The Perserverance of Dignity – Abolition Media

Three indigenous women in the foreground of an image, a young girl in front of them are wearing bandanas on their faces. Around and behind them are other indigenous people similarly masked

The Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico have been working for 30 years to create and expand real, local democracy.

Young Liria nodded excitedly with a smile that lit up her face like the Mayan sun. Her small frame rocked back and forth with emotion. She had been at the 30th anniversary celebration of the EZLN in the Caracol of Dolores Hidalgo, and still vibrated with the energy of it. Along with thousands of her peers, she witnessed as people from around the globe streamed into the remote canyons of Chiapas to celebrate, and to listen to the Zapatista youth as they enacted their stories before an international audience. She witnessed for the first time the global reach of their movement that her grandparents and parents had built, and that she, should she choose to, would be charged with carrying on.