Borders

Part I: The Encuentro
I got a chance to go to the Zapatista Encounter at the end of the year. It was an interesting experience. It was so incredibly organized for the 2000 some odd folks who were there- plenty of food, seating, microphones...down to the folks offering flashlights for the bathrooms at night. I tried to go with little expectations but I had hoped to learn a lot and to network a lot... There were several sessions that were panel-like, with subjects like Health, Education, Women, Commerce and Communication. Representatives from each of the five caracols would talk about their work for a few hours and then there would be this tiny question and answer session (mind you there would be like 700 people in the audience for these sessions) and then a few international folks would get up and talk about what their communities are doing in each of those fields. On New Year's Eve there was a dance and after midnight the EZLN came to speak, Marcos spoke in Tsotsil and I ended up falling asleep by the time his translation came via a woman soldier... he got no more fanfare than anyone else and I appreciated that. Click here to a good indymedia article that captures the feeling of the event.

I also got a chance to have some really wonderful coversations about community and collectivity with some of the folks I went with, including members of the Snail's Pace Collective- who were just these genuninely kind and collective moving thinkers... Probably one of the most interesting things to me was a meeting that Anarchists from the US and Mexico organized about setting up a No Border Camp (click here for more info) in November. It got me thinking a lot about borders (both nation-state and internal) and how interesting it would be to abolish them someday.... I didn't feel like I got much of a chance to communicate with that many folks, especially the Zapatistas themselves. I suppose that's as much of my own fault as anything... it was a funny scene too, with the formal Zapatistas, with their ski-masks and bandanas and the traditional dress of some folks and then the international folks were all hippie like with dred locks and dirty clothes and such... a funny combination. Don't let anyone tell you there isn't 'activist fashion' (and in Europe apparently this includes mullets). It was interesting to see which reps from the US were there- there was a very strong West Coast Chicano presence (something not as present in the the East and Mid West) and a lot of people of color, alternative media, immigrant rights supporters- predominatley Latino. The race thing was interesting to me, as usual. There were virtually no black folks from anywhere in the world there, and most of the white people were from Argentina, Italy and Spain.

There was incredible sunshine- a change from my previous rain and chill experiences in Oventic. And there were some funky moments too: like some tension w/ a coworker who had recently been fired and was feeling pretty sour about our org. and spreading it around (when I introduced myself at a meeting and said that I was from the Mexico Solidarity Network I got hissed, that felt pretty horrible). And some feelings of divisiveness in different contexts that made me a little depressed about the future of collective organizing.

Part II: El Norte y La Frontera
From the encounter I went up to work with a delegation from a university from L.A. studying border issues, in particular the femicides. I had some airplane hell reaching them- due to a snowstorm (!) in Juarez, but I managed to meet up with the group at the end of Day 2 in Ciudad Chihuahua. We met with some of the mother's groups, Casa Amiga -a rape crisis center (apparently the only one of it's kind in Chihuahua), a woman's rights org. that works to support women psychologically, legally and with things like 'safe taxis' (taxi services run for and by women to transport them at night). We met an amzing campesino organizer named Gabino Gomez who laid down the history of campesino struggle in Mexico and toured by the Government Safety Complex (police academy and the like) where murdered women have been found.

We had some interesting conversations about dirty support money, such as an organization that does good work, like the Casa Amiga rape crisis center, getting funding from the Business Association of Chihuahua who are business-most likely-men who are creating the same economic, anti-female conditions that create violence against women. There is was an often heard commentary that by women working and men being unemployed in Mexico there was a threat felt against culturally supported machismo and men were hurting women more.

After Chihuahua (which was suprisingly pretty) we went to Ciudad Juarez. I was expecting a hole more or less, and it wasn't what I thought. The maquila parks were very clean and tidy (and huge), there were huge strip malls and flagship US stores and restaurants and traffic was orderly. It was hard to imagine the sinister nature of the maquilas until we started talking to workers and went to our homestays (at workers' homes). We met with CETLAC who organize popular education and reforms by and for maquila workers. Our homestays were in places that had little food in the fridge and dirt floors. The disparities between the huge malls and the workers neighborhoods were pretty huge.

We also saw lots of crosses (in both Chihuahua City and Juarez) that mothers have put up to remind folks that women are still being murdered. It was emotionally heavy. We went across the border to El Paso to meet with the Border Patrol. Sigh. The poor agent who spoke to us must have said "I'm just doing my job." a thousand times. He acknowledged that 90% of the undocumented people who cross are just trying to make enough money for their family to survive, but felt his job was important for that "other 10% who might be terrorists". When I asked him why he thought that people had to come to the US to make $ to survive, he said he wasn't a sociologist so he didn't know. So much for federal officers engaging in critical thinking- um, I guess that's not much of a surprise. We also got to meet with a really amazing org. called Border Network for Human Rights, which I suggest you check out (click on their name) who do these community campaigns that inform immigrants of their rights, especially against the seriously racist policies the El Paso Sherriff has inacted. They're an inspiring place. Finally we met with Annunciation House which is essentially a homeless shelter for undocumented folks. It was an interesting visit and a strong example of a place working so hard to provide basic social services that the time/space for popular educuation isn't available. That to me seems the way to move beyond being just a social service provider into being a social changer....

There are so many hideous development projects underway in Juarez, new industrial parks being built (the owners of Corona beer are involved in some pretty insideous displacement projects) and some interesting communities who have found ways to bring water and electricity into their homes without much help from the government. Autonomy out of necessity. I tried to help the students keep drawing connections back to NAFTA and other economic crap that influences the sphere of social justice in Mexico and on the border. I got some nice feedback from the students who told me that I pushed them to be critical. I really struggled as a translator (especially because it often seemed like I was the professor's personal translator and she was pretty demanding) and find that part of my job really difficult. There's so much more reflection I could write about, but I think I need to process and rest a bit. It's so weird to have your body and mind so fully enveloped in one country or issue and then find yourself in another country with your daily life to contend with the next. It's a bit overwhelming right now. I'm alternately inspired and exhausted.