The Four Questions

These questions must be asked to each Brigada in order to better understand why we are doing this work, what we are going to do, and how we are going to do this. Below are answers of the Brigada that is responsible for organizing the project.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

WHO ARE WE?
We are people from many walks of life who have come together to support the Zapatista struggle through our volunteer, collective effort. We are teachers, students, women, men, artists, and many others that the system sees as “other” because we oppose exploitation. We are people who are conscience of the growing gap between the Neo-liberals who hold power to make themselves rich, and those good people whose honest labor has the greater power to serve everyone.  We are people who have a duty to serve the smaller worlds the Global system marginalizes in order to protect their own selfish interests.

WHAT ARE WE STRUGGLING AGAINST?
We are struggling in partnership with the people of Municipio Ricardo Flores Magon against a global economy that excludes anybody who will not play by the rules of Neo-liberal exchange. These rules rob good people of the value of their labor and the products their hands can create. These rules are enforced by bad governments with bad policies, who do not work to satisfy the needs of their people but to satisfy the appetite of global corporations who are accountable to no one. We struggle against those who think that the needs of a few investors are more important than the needs of everyone else in the world.

WHAT DO WE WANT?
We want to share in the creation of an autonomous economy that does not ask permission of global corporations or corrupt governments to work towards dignified treatment and compensation for those who complete honest labor. We want the Indigenous communities in rebellion against Neo-liberalism to realize their goal of creating accountable exchange with good people everywhere. We want this exchange to be a model of Zapatista principles in resistance to the current political, social, economic reality of the world.  Beginning with this coffee, we want to be a bridge to accountable relationships of exchange between free people everywhere.  In sum, as the Zapatistas have said themselves, we want a world where many other worlds also fit.

 HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET IT?
We will form volunteer brigades that will open doors everywhere for creating a market of autonomous economic projects, in this case coffee, that support communities in resistance like Municipio Ricardo Flores Magon who are struggling to create dignified education and healthcare for their children. We will uphold the 7 tasks as guides to struggle. We will structure relationships of exchange that are collective, accountable, and dignified – a model for partnerships of economic and political exchange between communities in resistance everywhere. We will do this without compensation, without personal profit, returning every unused dime back to the people whose labor created it.

We will form a network of volunteers and collaborators whose actions will speak together to the powerful to say “TODO PARA TODOS-NADA PARA NOSOTROS” - “Everything for everyone-Nothing for ourselves.”

Autonomo Comercio - DRAFT

7 Principles of AUTONOMO COMERCIO – a path for a new model of exchange

1. Promote autonomous structures with collective accountability as the best legitimate mediators of dignified exchange between producers and consumersbecause they are based on dialogue about needs rather than the accumulation of capital.
2. Develop and implement rules of exchange that immediately account for the unique needs of indigenous people, their customs, traditions, methods of self – sustainability, etc. because of their perilous situation in the world economy.
3. Develop relationships of exchange that provide partners on both ends of all exchange the human right to maintain appropriate and dignified  shelter, clothing, nutritious food, education, healthcare, as well as access to clean water and air, as these elements more than any others are fundamental necessities of human survival.
4. Develop relationships of mutual accountability and mutual responsibility between all partners in exchange at every level, as well as structures that value dialogue and collective decision-making by all partners in the process to ensure that everyone’s needs are met by consensus without dishonest or negligent treatment.
5. Oppose the rules of exchange that inhibits dignified treatment and compensation to collective producers and laborers everywhere because they have a fundamental power to meet human needs.
6. Oppose all individuals, organizations, structures, and institutions that endeavor to accumulate capital at the expense of the well being of individual people, collectives, or autonomous entities because this unnecessarily inhibits not only their ability to exchange but their ability to survive ,which are one and the same.
7. Oppose all individuals, organizations, structures, and institutions that endeavor to accumulate capital at the expense of the well being of the earth’s biosphere or non-renewable resources because the survivability of all humans is fundamentally tied to the health of the planet.

Because all human beings have the right to live with basic dignity, just exchange is a fundamental human right.

No legitimate exchange exists in the world that does not have as its basis an agreement based on collective, accountable representation to meet all the needs of both consumer and producer equally, committed perpetually to  the preservation of all human rights and the preservation of the Earth’s enduring biosphere.

Human beings, therefore, have the right to oppose and replace any exchange that does not live up to these standards.

In order to do this work effectivly we must realize and acknowlege that there are many reasons why we have not been able to sustaing our work over time and between groups. The 7 tasks set a foundation for all those working together to make an agreement on what is expected from everyone.

Contact Us

National Coordinator and Minnesota Responsable is Jerry Lopez and he can be reaced at 612-388-0552. memberships@cafeparalavidadigna.com

Southern California Responsable is Chris Silvas and he can be reached at 626-862-7276.

Arizona Responsable contacts are Balti Garcia at 520-604-0995 & Rebekha Lizalde at 323-304-8707.

Cafe Para La Vida Digna is a recognized cooperative and project of the Autonomous Municipality in Rebellions, Ricardo Flores Magon.