Customer Reviews

Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings

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This is no doubt the most interesting book I've come across about the Zapatista movement. There are 3 parts to the book. The first part is about the story of how the Zapatistas came to be, about Marcos' declarations of war, and his reasons behind the uprising. The second goes deeper into the conflict and it's relevance to the world. The third is a colletion of Marcos' stories and poetry. The book initially caught my eye, with Marcos' infamous masked stare, but it's his words that open up my heart and mind. It's outstanding, I'd recommend it to anyone that's interested in this struggle and it's politics.

Too often those of us who seek social justice for people who have been traditionally oppressed tend to just reminisce on the past.

However, this book proves that there is a great social movement that ordinary people CAN , RIGHT NOW make a diffrence about

The history of Mexico, like the history of Latin America, is a history of pain, struggle, and exploitation.

Marcos shows us a movement that seeks to right some of the wrong, and leads a movement of the oldest of the old, the oppressed of the oppressed: Indigenous campesinos (farmers) of Southern Mexico. Where pictures of Jesus Christ stand right there alongside of.....Che Guevara.

A people that have been traditionally been treated like dirt, for lack of a better word, now taking an inspirational and highly moving stand and demand an end to exploitation and a better way of life.

Through their charismatic and briliant leader, Marcos, he tells us the story of the people known as Zapatistas and their struggle for dignity.

The dignity of a people no longer willing to tolerate centuries of injustice.

What human being cannot be moved by such extroadinary courage?

I have sporadically read and been inspired by the writings of El Sup over the last few years - his poetic brilliance, his lyrical poignancy to strike a blow while planting seeds - and to see the collected works of this remarkable thinker and revolutionary is simply incredible. I encourage anyone who is involved in a struggle, anyone who seeks light in an increasingly dark world, and anyone who believes that a better world is still possible, to get this book. Not a cover to cover read, but an activist manual, a delicious serving brain food and heart food. Again, simply wonderful.

How can anyone read el subcommandante and not be moved? How can anyone just look at the plight of these people in Mexico and not feel rage at the injustice?

Since reading this book (actually, before I was even halfway finished) I had decided I needed to buy copies for family and friends as gifts and recommend it to pretty much everyone. Marcos is an amazing writer, and the story of the Zapatistas is extremely relevant and intriguing for anyone interested in modern society, politics, Latin America, social movements, civil wars, literature and poetry, what "integrity" means in such troubled times, and so much more. No matter your interest, you will not be dissapointed by this purchase.

Without a doubt, Subcomandante Marcos is one of the most important present day writers and activists in the Americas. "Our Word is Our Weapon" is a huge collection of his essays and short stories about the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas.As such, I highly recommend it for peace and justice activists engaged in Latin American solidarity work, the anti-corporate globalization movement and indigenous struggles. Moreover, it is an interesting study of grassroots participatory democracy in action. Read it and be inspired!

I picked this book up sometime ago but never had the opportunity to flesh out this thick work. Finally, I decided to write a substantial research paper based on the EZLN and their use of cultural "warfare" to garner Mexican and international allies. Beyond being phenomenally well written in the beautiful prose of Marcos, the alternative vision of social relations the Zapatistas create is too awe-inspiring to ignore. Just when the world thought social experimentation was a relic of the 20th century, these poet-guerrillas dared to shift the paradigm.

The book is a series of short communiques, poetry, and histories as told by the iconic Subcommandante Marcos. The reader can literally feel the sincerity and passion behind Marco's words as he riddles his tales. Although not directly applicable to the urban-industrial world, a point the EZLN makes itself several times, this book will inspire all to create a society based on Zapatista ethos: Democracy, Liberty, and Justice.