Decolonizing our Future: Indigenous Resistance from Mexico to Monongahela
April 11, 2016
Featuring Xuno “Juan” Lopez Itzin and the Afro Yaqui Music Collective
Friday, April 15, 2016, 7pm-9pm
At the Dazzling Swamp:
2812 Wiese Street, Pittsburgh, PA
Food and Refreshments will be served
Free event, Donations encouraged
sponsored by Landslide Community Farm and Ecosocialist Horizons
Lecture by Xuno “Juan” Lopez Itzin: “Rediscovering the Sacred and the End of Hydra Capitalism”
According to both Maya Tzeltal and Tzotzil indigenous thought, everything that exists is sacred and has Ch’ulel (spirit). Since the conquest of Mexico and subsequent colonization, this way of thinking has been nearly decimated due to external influences such as capitalism. As we know, capitalism exploits human beings and nature, turning everything into a commodity. This force, along with hegemonic rational thought, has distanced Ch’ulel from nature. There are, however, current life practices that prove the Maya way of thinking is still present. Only by building a collective heart in order to recover the meaning of our humanity can we reconnect with the forgotten sacred. The fight for humanity is the fight against the monstrous hydra of capitalism. (This lecture will be in Spanish with English translation.)
Juan López Intzin is a Maya Tzeltal scholar who holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales-Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, and a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He has collaborated with NGOs on mental health issues for those displaced by the 1997 Acteal massacre, and has also worked with organizations such as Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas on different initiatives of and for indigenous populations. He is a founding member of the Kol-lek-tivo Snajtaleltik, Bats’il-k’op, A.C. and the Chiapas Network of Artists, Community Communicators, and Anthropologists, as well as a member of the Interdisciplinary Network of Researchers of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico.
Performance by Gizelxanath and the Afro Yaqui Music Collective
The Afro Yaqui Music Collective is committed to creating indigenous, not industrial, music. With world-renowned musicians such as percussionist Charles Lwanga, John Bagnato, Guitar, and Benjamin Barson (baritone saxophone) contributing combinations of West African, jazz, and Latin American styles, while soprano Gizelxanath brings her rendition of music sung by her people, the indigenous first nations of Mexico.
Red Black and Clean Green Day: Landslide Community Farm Clean Up
Saturday, April 16:
On 4/16, in partnership with Mama Africa’s Green Scouts, we are having a clean up and visioning day. Community members, students, and activists will be helping us prepare for a productive growing season. We begin at 10am at 518 Beelen Street.
Landslide is a Community Farm, located in the neighborhood of Soho (at the intersection of West Oakland, Uptown and the Hill District), is dedicated to providing a free source of healthy food to the community. We are committed to eliminating the barriers to accessing the resources necessary for sustainable longevity, first to those of us who are most marginalized and are working from a permaculture base. We are a neighborhood-centric project that focuses on education and mutual aid.
