Cafè Zapatista: How to Support a Libertarian Society by Drinking Coffee

By Enrico Massetti

“Would you like to support a libertarian society by drinking coffee?

“Sir, madam, would you like to drink a good coffee to support the struggle of the Mexican Mayan people who made it and help them out of poverty? They do not want to be forced to emigrate illegally to the USA, and don’t want to have bosses, but they make a very good coffe, it’s the best quality organic coffee in the world! And it costs to you less than the coffee you buy in the supermarket! Would you like to try it?”

“The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed into legislation on Jan. 1, 1994 was to have ignited Mexico’s ascent into a modern, First-World State.

But in the southern state of Chiapas on this New Years Day, an “armed uprising of indigenous peoples stole the media spotlight, exposing Mexico’s massive social inequalities and the exclusion of the country’s indigenous population from it’s economic development,” (Latin American Press, Jan. 20,1994).

These insurgents calling themselves the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), claimed that they were fighting for the rights of indigenous Mexicans as they captured four towns in Chiapas, (where Mayan descendants are concentrated). The Mexican government had been denying the existence of a guerilla movement as an attempt to present itself as stable and prosperous during the NAFTA negotiations. Since the media attention was on Mexico due to NAFTA, the EZLN strategically chose this time to rise up and tell the world that NAFTA was a death certificate for the ethnic people of Mexico. As Zapatista Comandante Ramona was quoted “We were not taken into consideration when NAFTA was negotiated, never again will there be a Mexico without us!”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Enrico Massetti
• Release date: May 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312020504

Enrico Massetti

Enrico Massetti nació en Milán, Italia, donde vivió durante más de 30 años, visitando innumerables destinos turísticos, desde las montañas de los Alpes hasta el mar de Sicilia. Ahora vive en Washington, Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, visita regularmente su ciudad natal y disfruta recorriendo todos los lugares de su país, especialmente aquellos a los que puede llegar en transporte público. Puede contactar con Enrico en [e-mail].

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Cafè Zapatista:

how to support a libertarian society by

drinking coffee Enrico Massetti

What Italian Anarchists do?

Officially they throw bombs, even if this theory has been proved wrong in the past 40 years, at least since the massacre of Piazza Fontana, in the collective imaginary of the average italian the figure of bomb-trowing anarchists is still deeply impressed.

They make casino in the streets, protesting whatever there is or there isn't around to protest? This too is part of the official truth propagated by the mass media, and bought by the average normal person, and sometimes it is true, even if they usually make less casino than the police facing them in the streets.

What then if Anarchists made selling and drinking coffee a cornerstone of their support for the freedom and equality movements to build a libertarian society in Mexico's Chiapas?

That, for sure, would be something unexpected by most normal people: "Sir, would you like a coffee to support the struggle of the people who made it? They do not have bosses or authorities, but they make a very good coffe, it's the best quality organic coffee in the world! And it costs you less than the coffee you buy in the supermarket! Would you like to try it?"

Is this a new way of making a revolution? Maybe not, but definitely it is a good way to support the efforts of the Mayan Zapatista communities in Mexico's Chiapas to survive and prosper in their effort to build from bottom-up a just and equalitarian, libertarian society. And, while you donate your support to the cause, you also save some money doing so and enjoy a good coffee.

This dossier has been prepared by Enrico Massetti

Cafè Zapatista

by Enrico Massetti

Would you like to support a libertarian society by drinking coffee?

Sir, madam, would you like to drink a good coffee to support the struggle of the Mexican Mayan people who made it and help them out of poverty? They do not want to be forced to emigrate illegally to the USA, and don't want to have bosses, but they make a very good coffee, it's the best quality organic coffee in the world! And it costs to you less than the coffee you buy in the supermarket! Would you like to try it?

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed into legislation on Jan. 1, 1994, was to have ignited Mexico's ascent into a modern, First-World State.

But in the southern state of Chiapas on this New Years Day, an armed uprising of indigenous peoples stole the media spotlight, exposing Mexico's massive social inequalities and the exclusion of the country's indigenous population from it's economic development, (Latin American Press, Jan. 20, 1994). These insurgents calling themselves the Zapatista National

Liberation Army (EZLN), claimed that they were fighting for the rights of indigenous Mexicans as they captured four towns in Chiapas, (where Mayan descendants are concentrated). The Mexican government had been denying the existence of a guerilla movement as an attempt to present itself as stable and prosperous during the NAFTA negotiations.

Since the media attention was on Mexico due to NAFTA, the EZLN strategically chose this time to rise up and tell the world that NAFTA was a death certificate for the ethnic people of Mexico. As Zapatista Comandante Ramona was quoted We were not taken into consideration when NAFTA was negotiated, never again will there be a Mexico without us!

The problems with NAFTA and the Mexican Underclass

In order for NAFTA to be initiated, Mexico must comply with Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). SAPs allow countries to be eligible for loans from the World Bank. The problem with SAPs in relation to the Zapatistas are that it calls for the privatization of all land (oil, mining, telephone service,