Kristin Bricker blogs:
Mexican journalist Gloria Muñoz Ramírez says that in 1997 she left her work, her family, and her friends to live in Zapatista communities. Her book The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement is the result of seven years of research, interviews, and—most importantly—listening in Zapatista territory.
Originally published in Spanish as 20 y 10: El Fuego y la Palabra in 2003 for the tenth anniversary of the Zapatista uprising and the twentieth anniversary of the EZLN, the book has since been translated into French, Italian, German, Turkish, Persian, and Greek. While English-speakers had to wait five long years to read it, Muñoz made The Fire and the Word worth the wait. The English translation updates the Spanish version, including new chapters and pictures of Zapatista history up through the Other Campaign in 2006.
I remember several years ago when I first read about the Zapatistas. They seemed so different from the stuffy authoritarian left I was used to. Subcomandante Marco’s writings were down to earth and somehow at the same time idealistic. It was refreshing, to say the least.
“Everything for everyone, and nothing for ourselves,” as they say.