For seven and a half years the EZLN's autonomous indigenous regions have been fighting the battle with the federal government to gain legal recognition of their chosen way of life, but the local struggles have been going on in the area for far longer. As we spoke with people in the
village of Francisco Gomez they repeatedly linked their community activities, and their roles in these activities, to a set of values. These values are manifest in the design of the projects and governance structures that make up the Zapatista civil branch.
The Autonomous Region of Francisco Gomez in March consists of sixty-five communities. Projects are carried out and reproduced throughout the villages of the Region. A representative community member from each participating village is chosen by the village's elected governing committee and sent for training. One function of Francisco Gomez
village, as a Zapatista "Aguascalientes", is as a gathering place for the Region, to go and share knowledge, ideas and advice, and for representatives to plan how they may carry out projects back in their home villages.
We met people involved in several regional projects including the women's collective stores, the health promoters' project and the autonomous education project. The Zapatista civil branch has formed these projects to meet basic needs. The health and education projects
were born specifically out of a concern in the communities that the federal government-provided services had been either severely inadequate or non-existent in a large portion of the now-autonomous regions. We heard horror stories of frustration with government health services prior to and since autonomy. Education promoters who met with us described their feelings about the government education which was once provided in some communities.
A main principle behind these projects is community empowerment through the creation of a regional support structure and a local knowledge- and skills-base, as described above. An additional principle is the incorporation of local and regional traditional skills and experience in forming the content of these projects. Education and health care are being provided in both Spanish and local indigenous languages. Traditional herbal remedies and midwifing practices are being taught alongside "Western" medicine and acupuncture. The history of Chiapas and
of Mexico is being taught in the schools from an indigenous perspective, and local traditions and cultural practices have been incorporated into the curriculum alongside reading, writing and arithmetic. The Zapatista civil branch accepts material assistance from outsiders, but does not ask for it. They actively pursue knowledge from outsiders, but carefully screen all who enter into their communities and participate in their projects. They vigorously seek the experience and counsel of those recognized within the autonomous regions as wise men and women.
A dental technician we spoke with at the Jesus of Good Hope Clinic in the village of Francisco Gomez, explained that he viewed his selection by his community to be a dentist, as a duty he was obliged to carry out, as well as a stimulating opportunity to learn. His foremost concern was to return the knowledge he gained as a dentist to his community, through service. He didn't seem to see himself separate from the community in his role as their dentist. He had
learned dentistry because his community showed faith in him in selecting him for that vocation and service.
We were told that a person assigned a communal job or task is often assisted by the community, to keep up with that individual's household needs. Often a teacher's milpa, or cornfield will be tended by other members of the community, and sometimes his extended
family will receive community help in his stead, while he is in the classroom. Every household is expected to provide a certain amount of service to the community, with the village governing committee assigning the tasks and considering individual cases.
In almost every village there is communally held and tended land. In the case of Francisco Gomez village, there are pasture lands and wooded lots which traditionally belong to the village. In Chiapas, many parcels of land remain in dispute as to ownership. This is one of the greatest underlying causes of struggle between indigenous communities and outsiders. One of the seven military camps which the EZLN demanded be abandoned before further negotiations on the San Andres Accords, was in Francisco Gomez' village pastures. The camp was abandoned three days before our arrival and we saw the cows grazing along the barbed wire fence and thorn-filled trenches which remained. Many of the military posts throughout Chiapas have been installed on ejido lands.
I came away from our visit all the more convinced of the need for indigenous communities in Chiapas, and all of Mexico and the Americas, to have a means to legally establish themselves in their way of existence, and to hold the reins of the resources and services which their communities depend upon to exist, in the manner which they have chosen for themselves and which defines them.