Autonomous Organization
Zapatistas and the Struggle for Survival on Planet Earth
by Helen Jaccard and Gerry Condon
After visiting Guatemala for two months, we crossed the border into Chiapas on December 21 — Winter Solstice and the 13th Baktun — the first day of the New Mayan Era. On that very day, the Zapatistas made a dramatic reappearance. After four years of silence amid speculation about the status of their movement, more than 40,000 Zapatistas appeared in five towns they had occupied by force nineteen years earlier on January 1, 1994 — Ocosingo, Las Margaritas, Altamirano, Palenque and San Cristobal de Las Casas. Inspiring a profound sense of awe, men and women marched silently together in the rain, wearing ponchos and their trademark ski masks, unarmed, with young children on their backs. (more…)