News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

*****

Cornell Daily Sun
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004
Coffee Farmers Speak About Benefits of Fair Trade
By CLARK MERREFIELD

Two men with tired yet determined visages representing the
Northern Chiapas Coffee Network spoke at a small conference
held in 153 Uris Hall yesterday about the plight of the
Chiapas coffee farmers and their relation to the Zapatista
armed resistance in 1994. Miguel Gonzalez Hernandez, 50, an
NCCN advisor, and Angel Alvarez, 30, a small farmer and
rural educator, see the network as a disseminator of
information concerning the often-ignored conditions that
rural Mexican farmers must endure.

"Our principal objective is the education of the peasant
population," Alvarez said through an interpreter.

The northern region of the state of Chiapas in Mexico is
rich with natural resources, yet ironically many of its
people are impoverished, Alvarez said. Much of this
situation, he said, has to do with promises that were never
fulfilled following the Mexican Revolution, which started in
1910. Emilio Zapata, Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza
each led separate revolutionary forces, with Zapata's army
focused on the goal of distributing land to the peasants.

However, for many years since the revolution, the more
centrist philosophy of Carranza has dominated. The passage
of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a general
focus on opening borders to foreign investment and other
"neoliberal economic policies" has contributed to the low
wages small farmers have endured for years, Alvarez said.

"The accomplishments of the Mexican Revolution were never
achieved," he said.

Alvarez added that in 1992 then-President Carlos Salinas de
Gortari of the Institutional Revolutionary Party repealed
Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which officially
called for land redistribution but effectively gave out
lands that were often not arable.

Salinas also repealed the ejido system, whereby towns were
given a common plot of land to use for agriculture and other
needs, Alvarez said. After Salinas, the ejido land could be
bought, sold or repossessed by banks.

With the rhetoric of the 1910 revolution eliminated from the
Constitution, peasants took arms and began the Zapatista
movement in an attempt to gain access to arable land.
Alvarez has been targeted by Mexican paramilitary troops as
a Zapatista sympathizer.

"The proposals of the Zapatista movement include protection
for those with different political and religious beliefs,"
Alvarez said.

Now, the NCCN focuses on establishing organic, or "fair
trade," coffee as a major source of income.

"We saw that coffee was a viable economic alternative. We
had to find a way to produce organic coffee," Hernandez said.

While the NCCN is able to pay the $10,000 yearly fee and
pass the inspection necessary to be recognized as a fair
trade coffee entity, it is having difficulty finding a
suitable and sustainable market for organic coffee.
Starbucks, Nestle and Proctor and Gamble currently
monopolize the coffee market in northern Chiapas, according
to Alvarez. The NCCN takes particular offense to Starbucks
because the company purchases coffee through intermediaries
rather than directly from small farmers.

According to Alvarez, government-sponsored paramilitary
troops are rampant throughout northern Chiapas. They hire
poor peasants and train them as spies and assassins to try
to divide peasant movements. In addition, "vices" such as
prostitution are implemented and supported by military
barracks, he said.

While vast oil fields reside in southern Chiapas, the
government controls most of this resource, Hernandez said.
The land is the only means through which the peasants may
eke out subsistence, and while sheep and cattle are also
raised in northern Chiapas, coffee remains the most likely
resource that peasants can rely upon for the foreseeable future.

The presentation was sponsored by the Latin American Studies
Program.

--
Dan Clore

Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...edanclorenecro
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

"It's a political statement -- or, rather, an
*anti*-political statement. The symbol for *anarchy*!"
-- Batman, explaining the circle-A graffiti, in
_Detective Comics_ #608

Well, these two men are looking for a fair share of good money for
themselves.

Aren't they, Dan?

