Blog #4: The Indigenous Tree of Life

The Indigenous Tree of Life 

After walking into the “meeting room” of the Universidad de la Tierra, one of the first things I noticed was the two trees  actually growing inside the building and through the roof. I knew then that this school was metaphorically, and literally, a much more open school than schools in the U.S. Trees are more than just a staple part of the environment, they are a symbol of life in many cultures, in particular the indigenous people.

The Indigenous communities responded to the corruption of the Mexican government with a powerful analogy; “They wrenched off our fruits. They ripped off our branches. They burnt our trunk. But they could not kill our roots,” (Revolution, pg. 13). The Mexican government, in hopes of exterminating the indigenous people, were stripping the communities of their traditional life and planting the industrialized corporations of first world countries.
Oaxaca has fifteen indigenous languages and is the only state in Mexico in which indigenous people represent a majority of the population, so the success of the Zapatista’s control over the government should not have been such a surprise. Those against the actions of the government argued, “we want a government in one place where everybody can see it, rooted in the people. We can come to that government and that government will offer us protection like the protection of a shade of a tree,” (Revolution pg. 7). To meet this request, the Zapatistas formed a communal relationship with the indigenous people to serve as their shade, and created a radical democracy to be the roots of their shade tree. In the Interview with Gustavo Esteva, he defined the term radical; “radical in Spanish means to come back to the roots, the root of the things,” (Pg. 7). By creating a radical democracy, the Zapatistas allowed people to take control of their own lives.

In a lecture by Gustavo Esteva, entitled The Revolution of the New Commons, he says “to change the reality, it is very difficult, next to impossible. To create something radically new is feasible,” (Pg. 11). Just as the Zapotista’s created a radically new democracy rather than change the existing government, Esteva created a radically new system of education, la Universidad de la Tierra. During our visit to UniTierra, we learned that it is a non-formal, alternative form of education. There are no teachers and students, just “mentors” and “learners”. The learners apprentice under the shade of their mentors.

Those against formal education say it is too standard and universal. “The people in the villages know very well that school prevents their children from learning what is needed to continue living in their communities, contributing to their common flourishing, and that of their soils, their places,” (Future, pg. 10). The Zapatista’s take pride in their cultural roots, so an educational system that contributes to “the soil of their roots” is an important addition to the indigenous community. I found this idea very interesting because of my own family roots. My grandfather, father, and brother all learned from each other to work on our family dairy farm; I am the first to attend college. They are still successful even without an education because they chose a different form of learning to make a living. Our roots are in the farm, and they continue to grow through the generations. The indigenous communities have planted their roots in Oaxaca and through their own control in government and education their culture will continue to grow.

-Chelsea-