Economic crisis: Anarchist solutions from Mexico

As the United States enters what may be an extremely prolonged economic crisis, the Mexican anarchist Gustavo Esteva recommends that we learn from how people have coped in his country, which has lived La Crisis for over two decades with no end in sight. He also points out that in both countries, politicians have reacted by throwing money at the problem – a non-solution if there ever was one.

One real solution has been El Barzón, a movement formed to defend debtors from the banks. Their tactics have ranged from counseling farmers on how to hold on to their property to forming roadblocks when the banks try to repossess their homes. They have even brought home the crisis to those responsible by tarring and feathering bankers.

Members of El Barzón have worked closely in solidarity with the Zapatista uprising in the state of Chiapas that began in 1994. Today, autonomous Zapatista communities are run by Councils of Good Government, where decisions at the village level are made through the consensus of all the community,and at the regional level by delegates that rotate yearly, selected by the village assembly. Two years ago, during the presidential elections, Zapatistas and their supporters across the country organized the “Other Campaign” - an anti-electoral movement that contrasted the empty promises for change offered by candidates both left and right with the need to develop community-based organizations run by principles of direct democracy, like that practiced by the Zapatistas. The most devoted supporters of the Other Campaign have been street vendors, sex workers, and other groups ignored by politicians.

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