Greetings from the students, faculty and staff who are spending the semester in Cuernavaca, Mexico with the Center for Global Education. Our program is called "Migration and Globalization: Engaging Our Communities." We are interested in issues of migration, globalization, gender, the environment, social justice, sustainable development, and peace. We look forward to sharing our insights and adventures with you throughout our semester abroad!
lunes, 20 de abril de 2009
Protest and Social Change in Mexico
By Kimberly Griffin
“In defense of water, land, and air” in a mural in Cuernavaca, Mexico, painted by a local youth activist group
A couple of weeks ago, we had a series of great speakers from different parts of Mexico, and one theme that I noticed across the talks was the different methods of protesting.Even though not all of the speakers identified themselves as activists, they were all actively working to see the change that they believed needed to happen.I used to only picture protest as a strike or a march on the capital lawn, but through these past two weeks, I’ve realized that protest comes in many different forms, and I think all different types are needed in order to make change happen.
One of the speakers, Dr. Rosalba Aida Hernandez Castillo, spoke about indigenous women and justice from her experiences working in a center for victims of abuse in Chiapas, a state with a high percentage of indigenous peoples.She worked actively to try to change the state of indigenous women in Southern Mexico by working directly with the women to try to determine what their needs were.Another speaker, Nadia Alvarado, is an Afro-Mexican from the state of Guerrero who has spent years researching the history of Afro-Mexicans in Mexico.She said that although she originally wanted to educate everyone about the prevalence of the African heritage in Mexico, she soon realized that it was most important to start with her own family.Now her activism is directed toward trying to encourage her family not to deny their black heritage.Her protest is not advocating for any specific policy, but rather just trying to change the way her family sees their own history.
We also spoke with a panel of speakers about sexual diversity.All three are involved in an activist group that works to promote LGBTTQI-friendly legislation and awareness.The group organizes a march in Mexico City and here in Cuernavaca every year, so that is obviously an important part of their protest.However, just living out their lives as they want is also a form of protest.One speaker was a lesbian woman, one a transgender female, and one a gay man.All three of those identities are highly stigmatized, so just living their lives as openly non-heterosexual is an important was of protesting heterosexism.
This theme of protest also continued while I was traveling over Holy Week.While walking through the streets of OaxacaCity, I walked past some graffiti on a wall that had several different protest elements.Written on it were things like “Meat = murder,” “Go vegan,” “Free your mind,” and “EZLN.”This type of protest also reminded me of several of the protest murals I have seen around the city of Cuernavaca.These are painted by an activist group here in Cuernavaca that works to build community solidarity around a variety of issues.
All of these things, from refusing to let your family deny their heritage, to living an openly non-heterosexual life, to tagging a wall with some political graffiti, are different types of protest.They are all inspired and sustained by a desire to see a change in your world.Because people vary so much, they are affected by different things, so these different methods of protest are all necessary if activists are going to be able to make the changes they want to see.
“Free your mind” and “Meat = murder” on awall in Oaxaca City, Mexico
I really liked your post, because it made me reflect on the different types of protest that I have seen in my time in Thailand. Recently, we were at a homestay in a village fighting against the construction of a potash mine. The last day that we were there, we split up into three groups and had exchanges with different leaders in the community.
One of the exchanges was with a group of women called the “Iron Ladies.” This is a group of mostly middle-aged women who protest the mine in outward ways, like going to a demonstration at a local provincial hall. We all had homestays with “Iron Ladies” as our moms, and most of us were impressed by their feisty and strong personalities. Another exchange was with the “Core Leaders,” who are in charge of the Conservation Club in the area. These leaders mainly focus on organizing community members to inform them of the effects of the mine. They meet every day and use the constitution as a tool to strike back against the government and the mine. The third exchange was with a group of youth who are trying to organize educational projects, including a camp to teach others about conservation methods. As you wrote, there are so many different types of protesting. These three groups are all working towards a common goal, to prevent the mine from being built, but are going at it in different ways.
It is also interesting to think about my role in protesting. I am protesting against capitalism and Western values right now by coming on a program which is exposing me to alternative and more sustainable ways of life.
Your post made me start thinking a lot about different forms of protest. My 20-year-oll sister in one of my host families lives in a community near which a corporation wants to build a potash mine that would probably have negative effects on the community. Potash is an ingredient in chemical fertilizers, so she is currently studying agricultural engineering at her university. When she graduates, she plans to work with some friends to develop their own compost and promote organic farming in the area. I think this sort of protest that requires making a change in your life so you are really living what you believe is one of the most powerful but also one of the most difficult types. At the same time, she has taken more aggressive, immediate measures to protest, such as publicly denouncing a professor who works closely with the mining company to prove that its operations will not harm the environment or the surrounding communities. It's interesting to think of all of the creative ways that we can learn from each other and incorporate these protests into our lives.
“If we can adjust our own actions, we can attempt to have social change.” -Suvit Gulapwong (NGO).
Yesterday, we had our last exchange with Suvit Gulapwong, an NGO who works with all three activist groups Julia mentioned. Suvit’s idea of practicing what you believe in fighting for before trying to change the actions of others is important. It’s important to keep in mind because I think identifying what social change needs to happen is a lot easier than consciously living the social change you would like to see prosper.
