Caminar Preguntando

Where to begin? I just spent the week in Oventik (sometimes spelled Oventic- when I asked an education promoter why that was his response was "Language is rebellious") at the language school and it was cold, rainy, muddy and once again, the most profound educational experience of my life to date. I know I sound dramatic, but it really was. There is so much to learn about zapatismo and Mayan cosmovision that I feel like I could be a student forever. There are so many levels to all of it, and I'm so glad that my Spanish is active enough and I discovered how much I like philosophy just in time to really get so much out of it all. The daily description is cool enough- lots of mud, helping with a mural, a funny high school dance, lots of eggs to eat, some good lookin' Italians, learned a great Italian rebel song (Bella Ciao) and the history of Italian resistance, which I didn't know so much about, had fun being both silly and deep with the students, talking to leaders about how they exist autonomously, visiting womens' artisan cooperatives, asking questions about the hisotry and context of zapatismo from the 'Explaination Committee', but mostly I was steeped into thinking about zapatismo and how to apply it in my own context.... the eternal question. Instead of a regular blog I think I'll just lay down the principles of zapatismo and ask any body who reads this to marinate on them for a while and see what they think... what appeals to you the most? Can this be applied to your group/organization? I want it to be a part of my daily life... my favorites have stars:

crear y no copiar: to create and not to copy
servir y no servirse: to serve and not serve yourself
representar y no suplantar: to represent and not replace
construir y no destruir: to build and not destroy
obedecer y no mandar: to obey and not order
proponer y no imponer: to propose and not impose
convencer y no vencer: to convince and not conquer (this speaks to me a lot about ways of communicating verbally)
bajar y no subir: to go down and not climb (something like staying 'below', staying with the other people not trying to get above them as a leader)
renovar y no repitir: to renew and not repeat
*detras de nosotros estamos ustedes: behind us we are you
*mandar obedeciendo: lead by obeying (this one is key! it's the idea of 'true democracy' and the folks in the autonomous municipalities are really reflecting that...)
*caminar preguntando: walk (or find the way) questioning (this one speaks directly to me in a huge way)
*para todos todo nada para nosotros: for everyone everything nothing for us
*un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos: one world where many worlds fit (I love the diversity and inclusion this speaks to)
* somos eguales porque somos diferentes: we are all the same because we are different.

In any case I hope they are as interesting for a reader to think about as they are for me. I'm wondering also how much to write about on the blog. Am I putting anyone in danger by writing about where I am and what I'm doing? Or am I spreading the word and hoping people learn from what is out here?

In any case- walking away from neoliberalism-peace.