¡Zapatista! Speaker from Chiapas, Mexico in Scotland

    Tuesday 20th April in Glasgow  and

     Wednesday 21st April in Edinburgh

     Autonomy, repression and resistance

     Education, Health, Land,

     Justice, Self-Government...

      Walking New Paths

     Glasgow Public Meeting
     7pm Tuesday 20th April
     Room 3 Queen Margaret Union
     22 University Gardens
     G12 8QN
 

    Edinburgh Public Meeting
    7.30pm Wednesday 21st April
   Augustine United Church
   41 George IV Bridge
   EH1 1EL

   All Welcome!

Despite attacks from both Mexican government forces and paramilitaries, the Zapatistas continue to develop their autonomous communities. Education, health care, justice, women's rights, communal land, decision-making and self-government....in all these areas the indigenous people in Chiapas are walking new paths. Outside of and in opposition to the 'government/ big business system, they are creating autonomous structures which reflect local people's needs.

From health promoters working from a one-room "health house" in a small community to autonomous clinics serving hundreds of villages.....from mass meetings in a local village to the "Councils of Good Government" co-ordinating the efforts of several autonomous municipalities...the Zapatistas' project of autonomy is both very local and co-ordinated over a wide area.

The Zapatistas have been developing their autonomous structures since before the uprising of 1994. Now more than ever this nascent new world needs our solidarity.

The Mexican government and big business are seeking once more to rob the indigenous people of their land - for tourist developments, mining projects, agro-business, hydro-electric dams and other money-making schemes. Many communities supporting the Zapatistas and/or affiliated to the Zapatista-initiated Other Campaign are being menaced by government-backed paramilitaries. A Zapatista village in the Lacandona jungle was recently evicted and people's homes burned to the ground by government forces.

This meeting will bring you a first-hand report of the current situation of repression, resistance and autonomy from a speaker living in Chiapas, and there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Free admission.

Stalls with information, Zapatista fair trade coffee and amber jewellery and handicrafts from our twinned Zapatista municipality "16th February".

Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group
c/o ACE, 17 W. Montgomery Place
Edinburgh EH7 5HA
E-mail: edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk
Web site: http://www.edinchiapas.org.uk