For example, I’ve been struggling with this idea of social change because I’ve become more aware of the way I live my life and the way I feel is ethical. Throughout the units I’ve been exposed to the injustices that development has brought to many people in Thailand. I’ve also become aware that I have played a role in creating these injustices. So now I am faced with the idea of conscious participation. The simple daily choices I make can either can support the current system of development or actively protest it.
I like what Julia said about our role of protest as study abroad students. We are actively seeking to see the world in a new way, to understand life from the perspectives of countries very different from our own. I think that in that way we are indirectly showing other countries that they don't have to be a neo-liberal, capitalist society like the US; we are showing them that we value their culture and their society exactly the way it is.
Everything people have said here is really inspiring— in talking about protest, we’re talking about the question that, I think, has been on all our minds lately here in CIEE Thailand: What can I do about it? And I think that Piper has it exactly right, we need to start by changing ourselves. Really, that’s the hardest part. I can tell other people how to live, but it doesn’t mean much until I do it myself. P’Suvit, the NGO, talked about this in our exchange with him—about how we each need to define enough and sufficient in our own lives. He was also talking about something else I found really interesting, and what Kimberly wrote reminded me of this—he spoke of the different forms a struggle can take on. Some are legal battles, using the law and courts to make a case. Some are direct confrontations with the government—protests, letter writing, boycotts. Some initiatives are directly local and grassroots, avoiding the government altogether, and some are purely academic and involve civil society. I asked him which is the most effective form of struggle and how an organizer knows which method to use in a community. He answered that as an NGO, he has to live in a community for a while, “get to know all the town dogs,” really know their situation inside and out before knowing how to best organize their struggle.
--Hannah Clark, CIEE Thailand Spring 2009, University of Michigan
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that it is actually illegal for foreigners to participate in politics here in Mexico (a law that is actively used to expel people from the country). I think that this reality has really forced me to think more creatively about what actions I can legally take here as personal protest. I also agree with Piper, in that we have to start by changing ourselves, however sometimes I find it difficult to always stay true to my convictions, especially as a traveler. For example, (at home) I avoid eating meat that I know has not been responsibly and humanely raised, yet I haven't been as conscious about my consumption of meet while here. I also try to avoid coke products, but sometimes a refreshing soda is just about all I want to drink. Looking back, these seem like slightly cursory examples, but my point is that even changing yourself can be a difficult process.
Hey Kimberly, I loved reading your post! This whole semester it seems like we’ve all been thinking about social change and how it happens. Here in Thailand we learned about and observed many different ways to go about creating social change. I see protest (including all the different kinds you’ve observed in Mexico) as just one avenue for social change. A couple group members attended a protest during Unit 3 to show opposition to a gold mine which operates less than a kilometer from local villages. They stood along side villagers, clad in the bright green “No Mine” T-shirts. During Unit 1, we learned about the organic farming movement in nearby Yasothorn province. I am now realizing that my host mom, simply by growing all her rice and vegetables organically, is creating social change and helping to power an entire movement. Throughout all our units we’ve been practicing a cooperative educational model, in which we are all teaching and learning all the time. This is social change at work also. By having these conversations and learning in this way we are changing the way education works.
Social change can come in all forms. It can look like a hundred green shirt marching to the provincial governor’s office. It can look like one woman weeding her vegetable garden. It can look like a group of American college students having meaningful conversations with each other. Thanks for a thought provoking post!
I really enjoyed this blog, for I am interested in how vast the different varieties of protesting there are. As Kimberly and the others noted, protesting can be carried out in many different forums and medias. Now when I think about the word protest, I often also think about its relationship to social change. Protesting can be a very powerful tool for a well organized community who is interested in social change. Social change, like protest, has countless variations. In Thailand, I have seen many different variations of social change, which constantly reminds me to never settle for mediocre. A few imaginative social change movements that I am familiar with are a human rights conference of Thai and US students. The Assembly of the Poor is an organization of highly organized villagers who are affected by human rights violations all over Thailand. It also represents a social change movement. The CIEE students also make up a social change movement. I find myself blown away by the above three examples, but there are many others.
I like the idea of recognizing other forms of activism as forms of protest. Using that lens to reflect on my time spent here in Thailand I would have to say the form of protest I have appreciated the most was the lifestyle of a man we met named P’Bamrung. P’Bamrung has used his land and position of the head of the local governing body to encourage a self-sufficient lifestyle. His house is built upon a small lake filled with fishes and he has turned most of his crops in to a large community forest where food can be gathered. As head of the TAO (the local government) he uses government funds to hold workshops teaching the local villages how to garden and share natives seeds. The goals of living self-sufficiently are to reconnect with the land and reduce our strain on the world. In addition, it serves as a powerful tool to fight the government and industrialization by creating the ability removing one’s self from the market place and “off the grid”. -Lukas Winfield
I have really appreciated reading this blog and comment because it helped me to make sense of some of the things that I've been juggling around my mind for the last couple weeks.
I never considered myself to be an activist or act out in protest for something I believe in. But is that not to say that me explaining my feelings to those I care about and who may not fully understand the problem is one way of actively pursuing change in my own life?
I think that I now am able to use what I learned in Thailand about people and social movements and try to find a place for that in my own life, the way that I see it fitting in. I am happy that I now am able to identify more with activists and people who work to promote social change, and excited to continue a personal change and implement outwards to my life.