Salud y curvas, Paco

"Dan Clore" > wrote in message
...
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> *****
>
> Cornell Daily Sun
> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004
> Coffee Farmers Speak About Benefits of Fair Trade
> By CLARK MERREFIELD
>
> Two men with tired yet determined visages representing the
> Northern Chiapas Coffee Network spoke at a small conference
> held in 153 Uris Hall yesterday about the plight of the
> Chiapas coffee farmers and their relation to the Zapatista
> armed resistance in 1994. Miguel Gonzalez Hernandez, 50, an
> NCCN advisor, and Angel Alvarez, 30, a small farmer and
> rural educator, see the network as a disseminator of
> information concerning the often-ignored conditions that
> rural Mexican farmers must endure.
>
> "Our principal objective is the education of the peasant
> population," Alvarez said through an interpreter.
>
> The northern region of the state of Chiapas in Mexico is
> rich with natural resources, yet ironically many of its
> people are impoverished, Alvarez said. Much of this
> situation, he said, has to do with promises that were never
> fulfilled following the Mexican Revolution, which started in
> 1910. Emilio Zapata, Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza
> each led separate revolutionary forces, with Zapata's army
> focused on the goal of distributing land to the peasants.
>
> However, for many years since the revolution, the more
> centrist philosophy of Carranza has dominated. The passage
> of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a general
> focus on opening borders to foreign investment and other
> "neoliberal economic policies" has contributed to the low
> wages small farmers have endured for years, Alvarez said.
>
> "The accomplishments of the Mexican Revolution were never
> achieved," he said.
>
> Alvarez added that in 1992 then-President Carlos Salinas de
> Gortari of the Institutional Revolutionary Party repealed
> Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which officially
> called for land redistribution but effectively gave out
> lands that were often not arable.
>
> Salinas also repealed the ejido system, whereby towns were
> given a common plot of land to use for agriculture and other
> needs, Alvarez said. After Salinas, the ejido land could be
> bought, sold or repossessed by banks.
>
> With the rhetoric of the 1910 revolution eliminated from the
> Constitution, peasants took arms and began the Zapatista
> movement in an attempt to gain access to arable land.
> Alvarez has been targeted by Mexican paramilitary troops as
> a Zapatista sympathizer.
>
> "The proposals of the Zapatista movement include protection
> for those with different political and religious beliefs,"
> Alvarez said.
>
> Now, the NCCN focuses on establishing organic, or "fair
> trade," coffee as a major source of income.
>
> "We saw that coffee was a viable economic alternative. We
> had to find a way to produce organic coffee," Hernandez said.
>
> While the NCCN is able to pay the $10,000 yearly fee and
> pass the inspection necessary to be recognized as a fair
> trade coffee entity, it is having difficulty finding a
> suitable and sustainable market for organic coffee.
> Starbucks, Nestle and Proctor and Gamble currently
> monopolize the coffee market in northern Chiapas, according
> to Alvarez. The NCCN takes particular offense to Starbucks
> because the company purchases coffee through intermediaries
> rather than directly from small farmers.
>
> According to Alvarez, government-sponsored paramilitary
> troops are rampant throughout northern Chiapas. They hire
> poor peasants and train them as spies and assassins to try
> to divide peasant movements. In addition, "vices" such as
> prostitution are implemented and supported by military
> barracks, he said.
>
> While vast oil fields reside in southern Chiapas, the
> government controls most of this resource, Hernandez said.
> The land is the only means through which the peasants may
> eke out subsistence, and while sheep and cattle are also
> raised in northern Chiapas, coffee remains the most likely
> resource that peasants can rely upon for the foreseeable future.
>
> The presentation was sponsored by the Latin American Studies
> Program.
>
> --
> Dan Clore
>
> Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
> http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...edanclorenecro
> Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> "It's a political statement -- or, rather, an
> *anti*-political statement. The symbol for *anarchy*!"
> -- Batman, explaining the circle-A graffiti, in
> _Detective Comics_ #608
>

Well, these two men are looking for a fair share of good money for
themselves.

Aren't they, Dan?

Salud y curvas, Paco

"Dan Clore" > wrote in message
...
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> *****
>
> Cornell Daily Sun
> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004
> Coffee Farmers Speak About Benefits of Fair Trade
> By CLARK MERREFIELD
>
> Two men with tired yet determined visages representing the
> Northern Chiapas Coffee Network spoke at a small conference
> held in 153 Uris Hall yesterday about the plight of the
> Chiapas coffee farmers and their relation to the Zapatista
> armed resistance in 1994. Miguel Gonzalez Hernandez, 50, an
> NCCN advisor, and Angel Alvarez, 30, a small farmer and
> rural educator, see the network as a disseminator of
> information concerning the often-ignored conditions that
> rural Mexican farmers must endure.
>
> "Our principal objective is the education of the peasant
> population," Alvarez said through an interpreter.
>
> The northern region of the state of Chiapas in Mexico is
> rich with natural resources, yet ironically many of its
> people are impoverished, Alvarez said. Much of this
> situation, he said, has to do with promises that were never
> fulfilled following the Mexican Revolution, which started in
> 1910. Emilio Zapata, Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza
> each led separate revolutionary forces, with Zapata's army
> focused on the goal of distributing land to the peasants.
>
> However, for many years since the revolution, the more
> centrist philosophy of Carranza has dominated. The passage
> of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a general
> focus on opening borders to foreign investment and other
> "neoliberal economic policies" has contributed to the low
> wages small farmers have endured for years, Alvarez said.
>
> "The accomplishments of the Mexican Revolution were never
> achieved," he said.
>
> Alvarez added that in 1992 then-President Carlos Salinas de
> Gortari of the Institutional Revolutionary Party repealed
> Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which officially
> called for land redistribution but effectively gave out
> lands that were often not arable.
>
> Salinas also repealed the ejido system, whereby towns were
> given a common plot of land to use for agriculture and other
> needs, Alvarez said. After Salinas, the ejido land could be
> bought, sold or repossessed by banks.
>
> With the rhetoric of the 1910 revolution eliminated from the
> Constitution, peasants took arms and began the Zapatista
> movement in an attempt to gain access to arable land.
> Alvarez has been targeted by Mexican paramilitary troops as
> a Zapatista sympathizer.
>
> "The proposals of the Zapatista movement include protection
> for those with different political and religious beliefs,"
> Alvarez said.
>
> Now, the NCCN focuses on establishing organic, or "fair
> trade," coffee as a major source of income.
>
> "We saw that coffee was a viable economic alternative. We
> had to find a way to produce organic coffee," Hernandez said.
>
> While the NCCN is able to pay the $10,000 yearly fee and
> pass the inspection necessary to be recognized as a fair
> trade coffee entity, it is having difficulty finding a
> suitable and sustainable market for organic coffee.
> Starbucks, Nestle and Proctor and Gamble currently
> monopolize the coffee market in northern Chiapas, according
> to Alvarez. The NCCN takes particular offense to Starbucks
> because the company purchases coffee through intermediaries
> rather than directly from small farmers.
>
> According to Alvarez, government-sponsored paramilitary
> troops are rampant throughout northern Chiapas. They hire
> poor peasants and train them as spies and assassins to try
> to divide peasant movements. In addition, "vices" such as
> prostitution are implemented and supported by military
> barracks, he said.
>
> While vast oil fields reside in southern Chiapas, the
> government controls most of this resource, Hernandez said.
> The land is the only means through which the peasants may
> eke out subsistence, and while sheep and cattle are also
> raised in northern Chiapas, coffee remains the most likely
> resource that peasants can rely upon for the foreseeable future.
>
> The presentation was sponsored by the Latin American Studies
> Program.
>
> --
> Dan Clore
>
> Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
> http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...edanclorenecro
> Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> "It's a political statement -- or, rather, an
> *anti*-political statement. The symbol for *anarchy*!"
> -- Batman, explaining the circle-A graffiti, in
> _Detective Comics_ #608
>

Actually, Chiapas farmers related to the Zapatista are no longer farmers and
nobody knows where, how, they get the money for a living.

The unpopular Zapatista movement has stoped farmers to work the land making
their situation every day more desesperated.

Now they are somewhere ( 153 Uris Hall ) spoken about the richness of coffee
in northern Chiapas.

They made a unreliable picture of Zapata, Villa, Carranza and somehow they
jumped on time and mentioned Salinas and the dangers of the free trade
agreement.

The only valid point, in my opinion, is the one about the dangers of the
trade agreement which can be as perjudicial to Chiapas farmers, and Mexico,
as the Zapatista movement is.

That is why I cannot find any sense in this article.

Would you please, Dan, explain the sense of the article to this forum? That
is, why the Zapatista is not as perjudicial as Nafta can be?

