The Project

Throughout Mesoamerica, indigenous communities are suffering the destruction of their land, natural resources, and way of life at the hands of transnational corporations. Large-scale development projects, such as mining and mega-tourism, amount to a new wave of colonial conquest, justified by governments’ discourse of economic and even supposedly green development.

The Caravan for the Well-being of Mesoamerican Peoples in Resistance is a collaboration between collectives in Mexico, Europe, and the United States in solidarity with communities resisting megaprojects.  From 2014 – 2015, the Caravan will visit communities from Mexico to Panama, sharing grassroots tools that support their struggles for autonomy and dignity and against neoliberal development. These tools include:

• Independent media, including community radio and television

• Eco-technologies, such as pedal-powered machines, bio-construction, and solar energy,, that respect others and the environment and strengthen independence from corrupt governments and corporations

• Critical cartography — through collective mapping, we hope to render visible not only the effects of megaprojects, but also communities’ own experiences of their territories and the current conditions of their resistance movements

In addition to collaborating on projects that use these tools, the Caravan will produce media to share experiences of struggle between communities, publicize human rights violations, and promote bottom-up alternatives to the neoliberal development model.

Where we’re at:

Members of the project recently completed a preparatory trip from Mexico to Panama, during which they presented the Caravan and formed concrete links with the majority of resistance movements the Caravan will visit. We are in ongoing contact with communities about what kind projects they would like to realize and how we can best support their work.

Here in Oaxaca, we continue to acquire tools to be shared during the Caravan: we have built eco-toilets and pedal-powered machines with communities; participated in workshops on critical cartography, community defense, and community-based radio and television; initiated a website to serve as the Caravan’s virtual portal; and have begun to funds for the purchase of a secondhand bus, to be transformed into a mobile laboratory powered by biodiesel.