Mexico: Chronicle of the activities of the 2nd National Meeting of Collectives for New Democracy (1/3)

We hereby publish an unofficial translation of the first of three articles on the 2nd National Meeting of Collectives for New Democracy by the Mexican newspaper Peródico Mural:

Using art as a weapon of combat

Under the slogan “New Democracy, New Homeland and Socialism” organizations such as the Current of the People – Red Sun, Periódico Mural, People’s Women’s Movement, Peoples’s Youth Brigade, Peoples’s Student’s Movement and the League of Communities for the Agrarian Revolution, held the 2nd National Meeting of Collectives for New Democracy in the agrarian community of Río Espejo, in the mountains of the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca.

Prior to the meeting, there were three “Workshops for workshop leaders” with the intention of preparing the work of the 2nd ENC-ND and coordinating with the community and agrarian authorities of the Mountain area. The main objective of these workshops was to provide an ideological, political and practical basis for the realization of the 2nd Meeting. In these workshops, the participants not only discussed, studied or planned, but also worked on the rehearsal and application of their own cultural contributions. The first workshop was held at the facilities of the OIDHO comrades, where the organizations who would be the hosts told us more about the political-social context of the community and its customs; legends and plays were prepared there. The second workshop was held at the facilities of the Municipal Community Agency of Santa Rosa Panzacola, where the participants collectively studied the document “Talks at the Yenán Forum on literature and art”, for a correct ideological and political orientation regarding art at the service of the revolution. Games and integration activities were held there, anticipating the participation of children and young people during the 2nd Meeting. The third and last workshop was held in the Francisco Villa Community, where the participants completed the preparations and the program of activities for the 2nd ENC-ND, analyzed the current political situation based on a guiding document entitled “Let’s deepen our Rectification Campaign” to prepare the discussion; in addition, our workshop leaders held a kite workshop to be presented as part of the work of the 2nd Meeting.

With these preliminary activities that started in August and continued during September and October, the convening organizations and the host authorities of the 2nd ENC-ND set the engines in motion to guarantee the success of the work under the spirit of comrade David Alfaro Siqueiros. There is no other way than ours!

The final result is shown below with the following chronicle that tries to save the different cultural activities carried out during the 2nd National Meeting of Collectivities for New Democracy.

I

The 2nd ENC-ND began with a march in the mountains, where hundreds of red flags of our different organizations waved in the air, carrying slogans such as “When the people rise up for bread, freedom and land, the powerful will tremble from the coast to the mountains”, “From north to south, from east to west, we will win this struggle no matter what the cost”, among others that made the hills rumble and cheered the people of the nearby ranches who also came joyfully.

When we arrived at the Espejo River, the local and agrarian authorities were already preparing the land for an indigenous ceremony in gratitude to Mother Earth for receiving us in her mountains, giving us permission to gather in that place to work for the New Democratic Revolution, and giving us shelter in the middle of the forest, the river, the wind and the fire. For our native peoples (oppressed since the odious Spanish colonization until today) the relationship between the land and its children is fundamental, and expresses the worldview of the different peoples of Anahuac. We come from the land, we live on the land, we return to the land; we fight for the land, we will liberate the land. The local leaders [1] together with the local and agrarian authorities were the first to pay tribute to the land, clarifying that “it is not a tribute of blood but of life, because our struggle is for life, for the land and for freedom. We are also willing to shed our blood if that is the price, if life and struggle demand it, but those who oppress and kill will also pay the same price for their crimes, and then freedom will be achieved for these lands and its children.” Later, comrades who are authorities from other places came forward, as did comrades from other regions or other states, as well as comrades from the various organizations present.

Immediately afterward, and before sharing the food, the local and agrarian authorities invited all the attendees to inaugurate a classroom at the “Emiliano Zapata” Bilingual School. The only educational institution in the Río Espejo community that serves both preschool and primary levels, teaching Zapotec and Spanish. This little school houses the most appreciated treasure by the local population: the girls and boys. This second classroom and the little roof are the culmination of a long process of struggle by the inhabitants of Río Espejo for the future of their children, who will now be able to count on two classrooms, one for preschool and one for primary, where they will receive better the content of their classes and avoid further distractions as occurred in the past. Right there we witnessed how the Tequio [2] of the inhabitants of the community, without a single cent from the regime, is allowing the construction of the community dining room to feed the children.

The inhabitants of the community were proud of this inauguration, and with good reason. It is the product of their struggle and collective work, which give strength and deep meaning to the subject PEOPLE; the people as the makers of history. Those of us who came to the community share the pride and happiness of its inhabitants. We understand the importance of girls and boys having a dignified space to interpret and transform the world. That their classrooms (still without light because there is no electricity in Río Espejo) allow them better conditions for study and learning; that their yard now has a little roof to protect them while they carry out their civic, sports and social activities; and that soon the children will have their dining room where they can have breakfast and lunch, before and after their classes. We understand the difficulties that the community teacher is going through, and we infinitely value the efforts she makes having to walk more than 3 hours to get there and teach her class to girls and boys of two different educational levels. We salute the efforts of the Río Espejo community, committed to building the future of its children by improving the material conditions of this rural school that could not have a better name than that of General Emiliano Zapata, and we also salute the tireless work of the teacher who has worked very hard to teach her students and also to involve them in the work of the 2nd National Meeting of Collectivities for New Democracy.

At the end of the opening ceremony, the community invited everyone to share the food in an atmosphere of camaraderie. Those who came from the cities marveled at being in the mountains, where everything is revolutionary, as the song teaches. Those who came from hot lands shivered from the cold, but their hearts rejoiced seeing their equals (their brothers, then) fighting with all their strength from this forgotten corner of the country. All the visitors were surprised and admired the comrades from Río Espejo. Our trip in a caravan lasted more than twelve hours from the City of Oaxaca on a rough road where not a single ambulance or vehicle to help the communities has ever passed. On that road of stones, dirt roads and boulders, from time to time – every six or three years – some politician has come looking for votes as happened in the last election when the peasant families of the place kicked out a candidate. Comrade Victoria tells us that she, along with the other women from the village, chased away the Morena members who came to the town with frightened faces and with food packages and t-shirts … “Get out, we don’t want you here making fun of our poverty, we don’t want a shack or a food pantry here.” These were the words of the women from Río Espejo.

For this 2nd ENC-ND, Victoria cooked a cow with a lot of love, teaching the younger companions how to prepare food for so many people and the comrades to “not be lazy and help serve”.

The culture of the people of Anahuac is abundant and is shown in different aspects. One of them is food. Not only because of the cow that the community sacrificed to share with the attendees; not only because of the kitchen as a space for meeting, brotherhood, work, joys, sorrows, dreams, and plans of those who share it; but also because of the Gueza [3] of those who arrived to the community bringing with them beans, coffee, rice, bread, fruit, tomatoes, chili, squash, milk and other products to share.

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[1] This is the name given to the local elders, who are considered wise by the inhabitants. In other places they are known as “Tata-mandones” or by other names, always highlighting the community respect towards the elders, possessors of the word and experience.

[2] Collective work or community work organized for the benefit of the community; a form of socially useful work that embodies the forms of societal or collectivist organization of the peoples of Oaxaca. This same social form of work organization in other towns of Anáhuac is known as “faena o fatiga” or by other names.

[3] A cultural expression of solidarity between the inhabitants of a community or between sister peoples. It consists of the contribution of food, drinks or supplies in general that make a celebration, a funeral, or a community event (including the resistance or struggle of peoples) more pleasant and always implies reciprocity between the person who gives and the person who receives .

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