Your blog post certainly has got me thinking! Here in Thailand students have witness both the tragedies, triumphs, and failures of protesting. As my peers have mentioned, we have seen protesting at local levels through tactics such as writing letters and picketing provincial halls. We have also seen the large scale protests against the government in Bangkok.
During the time of the big protests in Bangkok--when violence ensued--many of us students were worried. Worried, and scared for the safety of protesters, ourselves, and Thailand as a country in the midst of internal instability.
Reading the section of your post about the LGBTTQI march, I wondered is this protest or is this celebration? This display of ‘protest’ is so joyful and tame compared to the forms of protest that plagued Bangkok for a week. Does labeling a parade a protest negate the idea of celebration for the sake celebrating? (Can anything be, without having a greater political meaning?)
I've enjoyed reading your blog entry as well as the comments that have followed. In your blog entry you mention the issue of sexuality, and mention that by living openly as LGBQT, people are able to protest heterosexism. In Thailand the issue of sexuality is complicated and full of contradictions. There is three recognized genders in Thailand: male, female, and gratoi or ladyboy. The ladyboy is a male to female transgender, and is recognized in many stages of transition. The existence of a third gender appears to say that this is accepted and that sexuality is an open topic. However, Thai culture is very reserved when it comes to sexuality, a confusing contradiction, since ladyboys are commonly overly sexualized. It seems that the existence of ladyboys serves to openly protest and examine the reserved nature of most of Thai society.
I find it especially interesting that both of our programs allow for us to garner knowledge on so many extensive issues connected to development and globalization, whether through social change, protest, culture or sexuality.
I really enjoyed your post, it made me reflect on the other types of protests I have witnessed during my time in Thailand. I recently stayed in a community facing the impending construction of a Potash mine. If this mine is built the surrounding communities face ground subsidence, salty soil, water and air pollution. This community has protested in front of government officials, the Khon Kaen University professor conducting the EIA, and the company. The Iron Ladies, a group of women protestors, are notorious for pushing with sticks against the police and then grabbing there precious part so that they can get through. But the non-traditional and interesting form of protest that is occurring in Udon is the villagers are switching to organic farming. They are turning their back on potash so that they can protect their villages and other ones that are facing the dangers of potash mining.
Kimberly, One part of your post specifically stuck out at me. While describing the LGBTTQI parade, you mention that for those taking part in the parade, "just living out their lives as they want is also a form of protest". I do not think this is a fair statement to make. A person must chose whether or not they are protesting at any point in time. A gay person is simply living their life as the person they are, not protesting hetornormativity, just as a straight person living their life is not necessarily protesting homosexuality and living as a woman is not to protest maleness. Perhaps choosing to take part in this parade is a protest or publicizing their sexuality is a protest, but by simply living their lives, these people are not dissenters. Protesting is an active thing that a person must actively chose to do.
Responding to Kim’s original blog: through my internship with the independent commission on human rights, I have mostly been working alongside what I would call “professional activists.” These people don’t receive salaries, but spend each day every day working on various struggles. They don’t have schedules, but instead go to meetings, marches, protests, and reunions with various groups to support their causes. This lifestyle is incredibly tiring and it was difficult for me to understand how these people were able to manage without a salary and with such a crazy schedule. However, after speaking with them, there was a consensus that among these professional activists, there is a strong solidarity where they all help out each other, and this is enough, in many cases, to keep them fighting. One of my favorite quotes was when one of my professional activist friends said, “There’s just always people that have to work to remedy these huge problems in the world.”
In terms of what Catherine noted about the “ladyboys” in Thailand, I think it is fascinating. It does seem as though it would signify a progressive outlook that negates the male-female dichotomy throughout most societies. However, I also wonder how much of it is more like an exhibition, a novelty, or a show. My mom traveled to Thailand, and told me she had gone to see a “Ladyboy show,” which she explained was a bunch of these “ladyboys” dancing around on a stage. I wonder if this actually helps people to respect and acknowledge the presence of this third gender, or whether it makes it into a sort of like people in the circus instead of respected human beings??
I much like the other 16 CIEE Thailand posts, lived in a village where the Italian-Thai company wants to build a potash mine that would ruin the soil and these villagers livelihoods forever. But, the identity of this village has become their protest of this mine that is involved in every aspect of life. There are three organization, the core leaders, the conservation youth group, and the iron ladies, who have all untied in an effort to stop this mine and maintain their way of life.
I myself had an exchange with the Iron Ladies, who were in fact iron protesting not only the government but professors and other officials that are in support of the mine. Upon, asking the 30 -60 year old women their protesting methods, one will see them mime grabbing men’s balls because that is exactly what they do and have done. These women refuse to go unnoticed and if that involves public indecency they will do it. Clearly, protesting is a act of both personal and community defiance in times of need, especially in Thailand.
Our last unit of study here in Thailand took us to Udon Thani province, where villagers have been protesting the start of a mineral mine that would destroy the land, its resources, and the way of life of the people. It is an uphill battle if I’ve ever known one. Potash is the mineral of focus here. It is a key ingredient in fertilizer, used by millions around Thailand in farming. My homestay mother told me it seems like the majority of the country, the government, and the powerful corporation, Italian-Thai are against their cause. Still they fight. They fight so hard and so often, that it has become part of their culture. My homestay mother cooks and works at home, but each week she also organizes her community to take action. She understands that if she stops even for a moment, the fight could falter and the community could lose. The Ital-Thai corporation is pouring money into the communities around hers, hoping to sway the majority with bribes. My homestay mother’s community, however, will not be moved on this issue. They will not be walked over, and now they are gaining a national spotlight for their efforts. Persistence is often the only way to win against a towering force.
