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Thursday, February 27, 1997

CHIAPAS:

Supporters feel spiritual connection with Mexican rebel movementBy Joshua Smith

Daily Bruin Contributor

Clusters of students milled around Westwood Plaza stage in small groups of four or five Wednesday afternoon awaiting the arrival of Cecilia Rodriguez, a U.S. representative for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), who told students about the ongoing rebel movement in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

And while the small group of students formed a semicircle around the stage, for third-year world arts and culture and Chicana/o studies student Frida Pipal, the objective of this gathering was to bring social justice to a full circle.

Pipal is just one of many concerned students on campus who feel that the struggle for social and political justice in the United States is connected to the same struggle in other parts of the world ­ particularly in Chiapas.

"It is important to recognize others who are fighting for their life and their culture," Pipal said.

"Our struggle here in the U.S. is much the same of other oppressed people across the world. In Chiapas, they shoot bullets from helicopters, but here in the U.S., they shoot the bullets of (Propositions) 187, 209 and the dropping of crack in our neighborhood."

The purpose of the event was to rally support for the thousands of indigenous people in Chiapas who protest the Mexican government's commercial use of their land and demand the right to use it for their own crops and their way of life.

Pipal connects the turmoil in Mexico to the Chicano community's recent state proposition struggles.

Indeed, for many who participated in the event, the geographical and spatial boundaries between the Latino American community and the Zapatistas of Mexico do not separate them from their cause.

"We're descendants of these people," said Tony Gonzales, a third-year political science and international economics student. "There are no borders."

Rodriguez hoped to cross what she saw as the borders of ignorance and apathy as she rehearsed the history of the struggle of the Zapatistas before the small but attentive group.

She also hoped to show students that any person that took the chance could also be instrumental in fighting for justice.

One of her biggest pleas was that the struggle of the Zapatistas was not just the struggle of indigenous Mexican people but the struggle of fellow human beings

The Zapatistas want to "live in a Mexico that respects them, ... their tradition and their way of life," Rodriguez said.

Cuauhtlicihuatl, a third-year Chicana/o studies student who identifies herself by her indigenous name, noted that any type of oppression against any race of people is wrong. "I'm against any type of injustice, especially the injustice of my own people," she said.

The underlying issue for many of the concerned students was that there are starving, diseased and mistreated people in Chiapas who could not meet basic human needs because of their lack of control over land that they claim was theirs originally.

"They want to live off the land," said Ozelo Miktalkuilo, a second year art and Chicana/o studies student. "They want to grow corn. They don't want to be factory workers."

That UCLA students live much beyond the standard of living of the Zapatistas in Mexico did not inhibit supporters of the gathering from making a connection to their struggle. "I do identify with my indigenous roots," said Cynthia Acosta, a second- year biology student. "They represent who I am."

Few, if any, of the supporters are frequent travelers to Chiapas, Mexico to support the cause in the most tangible way. Instead, most of the dedicated gatherers found a more spiritual connection to the cause.

Rodriguez emphasized that the deepest connections to the cause were not physical and material. "I'm not going to ask you this afternoon for your sympathy of the Zapatistas," said Rodriguez. "I'm asking you for your responsibility and your human dignity."

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Cecilia Rodriguez, the U.S. representative for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), urges a Westwood Plaza crowd to support Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico.