Week three in Mexico, and as I type
this, a parade of thousands is marching by, celebrating the independence of
Mexico. It has been an interesting week (as usual) only to be punctuated by
this weekend’s festivities. Oventic was busy, full of activities such as mural
design, weaving, theater planning, and then staying an extra night to attend a
boot-making workshop on Saturday. Staying Friday night was really relaxing,
about half the group stayed and most of the promotores
leave, so it the campo pretty empty. The fog and the cows only added to the
serenity of the evening. Saturday morning, the boot workshop was nothing as I
expected. Warned not to get too excited,
as the boot makers where known to cancel at the last minute, I expected masked
peoples giving out harsh orders and being very direct with group of 7
Americans. But I was wrong. The two out of the normally seven boot cooperative
workers were really nice, friendly, and patient. They showed us the preliminary
steps to cutting out the soles, cutting the leather, and then let us work away.
It was a brief, but memorable experience, as I don’t think I own anything that
I have actually seen where it has been made.
That being
said, there have been times when I feel so touristy and uncomfortable that the
only thing I can do it turn off that part of my brain. For example, during the
weaving, although it was cool to be able to make my own bag, having two
indigenous women huddle around me and show me how to do their craft was not
something I necessarily want to experience again (too bad! Cause weaving is
every Tuesday from 5 pm- 7pm). Talking to Tony and other group members, I have
come to the conclusion that even though the power dynamics remain in play (I am
American and you are Indigenous. Show me your ancient crafts!!) the
circumstances are different. We, as the MSN program, are here for global
solidarity, at the invitation of the Oventic community. They want us here and
hopefully our ganas to learn change
the typical commodification aspects of white/Western travellers going to
indigenous communities. That being said, especially while being San Cristobal
do I feel very uncomfortable with my own presence in Mexico.
San
Cristobal, as I am learning each weekend, is a very interesting place. Even as
I am typing this, the streets are jam packed with the conflicts and
juxtaposition of a city newly found by foreigners and long occupied by rural
Mexicans. Literally, I just watched a whole slew of armed Mexican soldiers go
through the parade. It was about 20 minutes of people in camouflage holding
giant guns, some on giant tanks, and then even more armed and uniformed
military personnel. It is always hard to swallow the glorification of violence
that western civilization has, but here in Chiapas, after watching
documentaries about the atrocities the Mexican paramilitary and military groups
have been apart of and have occurred in the past 10 years against indigenous
peoples, it is almost too much to bear. Watching the military march by, fully
clothed in the green foliage and green face paint only reminds me of the
documentary I watched last week, in Oventic, about the paramilitary attacks
that happened in 2005 and the faces of whole communities forced to leave their
villages at the hands of the very same people marching past and being
celebrated.
Never being
one for patriotism, days of “independence” have never sat well with me,
regardless of where I am in the world. The visceral reaction to today’s parade
and last nights madness I also felt on 4th of July, on Nantucket,
when I was 12. Seeing so many rich white people drink wine and shoot fire works
while screaming “America!!” just didn’t sit well with me in 2006, and still
today the feelings are the same. But, I am not Mexican, so this isn’t my
country to hate on (and I don’t hate Mexico at all! I just am working through
feelings of witnessing injustice and learning about the interconnectedness of
the capitalist owning class) but yesterday, after coming down the mountain from
Oventic, and landing straight into drunk independence celebration was pretty
intense. Last night, seeing white tourists wearing sombreros with painted on
moustaches was pretty intense. There were parts that were pretty fun. The whole
zocalo was filled with food booths,
and there lots of churros to be had. The live mariachi band was fun to dance
to, although I had never in my life been as glad to be sober than last night.
MSN program asks for us to be sober (for a variety of reasons, both stemming
from safety and also respect) and I have no problem following the rules. Last
night was a perfect example of why being not at all drunk was necessary. Extremely
wasted men kept trying to get all up in our business, which is not at all
something I am used too, especially when in big crowds listening to live music.
Rereading that sentence makes it sound like I am being sarcastic, but I am not.
Truthfully, I was very glad to be sober with three of programs male bodied
people out with me as well.
So I guess
that is all. I had more eloquent things to say, but due to the large amounts of
drumming and marching that has been happening for the past two hours it is hard
express what else I want to say. So in conclusion, things are going. Going and
going, weekends are weird in San Cristobal and really mellow in Oventic.
Getting excited for travelling after the program and generally all the cool
things I am learning. Aight y’all see you on da flip side.
Xxoo
Violeta
No comments:
Post a Comment