I think this is an interesting blog topic to explore different forms of protest from painted slogans to personal transformations. I hope one day to find out more about the framing of identity politics in Mexico in terms of gender and racial identities. I wonder if there is any framing around intersectional identity politics (to be both Afro-Mexican and LGBTTQI-identified for example), and how that has affected organizing around these issues. Do activists within various issues see overlap in their respective fights? Do they forge solidarity relationships?
While my semester with CIEE Thailand has not emphasized the study of identity politics, we see a lot of connectivity between various development issues we have studied from the construction of large transnational corporation-funded dam projects to the construction of a transnational electricity grid. We have seen a community affected by the construction of power lines upon their land build their campaign around solidarity with a community affected by potash mining and river dredging. There is an understanding that they are affected by the same “big development project” and thus, see necessity in coming together for their respective struggles.
I always think it is difficult talking about social movements. Social movements is an issue of confllict of ethics. A subordinate group fights because it has been oppressed by the dominant group. Today we talked to a panel on democracy and what one of the speakers said I think is really important and speaks very true to social movements. He mentioned that yes, globalization of democracy has opened up the idea for individualism of thought and thus the opportunity for groups, like women to rise out of the kitchen and form organizations and fight for their rights, but the other side of reality is that farmers today are still willing to sell their ejido communal land to the government so that they can buy a car, and forget the cultural significance of their historic land. I think in the context of social movements that people will fight for something that they believe in, but it's because their ethics are in conflict with the ethics of the opposing force/culture. People living in poverty in the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico because they have been pushed out of their land (now privatized) also are wanted pushed out of the rainforests because some environmentalists believe they are not properly taking care of the land. The Zapatista liberation National Party believe, however, that the rainforest land orginally and historically belonged to those that worked it with their hands. Therefore, I think it is interesting to understand where exactly our ethics lie historically too because we might be fighting for something that is also reflective of the trend that our ountry is going. For example, women fight for individuality in their rights, but those rights come from the US historical context, the country that is imposing so much of its ideas in our heads, which is not such a good thing if we talk about the farmer previously mentioned.
I have been thinking about all of this "methods of protest" stuff too recently, as it also has some implications reguarding what I wrote about in my blog about the landfill. Recently, a speaker involved in creating recycling centers here in Cuernavaca said that he does not consider himself an activist. Later though he said that his work was an act in opposition to the creation of the new landfill, which has made me think. If one can do something that works toward change, it may be better than just speaking out for that change. Both certainly have their place in society. As far as decisions about sexuality are concerned, I think that the personal can be political, but people should have the right not to have the personal politicized. Concerning Vinnie's last comment though, which mentioned the EZLN in Chiapas, one tactic that we have not mentioned yet is the most desperate last-resort tactic: force (using weapons and threatening or carrying out harm to enemies). As I understand it, this was the tactic that the EZLN used in its early years when it was still taking control of cities. In those early days though they were dismissed as just another Central American Guerrilla force. Their more recent strategy involves touring the country and trying to convince the people. Now that I think about it, it's strange to me that they fell back on "non-violence" after having already tried "violence," whereas I typically expect the reverse order. I put these terms in quotes because the EZLN may not have debated these issues in the same manner as the U.S. civil rights movement did (an ideological and often religious manner). Communities can be unique, and I worry about lumping movements into categories. For example, the people of the town of Atenco told us that they were non-violent. I have (in my own research) seen pictures of their involvement against the police takeover of a space used for selling flowers (a takeover meant to prepare the space for a Wal-Mart) which involved Moletov coctails (something the corporate media was quick to emphasize). From what I heard though from the people I talked to, they would probably argue that they were defending themselves and the land, and not initiating violence. Given some of the accusations about the treatment of female prisoners from Atenco, I would say that the worst "violence" was carried out by the police.
Concerning the arts though, I think that one thing that has inspired me here in Mexico is the way in which they have served here as a form of protest, often connecting past to present. One mural in Atenco, for instance, showed the resistance to the airport alongside earlier Mexican heroes Emiliano Zapata and Flores Magon. Of course Mexico was, during the 1930s the home of the Mexican Muralist movement, which from the museum murals I have seen in Cuernavaca and in D.F. often tried to sneak messages about the present times of the artists in with lessons about the past depicted in the murals. The modern political art that I have seen is often far more overt, perhaps because the clients for it are not museums but other people who agree with the mural painters' cause. Also, the mural that I saw in Atenco was done by a collective not an individual, meaning that loyalty to the cause was more important than personal gain.
Volunteers, including in one case myself, painted several murals as a form of protest here in Cuernavaca. My inability to paint a cactus accurately hardly mattered as far as what we were trying to say. As someone studying writing and dabbling in visual arts, I've been thinking about what changes I can bring about with what I create.
