Written by Lilia Lopez
Having arrived here in San Cris just over a month ago, my initial days here were slightly out of the ordinary. Nearly half of the Peace House was incommunicado somewhere between San Cristobal and Guatemala during Hurricane Stan in early October, and my introduction to life in Chiapas was hectic, filled with frantic phone from friends and families and days of endless rain. As house members began to trickle back into San Cris, we received their vivid accounts of Stan's tremendous destruction that was unfortunately, less than adequately covered by the majority of media outlets. After being in the US during Hurricane Katrina, the accounts of Stan's destruction in Chiapas and Guatemala, were yet another reminder, of the inequitable severity of destruction these natural disasters have on poor and marginalized sectors of an affected population. In these weeks following Stan's departure, the relief effort is still ongoing, so please see our website for continuing updates or to make a donation.
While the beginning of October was a cloudy one both literally and figuratively, the end of the month brought celebration in the form of the Mexican holiday "Dia de los Muertos," or "the Day of the Dead." Actually celebrated on Nov 2, many Mexicans begin preparations for the day in late October by assembling altars in remembrance and celebration of family and friends that have passed away. Here in San Cris, activists and organizations affiliated with the EZLN “otra campaña,” created a series of mobile altars commemorating individuals who have died as a result of their participation in social justice struggles, political prisoners, “desaparecidos” (those who have gone missing) and members of the Zapatista movement. Volunteer Simon Walker touches on this celebration in this month’s Newsbriefs as well as other Chiapas current events including increasing tensions between Zapatista and non-Zapatsita communities, and the discriminatory aid distribution process taking place in the wake of Hurricanes Wilma and Stan.
Also in this issue, you'll find a riviting personal account of the Hurricane Stan aftermath from our own Akane Storey. We have an insightful take on the Mayan Medicine Museum as it relates to privilege and cultural clashes from volunteer, Samantha Gorelick. And lucky for us, volunteer John Moyer had a long flight to San Cris to get to know a new favorite book and mull over what it means to be a socially conscious privileged young person. No small endeavor…
Enjoy!
- I. Newsbriefs by volunteer Simon Walker- your monthly news analysis ranging from immigration-related militarization to new tensions in Zapatista communities.
- Akane on Hurricane Stan by volunteer Akane Storey- a vivid personal account of Stan’s destruction
- Sacred and Spectacle by volunteer Samantha Gorelick- a fresh perspective on the Mayan Medicine Museum
- Indecision by volunteer John Moyer- introducing a fresh piece of literary nourishment for the socially conscious
