Chiapas civil society organizations: cultural resistance and economic alternatives through fair trade cooperatives and international networks

Since the 1994 rebellion organized by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), Chiapas, Mexico has been well known for indigenous resistance against imposed neoliberal policies and promotion of indigenous rights and cultures. Less known is the critical role that Chiapas-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have within the neozapatista resistance movement and in the creation of sustainable economic alternatives. This paper focuses on the multicultural collaborative dialogues of the civil society Las Abejas (The Bees), the fair trade and organic coffee cooperative Maya Vinic and the women artisan cooperative Kinal Antzetik with European- and United States- based non-profit organizations, universities, and church-based groups. Through a network analysis method, the paper shows how Chiapas CSOs were able to expand pre-existing local networks into new inter-regional and global networks of solidarity. These Chiapas CSOs demonstrate how indigenous identities combined with international solidarity can produce sustainable alternatives to economic globalization and a global civil society founded on democracy and peace with justice and dignity