The house my friends and I stayed at in San Cristobal, Chiapas Mexico. (Thomas' place)
Chris Treter and Seth Bernard composing a spanish song on taking back the land, the water, the truth that brings life.
waiting outside the office of the "Junta" (the good government) for a meeting at Oventic. There are five rebellious autonomous zones in the state of Chiapas, where hundreds of communities are building a different world. The Caracol is organised by the Zapatista ‘Junta’ a form of local government made up of elected civilian representatives from Zapatista communities. The Zapatista Caracol of Oventic is high in the mountains about 15 miles out of the Chiapas capital of St.Christobel. It is a centre for Zapatista organisation and a point of contact with the outside world. There is a large meeting space several smaller ones a hospital, 2 schools and a factory/leather workshop where goods are made including boots for the EZLN. This is the biggest of the five “caracoles”. It formed by long Central Street with new buildings being constantly built at the sides. Walking down the street, we see artisan cooperatives, offices, communal bedrooms, an auditorium, basketball court.
one of the Aritsan co-ops within Oventic
Jody and Chris Treter, founder of higher grounds coffee
San Cristobal Cathedral.
many bean varieties at the local market
at the Maya Vanik office outside San Cristobal
The co-op exports thier best green beans, and with the rest, they roast and distribute domestically.
at the maya vinic warehouse in the hills
going over the contracts with the farmers
Victoriano shows us some beans before the husk is removed
why print out signs when you can just paint on the wall!
before and after removing the outer dried shell
a local family farm comes to drop off thier harvest at the co-op warehouse
our ride through the mountains, all while eating oranges
children at Acteal
The Acteal Massacre was a massacre of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was carried out on December 22, 1997 by unknown paramilitary forces.
Pictured here is a womans artisian co-op in Acteal. This, as well as Maya Vinic, are born out the wider civil society "Las Abejas”, an organized response to the prevalent injustice in their communities and in the hopes of promoting positive change and autonomous development by pacific means. The plight of their communities came to the public eye in the aftermath of the infamous Acteal Massacre, where 45 men, women and children were killed by paramilitary forces and thousands more displaced from their homes.
"away"
some gals in the Maya Vinik community "Pueblo" where we stayed the night.
Seth bernard of http://www.earthworkmusic.com/ plays for us, while the kids love seeing thier digital photos
The families kitchen in Pueblo where they prepared tradition, wonderful meals for us.
everyone takes care of eachother
mmmm- plantanes!
a meeting with all of us and a few local coffee farmers/co-op members
a few members of the family that hosted us for the evening. in total, this beautiful family has 10 kids!
looking down on the village of Pueblo
taking us down to the coffee fields, which you can see just behind the group under the canopy of shade trees
coffee cherries
beans lay out in the sun to dry for 4-5 days after they are picked, depulped, and fermented.
every family has their own depupler- seperating the cherry from the coffee bean.
a local market stand in San Cristobal. those mangos are amazing!
in the community of Ajaw, near aqua azul. The wife of the the community leader hand makes us corn tortillas in her home.
Betty takes care of her younger sister
Tulija river, near the Bolon Ajaw, Zapatista community
The leaders of Ejido Agua Azul have publicly called for the eviction of the local Zapatista communities, accusing them of causing ecological damage and threatening the nature reserve. (Noticias Palenque, Jan. 12) Local Zapatista leaders, in turn, charged the Ejido Agua Azul leaders of seeking to clear the lands to make way for tourism development on the beautiful river and rich land. A statement from the Zapatista community Nuevo Progeso Agua Azul said: "We are natives here. Like our parents. Our grandparents were resident farmworkers [peones acasillados] of the landlord [patrón]. And for more than 13 years we have been in The paramilitary is threatening to attack the community if they dont leave.
Betty hand embroiders the decroation for her blouse- the traditional dress in this region. She says it may take up to a month to complete.
The community came together and rebuilt this school in less than a days work
