-neoliberal I am but as most of you know, I like a good two-sided conversation in class, and life, and if I am going to debate with folks here, its got to be from the right. Still, I am absolutely fascinated by the system the Zapatistas have developed here in their corner of Chiapas, Mexico and am beyond convinced that the modern economic political system has gone to the dogs (as Prof. Watts would say, and did a good job of convincing me two years ago back when I still had my original ACL). Of course seeing an alternative movement actually existing, functioning, that´s really quite something.
In other news, I found a bathroom with a toilet seat, which I will have access to about once every week or two and earlier today I was playing with a little girl named Estér and her Ché Guevarra doll. Unfortunately her little friend Paco had taken the Carlitos Marx doll away. Or maybe she was sharing it with him. That would make more sense.
Much love to all of you. Write and let me know what´s up in your world!!
Because I am still here. In Mexico that is. Well actually, I´m kind of not. I am currently living in a Zapatista Caracol, or community center (direct translation being snail). Zapatista communities are considered Tierra Libre, or autonomous from the government. The Zapatistas consider their communities to be that way anyway. The Mexican military has other ideas. Still it is a really incredible and beautiful world here in Zapatista territory. A commune in the true sense of the word, this community of Mayan descendents decided in 1993, ya basta, enough with 500 years of oppression. They declared autonomy, fought a 12 day war starting on Jan 1 1994, and have been self-organizing a communal corner of the Earth ever since that would have brought tears to Marx´s eyes! In a good way. Makes you think a bit.
In class we are studying Neo-Marxism and the history of Neoliberalism in Mexico (think Reaganomics mixed with a douse of Pinochet and a dash of Margaret Thatcher, oh and add Wolfawitz to the mix). Everyone, including the teacher, is far enough Red (in the left-ward sense of the word) to make me seem like Milton Freidman. Actually the professor looked at me yesterday and asked ´Milton might you be able to explain the economic argument behind the IMF Structural Adjustment Program?´. Its funny really considering how anti-neoliberal I am but as most of you know, I like a good two-sided conversation in class, and life, and if I am going to debate with folks here, its got to be from the right. Still, I am absolutely fascinated by the system the Zapatistas have developed here in their corner of Chiapas, Mexico and am beyond convinced that the modern economic political system has gone to the dogs (as Prof. Watts would say, and did a good job of convincing me two years ago back when I still had my original ACL). Of course seeing an alternative movement actually existing, functioning, that´s really quite something.
In other news, I found a bathroom with a toilet seat, which I will have access to about once every week or two and earlier today I was playing with a little girl named Estér and her Ché Guevarra doll. Unfortunately her little friend Paco had taken the Carlitos Marx doll away. Or maybe she was sharing it with him. That would make more sense.
Much love to all of you. Write and let me know what´s up in your world!!
sábado, 31 de enero de 2009
Estoy Aqui!
Hey all! So here I am in Mexico finally studying Marxism and Socially Movements. It's funny how something can seem infinitely far away and then you blink and your program has started and you still haven't done all the readings! Story of my life.
For those of you who don't know, I'm studying abroad in Mexico. We study political economic theory (mostly Marxist so far and its looking to be mostly Marxist through out) and Mexican social movements. Rock on! How often do you get to check out a Zapatista Caracol (autonomous political and cultural center) and learn from the folks who are there why they chose to declare autonomy from Mexico and to wear those ski masks you may have seen them wearing on T.V.? Well for me I get to do it for 6 weeks before I go to Mexico City to do the same thing there, and then Tlaxcala, and then Juarez. Wait you mean like that city near El Paso that New York Times claims has all the drug trafficing problems? Well yeah and that's what we'll be studying! Among other things.
My time here so far has been as exciting as it ought to be. Almost missed my connection in Mexico City because the airport is about as large as the city (think LAX times like 10 and without the moving walk-ways and with screens that show all the flights but yours.
