Visual Resistance

In 1994, the dawn of the North American Free Trade Agreement, indigenous peasants in Chiapas, Mexico took the world by storm by rising up in revolution. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN – Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional) emerged from the mountains and jungles to say “NO” to corporate globalization, neo-liberal colonialism, and the exploitation of indigenous people, women, the poor, and the oppressed. In 12 years, the EZLN has become a major voice in the international struggle against capitalism and neo-liberalism, and an inspiration and hope to struggles throughout the world.

Estacion Libre, a US based collective of People of Color, has been building with the Zapatista movement for over eight years. Through delegations to Zapatista communities, and a continued presence of a peoples space in Chiapas, hundreds of U.S. based community activists andorganizers from communities of color have visited, shared with, and learned from the Zapatista movement. These lessons are brought home - back to community struggles against gentrification, police brutality, incarceration, racism, sexism, homophobia, and economic exploition. By sharing tactics and dialogues with the Zapatistas, we strive to create sustainability throughout communities of resistance here in the U.S., with hopes that we can defeat the monster of capitalism and corporate globalization here, in the brain of the beast.

General Program
- Discussion on the Liberation Struggles of People of Color and intersections with the Zapatista Movement – (Ashanti Alston)
- Reflections on the Zapatista Movement, the Sixth Declaration, and What “Solidarity” Means for US – Estacion Libre (Mixpe, Olmeca, etc.)
- Arts and Activism workshops – (Spiritchild, Olmeca, Mixpe, etc.)
- Performance by Mental Notes and Olmeca

Tour Calendar
Tuesday, April 18th: Ashanti at Rethinking Solidarity, NYC, Brecht Forum, 7:30pm.
Thursday, April 20th: UMASS, Amherst.
Saturday, April 22nd: Philadelphia, LAVA (4134 Lancaster Ave.), 12 noon.
Saturday, April 22nd: Estacion Libre fundraiser in East Harlem, 9:30 pm.
Monday, April 24th: Smith College. Workshops at noon and 4pm. Performance at night.
Wednesday, April 26th: Rethinking Solidarity, NYC, Blue Stockings Bookstore, 7pm.
Thursday, April 27th: Brown University, Third World Center, Informal Lounge (68 Brown St.), 9pm -12am.

The first image above was created by Gina Szeto. The second image was created by Canek Pena-Vargas. Both are available to download and edit as needed to promote the tour.

Bios for Event Participants:

Ashanti
Ashanti Alston has devoted his life to struggling against racism and
oppression, and to building and participating in multigenerational,
multiracial, grassroots movements of resistance. Born in Plainfield, NJ in
1954, Ashanti saw and experienced what most black youth did then and still
see today: poor-quality housing, unemployment and lack of job
opportunities, and schools that squelched students’ desire to learn. He
became politicized at an early age and was one of the founding members of
the Plainfield, NJ chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was also a
member of the Black Liberation Army.
Through intensive studying with the Panthers, Ashanti began a career in
self-teaching, popular education, and grassroots organizing through direct

engagement with people about their experiences. He has continued this work
during the 12 years he spent as a political prisoner, and living in
Brooklyn in the years since his release. Through published writing, formal
teaching jobs, participation in conferences and lectures, and membership
in grassroots organizations, Ashanti has developed his scholarship and
shared his critical analysis with young and old organizers, activists, and
students around the country. He has spoken throughout North America on the
past, present, and future of liberation struggles and the role of
community.
Ashanti has served as the Northeast Regional Coordinator for Critical
Resistance, a national organization working for the abolition of the
prison-industrial complex. Currently, Ashanti is a member of Estacion
Libre, a National people of color collective inspired by and in dialogue
with the Zapatista movement of Chiapas Mexico. Ashanti is also a board
member for the Institute for Anarchist Studies. He authors the zine
Anarchist Panther.

