Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
July 2016: The teacher’s movement and the CompArte
“En ésta casa protestamos contra la Reforma Educativa”
(In this house, we protest against
the Educational Reform)
“Hasta La Victoria CNTE”
(CNTE, Forever, until victory!)
“Si hay que evaluar, Peña va a reprobar”
(If we have to evaluate, Peña is not gonna pass)
- Popular murals in San Cristobal de las Casas,July 2016
“Then we tried to figure out how to support the resistance at the sites where they were putting up roadblocks and sit-ins and we realized that we could support them by providing food. So they started to do the math (i.e division), the accounts as we say, say of how much each zone, MAREZ, region, and community was responsible for. There were a few zones where the commissions failed to meet their goal, they didn’t fail in a bad way, but in a good way, because they had reported that their
commission would provide 2 tons of food and when the time came they actually provided 7 tons more than they had promised, which was the case with the Zapatista bases of support in the North Zone of Chiapas, from the caracol of Roberto Barrios. And so, well, resolving the problem was Art, because no one had even imagined that they could provide 9 tons. We
only had a 3-ton truck. Figuring out how to provide this support is an art of imagination by the Zapatista communities. The “resistance” of the
compañeras and compañeros has gone on for 22 years, and that’s a lot of experience and is a great building block solidarity. It is the demonstration of collectivity. For 22 years we Zapatistas have been in resistance and rebellion against capitalism,
and we’ve had, for 22 years, a new system of governing ourselves where the people command and the government obeys.”
“The Art that is Neither Seen or Heard” – Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, July 19, 2016
In Mexico, like many countries of the South, megaprojects are only one tentacle of the capitalist sea-
creature of dispossession and oppression. Other tentacles clear the way out for megaprojects to be
feasible. These impose policies and reforms that liberalize, deregulate, and privatize national industry
and services. With the arrival of Peña Nieto, the current Mexican president, Congress opened the
floodgates to numerous neoliberal reforms through the so-called Pacto por México (Mexican Pact).
The Pacto por Mexico is a rip-off deal between the largest and most powerful political parties that
advances the privatization of Mexican oil, land and underground resources, even those that lay
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
underneath recognized indigenous and peasant land. These are but a few consequences of what is
called the Energy Reform, but there are ten more.
Among these, the Educational Reform was one of the most controversial and criticized, given that
it does not propose actual change in the educational system, but rather focuses on austerity measures,
de-unionization and the deterioration of teachers’ work in Mexico. It is a labor reform, teachers say.
After this Reform was passed, educational workers began mobilizing to protest and oppose this
decision. This mobilization was organized by the dissident front of the teachers’ union, La Coordinadora
Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) (National Coordinator of Workers in Education). The
CNTE was created in 1979 with the purpose of democratizing the teachers’ national union, the SNTE
(Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion), which has been controlled by the government
since its creation in 1943. The CNTE is characterized by its leftist, sindicalist position as well as for its
direct action methods used to pressure the government into negotiation.
In 2013, teachers belonging to the CNTE and the SNTE began marching and occupying the main
national plaza to denounce the attack that this reform represents not only to them as workers, but also to
the right of Mexican people to free education. The movement has grown ever since, springing up in
different states all over the country even though traditionally it has been stronger in southern, indigenous
states such as Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas.
Although many teachers were fired because they did not present themselves at the evaluation the
reform required of them, marches, occupations, and blockings of streets and highways continued. They
questioned the terms of their evaluation and the regime of contractual hiring they had to submit to.
Aurelio Nuño, the Secretary of Education, on the other hand, continued to threaten and repress
mobilizations, detaining members of the CNTE with fabricated felonies, in some cases, for up to three
years.
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
At different points of the country, teachers implemented highway blockades that stopped traffic and
discriminated semi-trucks from transnational corporations and their merchandise. These blockades also
stopped police forces from coming into strategic points, such as the city of Oaxaca. One of these
blockades was in the town of Asunción de Nochixtlán. The government tried to break this blockade on
Sunday, June 19, with around 800 armed federal and state police that fired against civilians, many of
which sympatized with the CNTE and its demands. That day, 11 people were killed, among them a
middle school student—and more than 50 people were left severely injured. This massacre caused
widespread indignation.
The opposition to the reform became notoriously popular, Nochixtlan transforming into a point of mass
awakening, where people realized the enormous repressive force with which educational reform was
being imposed. Many people thereafter went out into the streets, joined the teachers, denounced the
state for this crime, and demanded the abrogation of the reform.
In San Cristobal de Las Casas, retired teachers, social organizations, and parents organized
three blockades in three access points to the city on June 26; in total, there were 16 blockades in the
state of Chiapas that day alone. The following day, the blockade became indefinite and 3,000 people
arrived to the exit of the highway San Cristobal-Tuxtla, seizing the highway with a kilometer-long
The police that entered Nochixtlán were armed, even if goverment declarations denied so initially, photographies that documented that day were key to attest to what happened. Photos: Animal Politico.
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
encampment. The occupation became the node of popular convergence, where marches, caravans, and
rallies gathered to share their fury and hope, as well as their solidarity with the teachers’ struggle.
