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Article: A flower in the hands of the people: Gustavo Esteva explains what lies at the heart of indigenous politics in Mexico.(The Nation-State)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- September 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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'AUTONOMY,' said Don Gregorio, an old Yaqui Indian, 'is not something we ought to ask for or that anyone can give us. It is something we have, despite everything. Its other name is dignity.'
We are practising autonomy more than ever in our communities. While its momentum comes from the past, it acquired new vitality and meaning with the uprising of the indigenous Zapatista rebels in 1994 when they asserted their right to dignity, humanity, life, democracy. Now it has spread everywhere.
We reclaim our own definitions of 'the good life', which we had conceded to the market and the state when the myth of development captured people's imagination.
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