Given the popularity of the Rojava readings, we’ve decided to read about another group of present-day revolutionaries: The Zapatistas. Specifically, we’ll be reading “To Those Who Work It: Ricardo Flores Magón and the EZLN” by Ian Campbell and “The Zapatistas, Anarchism, and Direct Democracy” by Andrew Flood. They are available here:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ian-campbell-to-those-who-work-it-ricardo-flores-magon-and-the-ezln.pdf
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andrew-flood-the-zapatistas-anarchism-and-direct-democracy.pdf
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a libertarian-socialist militant and political group that controls much of Chiapas, the southernmost province in Mexico. They gained a significant amount of territory after an uprising in 1994. They now control 24400 km^2 with a population of ~364000 people as of 2018. Now organized into a decentralized system of consensus-based popular assemblies (where anyone who want to participate can), The region enjoys extensive indigenous and women’s rights, universal healthcare, and a low crime rate. Our hope in these two readings is to learn a bit about the history (from the first) and current organization (from the second) of the Zapatistas.
As always, we will be meeting at 7pm (with doors open at 6:50pm) at 2620 Quadra Street in unceded Lekwungen territory.
On Tuesday, November 19, we will continue our exploration of the living experiment in autonomous self-rule in the region of Rojava, northern Syria. Our reading this week is Chapter 9, “The New Justice System: Consensus in the Key,” in REVOLUTION IN ROJAVA: DEMOCRATIC AUTONOMY AND WOMEN’S LIBERATION IN SYRIAN KURDISTAN: