BRATTLEBORO-Join the Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) on Wednesday, July 24, at 6:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot to explore these connections with Margaret Cerullo, a Professor Emerita of Sociology and Feminist Studies at Hampshire College and a member of the Lightning Collective, which produced the 2022 book, Zapatista Stories for Dreaming An-Other World by Subcomandante Marcos.
Mexico elected Claudia Sheinbaum, the country's first female president, in a landslide victory in June amid growing violence against women and journalists in the country. "Sheinbaum won as a pragmatic problem-solver but comes out of leftist traditions," say organizers in a news release. "What role did the Zapatistas, who marked the 30th anniversary of the movement and appearance of 'Subcommandante Marco' on the world stage this year, play in her rise to power and ability to govern?"
Cerullo, a keen observer of Mexican politics, will discuss how a Jewish former Mayor of Mexico City won the presidency, the state of the Zapatista movement at 30, and how stories and storytelling have nurtured the movement.
The Zapatistas "have infused left politics with an imaginative, literary, or poetic dimension," Cerullo writes, "organizing horizontally, outside and against the state, and with a profound respect for difference as a source of political insight, not division."
And they persist. This new year, they will be celebrating their decades' long phase in 500 years of indigenous resistance in the Americas.
Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies and a WWAC member/advisor will introduce Cerullo. He says that Cerullo "brings luminous insights into the recent Mexican election and the Zapatista movement." She'll be bringing to Brattleboro a first-hand account of her participation in January 2024 in the 30th anniversary of the Zapatista operation.
The event is being held in conjunction with Kopkind in Guilford (kopkind.org), where Cerullo is a visiting professor at their annual youth summer activism and journalism programs. Copies of Cerullo's book will be available for sale at the event thanks to Everyone's Books of Brattleboro.
Reservations are required at Zapatista.eventbrite.com. A remote participation option is available on the reservation link. The event is free with a $10 suggested donation. For more information, contact [email protected].
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.