Thank you for your post. Just like everyone else has mentioned, your post in particular sparked much thought about the concept and expression of protesting. Throughout our time in Thailand, we have lived with so many communities struggling to fight against the State, corporations and often times other communities for what they believe are their fundamental rights. In every form of protest, be it marching to the government buildings in Bangkok, forming a youth network to promote, educate and support human rights all over Isaan or simply buying and selling at the Green Market, a local organic initiative started by farmers in Yasothorn province, we have seen the passion and conviction of villagers and students alike. With that said, I think what has struck me most about the notion of protesting for human rights, particularly in the context of the communities in which we have stayed, is how fragmented this movement really is. During one of our exchanges in the slum communities, the question was posed to us "What do you think about the fact that Thai government is protecting Burmese refugees. They should protect their people first, before they start protecting people who are not Thai." This question was startling for everyone. In and of itself, this was a form of protest we had never recognized before. Protesting against the protection of one individual, in favor of another. How could a human rights activist argue that the human rights of one group of people are more important than those of another? This is by no means an attempt to discredit the rights of any community, or their intentions in advocating for their own rights- it is simply an effort to highlight another form of protest that really stuck out to me. If there is anything I have learned from my experiences this semester, is it that human rights is not black and white. For every human rights issue, there are a million elements to balance. This is only one example, but it is definitely something to think about.
ets of 
I really liked your post, because it made me reflect on the different types of protest that I have seen in my time in Thailand. Recently, we were at a homestay in a village fighting against the construction of a potash mine. The last day that we were there, we split up into three groups and had exchanges with different leaders in the community.
ResponderEliminarOne of the exchanges was with a group of women called the “Iron Ladies.” This is a group of mostly middle-aged women who protest the mine in outward ways, like going to a demonstration at a local provincial hall. We all had homestays with “Iron Ladies” as our moms, and most of us were impressed by their feisty and strong personalities. Another exchange was with the “Core Leaders,” who are in charge of the Conservation Club in the area. These leaders mainly focus on organizing community members to inform them of the effects of the mine. They meet every day and use the constitution as a tool to strike back against the government and the mine. The third exchange was with a group of youth who are trying to organize educational projects, including a camp to teach others about conservation methods. As you wrote, there are so many different types of protesting. These three groups are all working towards a common goal, to prevent the mine from being built, but are going at it in different ways.
It is also interesting to think about my role in protesting. I am protesting against capitalism and Western values right now by coming on a program which is exposing me to alternative and more sustainable ways of life.
Julia Lee - CIEE Thailand
Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarYour post made me start thinking a lot about different forms of protest. My 20-year-oll sister in one of my host families lives in a community near which a corporation wants to build a potash mine that would probably have negative effects on the community. Potash is an ingredient in chemical fertilizers, so she is currently studying agricultural engineering at her university. When she graduates, she plans to work with some friends to develop their own compost and promote organic farming in the area. I think this sort of protest that requires making a change in your life so you are really living what you believe is one of the most powerful but also one of the most difficult types. At the same time, she has taken more aggressive, immediate measures to protest, such as publicly denouncing a professor who works closely with the mining company to prove that its operations will not harm the environment or the surrounding communities. It's interesting to think of all of the creative ways that we can learn from each other and incorporate these protests into our lives.
Meghan Ragany – CIEE Spring 2009
“If we can adjust our own actions, we can attempt to have social change.” -Suvit Gulapwong (NGO).
ResponderEliminarYesterday, we had our last exchange with Suvit Gulapwong, an NGO who works with all three activist groups Julia mentioned. Suvit’s idea of practicing what you believe in fighting for before trying to change the actions of others is important. It’s important to keep in mind because I think identifying what social change needs to happen is a lot easier than consciously living the social change you would like to see prosper.
For example, I’ve been struggling with this idea of social change because I’ve become more aware of the way I live my life and the way I feel is ethical. Throughout the units I’ve been exposed to the injustices that development has brought to many people in Thailand. I’ve also become aware that I have played a role in creating these injustices. So now I am faced with the idea of conscious participation. The simple daily choices I make can either can support the current system of development or actively
protest it.
-Piper Harrington CIEE Spring 2009
I like what Julia said about our role of protest as study abroad students. We are actively seeking to see the world in a new way, to understand life from the perspectives of countries very different from our own. I think that in that way we are indirectly showing other countries that they don't have to be a neo-liberal, capitalist society like the US; we are showing them that we value their culture and their society exactly the way it is.
ResponderEliminarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarEverything people have said here is really inspiring— in talking about protest, we’re talking about the question that, I think, has been on all our minds lately here in CIEE Thailand: What can I do about it? And I think that Piper has it exactly right, we need to start by changing ourselves. Really, that’s the hardest part. I can tell other people how to live, but it doesn’t mean much until I do it myself. P’Suvit, the NGO, talked about this in our exchange with him—about how we each need to define enough and sufficient in our own lives. He was also talking about something else I found really interesting, and what Kimberly wrote reminded me of this—he spoke of the different forms a struggle can take on. Some are legal battles, using the law and courts to make a case. Some are direct confrontations with the government—protests, letter writing, boycotts. Some initiatives are directly local and grassroots, avoiding the government altogether, and some are purely academic and involve civil society. I asked him which is the most effective form of struggle and how an organizer knows which method to use in a community. He answered that as an NGO, he has to live in a community for a while, “get to know all the town dogs,” really know their situation inside and out before knowing how to best organize their struggle.
ResponderEliminar--Hannah Clark, CIEE Thailand Spring 2009, University of Michigan
One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that it is actually illegal for foreigners to participate in politics here in Mexico (a law that is actively used to expel people from the country). I think that this reality has really forced me to think more creatively about what actions I can legally take here as personal protest. I also agree with Piper, in that we have to start by changing ourselves, however sometimes I find it difficult to always stay true to my convictions, especially as a traveler. For example, (at home) I avoid eating meat that I know has not been responsibly and humanely raised, yet I haven't been as conscious about my consumption of meet while here. I also try to avoid coke products, but sometimes a refreshing soda is just about all I want to drink. Looking back, these seem like slightly cursory examples, but my point is that even changing yourself can be a difficult process.
ResponderEliminar--amina
Hey Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarI loved reading your post! This whole semester it seems like we’ve all been thinking about social change and how it happens. Here in Thailand we learned about and observed many different ways to go about creating social change. I see protest (including all the different kinds you’ve observed in Mexico) as just one avenue for social change. A couple group members attended a protest during Unit 3 to show opposition to a gold mine which operates less than a kilometer from local villages. They stood along side villagers, clad in the bright green “No Mine” T-shirts. During Unit 1, we learned about the organic farming movement in nearby Yasothorn province. I am now realizing that my host mom, simply by growing all her rice and vegetables organically, is creating social change and helping to power an entire movement. Throughout all our units we’ve been practicing a cooperative educational model, in which we are all teaching and learning all the time. This is social change at work also. By having these conversations and learning in this way we are changing the way education works.
Social change can come in all forms. It can look like a hundred green shirt marching to the provincial governor’s office. It can look like one woman weeding her vegetable garden. It can look like a group of American college students having meaningful conversations with each other. Thanks for a thought provoking post!
Catherine, CIEE Thailand
I really enjoyed this blog, for I am interested in how vast the different varieties of protesting there are. As Kimberly and the others noted, protesting can be carried out in many different forums and medias. Now when I think about the word protest, I often also think about its relationship to social change. Protesting can be a very powerful tool for a well organized community who is interested in social change. Social change, like protest, has countless variations. In Thailand, I have seen many different variations of social change, which constantly reminds me to never settle for mediocre. A few imaginative social change movements that I am familiar with are a human rights conference of Thai and US students. The Assembly of the Poor is an organization of highly organized villagers who are affected by human rights violations all over Thailand. It also represents a social change movement. The CIEE students also make up a social change movement. I find myself blown away by the above three examples, but there are many others.
ResponderEliminarSam, CIEE Thailand
I like the idea of recognizing other forms of activism as forms of protest. Using that lens to reflect on my time spent here in Thailand I would have to say the form of protest I have appreciated the most was the lifestyle of a man we met named P’Bamrung. P’Bamrung has used his land and position of the head of the local governing body to encourage a self-sufficient lifestyle. His house is built upon a small lake filled with fishes and he has turned most of his crops in to a large community forest where food can be gathered. As head of the TAO (the local government) he uses government funds to hold workshops teaching the local villages how to garden and share natives seeds.
ResponderEliminarThe goals of living self-sufficiently are to reconnect with the land and reduce our strain on the world. In addition, it serves as a powerful tool to fight the government and industrialization by creating the ability removing one’s self from the market place and “off the grid”.
-Lukas Winfield
Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarI have really appreciated reading this blog and comment because it helped me to make sense of some of the things that I've been juggling around my mind for the last couple weeks.
I never considered myself to be an activist or act out in protest for something I believe in. But is that not to say that me explaining my feelings to those I care about and who may not fully understand the problem is one way of actively pursuing change in my own life?
I think that I now am able to use what I learned in Thailand about people and social movements and try to find a place for that in my own life, the way that I see it fitting in. I am happy that I now am able to identify more with activists and people who work to promote social change, and excited to continue a personal change and implement outwards to my life.
-Justin Crosbie, CIEE Thailand
Your blog post certainly has got me thinking! Here in Thailand students have witness both the tragedies, triumphs, and failures of protesting. As my peers have mentioned, we have seen protesting at local levels through tactics such as writing letters and picketing provincial halls. We have also seen the large scale protests against the government in Bangkok.
ResponderEliminarDuring the time of the big protests in Bangkok--when violence ensued--many of us students were worried. Worried, and scared for the safety of protesters, ourselves, and Thailand as a country in the midst of internal instability.
Reading the section of your post about the LGBTTQI march, I wondered is this protest or is this celebration? This display of ‘protest’ is so joyful and tame compared to the forms of protest that plagued Bangkok for a week. Does labeling a parade a protest negate the idea of celebration for the sake celebrating? (Can anything be, without having a greater political meaning?)
Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarI've enjoyed reading your blog entry as well as the comments that have followed. In your blog entry you mention the issue of sexuality, and mention that by living openly as LGBQT, people are able to protest heterosexism. In Thailand the issue of sexuality is complicated and full of contradictions. There is three recognized genders in Thailand: male, female, and gratoi or ladyboy. The ladyboy is a male to female transgender, and is recognized in many stages of transition. The existence of a third gender appears to say that this is accepted and that sexuality is an open topic. However, Thai culture is very reserved when it comes to sexuality, a confusing contradiction, since ladyboys are commonly overly sexualized. It seems that the existence of ladyboys serves to openly protest and examine the reserved nature of most of Thai society.
I find it especially interesting that both of our programs allow for us to garner knowledge on so many extensive issues connected to development and globalization, whether through social change, protest, culture or sexuality.
