Or... what LGBT struggles have in common with ending NAFTA and fighting poverty In 1993, the looming passage of NAFTA prompted the Mexican government to rescind its protections for the poor that were covered by Mexico's Constitution. According to Mexico's Constitution, Article 27 stated that people who have historically worked a spot of land, have the right to live on that land. What this meant for the nation's 28 million indigenous peoples--desperately poor peoples, most of whom do not speak Spanish (they still speak their traditional languages)--is that they would still be able to exist. These are people who have lived forgotten by their nation for hundreds of years. They have no electricity, no hospitals or health care, no schools. When NAFTA passed, it gave Mexico the right to sell the land out from under these people for development by multinational corporations--which would basically amount to a holocaust.
On the day that NAFTA was to begin, an uprising of a mysterious masked militia called the Zapatistas (Zapata was an indigenous mexican fighter who fought for the rights of the poor and dispossessed) took over the major cities in the state of Chiapas to destroy "bad government." They did not kill civilians, but they fought the military that tried to stop them. According to the government 100 or so Zapatistas died in this struggle. According to the Zapatistas, closer to 500 died. Since then, the Zapatistas have been fighting for their survival and right to create their own "good government juntas"--basically local democracies--while still being part of Mexico. They do not want 'liberation' from Mexico. They only want to be allowed to be a part of their country. To be treated as human beings.
The spokesperson of the Zapatistas--not their 'leader', but their voice in the Spanish language-- is named Subcomandante Marcos (since the last election cycle, he now also goes by "Delegate Zero") He is not an indian himself. In fact, he's a white/mestizo former college professor of philosophy and communications--he's a writer and a poet. He read books on military tactics, learned how to fight, and helped organize the resistance. He is still there. They are still there, and they are still fighting to survive.
Unlike most political movements in the United States, the Zapatistas have not 'particularized' their cause. They believe that as they fight for themselves that they are fighting for all dispossessed peoples and they have always been outspoken about LGBT rights and the rights of women. Women, gays, and transpeople fight in the Zapatista Army. Women have the right to abortion-on demand. Gay people exist within and are welcomed in their community. They believe that their struggle is the struggle of all people. It is an international struggle between corporate globalism (what is known overseas as neoliberalism) and the annihilation of all who do not 'count': indigenous peoples, gays, lesbians, transsexuals, poor workers there to be 'used up', women, students, unionists etc.
It amazes me that in the so-called culturally 'conservative' nation of Mexico, a viable, outspoken struggle has existed amongst 'simple, honest people' (as they refer to themselves) against homophobia and transphobia-- and what's more their leaders have not been afraid to demand our place at the table. So much for the bullshit argument (among Republicans AND Democrats) that LGBT people are some sort of white, Western, modern construct that people of color (you know...
those primitives :sarcasm:) couldn't
possibly understand. Personally, I find it embarrassing.
Don't get me wrong, my point isn't that the Zapatistas 'need' our help, but rather, heck, we probably need theirs. Or maybe this isn't about 'help' this is about standing together. It's about solidarity. It's about our lives intersecting with their lives. They're a part of us and we're a part of them, even if we didn't even know it. Even if they're straight and poor and living in the jungles of Mexico. They've got our backs. (Hell, they've had our backs.) Personally, I'm making a commitment to having their back too. I guess, maybe it's all the same back...
A YouTube video of Subcomandante Marcos reading a speech about who the Zapatistas are and who they stand with (gay people included, 1996)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5617561204900763341"Let those who persecute be ashamed" Zapatistas comment on LGBT rights in 1999
http://www.greenleft.org.au/1999/368/18441Zapatista commitment to working with and organizing LGBT people in 2006-2007 (called the Other Campaign)
http://www.williambowles.info/americas/zapatista.htmlAn analysis of "Other Loves in the Other Campaign". I couldn't access the original articles from Znet and the Utne Reader. My favorite part of this article is that Marcos says he wants to create a Zapatista Soccer Team (wearing ski-masks) to play against the best team in Italy, but that he wants it to be transgendered soccer team to piss off all the conservatives of the world.
http://www.narconews.com/Issue40/article1691.htmlBecause of the Zapatistas support for LGBT rights, some people speculated as to whether or not their spokesperson was 'gay'. This was their response:
“To those of you who are wondering if Marcos is homosexual: Marcos is a gay person in San Francisco, a black person in South Africa, an Asian person in Europe, a Chicano in San Isidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Jew in Nazi Germany, an indigenous person in the streets of San Cristóbal… He is every minority who is now beginning to speak and every majority that must shut up and listen. He is every untolerated group searching for a way to speak, their way to speak. Everything that makes Power and the good consciences of those in power uncomfortable – this is Marcos."
Subcomandante Marcos
The brains of the operation: the beautiful and tiny Comandante Ramona (who died of cancer a few years ago.)
The two together:
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