BETWEEN DREAMS AND MOONS; THE WOMEN WEAVERS IN THE CONSULTA
In the Highlands of Chiapas, dreams, fear, anguish, and hope are interwoven. These feelings, present for years in the daily lives of these short-statured, huipil-clad women, accompany them into spring and into the upcoming National Consulta [consultative mobilization]. In their homes, it is by the cooking fire that mothers, daughters, and neighbor women converge to discuss the departure of their Zapatista brothers and sisters.
In this zone more than 50% of women are monolingual, one of the highest indices in Chiapas, and a severe obstacle to their taking control of the production and marketing of their weavings, pottery, and gardening, among other economic activities. Nevertheless, there has been a shift in the patterns of their daily lives: they have hung up their backstrap looms on the walls of their simple dwellings, and they are devoting hours to reviewing and commenting on the Zapatista Consulta. Their hands, hands stronger than one would have anticipated or imagined, are lifted from daily tasks, gesticulating to express ideas. Meanwhile one woman slaps out tortillas, another strips corn off the cobs, another grinds it, and another spins thread for her weaving. A neighbor enters, showering smiles. They chat in small groups about what the Zapatista Consulta is, and how it is important to know that now indigenous women too will have a voice in many places in Mexico. They comment: "It's not just the Zapatista men who have their rights, but now the women as well will go out and their eyes will witness other places. This Consulta is very important for all the peoples and communities of Mexico. Our feelings, our hearts, are with this National Consulta; it's God and God alone who will watch over them and give them strength for their travels to defend our rights as indigenous people." Those who are more informed say, "Mr. Enoch, who speaks in Tzotzil on the radio, his explanation of the Consulta is no good; he tells lies. We know what's going on with Consulta, and what we feel is that it strengthens us, that we should organize ourselves, and throw off our fear of the people who are attacking us when they tell you things like that we can't participate. The Consulta is really useful to keep us going forward and organizing ourselves. Really, for us, it's a great mobilization."
Women embroiderers and weavers living in the city of San Cristobal talk about their skepticism and uneasiness. Some are artisans expelled and exiled from their communities for a number of years, street sellers who carry around in their hands the wares they offer for sale to Mexican and international tourists: bracelets, purses, shawls. They express their feelings: "We're worried that we're only hearing all this stuff about the Consulta, but here in the city, we don't really know what's going to happen. We want information, because we're hearing these nice things about how so many women will go out, and it's a pity that in our women's organization we still don't understand fully what will happen. We want to participate, but our poverty beats us down, and we have to be out in the streets trying to sell our work in order to survive." Hearing her request, other indigenous women respond who are not expelled from their communities and who are leaders of other artisans' cooperatives. They exchange information in their own language in order to motivate and encourage them to go to the centers where they can get accreditation for their own brigade.
Most of the indigenous women of the Civil Society who actively participate are young, daughters of the women who founded cooperatives during the 80s. They know how to read, write, and speak in Spanish. Not all live in the city of San Cristobal; they come and go, concerned and excited for Zapatista women who, with looks of astonishment crossing their joyous faces, are preparing to go out as delegates. All of them are thoughtful, commenting, describing this Consulta in their own ways, already declaring: "This Consulta is a great mobilization. It's beautiful to see how so many people in Mexico are getting together and organizing to welcome the Zapatista men and women." They add: "Something has changed in the communities, because now they are making an effort to understand that women also have rights. The indigenous women's participation, going out for the Consulta-it's tremendously important. In order to prepare themselves, to go out, and to speak, some of these women have had to walk many hours. They have left behind their looms, their embroidery, and their sheep in order to study the Consulta and take the responsibility of explaining it in their own communities, both to women and men. Really, they've been doing a lot of work, because they are eager to change the situation in which we're living in Chiapas, and they want to have their say."
In the midst of their emotions around the Consulta, these women who go by the label 'civil society' are concerned for their Zapatista sisters who will go out. They wonder if the delegates are prepared to travel. They know that many have no shoes, no sanitary pads, no disposable diapers for their children, and they comment: "It's not the same as when a man leaves on a trip. It's difficult in any case to go to other places, but the men don't have the same needs as women. We don't know how the trip will be, because outside of our communities life is different, and there are many things that we indigenous women aren't used to, but it's important to go out."
And this is how these March days go by, while the threads and colors of these weavers open up a path to Zapatista Consulta. In the midst of their busyness and their efforts to contribute to this great mobilization, the young women don't forget that March 8 is International Women's Day, and they celebrate with beaming smiles and with colored ribbons and bows adorning their black hair. This too is part of their work to continue gaining spaces, although as they say, it is "k'un k'un" (little by little). For some women, this struggle includes dealing with all their illnesses, both physical and psychosomatic. They refer to the most common of these illnesses as "me' vinik" in Tzotzil, or "alteracion' in Spanish. It is brought on, among other causes, by sadness, anger, or by carrying heavy loads. Only the women elders and leaders can cure it, using massage and the local medicinal herbs.
This is a very special part of the weaver women's fabric of solidarity, that--in the face of the paramilitary groups, the white guards, and the military roadblocks-they have created and developed their own strategies of resistance. They do not want war. They do not want massacres like the one in Acteal (Chenalho munipality). In some communities, one can still see cooperation among women labeled as PRIistas, PRDistas, the Cardenistas, and Zapatistas. The illness of a community members, the weaving of huipiles for religious festivals, these and other reasons will still bring women together to help each other. Nevertheless the number of community leaders who suffer from what they call 'the sadness' is on the increase, and some even die of it. It is these indigenous leaders who will now be occupying the cities and towns of Mexico, sketching out hope, giving voice to a portion of their thoughts, conveying the bright colors of their traditional dress, the strength of their bodies, their fatigue, anguish, desires, dreams, voices, and lastly, the silence of many years of oppression, exploitation, subordination, racism, and much more. They will carry with them the effort and labor not only of the Zapatista movement, but also of many mestiza and indigenous women. Each in our own time e women have brought our contributions so that our strength can be the strength of all of the women of Mexico.
Publications coordinator--Yolanda Castro TRANSLATION FROM THE SPANISH _______________________________________________________________________ K'inal Antzetik 5 de Mayo No. 25-A, Barrio de Mexicanos, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. Tel. and Fax (52-967) 8-34-24 E-mail: kinal@laneta.apc.org