la tierra de zapata

In the second to last weekend of this semester, I finally made it to Zapata's birthplace! And much much more actually, because I went with Jose and Juliana, my two internship supervisors, who have a car so we did not only go to Anenecuilco, but also Chinameca where he was assassinated and Tlaltizapan, which hosted the headquarters of Zapata's army from 1914 to 1918. Not only did we go to these specific historic places, but we drove through the mountains and farmlands of Morelos which was the land of the zapatistas during the revolution. This was the land that the original zapatistas fought to defend and redistribute to those who work it with their hands.

In Anenecuilco we saw Zapata's house where he grew up. There was also an amazing mural of the history of Mexico, Zapata, and the Revolution. Here is part of it:



Also, here is me with Juliana, Jose, and Alejandra who also works at La Comuna and La Comision:



Alo in Anenecuilco we wrote in the museum book, Alejandra in Nahuatl (the indigenous language of the area), Jose in Spanish, and Kelsey and I in English. My friend Kelsey who went along too said that it better be good, because 100 years from now someone is going to write their thesis on us, and US perceptions of Zapata's life. We also wrote in the book at Chinameca.. leaving our traces all around Morelos.

oh, this mural is in Anenecuilco too. if you don't know already, its of Zapata and Subcomandante Marcos, who is the one of the spokespeople for the Zapatistas today, in Chiapas.



In Chinameca, you can actually see the entrance to the Hacienda where Zapata entered and was immediately shot down by soldier positioned around the entrance. The bullet holes are still in the walls, and from how many bullet holes there are all around the entrance, you can tell there were a LOT of soldiers who all shot at the same time and Zapata had no opportunity to defend himself.



We also met two older men there, who I think hang around the arch and talk to visitors who come to see it. One of them gave me a "lucky" stone, to which other students are like, "yeah.. its really lucky, Zapata got shot there" but whether or not it is actually lucky, I really value it because it was out of the goodwill and friendship of people that live in Chinameca and really valued Zapata's life and the ideals of the Revolution.

I had an amazing day travelling around Morelos. Seeing these different towns, talking to the people, and seeing the land really gives you a better sense of what Zapata fought to defend, and it has been one of my most important and best days here.

beisbol

I finally met a baseball fan in Mexico!! Most people here are huge futbol fans, and I can't blame them for that, its jsut sometimes frustrating because I don't know who to cheer for. All the time people ask me, so who is your team? And I have to reply, I have no idea. There is no team in Morelos which probably would have been my default because that is the state I have grown to love. Recently, I have been thinking I should adopt the Chivas. They are are pretty popular team, but I like them because they make it a point to have all Mexican players, which the other big teams do not. But then I think, well I like small market teams because they have to fight for every win and are scrappy, but I just don't knwo who the small market teams are here. I have one friend who is an Atlas fan, but I don't really want to copy him without knowing anything about the team.

well anyway back to baseball, I had a good conversation about Latin American baseball players with a guyu named Marco who works with La Comision. He is a labor lawyer and waiter at La Comuna, and really reminds me of my cousin Mike (Mike, if you are reading this, you have a counterpart in Mexico who has a great smile, like you!). And he actually played fastpitch softball in the fields near the university. to bad I just found out about this a week and a half before we are done. anyway, it was refreshing to talk sports about a sport I know and care about.

today was my official last day of my internship, although I am quite certain that in these last days I will go there to do homework, chat in my free time, or go to events if there are any. I really grew to like my internship and the people a lot. today I had a bit of an adventure with these journalists that I know through my internship who I give English "classes" to. I went with them to Juitepec to a rally held by a union. There was a whole bunch of police there which made me a little nervous because as a US citizen, I am not supposed to particpate politically. and I wasn't doing anything political, just observing, but if they wanted to they could probably construe it any way they wanted. The good thing was that the journalists knew the police and so they would be able to protect me, but the bad thing was that because they knew them, they introduced me and I shook a bunch of police hands, making sure not to open my mouth too wide and let my accent out. then they got news of another story that they should go to, which was something about a confrontation between the federal police and the municipal police with one person dead, and so as we sped down the highway following a police car's wake, I said, umm I think i need to go back to La Comuna. I did not want to meet any more police... especially if they were mad. so they just dropped me on the side of a highway near where I used to live, and I took a ruta back to La Comuna, safe and sound. no deportation for me today! no, I wasn't close at all to that happening, but it was a high speed adventure full of chirping cell phones and police for about an hour.

dia de los trabajadores

as some of you may know, yesterday May 1st is International Workers Day. For some reason we celebrate Labor Day on September 1st.. probably so that our workers are seperated from the rest of the world.. but the rest of the world celebrates on May 1st. So, naturally I went to the march.

It was a lot of fun! I went with Juliana, Jose, Marco, and Alejandra, who I work with at La Comision. As a foreigner, it is actually illegal for me to participate in anything political in Mexico.. so what extranjeros do it "take photos and observe." Which means that you can walk in the march, but just not be really loud or obvious. I took lots of pictures, mostly of the amazing graffiti and signs that the socialist youth (communist, anarchist? i'm not sure exactly what they were)plastered on the walls of the signs and stores of transnational corporations that we passed. Juliana also pointed out the man that works for the government and films everyone who is in the march, and so I avioded him and made sure my face was behind a sign when he showed up. pretty crazy that they do that, but also that the people all know who he is and what he is there for. here are some of my pictures:


the march


USA: No NAFTA! Movment for National Liberation


the PPP includes La Parota.. which we learned about in the Costa Chica


to refund the nation (with a picture of zapata)


"PEMEX is not for sale" this is referring to the movement against the privitization of Mexico's petroleum. Its actually a pretty big thing right now.. a few weeks ago some of the senators from the PRD took over the Congress so that a hasty privitization bill wasn't passed. maybe i'll write about this later


Killer Cola .. haha had to get that one in


this is a little hard to traslate exactly into English, but its basically like "up with the market and down with the transnationals." they wrote this on the side of the market walls, which is this big outdoor/indoor market in cuernavaca where lots of small vendors sell their vegetables and other products.


gathering in the zocalo


best sign ever.

then after, we went to Xoxocotla for their feria. Xoxo is the main town involved in a lot of organizing against giant housing developments that would be built directly over a spring that serves the community. we went and talked to a leader of the movement (called the 13 Pueblos) in Xoxo a few weeks ago and yesterday I went to the house of another leader to eat. it was pretty amazing to be in the presence of many campesino organizers and other people involved in the movement. at one point, I got to listen to a conversation about whether they wanted to ask the Zapatistas to officially support their movement or not. here are some pictures from Xoxocotla:


Indigenous danza


what better way to end the day than with a statue in honor of Zapata?