Synopsis of a documentary

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 378.

“Nothing for us!”

This is what we are.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army.

The voice that arms itself to be heard.

The face that hides itself to be seen.

The name that hides itself to be named.

The red star that calls out to humanity and the world to be heard, to be seen, to be named.

The tomorrow that is harvested in the past.

Behind our black mask.

Behind our armed voice.

Behind our unnamable name.

Behind what you see of us.

Behind this, we are you[1]

“Everything for everyone! And nothing for us!” – this phrase became the motto of Mexican Indians and their social movement for the autonomy of native communities.

Some may have heard of them as extremists or even terrorists, others find the story very romantic. In 1994 the descendants of the ancient Mayan civilization came out of the jungle to tell the world that they still exist, yet in the conditions that rather aid extinction than prosperity. This message was delivered through communiqués of Subcomandante Marcos – a virtually mythological figure, who did not disclose his real name, but claimed to be the voice of all Indians.

Having arrived in Mexico, we encountered those people accidentally on the day when memes prophesied the apocalypse, as predicted by the Mayan calendar – December 21, 2012. That day we saw what we came for – the real Indians, thousands of men, women and children hiding their faces behind black masks. They marched silently along the streets of Palenque – a city close to the ancient ruins where the manuscripts that some believe to be the Mayan calendar were discovered.

This is how we got acquainted with Zapatistas, and this is where our documentary started.

It turned out that today Zapatista is no longer the National Liberation Army (EZLN), but an unarmed civil movement looking for their path towards independent existence in the globalized world which treated them unfairly.

After several futile attempts to reach an agreement with the government, the Indians declared their autonomy and announced their willingness to create an alternative society, which would eliminate famine, discrimination, and consumerism. They believed they know what is best for them and tried to bring their ideals to life by establishing organizations where every member had equal rights and opportunities to directly participate in socially significant decision making.

The first autonomous communities appeared even before 1994. They demonstrated that autonomous existence was not only possible, but also increased the quality of life. Starting from 1994 EZLN was spreading these ideas around Mexico. They urged Mexican villages to exclude the state from participation in their life and informed peasants about alternative ways of organization.

Thus, having started from a war, Zapatism outgrew into a civil movement that formed its unique philosophy of self-organization, which absorbed the world outlook of native peoples of America and inspired numerous followers around the world.

Ideologically, Zapatism is opposed to neoliberalism. This implies the rejection of consumer society, of irrational use of natural resources, of universal unification, of obliteration of ancestors' cultural heritage, and of the behavior patterns imposed by the media. This also means the recognition of minority rights, mutual aid, environmental concern, and non-violent conflict resolution through the negotiation between equal parties.

Starting from December 21, we have filmed tens of hours of footage: interviews with community members, local authorities and human rights watchers, special events, celebrations, and everyday life. We are trying to find answers for the following questions:

· What does “autonomous” mean? Are the communities really independent?

· How are those communities organized? How do they insure equal participation in the decisionmaking process?

· What difficulties do communities encounter in their attempts of independent existence?

· Is it possible that we may have already entered the New Era, when Indians show by their example the implementation of the most modern ideas from the fields of environmental studies, household, and the organization of society?

In order to see what Zapatism really is today and what has the civil movement achieved in twenty years, we traveled around their autonomous communities. It turned out to be not so easy. Community members are still afraid of showing their faces, for there is a chance that their words could be turned against them, that they could be interpreted in a militant manner and a group of armed people could come to their homes, in order to destroy their communal living, like it happened several times before.

To get access to the communities we try to approach them through organizations that are familiar with the problems of Indians and have already established close ties with their autonomous areas. At the present moment we cooperate with the Human Rights Center “Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas” and the Center for helping indigenous communities “ENBIT.” They introduce us to the communities, which helps build mutual trust with community members and local authorities.