Re: AUT: Sylvie DeNeuve and Charles Reeve on EZLN

["Geoffrey J McDonald" <geosophia@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I for one thought the DeNeuve-Reeve essay was incisive and devastating.
Since the Zapatistas' military challenge to the Mexican state is only
symbolic, I hadn't thought much about the possibly detrimental effects of
that militarism on other forms of resistance in Chiapas. But then armies
always serve to control the populations they "protect"! DeNeuve and Reeve
are also correct to point out that many things that we would reject as
inherently oppressive--militarism, nationalism, religion--are often seen to
be okay (even liberatory) for people in the underdeveloped world. Here in
the US, organizations of landless farmers who march around in the woods and
espouse nationalism (also in a mythicized version of original revolutionary
purity) are rightly derided by the left as manifestations of desperation,
political backwardness, even fascism.
	Since the DeNeuve-Reeve essay had some trenchant words for the "groups of
revolutionary tourists" who see only "fabricated realities", I thought I
would take a dig at the most prominent organizer of "realities tours" to
Chiapas, Global Exchange. They've raised money by having expensive reggae
concerts in San Francisco that are sponsored by -- no kidding -- Budweiser
and other unsavory corporations. They also have boutiques that sell
3rd-worldy trinkets and exotica to yuppies in the name of fair trade
(global exchange-value?). I admit they have done good work in bringing
attention to the conditions of Nike's sweatshops in Asia, but their main
office is in a building full of sweatshops. Is this part of the circuit of
struggle?
Geoff

	




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