Before
I left the Indigenous
Communities of the Simojovel de Allende
Region of Chiapas cooperative (CIRSA) in
the tiny town of Simojovel in Chiapas, Mexico, the
farmers there begged me to come to the U.S. and tell their story.“If
you organize, you are persecuted. We are counting on you to share our story so
that our companeros did not die in vain,” said one
farmer. Because my trip lasted a week and because I feel their story is so
important, I’ve decided to recount my journey in two newsletters. This trip
changed my life and I hope that through sharing what I’ve learned I can help
begin to change the life of my new family in
For
me, the state of
Our first stop was a talk with Miguel Pickard of
the Center for Economic and Political Research and Community Action
(CIEPAC): “Chiapas Today: The Neoliberal
Model”. We discussed how big business,
corruption and globalization are feeding the “monster” that keeps
His
most important point: No person is ever illegal. People may leave and be
undocumented here in the
We then discussed the Zapatista movement as a reaction
to the loss of indigenous culture and the corruption of politics. The
Zapatistas are promoting the organization of farmers and indigenous groups in
order to obtain basic human rights. They have developed a new model of
government and many Mexican citizens who are not affiliated with the movement
go to these communities to resolve disputes. Zapatistas offer fair trials
through their system of “good government” and this also allows indigenous
peoples to have access to justice hearings in their own language. (Usually only
the men in indigenous societies speak Spanish. Most of the women and young
children speak their native tongues. The two languages I encountered in my
journey were Tzotzil and Tzeltal.)
Our next stop was the Human Rights Center of San
Cristobal. This organization works with other institutions so that indigenous
people get an immediate response when rights violations occur in their
communities. They respond to many cases of torture, forced displacement,
disappearances and deaths. Just between the years of 1996 and 1999 there were
108 cases of disappearances and many more deaths reported to the center. When
political pressure is needed this group works to see that international
organizations respond accordingly. Their oldest project is for observation
brigades. This places volunteers into communities to watch and record
injustices. Three girls, from
I realize that so far this story has little to do
with the organic coffee we sell at HCC, but I’m getting to that. The problem is
that the current political situation and human rights violations affect our
farmers on a critical level. I feel that it is important to give at least some
background so as to better understand the plight of the indigenous people of
A few fun facts: Coffee is the biggest source of
income for developing countries. Twenty-five million people depend on coffee
for their entire income. The
The
next morning before we headed to the CIRSA coffee cooperative, we were given an
overview of Equal Exchange and how it works. Free Trade started after WWII as a
relief effort. It slowly progressed over the years as people began to form and
join co-ops. In the 1980s a new movement began to preserve indigenous cultures
and promote land reform.
In 1986 Equal Exchange was formed by three men who
had worked in food co-ops and had been part of the organic movement. Their goal
was to connect producers with their consumers. Equal Exchange is now growing by
25% per year and does more than $20 million in sales. Eighty-five percent of
their coffee is organic.
Fair Trade works on a few basic principles. It cuts
the middleman out of the selling of coffee. Producers refer to these people as
coyotes, as they often lie about the weight of the coffee and the market price
of coffee to the farmers. Because the farmers live out in communities without
newspapers, internet, TV or sometimes even electricity, they have no way of
arguing over fair price. Fair Trade coffee
always gives a guaranteed minimum price for coffee.
Equal
Exchange forms a direct relationship with the producers.
A good honest business relationship between co-ops
ensures excellent quality and repoire. Fair Trade coffee offers credit, which
many farmers have never had before. This allows them to cover the expense of
the cultivation of coffee and then be paid the rest of the sum after production
when the coffee is harvested. Also, they work only with cooperatives to help
protect small farmers and allow them to organize. Plantations cannot be Fair
Trade certified. Fair Trade is about supporting small-scale family farmers.
Fair
Trade supports sustainable agriculture and works toward having all cultivation
organic and sustainable.
After learning these basics, we headed off to
Simojovel, the little town that is home to one of these coffee cooperatives. On
the way we stopped at the Zapatista community of Oventic. A woman in a black
ski mask met us at the front gate and took our passports. When she returned we
were led to a building in which three masked men recorded our passport
information and clarified the reason for our visit. The reasons for the masks
are plentiful: They provide anonymity; they make everyone equal; also, it gets
really cold in the mountains. After the formalities, we had the best lunch in
their community and left again for Simojovel.
We arrived at the co-op and were met with great joy
by the delegates. They are a very formal people, and we shook everyone’s hands
and went around the room to make presentations, or introductions. Then there
was a prayer by the co-op president.
Filiberto Noriegos made this statement: “It is a dream
of many founders of these companies, I guess you could
call them pioneers, to be able to meet their consumers face to face. Equal
Exchange has allowed us to meet that dream. We began from nothing, and now look
at this, it’s marvelous, it’s a joy! I feel we are
walking on the same path and that Equal Exchange is a bridge between producers
and consumers and our countries.”
At CIRSA we also met with Padre Joel Padron, the leader of the parishes in the diocese of El
Bosque. He helped CIRSA organize and helped local indigenous tribes get their
land back. For this, he went to jail for 50 days and was tortured. He believes
the churches have a place in helping cooperatives develop and be successful to
support the native people and give them rights. “To be sitting here at this
table without borders and drinking organic coffee is a wonderful thing and it
is a symbol of the kind of world we want.”
CIRSA is committed to producing organic coffee. The
farmers believe that the plantation owners are degrading “Mother Earth” with
their use of pesticides an nonsustainable
farming methods. They have elections every two years to change their governing
boards and they have an annual meeting every September 26. They are working
along the same lines as Equal Exchange, but also with exorbitant taxation by
the Mexican government
and the threat of their land again being taken from underneath
them. They government will actually come in and pay individuals to not join the
co-op. They tell them that it is the path to sin. This keeps the indigenous
from being organized and allows them to continue to be marginalized and
cheated.
Armed with this knowledge, our group prepared for
the few days we would spend in the community of Don Pedro, a CIRSA farmer. The
ride to his village would take three hours, and we would make it standing in
the back of a four-wheel drive vehicle through the rugged landscape of El
Bosque…