COMPAÑERAS is the untold story of the women of the Zapatista movement. Prior to 1994, the indigenous women of Chiapas had few, if any, rights. They were forced into arranged marriages and confined to the private sphere; they had little access to birth control, and domestic violence was widespread. But the Zapatista movement radically redefined gender roles as women left their homes to become guerrilla insurgents, political leaders, healers, educators, and members of economic cooperatives. Zapatista women played a key role not only in creating and maintaining indigenous autonomy, but also in bringing about the liberation and equality of indigenous women.
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From 1997 to 2003, community organizer Hilary Klein worked with women’s cooperatives in Chiapas and interviewed many Zapatista women, who had joined the movement to escape arranged marriages, or to acquire the education that had been denied them, or to rectify other injustices they had witnessed in their communities. Their stories shed light on one of the most compelling social movements in recent history and the birth of women’s rights in Chiapas. COMPAÑERAS is required reading for anyone interested in women’s studies, social and economic justice, or grassroots resistance to global capitalism.
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Author HILARY KLEIN spent six years in Chiapas, Mexico, working with women’s projects in Zapatista communities. After she compiled a book of Zapatista women’s testimony to be circulated in their own villages, women in the Zapatista leadership suggested that Klein compile a similar book for an outside audience. Klein has been engaged in social justice and community organizing for twenty years. She currently works at Make the Road New York, a membership organization that builds the power of immigrant and working-class communities.
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Face Out: Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories
Thursday , March 19, 2015
7-9PM
Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria.
2113 Amsterdam ave, (at 165 st)
New York, NY
Native Resistance Network