Salud y curvas, Paco

"Dan Clore" > wrote in message
...
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> *****
>
> Cornell Daily Sun
> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004
> Coffee Farmers Speak About Benefits of Fair Trade
> By CLARK MERREFIELD
>
> Two men with tired yet determined visages representing the
> Northern Chiapas Coffee Network spoke at a small conference
> held in 153 Uris Hall yesterday about the plight of the
> Chiapas coffee farmers and their relation to the Zapatista
> armed resistance in 1994. Miguel Gonzalez Hernandez, 50, an
> NCCN advisor, and Angel Alvarez, 30, a small farmer and
> rural educator, see the network as a disseminator of
> information concerning the often-ignored conditions that
> rural Mexican farmers must endure.
>
> "Our principal objective is the education of the peasant
> population," Alvarez said through an interpreter.
>
> The northern region of the state of Chiapas in Mexico is
> rich with natural resources, yet ironically many of its
> people are impoverished, Alvarez said. Much of this
> situation, he said, has to do with promises that were never
> fulfilled following the Mexican Revolution, which started in
> 1910. Emilio Zapata, Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza
> each led separate revolutionary forces, with Zapata's army
> focused on the goal of distributing land to the peasants.
>
> However, for many years since the revolution, the more
> centrist philosophy of Carranza has dominated. The passage
> of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a general
> focus on opening borders to foreign investment and other
> "neoliberal economic policies" has contributed to the low
> wages small farmers have endured for years, Alvarez said.
>
> "The accomplishments of the Mexican Revolution were never
> achieved," he said.
>
> Alvarez added that in 1992 then-President Carlos Salinas de
> Gortari of the Institutional Revolutionary Party repealed
> Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which officially
> called for land redistribution but effectively gave out
> lands that were often not arable.
>
> Salinas also repealed the ejido system, whereby towns were
> given a common plot of land to use for agriculture and other
> needs, Alvarez said. After Salinas, the ejido land could be
> bought, sold or repossessed by banks.
>
> With the rhetoric of the 1910 revolution eliminated from the
> Constitution, peasants took arms and began the Zapatista
> movement in an attempt to gain access to arable land.
> Alvarez has been targeted by Mexican paramilitary troops as
> a Zapatista sympathizer.
>
> "The proposals of the Zapatista movement include protection
> for those with different political and religious beliefs,"
> Alvarez said.
>
> Now, the NCCN focuses on establishing organic, or "fair
> trade," coffee as a major source of income.
>
> "We saw that coffee was a viable economic alternative. We
> had to find a way to produce organic coffee," Hernandez said.
>
> While the NCCN is able to pay the $10,000 yearly fee and
> pass the inspection necessary to be recognized as a fair
> trade coffee entity, it is having difficulty finding a
> suitable and sustainable market for organic coffee.
> Starbucks, Nestle and Proctor and Gamble currently
> monopolize the coffee market in northern Chiapas, according
> to Alvarez. The NCCN takes particular offense to Starbucks
> because the company purchases coffee through intermediaries
> rather than directly from small farmers.
>
> According to Alvarez, government-sponsored paramilitary
> troops are rampant throughout northern Chiapas. They hire
> poor peasants and train them as spies and assassins to try
> to divide peasant movements. In addition, "vices" such as
> prostitution are implemented and supported by military
> barracks, he said.
>
> While vast oil fields reside in southern Chiapas, the
> government controls most of this resource, Hernandez said.
> The land is the only means through which the peasants may
> eke out subsistence, and while sheep and cattle are also
> raised in northern Chiapas, coffee remains the most likely
> resource that peasants can rely upon for the foreseeable future.
>
> The presentation was sponsored by the Latin American Studies
> Program.
>
> --
> Dan Clore
>
> Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
> http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...edanclorenecro
> Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> "It's a political statement -- or, rather, an
> *anti*-political statement. The symbol for *anarchy*!"
> -- Batman, explaining the circle-A graffiti, in
> _Detective Comics_ #608
>

Actually, Chiapas farmers related to the Zapatista are no longer farmers and
nobody knows where, how, they get the money for a living.

The unpopular Zapatista movement has stoped farmers to work the land making
their situation every day more desesperated.

Now they are somewhere ( 153 Uris Hall ) spoken about the richness of coffee
in northern Chiapas.

They made a unreliable picture of Zapata, Villa, Carranza and somehow they
jumped on time and mentioned Salinas and the dangers of the free trade
agreement.

The only valid point, in my opinion, is the one about the dangers of the
trade agreement which can be as perjudicial to Chiapas farmers, and Mexico,
as the Zapatista movement is.

That is why I cannot find any sense in this article.

Would you please, Dan, explain the sense of the article to this forum? That
is, why the Zapatista is not as perjudicial as Nafta can be?

Salud y curvas, Paco

"Dan Clore" > wrote in message
...
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> *****
>
> Cornell Daily Sun
> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2004
> Coffee Farmers Speak About Benefits of Fair Trade
> By CLARK MERREFIELD
>
> Two men with tired yet determined visages representing the
> Northern Chiapas Coffee Network spoke at a small conference
> held in 153 Uris Hall yesterday about the plight of the
> Chiapas coffee farmers and their relation to the Zapatista
> armed resistance in 1994. Miguel Gonzalez Hernandez, 50, an
> NCCN advisor, and Angel Alvarez, 30, a small farmer and
> rural educator, see the network as a disseminator of
> information concerning the often-ignored conditions that
> rural Mexican farmers must endure.
>
> "Our principal objective is the education of the peasant
> population," Alvarez said through an interpreter.
>
> The northern region of the state of Chiapas in Mexico is
> rich with natural resources, yet ironically many of its
> people are impoverished, Alvarez said. Much of this
> situation, he said, has to do with promises that were never
> fulfilled following the Mexican Revolution, which started in
> 1910. Emilio Zapata, Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza
> each led separate revolutionary forces, with Zapata's army
> focused on the goal of distributing land to the peasants.
>
> However, for many years since the revolution, the more
> centrist philosophy of Carranza has dominated. The passage
> of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a general
> focus on opening borders to foreign investment and other
> "neoliberal economic policies" has contributed to the low
> wages small farmers have endured for years, Alvarez said.
>
> "The accomplishments of the Mexican Revolution were never
> achieved," he said.
>
> Alvarez added that in 1992 then-President Carlos Salinas de
> Gortari of the Institutional Revolutionary Party repealed
> Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which officially
> called for land redistribution but effectively gave out
> lands that were often not arable.
>
> Salinas also repealed the ejido system, whereby towns were
> given a common plot of land to use for agriculture and other
> needs, Alvarez said. After Salinas, the ejido land could be
> bought, sold or repossessed by banks.
>
> With the rhetoric of the 1910 revolution eliminated from the
> Constitution, peasants took arms and began the Zapatista
> movement in an attempt to gain access to arable land.
> Alvarez has been targeted by Mexican paramilitary troops as
> a Zapatista sympathizer.
>
> "The proposals of the Zapatista movement include protection
> for those with different political and religious beliefs,"
> Alvarez said.
>
> Now, the NCCN focuses on establishing organic, or "fair
> trade," coffee as a major source of income.
>
> "We saw that coffee was a viable economic alternative. We
> had to find a way to produce organic coffee," Hernandez said.
>
> While the NCCN is able to pay the $10,000 yearly fee and
> pass the inspection necessary to be recognized as a fair
> trade coffee entity, it is having difficulty finding a
> suitable and sustainable market for organic coffee.
> Starbucks, Nestle and Proctor and Gamble currently
> monopolize the coffee market in northern Chiapas, according
> to Alvarez. The NCCN takes particular offense to Starbucks
> because the company purchases coffee through intermediaries
> rather than directly from small farmers.
>
> According to Alvarez, government-sponsored paramilitary
> troops are rampant throughout northern Chiapas. They hire
> poor peasants and train them as spies and assassins to try
> to divide peasant movements. In addition, "vices" such as
> prostitution are implemented and supported by military
> barracks, he said.
>
> While vast oil fields reside in southern Chiapas, the
> government controls most of this resource, Hernandez said.
> The land is the only means through which the peasants may
> eke out subsistence, and while sheep and cattle are also
> raised in northern Chiapas, coffee remains the most likely
> resource that peasants can rely upon for the foreseeable future.
>
> The presentation was sponsored by the Latin American Studies
> Program.
>
> --
> Dan Clore
>
> Now available: _The Unspeakable and Others_
> http://www.wildsidepress.com/index2.htm
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...edanclorenecro
> Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> "It's a political statement -- or, rather, an
> *anti*-political statement. The symbol for *anarchy*!"
> -- Batman, explaining the circle-A graffiti, in
> _Detective Comics_ #608
>