"The world has lost an exemplary woman. Mexico, has lost one of those fighters that it needs, and a piece of our heart has been ripped out."
Today marks the one year anniversary of the untimely death of Subcomandante Ramona, feminist, activist, sister, teacher, and fighter of the Zapatistas in southern Mexico. She died of a curable kidney condition while en route to a health clinic from an isolated mountain community. Her untimely departure from this world is mourned by me today. She died as a result of the circumstances that she spent her life fighting to change.
She was responsible for writing the Revolutionary Laws of Women and promoting the Indigenous Women’s Petition, which demanded that the needs of women be immediately addressed:
We the indigenous campesina women ask for the immediate solution to our urgent needs, which the government has never met:
1) Child-birth clinics with gynecologists so that campesina women can receive necessary medical attention.
2) Day-care centers must be built in the communities.
3) We ask the government to send enough food for the children in all the communities such as: milk, corn starch, rice, corn, soy, oil, beans, cheese, eggs, sugar, soup, oatmeal, etc.
4) Kitchens and dining halls, with all the necessary equipment, must be built for the children in the communities.
5) Corn mills and tortilla-makers must be placed in the communities according to the number of families in each area.
6) We should be given the materials necessary to raise chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs, etc., including technical advice and veterinary services.
7) We ask for the ovens and materials necessary to build bakeries.
8) We want craft workshops to be built, including machinery and materials.
9) There must be a market where crafts can be sold at a fair price.
10) Schools must be built where women can receive technical training.
11) There must be preschools and day-care centers in the rural communities where the children can have fun and grow up strong, morally and physically.
12) As women we must have sufficient transportation to move from one place to another and to transport the products of the various projects we will have.
To learn more about Ramona, go here. You can read her obituary here.
Rest in Peace, hermana.
10 comments:
What a fine human being. R.I.P.
yes, rest in peace, subcomandante ramona.
you are missed and not forgotten.
I like the new look. Thanks for the link. :)
Have you been <a href="http://www.theunapologeticmexican.org/elgrito/">here</a>? That artist seems to be a kindred spirit, and is a good source of information.
Humans and society have only survived because of the efforts of women. This has been anthropologically proven over and over and will probably never end.
If not for people such as her all
men and women would have succumb to bacteria millennia's ago.
Too many of our best and brightest are lost to us in such a manner, while some of the worst and most incompetent among us stay alive forever because an accident of birth gave them access to the best of everything.
This is truly a tragedy and a loss, and it's a shame Americans won't learn about it.
Great post. Thanks.
To summarize....she actually had the nerve to ask for.......nothing more than a decent life!
Qué pérdida triste. Thank you for this post. Her desire and hard work for women's rights is astounding. Women in the world must follow this great example and honor her life. Have you heard of FINCA International? http://www.villagebanking.org/
I love this organization.
May I please link to your blog MS Liberty?
Sicily Sue,
Thank you for your visit, and for the link to FINCA. I will check it out!
I am flattered that you consider my site to be link-worthy. Of course you can. :)
A good choice! Thanks; I didn't know.
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