The people on the program are great. All Americans but some who speak Native Spanish. This is good as my Spanish could use some major improvement before it too graduates to a level somewhere in the ballpark universe near that of those who speak the Native Spanish.
I was a little nervous about doing the program because of how Leftist it is, and boy is it Leftist! But having had three debates with fellow students on the program about the importance of working within or without the system and the value of economics in general, it turns out that things should turn out ok. Not that I won the debate as all the students on the program are supremely smart; but we decided not to call it a debate anyway. Dialogue more like.
Man you should sit in on some of the classes we've had. It's like everything Berkeley is not. Except for the Marxism part. There are 7 students in a class and the class is centered around us discussing the material. Somehow it works really well and we learn plenty and the professor chimes in when its necessary and has a list of things to talk about. This must be what private school is like. Its weird having a professor who knows your name! The pedagogy of the program is based around the theories of Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The course is organized around the students needs and based on the interaction of theory and practice. Praxis. And the analys is based on the ideas of dialectics. Totally mind-blowing way of thinking! You should try it sometime.
The one downside to Mexico is related to food. Not that the food isn't wonderful (it is Mexican food afterall) but it does have a tendency to do to me what one might expect would happen to an American traveling in regions where he is not meant to drink the water. We also eat beans for every meal, which doesn't help matters as you can imagine! Anyway, all this would be fine if Mexican toilets had toilet seats. Enough said.
Oh and they also don't eat burritos in Mexico.
I knew this in advance but never really thought about it before.
They don't eat burritos in Mexico.
For those of you who don't know, I'm studying abroad in Mexico. We study political economic theory (mostly Marxist so far and its looking to be mostly Marxist through out) and Mexican social movements. Rock on! How often do you get to check out a Zapatista Caracol (autonomous political and cultural center) and learn from the folks who are there why they chose to declare autonomy from Mexico and to wear those ski masks you may have seen them wearing on T.V.? Well for me I get to do it for 6 weeks before I go to Mexico City to do the same thing there, and then Tlaxcala, and then Juarez. Wait you mean like that city near El Paso that New York Times claims has all the drug trafficing problems? Well yeah and that's what we'll be studying! Among other things.
My time here so far has been as exciting as it ought to be. Almost missed my connection in Mexico City because the airport is about as large as the city (think LAX times like 10 and without the moving walk-ways and with screens that show all the flights but yours.
The people on the program are great. All Americans but some who speak Native Spanish. This is good as my Spanish could use some major improvement before it too graduates to a level somewhere in the ballpark universe near that of those who speak the Native Spanish.
I was a little nervous about doing the program because of how Leftist it is, and boy is it Leftist! But having had three debates with fellow students on the program about the importance of working within or without the system and the value of economics in general, it turns out that things should turn out ok. Not that I won the debate as all the students on the program are supremely smart; but we decided not to call it a debate anyway. Dialogue more like.
Man you should sit in on some of the classes we've had. It's like everything Berkeley is not. Except for the Marxism part. There are 7 students in a class and the class is centered around us discussing the material. Somehow it works really well and we learn plenty and the professor chimes in when its necessary and has a list of things to talk about. This must be what private school is like. Its weird having a professor who knows your name! The pedagogy of the program is based around the theories of Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The course is organized around the students needs and based on the interaction of theory and practice. Praxis. And the analys is based on the ideas of dialectics. Totally mind-blowing way of thinking! You should try it sometime.
The one downside to Mexico is related to food. Not that the food isn't wonderful (it is Mexican food afterall) but it does have a tendency to do to me what one might expect would happen to an American traveling in regions where he is not meant to drink the water. We also eat beans for every meal, which doesn't help matters as you can imagine! Anyway, all this would be fine if Mexican toilets had toilet seats. Enough said.
Oh and they also don't eat burritos in Mexico.
I knew this in advance but never really thought about it before.
They don't eat burritos in Mexico.
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