la digna rabia

stolen from Sadie

The other day three little kids were sitting under the clothes lines when the sun finally started to come out and the girl asked us if I could put her hair in a ponytail. it seemed like there is a specific verb in Spanish that covers this request, almost more specific then you could get with English, but I don't really remember the word. but maybe it was just that commands in Spanish just sound better.

I'm in Oventic, a Zapatista community, for the next few weeks. we came back to the house for the weekend but I think I'll be staying at Oventic for the next two or three weekends. next weekend there is a festival on Valentine's Day, but apparently it's not for Valentine's Day. i'm glad it's not. The next weekend I'll be learning how to make my own boots at the zapateria.

Tonight my friend Nick and I made a perfect vegan dinner. we made a ton of chili with zuccini, tomato, green bell pepper, dried chili peppers, whole cumin seeds, garlic, onion, lime, beans...i think that's it. we also made stovetop biscuits because the oven doesn't work and they were super dense and amazing. we made "buttermilk" out of soymilk powder, water, and vinegar. the best part was seeing Tom, our professor, enjoying our creations.

at Oventic we spend two days discussing the readings for the week and two days in Spanish class. this is one of the few times in college that i actually feel i am really getting something out of all this, although this week's readings about political economy of neoliberalism are making me a bit crazy.

some of my challenges is that most of the discussions and seminars about zapatismo and indigenous rights are in spanish, and my spanish is not at a good enough level that i can really benefit from more complex discussions. these exist outside of class time, as sort of supplements. I find my interest in the culture here somehow stifled because of my language barrier. it'll get better here though, as I keep mentioning...

Things in Mexico are really inexpensive and it makes me feel weird.

One of the best parts about this week was meeting with some of the girls from the secondary school and discussing the "Ley revolucionaria de mujeres" (the link will go to the google translation which is pretty ok, I think):

"En su justa lucha por la liberación de nuestro pueblo, el EZLN incorpora a las mujeres en la lucha revolucionaria sin importar su raza, credo, color o filiación política, con el único requisito de hacer suyas las demandas del pueblo explotado y su compromiso a cumplir y hacer cumplir las leyes y reglamentos de la revolución. Además, tomando en cuenta la situación de la mujer trabajadora en México, se incorporan sus justas demandas de igualdad y justicia en la siguiente LEY REVOLUCIONARIA DE MUJERES"

Neoliberalism & Mexico Solidarity Network
"Neoliberalism is the dominant economic, social and political model of our time - the latest phase of capitalism. In the neoliberal era, western-style representative governments have largely abandoned their (at least theoretical) roles as representatives of and mediators among a range of social actors. Joachim Hirsch refers to the 'national competitive state' in which government represents the interests of capital at the expense of popular sectors of society."