richard-day-gramsci-is-dead

196 Gramsci is Deadwhy we decided to resist, to give birth to our own ideas. The communitiescreated the autonomous municipalities so we could be free to create whatour thoughts tell us, to create what we want according to our needs and ourhistory. We are not asking the government to hand us clothes, but ratherthe right to live with dignity. (Javier Ruiz in Chiapaslink 2000)Within the communities decisions are made collectively on aconsensus model, in local assemblies where all men and womenover the age of twelve have a voice. Although they suffer fromconstant persecution and have very little in the way of resources,the communities and autonomous municipalities have managed tomake progress in areas ranging from health to education to economicsustainability. Each community makes decisions for itself, pursuesthe projects it wants to pursue, as does each municipality; as inclassical anarchist federalism, association does not mean givingup local control. This is not to say, however, that the system ofautonomous municipalities is explicitly based on the ideas of Godwinand Proudhon. Rather, like the nations of the Haudenosaunee, theZapatistas have carried out a creative application of traditionalindigenous structures in response to current exigencies. Oneexample is the way in which delegated authority is regulated so asto ensure that those who are placed in positions of representationserve their community rather than vice versa. ‘When the authoritygoes amiss, becomes corrupt or, to use a local term, “is a shirker”,he is removed from his position, and a new authority replaces him’(Marcos 2003).This system of recall is similar to that of the Mohawk nation ofthe Iroquois Confederacy, except that in these communities it isthe women who select—and may depose—the men who will takeup positions of leadership (Arihwakehte 2004). In the indigenouscommunities which gave birth to the Zapatista movement, it wouldappear that women were not so empowered; patriarchal socialstructures dictated that they were excluded from the decision-makingprocess. An important part of the Zapatista struggle has been toaddress this disempowerment, through the inclusion of womenfighters in the EZLN and by challenging traditional structuresthrough the Revolutionary Law for Women. As a result of their ownautonomous struggles within the larger movement, women nowparticipate in the deliberations of the local communities and may besent as delegates to the CCRI and municipal councils (Millàn 1998:67; Apreza 2003). Although some progress has been made, there is