Las Abejas: Pacifist Resistance and Syncretic Identities in a Globalizing Chiapas

300 Pages·2003·10.331 MB·English

by  Marco Tavanti

Religion in History, Society,
and Culture
Outstanding Dissertations
Edited by
Frank Reynolds
and
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
The University of Chicago, Divinity School
A Routledge Series
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La s Abejas
Pacifist Resistance and Syncretic
Identities in a Globalizing Chiapas
Marco Tavanti
|J Routledge
Taylor &. Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2003 by Routledge
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2003 by Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tavanti, Marco, 1965-
Las Abejas : pacifist resistance and syncretic identities in a globalizing Chiapas / by
Marco Tavanti.
p. cm. — (Outstanding dissertations on religion in history, society, and culture ; 1)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Tzotzil Indians—Government relations. 2. Tzotzil Indians—Ethnic identity.
3. Abejas (Organization) 4. Chiapas (Mexico)—History—Peasant Uprising, 1994-
5. Pacifism—Mexico—Chiapas. 6. Massacres—Mexico—Acteal. I. Title. II.Series.
F1221.T9 T39 2002
972'.75-dc21 2002006955
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-94215-7 (hbk)
This book is dedicated to Zenaida, Geronomo, Efrafn
and all other children, mothers, and fathers
who survived the Acteal massacre . . .
Your blood and tears water your land and our hearts,
so that your rights will be respected
and your dignity be cherished
until justice will shine
and peace will dawn forever.
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Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Series Editors’ Foreword xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xxv
Acronyms and Abbreviations xxvii
Chapter One
Las Abejas and the Acteal Massacre 3
The 1992 Formation of Las Abejas 4
On the Violent Path to Acteal 6
December 22, 1997: Bury My Heart in Acteal 9
The Three Acteals: A Paradigm for Las Abejas Identity 14
Developing a Syncretic Organization 15
Chapter Two
Methodological and Theoretical Frameworks 21
A “Syncretic” Standpoint 21
Doing Fieldwork in Dangerous Places 24
Research as Collaboration and Bridge Building 26
The Open Fields of Chiapas Research 28
Syncretic and Other Types of Identity Constructions 30
Religious Collective Identities 35
Cultural Identity in Movement 37
Resistance to Neoliberalism in Mexico 38
vii
viii Contents
Chapter Three
The Struggle for Land and Dignity in Chiapas 41
A Double Marginalization: Poor and Indigenous 41
Understanding Chiapas, the Highlands and Chenalho 43
The Tzotziles and Indigenous People of Chiapas 51
Neoliberalism Effects on Land 55
A Double Root of Identity: Land and Dignity 59
The Land Is Our Mother: How Can They Sell Our Mother? 61
We Resist Because of Our Dignity! 63
Chapter Four
The Juxtaposed Meanings of Acteal 69
The Intercommunitarian Conflict Interpretation 71
The Counterinsurgency Interpretation 74
Violent Meanings of Acteal: Paramilitary Presence 77
Political Meanings of Acteal: Military Presence 82
Cultural Meanings of Acteal: Tierra Sagrada 88
Religious Meanings of Acteal: Los Martires 91
Gender Meanings of Acteal: An Attack against Life 96
Nonviolent Meanings of Acteal: Civiles as an Easy Target 98
Global Meanings of Acteal: Mirror and Center of the World 100
Chapter Five
The Cultural and Religious Frameworks of Las Abejas 105
Cultural Framework: Las Abejas as a Maya-Indigenous
Movement 105
Religious Framework: Las Abejas as a Progressive Religious
Movement 111
Inculturation Dimension: Toward an Autochthonous Tzotzil
Church 114
Ecumencal Dimension: Costumbristas, Catolicos y Evangelicos 121
Participation Dimension: Catechists’ New Role and Method 125
Liberation Dimension: The 1974 Indigenous Congress 127
Mobilization Dimension: The Formation of Pueblo Creyente 131
Chapter Six
The Political and Human Rights Frameworks of Las Abejas 135
Political Framework: Las Abejas as a Neozapatista Movement 135
Twenty Years Later: The Same Demands 138
Las Abejas as a Neozapatista Movement 141
Las Abejas as a Civil Society 145
Contents ix
Human Rights Framework: Las Abejas as an Indigenous
Rights Movement 148
Chapter Seven
Las Abejas’ Construction of Nonviolent Resistance 159
Nonviolent Resistance as Political Contention 161
Memory of Resistance: Continuing 500 Years of Resistance 165
The Presence of International Human Rights Observers 172
The Accompaniment of Christian Peacemaker Teams 178
Developing Nonviolent Consciousness and Strategies 182
The Gender of Resistance: Womens Double Front of Resistance 192
Chapter Eight
Las Abejas’ Syncretic Identity of Resistance 203
Bringing Syncretism Back In 203
Syncretic Identity as Resistance 207
Las Abejas’ Syncretic Identity of Resistance 210
Constructing the Circle of Syncretic Identity 214
Contributions of a Syncretic Identity of Resistance 216
Conclusion: Never Again a World without Us 217
Glossary 221
Notes 225
References 237
Index 263