By Bilgesu

29-31 December, La Garrucha
Third Caracol
Third Meeting of Zapatista Women

The last three days of 2007 have witnessed the third meeting of Zapatista Women with the women of the world at the third caracol, La Garrucha. The women in solidarity with Zapatista Women came to the La Garrucha in Chiapas. For three days, women from all Zapatista communities spoke about their problems, their achievements and their desires to fit their world in to all possible worlds. For them, another world is possible.

The content of their talks, questions and answers can be found at www.ezln.org.

As a male human being, I at first resented not being allowed to ask, speak or participate in the meetings. However from the minute I entered Zapatista lands, I found that I was in a new territory with its own rules and regulations, and I even found joy in respecting another law, one that derives its legitimacy from consensus decision making.

La Garrucha is a three hours ride away from the nearest town. The night of December 28th and morning of December 29th, truckloads of visitors from other countries and regions started to flock to La Garrucha. The Zapatistas had already prepared an area for accommodation, had dug the toilets and had built showers for the visitors. The sound system was ready for announcements and bands that were going to play. Around the center of the caracol, food stands from different Zapatista communities were present, including a café collective that students from the UNAM help organize together with the Zapatistas. According to fair trade regulations, the price of the food or café wouldn’t change from a stand to another. Also, the huts were built for the Zapatista women from the other communities. A sign on these huts wrote that during the meeting, the men we be permitted only to serve, clean up and receive money.

During the day, in the main hut the Zapatista women gave their talks, received their questions and chanted. The area that was covered was prohibited for men. Men had to stand or sit at the back row. However, the sound system allowed for those who wanted to hear what was going on without being able to see inside the hut. For me it was distracting to listen outside, under the sun, without being able to see the speakers well, so I decided to meet people outside and speak with them.

So during the meeting I had time to meet and talk with the café collective that worked with the Zapatistas of La Garrucha. Most of the volunteers were students, especially from UNAM, that were supporters of the movement. Since they were the only stand that prepared filtered coffee each morning and each mealtime, there was a line of people waiting for café.

The collective works directly with the producers and they discuss and figure out solutions for their problems together. In this manner, Zapatistas can sell their products in a more fair market.

Apart from learning more about coffee and marketing, I was hoping to engage in more informal discussions with the Zapatista women. But this wasn’t easy because after reading their speeches, the women would leave as a group. Even though it looked really pretty and colorful, how they marched back, the participants couldn’t engage with the Zapatistas in a more public space. The meeting revolved around the Zapatista women delivering their positions without many opportunities for dialogue with women of other countries.

However, the spirit of zapatísmo prevailed, and through the words of the women, the dances, the murals on the walls, all of us in attendance had a glimpse into a world that the Zapatistas have constructed for themselves. We had a chance to hear their struggles and their calls for participants to fight in their own communities for their own worlds. I had never witnessed before such kind of a spirituality materialized and brought to life.

As Zapatistas are fighting for their land, water and life, I feel, we, as the participants supporting movement, are in debt to the Zapatistas. We owe them the fight for our worlds, our livelihoods and for our dignity. We owe them an invitation to our future ‘caracoles’ where we will dance and rejoice our worlds.