Eliza Leavitt- CIEE Thailand
Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarI really enjoyed your post, it made me reflect on the other types of protests I have witnessed during my time in Thailand. I recently stayed in a community facing the impending construction of a Potash mine. If this mine is built the surrounding communities face ground subsidence, salty soil, water and air pollution. This community has protested in front of government officials, the Khon Kaen University professor conducting the EIA, and the company. The Iron Ladies, a group of women protestors, are notorious for pushing with sticks against the police and then grabbing there precious part so that they can get through. But the non-traditional and interesting form of protest that is occurring in Udon is the villagers are switching to organic farming. They are turning their back on potash so that they can protect their villages and other ones that are facing the dangers of potash mining.
-Shannon, CIEE Thailand
Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarOne part of your post specifically stuck out at me. While describing the LGBTTQI parade, you mention that for those taking part in the parade, "just living out their lives as they want is also a form of protest". I do not think this is a fair statement to make. A person must chose whether or not they are protesting at any point in time. A gay person is simply living their life as the person they are, not protesting hetornormativity, just as a straight person living their life is not necessarily protesting homosexuality and living as a woman is not to protest maleness. Perhaps choosing to take part in this parade is a protest or publicizing their sexuality is a protest, but by simply living their lives, these people are not dissenters. Protesting is an active thing that a person must actively chose to do.
-- Margo Silverman
Responding to Kim’s original blog: through my internship with the independent commission on human rights, I have mostly been working alongside what I would call “professional activists.” These people don’t receive salaries, but spend each day every day working on various struggles. They don’t have schedules, but instead go to meetings, marches, protests, and reunions with various groups to support their causes. This lifestyle is incredibly tiring and it was difficult for me to understand how these people were able to manage without a salary and with such a crazy schedule. However, after speaking with them, there was a consensus that among these professional activists, there is a strong solidarity where they all help out each other, and this is enough, in many cases, to keep them fighting. One of my favorite quotes was when one of my professional activist friends said, “There’s just always people that have to work to remedy these huge problems in the world.”
ResponderEliminarIn terms of what Catherine noted about the “ladyboys” in Thailand, I think it is fascinating. It does seem as though it would signify a progressive outlook that negates the male-female dichotomy throughout most societies. However, I also wonder how much of it is more like an exhibition, a novelty, or a show. My mom traveled to Thailand, and told me she had gone to see a “Ladyboy show,” which she explained was a bunch of these “ladyboys” dancing around on a stage. I wonder if this actually helps people to respect and acknowledge the presence of this third gender, or whether it makes it into a sort of like people in the circus instead of respected human beings??
I much like the other 16 CIEE Thailand posts, lived in a village where the Italian-Thai company wants to build a potash mine that would ruin the soil and these villagers livelihoods forever. But, the identity of this village has become their protest of this mine that is involved in every aspect of life. There are three organization, the core leaders, the conservation youth group, and the iron ladies, who have all untied in an effort to stop this mine and maintain their way of life.
ResponderEliminarI myself had an exchange with the Iron Ladies, who were in fact iron protesting not only the government but professors and other officials that are in support of the mine. Upon, asking the 30 -60 year old women their protesting methods, one will see them mime grabbing men’s balls because that is exactly what they do and have done. These women refuse to go unnoticed and if that involves public indecency they will do it. Clearly, protesting is a act of both personal and community defiance in times of need, especially in Thailand.
Our last unit of study here in Thailand took us to Udon Thani province, where villagers have been protesting the start of a mineral mine that would destroy the land, its resources, and the way of life of the people. It is an uphill battle if I’ve ever known one. Potash is the mineral of focus here. It is a key ingredient in fertilizer, used by millions around Thailand in farming. My homestay mother told me it seems like the majority of the country, the government, and the powerful corporation, Italian-Thai are against their cause. Still they fight. They fight so hard and so often, that it has become part of their culture. My homestay mother cooks and works at home, but each week she also organizes her community to take action. She understands that if she stops even for a moment, the fight could falter and the community could lose. The Ital-Thai corporation is pouring money into the communities around hers, hoping to sway the majority with bribes. My homestay mother’s community, however, will not be moved on this issue. They will not be walked over, and now they are gaining a national spotlight for their efforts. Persistence is often the only way to win against a towering force.
ResponderEliminarLuke Rampersad - CIEE Thailand Spring '09
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ResponderEliminarI think this is an interesting blog topic to explore different forms of protest from painted slogans to personal transformations. I hope one day to find out more about the framing of identity politics in Mexico in terms of gender and racial identities. I wonder if there is any framing around intersectional identity politics (to be both Afro-Mexican and LGBTTQI-identified for example), and how that has affected organizing around these issues. Do activists within various issues see overlap in their respective fights? Do they forge solidarity relationships?
ResponderEliminarWhile my semester with CIEE Thailand has not emphasized the study of identity politics, we see a lot of connectivity between various development issues we have studied from the construction of large transnational corporation-funded dam projects to the construction of a transnational electricity grid. We have seen a community affected by the construction of power lines upon their land build their campaign around solidarity with a community affected by potash mining and river dredging. There is an understanding that they are affected by the same “big development project” and thus, see necessity in coming together for their respective struggles.
