Maíz y el país: Political Violence in Mexico and Corn's Lessons for Justice
Luz Rivera Martinez
Headlines about Mexico in the mainstream media are bleak. The unresolved disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero, the attacks on the Zapatistas, the imprisonment of indigenous leaders defending water, and the cover-ups of military executions all point to a rise in extra-judicial violence. While all this causes concern, there is also much we can learn from inspiring Mexican social movements. Luz Rivera will speak about State-sponsored political violence in Mexico and how corn is a symbol for autonomy and the dignified struggle for a better world. Her talk will have important lessons for anyone interested in human rights, women's, peasant, and labor movements. Co-sponsored with Mexican Solidarity Movement
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Speaker Bio
Luz Rivera Martinez has 20 years of experience constructing autonomy, organizing outside the electoral system, and resisting genetically modified corn while protecting millennia-old varieties. She works with peasant families in Tlaxcala, Mexico - a state where corn originated, whose name means "place of the corn tortilla," and where 52 natural varieties of corn are planted. Luz established CNUC in the early 1990s to coordinate resistance to the impending North American Free Trade Agreement, especially regarding its dismemberment of Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which enshrined the Mexican Revolution's battle cry that "the land belongs to those who work it." Luz and the members of CNUC knew that NAFTA would decimate the small-scale agricultural sector that the Revolution had established at such a great cost. As CNUC's lead organizer, Luz has worked tirelessly to demand government accountability, defend family farms, resist the use of GMO seeds, and build inspiring, community-based autonomous projects. CNUC has a long history of disposing of corrupt leaders, democratizing the budget, coordinating community-driven infrastructure projects, including peoples' history in education, and expanding access to healthcare. CNUC also joins voices with organizations around Mexico and around the world denouncing State-sponsored violence and rebuilding the social fabric. As an adherent to the Zapatistas' Sixth Declaration - an international network of organizations struggling against neoliberalism and for autonomy from the grassroots - Luz and CNUC fight tirelessly to build "a world where many worlds fit," a world for the people of all the colors of corn.