'Other Campaign' update: 25th July – 3rd August 2007

News has mainly focused on the ‘Second Encounter between the Zapatistas and the People of the World’ which has been taking place in Chiapas. Discussions have taken place on health, education (stressing that the Zapatista Education ‘excludes western forms of evaluation which “promote fear and competition among students”’), autonomous control and events in Oaxaca. As John Ross suggests, the more grounded (literally!) nature of this second Encounter can be seen in the increased number of farming representatives present and the, perhaps welcome, decreased number of ‘celebrities’ compared with the previous version.

Detailed reports from the Encounter can be found here ( 1, 2, 3).

State elections are due in Oaxaca on August 5th, with Nancy Davies of Narco News suggesting that the future of the Plan Puebla Panama may be at stake.