Should you find yourself in times when reactionaries — hysterically and violently defending white, male privilege — try to pass off themselves as rebels (I mean, one can imagine such things happening), then you might feel the urge to dig into accounts of righteous rebels, true rebels, underdogs, genuinely oppressed people who fight a just fight, and while doing so gifts the rest of us a beautiful, poetical vision of a better world.
And if you do — if you feel that urge — I recommend Compañeras: Zapatista women’s stories by Hillary Klein, which I found insightful and enlightening, and is a book for anybody who have a problem with patriarchy, poverty, gender oppression, racism, colonialism, and exploitation.
Maybe that’s not enough, and you want to go deeper into the history of the Zapatistas, and if that is the case I would point you to Our Word is our Weapon, a selection of Subcommandante Marcos’s communiqués. Marcos was a military leader and spokesman for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), but he is also a great writer, and the book is a treasure trove: it’s both historically interesting, socially educational, and positively inspirational.
Both books are published by Seven Stories Press, and if you are going to buy the books you would do well to buy them directly from them. Or you could buy them from your local bookstore, if you have one. Just don’t buy them from Amazon. Don’t be tacky.
Somos rebeldía y resistencia. Somos uno de tantos mazos que romperán los muros, uno de tantos vientos que barrerán la tierra, y una de tantas semillas de las que nacerán otros mundos.
Sources:
- Klein, Hilary. Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2015.
- Marcos, and Juana Ponce de León. Our Word Is Our Weapon: Selected Writings. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002.