The Zapatistas constantly grow, experiment, and take necessary risk in order to create new realities. For instance, the Zapatistas opened their communities and homes to some 2,000 people from all over the world, when they started La Escuelita, or Little School. La Escuelita afforded these visitors the chance to learn first-hand about the Zapatistas’ lives and their on going struggle, and offered what was described as the “First Grade” course entitled Freedom According to the Zapatistas.
They also organized the CompArte for Humanity Festival to celebrate art and culture as a catalyst for social change. They celebrated art in rebellion against capitalism and all its walls of exploitation and oppression: racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, and english-only mentalities.
This piece was part of a collective portfolio La Autonomía es la Vida, la Sumisión es la Muerte (Autonomy is Life, Submission is Death) produced by Convergencia Grafica MALLA and Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative. This portfolio honors the 520 years of struggle of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico against genocide and for self-determination and autonomy through a celebration of the 20 years of the Zapatista movement’s resistance against the Mexican state and global capitalism.