Jo Anna Mixpe Ley
Poet, storyteller, popular educator, artist, dancer, spiritual advisor to
the stars, and revolutionary warrior – Mixpe has been a lecturer in
Chican@ Studies at UCLA, and a teacher of culturally empowering,
politically inspiring words and movements to young people throughout Los
Angeles and the Western Hemisphere. She is currently one of the
co-coordinators for Estacion Libre in Chiapas Mexico - whose objective is
to open a space of dialogue between people of color struggles in the U.S.
and the Zapatista communities.
In her time in Chiapas, Mixpe has covered the political situation through
written and radio commentary, documenting activities of the military and
policing during the “Red Alert.” She has built relationships with the
autonomous Zapatista communities and shared art, music, movement, and
struggles. Recently, Mixpe has served as a support for the Otra Campana of
the Zapatista movement, and has coordinated the first delegation between
U.S. based Women of Color activists and the revolutionary women of the
Zapatista movement.
Through her work, she struggles for continued solidarity with autonomous
communities, collectives, and minds. Her poetry and prose engages
narratives and oral histories of borders, the colonization and liberation
of bodies, always connected to the experiences of her communities and her
families. She can breakdown the intersection of racism, classism, sexism
and homophobia inside and outside of movements, without breaking you in
the process.

Olmeca
Artist, teacher, organizer, vagabond, traveler, and revolutionary - Olmeca
has been the co-coordinator of Estacion Libre in Chiapas, Mexico since May
2005. During his time in Chiapas, Olmeca worked with Zapatista communities
reporting on military and police incursions during the summer 2005 “Red
Alert,” teaching arts and skill sharing workshops, sharing the struggles
of People of Color in the US with Zapatista communities, and supporting
and observing the discussions around the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon
Jungle and the “Otra Campana” of the EZLN.
In the occupied territory of the United States, Olmeca is a driving force
in the fusion of music and community organizing. He worked to establish
APC – the Autonomous Peoples Collective – a collective of community
organizers. Artists, and musicians in East LA, and has engaged with
countless grassroots struggles for community liberation through his voice
and his music, including the Coalition of Imokalee Workers.
Olmeca is a 7-year veteran in the Los Angeles music scene. Olmeca’s unique
lyrical style, bilingual rapping skills and unique song writing, has
gained the respect of his peers. He has rocked the mic with the legends of
the LA underground Hip-Hop scene (Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude and
Living Legends) as well as the greats from the Latin Alternative scene,
(Roco from Maldita Vecindad, Fidel Nadal and others).
His redefining and all encompassing song writing skills contain a focused
and undaunted political and cultural message. This calls for the decoding
of genres in music and, with that, the media and the system all together.
Unwilling to separate art with politics, Olmeca has contributed to many
grassroots movements as a participant, organizer and artist. Because of
this, his music has come to be known as, “musica de los pobres or people’s
music.” Olmeca calls for the “niñ@s de la tierra” to not only become
critical of
the system, but also to begin the process of deconstruction through
reflection and action.
His album, Semillas Rebeldes will be released in March 2006 by Nomadic
Sound System.

Spiritchild
Spiritchild, a member of Escation Libre and the Movement in Motion Artists
and Activists Collective was born in Harlem and raised in The Bronx. He is
a founder of Mental Notes - a Hip-Hop Jam Band. Mental Notes has gained a
reputation as a new innovative sound throughout the New York City Night
Club Scene and has performed at such legendary venues as CBGBs, Knitting
Factory and Nuyorican Poets Café. For Spiritchild, Mental Notes is not
just a Hip-Hop Jam band that creates music, it is an outlet for political
expression.
During the Anti-War Movement that was re-ignited after September 11, 2001,
Spiritchild collaborated with artists, activists, and students to
establish Movement In Motion Arts Collective - a creative drive in the
struggle for peace, justice and social awareness. In the name of
information, Movement in Motion offers energy and rhythm to the global
peace movement. Prompted by the present threat to civil liberties, they
formulate creative spaces in NYC to share alternative news and information
and by supporting other networks of informed activists. They fight for our
constitutional right to rally and protest. Most importantly, they come out
to help like-minded people dance. Members of Movement in Motion have
traveled to Venezuela, India, Palestine, Mexico, and South Africa to build
music and movement with struggles around the globe.
Spiritchild has also been active in exposing and educating the youth
through Hip-Hop. As a youth educator, Spirichild has worked with kids
throughout New York, teaching them the fundamentals of music, writing and
how to Rap.

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