-Muriel Leung, Sarah Lawrence College '10
I always think it is difficult talking about social movements. Social movements is an issue of confllict of ethics. A subordinate group fights because it has been oppressed by the dominant group. Today we talked to a panel on democracy and what one of the speakers said I think is really important and speaks very true to social movements. He mentioned that yes, globalization of democracy has opened up the idea for individualism of thought and thus the opportunity for groups, like women to rise out of the kitchen and form organizations and fight for their rights, but the other side of reality is that farmers today are still willing to sell their ejido communal land to the government so that they can buy a car, and forget the cultural significance of their historic land. I think in the context of social movements that people will fight for something that they believe in, but it's because their ethics are in conflict with the ethics of the opposing force/culture. People living in poverty in the rainforests of Chiapas, Mexico because they have been pushed out of their land (now privatized) also are wanted pushed out of the rainforests because some environmentalists believe they are not properly taking care of the land. The Zapatista liberation National Party believe, however, that the rainforest land orginally and historically belonged to those that worked it with their hands. Therefore, I think it is interesting to understand where exactly our ethics lie historically too because we might be fighting for something that is also reflective of the trend that our ountry is going. For example, women fight for individuality in their rights, but those rights come from the US historical context, the country that is imposing so much of its ideas in our heads, which is not such a good thing if we talk about the farmer previously mentioned.
ResponderEliminarI have been thinking about all of this "methods of protest" stuff too recently, as it also has some implications reguarding what I wrote about in my blog about the landfill.
ResponderEliminarRecently, a speaker involved in creating recycling centers here in Cuernavaca said that he does not consider himself an activist. Later though he said that his work was an act in opposition to the creation of the new landfill, which has made me think. If one can do something that works toward change, it may be better than just speaking out for that change. Both certainly have their place in society. As far as decisions about sexuality are concerned, I think that the personal can be political, but people should have the right not to have the personal politicized.
Concerning Vinnie's last comment though, which mentioned the EZLN in Chiapas, one tactic that we have not mentioned yet is the most desperate last-resort tactic: force (using weapons and threatening or carrying out harm to enemies). As I understand it, this was the tactic that the EZLN used in its early years when it was still taking control of cities. In those early days though they were dismissed as just another Central American Guerrilla force.
Their more recent strategy involves touring the country and trying to convince the people. Now that I think about it, it's strange to me that they fell back on "non-violence" after having already tried "violence," whereas I typically expect the reverse order. I put these terms in quotes because the EZLN may not have debated these issues in the same manner as the U.S. civil rights movement did (an ideological and often religious manner). Communities can be unique, and I worry about lumping movements into categories. For example, the people of the town of Atenco told us that they were non-violent. I have (in my own research) seen pictures of their involvement against the police takeover of a space used for selling flowers (a takeover meant to prepare the space for a Wal-Mart) which involved Moletov coctails (something the corporate media was quick to emphasize). From what I heard though from the people I talked to, they would probably argue that they were defending themselves and the land, and not initiating violence. Given some of the accusations about the treatment of female prisoners from Atenco, I would say that the worst "violence" was carried out by the police.
Concerning the arts though, I think that one thing that has inspired me here in Mexico is the way in which they have served here as a form of protest, often connecting past to present. One mural in Atenco, for instance, showed the resistance to the airport alongside earlier Mexican heroes Emiliano Zapata and Flores Magon. Of course Mexico was, during the 1930s the home of the Mexican Muralist movement, which from the museum murals I have seen in Cuernavaca and in D.F. often tried to sneak messages about the present times of the artists in with lessons about the past depicted in the murals. The modern political art that I have seen is often far more overt, perhaps because the clients for it are not museums but other people who agree with the mural painters' cause. Also, the mural that I saw in Atenco was done by a collective not an individual, meaning that loyalty to the cause was more important than personal gain.
Volunteers, including in one case myself, painted several murals as a form of protest here in Cuernavaca. My inability to paint a cactus accurately hardly mattered as far as what we were trying to say.
As someone studying writing and dabbling in visual arts, I've been thinking about what changes I can bring about with what I create.
Kimberly,
ResponderEliminarThank you for your post. Just like everyone else has mentioned, your post in particular sparked much thought about the concept and expression of protesting. Throughout our time in Thailand, we have lived with so many communities struggling to fight against the State, corporations and often times other communities for what they believe are their fundamental rights. In every form of protest, be it marching to the government buildings in Bangkok, forming a youth network to promote, educate and support human rights all over Isaan or simply buying and selling at the Green Market, a local organic initiative started by farmers in Yasothorn province, we have seen the passion and conviction of villagers and students alike. With that said, I think what has struck me most about the notion of protesting for human rights, particularly in the context of the communities in which we have stayed, is how fragmented this movement really is. During one of our exchanges in the slum communities, the question was posed to us "What do you think about the fact that Thai government is protecting Burmese refugees. They should protect their people first, before they start protecting people who are not Thai." This question was startling for everyone. In and of itself, this was a form of protest we had never recognized before. Protesting against the protection of one individual, in favor of another. How could a human rights activist argue that the human rights of one group of people are more important than those of another? This is by no means an attempt to discredit the rights of any community, or their intentions in advocating for their own rights- it is simply an effort to highlight another form of protest that really stuck out to me. If there is anything I have learned from my experiences this semester, is it that human rights is not black and white. For every human rights issue, there are a million elements to balance. This is only one example, but it is definitely something to think about.
--Alex CIEE Thailand