AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY OF JAVIER HERNANDEZ, CHIAPAS, MEXICO, SEPTEMBER 2005: In this sixth meeting in six weeks of the Other Campaign launched by the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, a rainbow began to form in the shape of a fist: a fist with a punch that rings in the ears.
Five previous meetings grouped rebels, like fingers, in five units: political organizations as one, social organizations as another, collectives, non-governmental and artistic organizations as yet another; individuals without organizational title brought new strengths and ideas together to constitute a fourth digit in this evolutionary leap. The thumb on this hand – the left hand, the one closer to the heart, of course – consists of indigenous organizations (what the Zapatistas have called the “spinal column” of the fight to come), themselves a diverse mix of 62 ethnic groups each bringing 513 years of experience resisting impositions from above.
Photo: D.R. 2005 Francisco Alvarez Quiñones