Families, neighborhoods, and organizations arrived with food supplies, wood, barricade and tent
material, along with hot food that they shared with everyone present.
Sharing of art
The political climate in San Cristobal de Las Casas converged with a Zapatista initiative, planned and
announced in February. This was the “CompArte for Humanity” Festival, a call to share art with other
people so that we may learn how to build the new world, where many worlds fit. The call was an
When the blockade let some trailers pass, they tagged their demands on them as they went through. Photo: Centro de Medios Libres.
Families, neighbors, and inhabitants of San Cristobal de las Casas arrive to the blockade in solidarity and to denounce the educational reform. July 5th, 2016. Photo: Centro de Medios Libres.
Civil society arrives to the blockade in support. June 30th, 2016. Photo: Centro de Medios Libres.
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
international and national invitation that was to be convened from July 17th to 30th. However, as the
blockade became permanent and popular, the Zapatistas decided that their presence at the art festival,
CompArte, would not overshadow the magisterial movement. Thus they announced they would not
participate in the festival, instead encouraging those planning to come to share their art in the spaces of
the teachers’ movement and support their struggle.
Before CompArte began, a lot of artists came to the blockade and shared what they had prepared with
the teachers. It was a vibrant day with concerts, serigraphy, circus shows, etc.
The camp during the CompArte festival. Photo: Radio Zapatista.
Photos: Koman-Ilel.
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
Days before, the Zapatistas had arrived at the different blockades in the state of Chiapas, and had
delivered around 10 tons of food that they themselves cultivated and prepared for the CompArte festival.
In the blockade of San Cristobal de las Casas, they gave several sacks full of tostadas, beans, non-
perishables, etc. The communiqué that describes the work they did to make this solidarity possible is
described above.
The day after the festival in the blockade, the government sent its repressive forces, which
included municipal, state and federal police, and military patrols, as well as a quasi-paramilitary group
whose members’ faces were all concealed. The government principally provided moral support to this
quasi-paramilitary group as they engaged in the dirty work. As municipal, state and federal police
elements stood guard on the highway, this quasi-paramilitary group chased off protestors with sticks and
gunshots and burned the entire encampment to ground. They cleared out the entire occupation,
including all the food supplies and objects in it. Meanwhile, in the central plaza, teachers,
neighborhoods, social organizations and parents regrouped to determine the appropriate response to
government violence. As people gathered, some, mostly youth not engaged in the movement, broke into
the former city hall and set afire to a room, while others sacked national chains, namely OXXO
convenient stores.
At dusk, police arrived in large numbers and posted themselves around different buildings and
tourist corridors. Although they remained ever-visible, just as in the highway, many bared witness yet
again to the state’s affair with para-military groups. This time they proved entirely complicit in the terror
wrought by a local quasi-paramilitary group. Members of this organization ran through the corridors
shooting their guns to terrify people who had broken into nearby OXXO stores, openly declaring they
were “defending businesses from the vandals”.
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
After this, the teachers who were in the blockade regrouped in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of
Chiapas. While San Cristobal became one of the epicenters for the magisterial movement, the
occupation in Tuxtla did not have the same visibility or popular support.
Eventually, after four months of general strike, teachers went back to the classroom, taking 11
agreements the government offered, among them, the suspension of the application of the reform until
the year 2018 in the state of Chiapas, the year of next presidency.
The government and the CNTE agreed to take a legislative path to seek the abrogation of the
reform. The CNTE also organized upcoming forums where teachers will discuss the reform and their
proposals to transform the educational system, inputs that will be included by the Public Education
Department of Mexico.
All in all, the month of July has been a blast of events: from resistance and convergence, to
repression, and then convergence once more during the CompArte festival. The CompArte festival was
a full week of music, theater, dance, poetry, graffiti, murals, dialogue, film, and many elements that
defied the traditional definitions of art. (Photos of the festival in the Radio Zapatista Website).
The Zapatistas also had prepared to share. They presented dances, concerts, poetry that manifested
their struggle and their identity. This event radiated so much hope and creativity, I can’t express how
many great people I met and how much we shared and exchanged. This festival reminds me how
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize
Adriana Sanchez Pillot Letter Home: July, 2016
Indigenous Communities Building Historical Memory to Create Alternative Justice
important it is to let art into our struggles, into our daily lives, because it helps us imagine and design
future paths, strategies, dreams; it is a powerful motor to realize our collective and intimate aspirations of
freedom, justice, life, and
happiness.
As my project nears its end, I
feel more and more grateful
to have had the chance to
work in San Cristobal, to
learn so much from the
creativity and the
determination of the peoples of this geography. Learning about their dreams, I become more able to
weave my own. I realize that we share horizons and struggles because we come from that country, that
world, where people intersect. Given this interconnectedness, our struggles are not alien to each other:
they are different sides of a multifaceted rebellion, an insurgence that is fed by millions of people who
understand we’ve had enough of the historical ills of capitalism and colonialism. Although I am finishing
this year off, I continue in awe, with so much to be thankful for. My collaboration and work will not end
here; I have still a lot of work to do that transcends August and hopefully, the years to come.
Cheers and greetings,
Adriana
Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize