April-August 2000, The Prism, Page 1

Inside this issue:• Eye on the Media ............ p. 2• Deregulation Blues .......... p. 2• A16 Photo essay ............. p. 3• 10 Year Retrospective:

Leading Stories ....pages 3-10• Winona LaDuke .............. p. 11• Zapatista Women Rise . p. 12

“Declaration of Intent” given 10 years ago

Here’s what appeared in the first, unnamedissue published in April, 1990, expressing theconsensus of those who pressed forward tolaunch this radical paper. Many have expressed a need for analternative newspaper accessible to thecommunity and response to the need forsocial change. The Triangle’s progressivecommunity has no forum for information,communication and analysis. This haslimited the ability of activists andorganizations to meet their potential andhas left citizens uninformed aboutimportant matters. The existing news media is inadequate.Important local, national and internationalevents are poorly reported. The economicand political forces that shape the newsare not challenged. Our economy ischaracterized by gross inequities in wealthand access to resources. whileconcentrating power in the hands of asmall elite. Since these elites also controlthe major media, news and ideas that mightchallenge their power are not presented tothe public. A publication is needed that is free toreport on the forces behind the news. Itmust examine the failures and biases ofthe mainstream media. It must offer soundways to change life for the better, helpingreaders to share ideas, experience, hope,support and power. It can provide aninspiration to action and a catalyst forchange. A group has formed to begin to addressthis need. Our vision is of an attractive,readable newspaper, a paper that will speakclearly and directly to a diversecommunity, crossing lines of race, gender,class and sexual orientation. The success of the paper will depend onthe involvement of the community itserves. All those sharing a progressiveviewpoint are invited to participate in anyand all aspects of the paper. We willcontinually reach out to the large networkof activists, concerned citizens and socialchange groups, providing a forum to reporttheir work events and concerns. The newspaper will be guided by theprinciples of economic justice, ecologicalresponsibility, non-violence, democracyin all aspects of l ife, support forreproductive rights and respect for therespect for the rights, dignity and diversityof all people.The paper will be independent, run byvolunteers, not for profit and availablefree to the public.

by Robert E. Sullivan

Earth Times News Service HAVANA—The Cuban revolutionarythreat is back. In an innocuous-looking,unmarked building in the Miramar suburbof Havana technicians from Fidel Castro’scommunist government are training cadresfrom all over Latin America. The ideology of the new movement isbeing exported, along with equipment, tonearby Venezuela, Columbia and Jamaica,other Latin American countries, and thistime, as far as Europe. Americans, so far,have been protected by the embargo fromthe product of the Cuban revolution: cleanfood. The food is clean — largely free of chemi-cal fertilizers and poisonous pesticides andherbicides — because since the fall of theSoviet Union, Cuba can’t afford them. And, necessity in this case being themother of nature, Cuba may be producingthe most chemical free, organic, clean pro-duce in the world. According to the waythey tell it, Cubans are getting so good atthis organic business that agronomists fromall over Latin America come to study it atthe Institute for Crop Protection (INISAV)a low profile center housed in a formerprivate home in the quiet residential sectionof Miramar. Trained at INISAV, and sentout again to the world to agitate, have been

agronomists from Mexico, Colombia, Ar-gentina, Spain, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecua-dor, Guatemala and Jamaica. At least a halfdozen other countries have signed up, butthe discrete directors at INISAV won’t re-veal their nationalities because, they say,the trainees think their home countries willsuffer retaliation from the United States. The institute has developed a line ofcompletely biological herbicides and pesti-cides marketed throughout the island underthe brand name Biasav. This year Cuba, next the world. Exportsof Biasav have begun — not to America ofcourse, but to most of the above countriesand others. And in Cuba almost 100,000small-to-medium sized urban gardens havesprung up to provide an ever increasingpercentage of the country’s vegetable needs.One hundred per cent of the produce if thesegardens is 100 per cent organic — simplybecause of a central dictate: no pesticidesare allowed inside any city limits. Period.And this comes from the Castro govern-ment, which is committed to clean food. What happened? Ask any ten Cuban agronomists — theyhave 140 Ph.D.s in the Agriculture Ministryalone, plus 10,000 graduate agronomic en-gineers — why has Cuba gone organic and

In Organic Agriculture, Cubansare Leading the Way

Cont. on p.11

The Prism’sRadicalTriangleNewspaperreaches10th yearGrassroots paper takesa break to reassess

With this issue, The Prism reaches its 10thyear. This achievement is nothing short ofremarkable.

Against all odds, tens of individuals (work-ing in groups which changed over time) pro-duced a monthly newspaper for 10 years.

No one was paid a dime for their efforts.The paper supported itself with ads fromsmall businesses and with donations.

Night after night, and weekend after week-end, volunteers met and cranked out a paper.There were many things people may havewanted to do in a month than invest five, ten,twenty, thirty hours in producing a monthlyradical newspaper. But we did it anyway.

We—and I think I speak for all the myriadvolunteers over the years—did it because itneeded to be done. We remembered that theworld was full of people both sufferingneedlessly and fighting like hell to change it.

We never sold out, we never forgot ourmission, and we never quit trying to do abetter job.

However, there came a point at which thepeople who happened to be the core volun-teers, at least two of whom were here from thestart ten years ago, faced a coincidence ofmajor life changes that made volunteering atour former levels of effort impossible.

While some people showed an interest inhelping out, the truth is that this publicationtakes an awful lot of work, and if it is pro-duced in any fashion similar to how it hasbeen produced, it requires a core group ofpeople able to carry on the work each monthfor a year or so.

For now, without a dramatic and unex-pected appearance of very serious and com-mitted volunteers, the print version of thispublication will be on hold. (We will beplacing new things on our website, but this isbecause the website costs nothing and plac-ing certain materials on the web takes verylittle time at all; most of us would prefer aprint version, but this doesn’t seem immedi-ately possible.)

What will and should happen now is not forme alone to say, of course. Some believe thatthe paper should now rest, having reachedthis mark. Others believe a group of volun-teers will show up who will continue as wehave, and the paper will jump back to life.

Personally I see this as a decision to bemade by the community which produced,supported, and read this paper. Let the dis-cussion begin, then.

Perhaps our tenth year will be one of re-birth. The Prism continued a worthy traditionof truly independent, grassroots media inNorth Carolina. If this kind of resource is stillneeded, this community can do it.

by Jeff Saviano

April-August 2000 Volume Eleven Issue Three

Valeria Jean Daniels-Paddock was assistant principal andcounselor at Grey Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill.During her 27-year career in Chapel Hill, she helped originatethe elementary school guidance program. She earned the Hu-man Rights award and Middle/Junior High Counselor of theYear award of the NC School Counselor Association, andAssistant Principal of the year from both Chapel Hill-CarrboroCity Schools (1998) and the NC Association of Educators(2000). She initiated the Character Education program at Culbrethwhich is now being adopted by the other schools in CHCCS.

Her concern was always the children first, and the peoplearound her. She counseled them all. She would meet with themost irate parent or the angriest student, and they wouldinvariably leave with a smile, even a laugh.

Two memorials were announced at her funeral, one by the Culbreth principal and oneby the church pastor. She will be missed. The staff, and husband Dick Paddock, a long-time civil rights activist and Prism volunteer, dedicate this issue to her memory.

May 30, 1949-July 21, 2000

Dedication of this Issue: Valeria Jean Daniels-Paddock

Page 2, The Prism, April-August 2000

The Prism is an independent, nonprofit news-paper providing a forum for grassrootsapproaches to social change. In printingnews not covered by traditional media, weemphasize local issues and local perspec-tives on global issues. We are guided byprinciples of economic justice, ecologicalresponsibility, nonviolence, democracy, sup-port for reproductive rights, and respect forthe rights, dignity and diversity of all people.

The all-volunteer staff for this month’s issueof The Prism :

Editors: Matt Robinson, Jeff Saviano.Production Staff: Matt, Jeff, Dick Pad-dockTreasurer: MattDistribution Staff: Matt (co-ordinator),David K., Dick P., Jerry Markatos, AlanArchibald, Sharon LaPalme, Pedalers Ex-press, Jordy McClung.

Serving Orange, Durham, Wake, andChatham Counties in North Carolina

August 2000Volume Eleven, Issue Three

The PrismP.O. Box 1544

Carrboro, NC 27510

prism@metalab.unc.edu (e-mail)<http://metalab.unc.edu/prism/> (WWW)

©2000 by Progressive Newspaper, Inc. dbaThe Prism. Contents may not be republishedwithout permission.

In your excellent article on Dianna Ortiz(July, 1996), you wrote that she is fromKentucky, whereas she is actually fromNew Mexico.

Thank you for writing articles about hu-man rights.

Sincerely,Bruce Magnuson

(http://www.prop1.org/protest/guatemal/guat96do.htm)

CORRECTION

Commentary by Dan Gerlach,Budget & Tax Center Director

In an increasingly stressful world, I thinkwe should all be entitled to a few certainties.One of those certainties should be that whenI turn on the light switch, the light goes on.Another should be that I know about howmuch my electric bill will be each month.

But there is a national trend to deregulatethe electric industry. Deregulation meansthat individuals and businesses could selectthe company to provide their electricity,while at the moment electric companieshave monopolies over specific geographicareas. Under deregulation, electric compa-nies would compete for your business, hope-fully resulting in lower prices and betterservice.

Ha, I say. Let’s look at California – one ofthe states that deregulated first. Residentialconsumers in San Diego are paying two tothree times as much in their electric bills.While service during the California heatwave has been erratic, brownouts have beencommon. Several hundred people, all op-posed to the new deregulation and its ef-fects, testified before the utility commis-sion recently.

In other areas of the country, it has be-come obvious that some power companiesare manipulating prices as well. A WallStreet Journal article reported that the en-ergy infrastructure is not ready for compe-tition. Some companies are denied access tothe power grid. Others are taking electricityat peak times and replacing it later, jeopar-dizing supply. Yet others are bidding upprices from small plants, knowing that high

summer demand will result in its use. Theperfectly competitive world that the free-market pointy-heads envision does notexist in the energy realm.

Let’s not forget that we’ve already hadtelephone deregulation. I’m not quite surethat my long-distance bills have decreasedany. After all, how could they? Compa-nies spend millions on TV commercialsand mail advertisements to recruit you.They have to think of ingenious disclaim-ers – “Yes, 2 cents a minute, anytime(after two a.m. and before three a.m on thesecond Thursday of the week).” They’vegenerated a mini boomlet in the economyby calling my house to convince me toswitch over with wonderful promises:“Mr. Gerlach, we’ll give you free min-utes, a set of Ginsu knives, and..what thehey…a brand new car!”

Please. Leave me alone. Let me pay mybill in peace.

North Carolina policymakers were rightto adopt a go-slow approach to deregula-tion. The California experience showsthat there is a whole lot of risk and not awhole lot of gain to deregulation at thistime.

There are some principles that NorthCarolina should adopt from these lessons.First, any move toward deregulation mustcontain protections, both in terms of qual-ity and price, for residential consumers.Second, power companies should be ableto explain their plans for furnishing powerat times of peak demand, such as hotsummer days. Third, any taxation of elec-tricity should be based on usage, not price.Deregulation promises deeper price re-ductions for large power users, such asindustrial plants. These large usersshouldn’t have all the benefit of lowertaxes as well. Fourth, make it a require-ment that electric providers don’t call me.I’ll call them.

Dan Gerlach is the director of the N.C.Budget and Tax Center, based in Raleigh.He can be reached at (919) 856-2158 orby email at dan@ncjustice.org. This ar-ticle appeared on the web site of the NCJustice and Community DevelopmentCenter, http://www.ncjustice.org.

Now that $1.3 billion in military and lawenforcement assistance to Colombia hasbeen approved by Congress, and militaryadvisory programs have been set up, theNews & Observer has treated its readershipto a discussion of the merits and aims of thishuge aid package. In the July 30 “Q”section, the question “Colombia: AnotherQuagmire?” is posed. While more than oneside of the issue was presented, the tenor ofthe article makes US involvement soundmore like a moral crusade against the latestvillain of the day -- international narcoticsproduction and trafficking -- than the dubi-ous adventure that risks intensifying analready horrific civil war, a far more likelyoutcome.

Quoting White House sources and FortBragg Special forces soldiers, we are toldthat the US is “doing the right thing” in theplanned intervention programs, already anestablished (if under-reported) part ofAmerican foreign policy.

In fact, the US has already suffered casu-alties, most notably Army pilot JenniferOdom, whose surveillance plane was shotdown by combatants on July 23. With moreAmerican “advisers” being sent into thearea, more such casualties are, sadly, quiteforseeable, as are civilian massacres thathave characterized just about every US “as-sistance” effort in the past half century, andwhich are already far too common an occur-rence in Colombia..

In a companion piece to the main article,our esteemed senior Senator Jesse Helms,in an inspired piece of ‘50s era commie-bashing, points out that the Colombiancivil war is being waged by Communistnarco-terrorists, and that we must do what-ever it takes to resolve the conflict. It isobvious that the Senator’s definition of“whatever” is limited to military aid andassistance, and not to negotiated peace.Meanwhile, best evidence shows massivearmy and paramilitary involvement inprofitting from the drug trade, and in arecent interview paramilitary leader CarlosCastana claimed that the US has been tryingto provide covert support and direction tohis and other right-wing groups, univer-sally agreed to have murdered by far themost civilians.

On the other hand, closer to the govern-mental party line, the main article states that

the weaponry and technical assistance willbe helpful in bringing about a “negotiatedpeace” for the beleaguered nation.

The section omitted the fact that a peaceprocess has already been established in thecountry, and that rebel and governmentalleaders took an extended tour of Europetogether in February in order to learn aboutcivil peace from various other nations, wascompletely ignored in the N&O article.Colombian President Andres Pastrana, him-self under investigation by the Colombianparliament for having been elected withmassive funding from drug lords, has cededterritory to the rebels in the name of peace(and, true, because the rebels are powerfulenough to hold and defend large tracts ofland), and in the long view, a negotiatedpeace seems possible without foreign inter-vention.

But the “Q” section presented evidenceonly in support of US intervention assis-tance, such as the amounts of drugs pro-duced in the region and ending up on a“table in Hilton Head”. Nowhere is thequestion posed of “what do we do if thisfirst ‘Plan Colombia’ package fails?”, surelya question of concern to those familiar withthat other conflict of repute from three de-cades ago, in which the US held little morethan a commitment to do “whatever it takes”to ensure victory of non-communist forces.

As this “quagmire” develops, the News &Observer needs to take a close look at thesituation, and ask questions that lead to acritical and public discussion of the meritsof US involvement in the ongoing war.

The lives of 58,000 US military person-nel may not be at risk in South America, butthe lives of millions of Colombians willmost surely be affected by an aid packagethat equals 5% of the total Colombian bud-get. Facts, not official or military rhetoric,is called for.

Why Beg for Dereg?

Colombia Coverage in MainstreamMedia Only Half the Story

by Matt Robinson

Local ActivistsArrestedIn the IMF/World Bank demonstrations ofApril 16 and, more recently, the protests ofthe Republican National Convention inPhiladelphia, local activists were treated toorganized police harassment and brutality.

In a Prison Industrial Complex march onApril 15, over 500 marchers were arrestedby DC police. Non-violent protesters werecorralled into a narrow block and held cap-tive for two hours before being carted off inschool buses to be charged with minor of-fenses. Several Chapel Hill/Durham activ-ists were among those arrested in this policeaction, which was a pre-emptive strikeagainst the protests scheduled for the nextday.

In Philadelphia, activists from around thestate were arrested and subjected to policebrutality -- safely out of the sight of camerasor independent observers -- and some are, atthis writing, still in jail on ridiculously highbonds.

April-August 2000, The Prism, Page 3

IMF Protesters in DC...

...Met With Stiff Resistance

Above: Green Party Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader addresses the International Forum on Globalization on April 14. Above right: The weather was beautiful for the A16 marchto the Ellipse. Brightly painted puppets led the way. Below right:Graffiti marks the sentiment of radical activists. Rain dampened the spontaneous, unpermitted marchers on April 17,below left, but the police were few, motorists friendly, and thousands of non-violent protesters briefly had the run of the city streets.

On the weekend of April 14-16, 2000, a massive protest took place in the nation’s capital. Thestreets of Washington D.C. were inundated by tens of thousands of activists, demonstrators, unionmembers, independent media people, anarchists, and general malcontents, who had gathered toprotest -- and if possible shut down -- the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund andthe World Bank. Voicing their opposition to IMF/WB policies that exacerbate poverty and erodedemocracy throughout the world, but especially in the global South, the protesters took to the streets.

Over the course of the weekend, people participated in conferences and forums exploring issuesof poverty, development, and globalization, and examined the World Bank/IMF role in thedestruction of environmental, social, and labor standards worldwide. Demonstrators took part inmarches and rallies protesting the Prison Industrial Complex, the U.S./NATO devastation ofYugoslavia, the use of sweatshop labor by multinational corporations, and Mexican repression of

indigenous rights in Chiapas.During the massive, non-violent protests against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,

demonstrators and innocent bystanders alike were treated to force and intimidation by D.C. Police and U.S.Marshalls. Despite anti-democratic tactics, mass arrests, and extra-legal harassment of organizers, protesters,and supporters, the demonstrations were a great success.

For several days the World Bank and the IMF were put squarely in the public spotlight, and delegates to theIMF/WB meetings -- the focus of the demonstrations -- were forced to discuss issues of global poverty andinequality. The meetings were not shut down, as organizers had hoped, but for three days many thousandsof people from across the country and around the world joined together to make their voices heard.

Clockwise, far left: Officer outside World Bank Headquarters watches his back.Independent media shut out of press conference at Convergence Center raid. Phalanxof motorcycle officers at WB building. National Guard troops called out on A16.Outside courthouse, supporters of the incarcerated await news of those inside.

Photo essay by Matt Robinson

Page 4, The Prism, April-August 2000

1990, AprilRaleigh News & Observer editor gives Central Americansolidarity activists reason to launch an alternative paper

1990, May

1991, October

The Prism is proud to present a 10-year retrospective of news and views that have gracedthe pages of this grassroots publication. Many of the stories profiled here from the pastdecade remain current and have lost none of their relevance. There are stories of hardshipand stories of triumph, and stories that, like the university-affiliated toxic dumps in ChapelHill and Raleigh, demonstrate how the Triangle area has lots of common problems in searchof solutions.

Please note that we have not reprinted the entire articles here, nor have we chosen onlythe most controversial stories. We hope you will find a good representation of the coveragethat The Prism has provided to the area since 1990. The Prism hopes eventually to makeall of its archive editions avaiable on the Internet, but for now we hope you enjoy this briefoverview of The Prism’s decade.

10 Years of Under-Reported NewsThe Prism Retrospective:

While the Marine Corps has notified a lawyerrepresenting several of the conscientious objectorsin the brig that their applications will no longer beprocessed, Amnesty International has declaredmany of these men “prisoners of conscience.”

Possible chemical substances buried in the landfillinclude poisons...pesticides, mercury, and heavymetals.

There are many in our community whoare politically involved in the struggles ofour Central American neighbors. They areacting out of a strong moral conviction thathuman rights abuses have been committedand the fingerprints of the U.S. governmentare frequently evident. The maqss mediaseldom cover the seamier sides to U.S.involvment in Cen tral America and theimplications are usuallyu off-limits for ex-tended discussion.

David Kirsh, a staff member of this paperand author of “Central America without

Crying Uncle,” recently submitted a pieceon U.S. complicity with the Salvadorandeath squads to the News & Observer. Opin-ion page editor Steve Ford refused to run itbecause, “there are too many fac ts.” Whenasked if the piece could be re-submittedwithout so many factrs and more in the moldof an opinion piece, Ford responded, “Idoubt that would do it. How would yousubstantiate what you are saying?”

April-August 2000, The Prism, Page 5

1991, March

1992, January

Page 6, The Prism, April-August 2000

1993,March

1993,May

1993,July-August

April-August 2000, The Prism, Page 7

1993,November

1994,March

1995, May

1995, April

Page 8, The Prism, April-August 2000

1995, June

1996, February 1996, June

April-August 2000, The Prism, Page 9

1997, March

1997, October

Page 10, The Prism, April-August 2000

1998, April1998, March

1999, December

April-August 2000, The Prism, Page 11

By Winona LaDuke

I want to talk a little bit about why I’mdoing this [running for Vice President on theGreen Party line], and what has brought meto it. A lot of you probably don’t know muchabout my history or what we do in my com-munity, but I’ve worked for about 20 yearson environmental issues from pretty much aNative perspective. During the course ofthat time I’ve tried just about every singlerecourse to try to solve these issues. I’vebeen in court, I’ve been to Congress, I’vebeen to the United Nations, I’ve been toalmost every single administrative hearingprocess in this country that you could go to.In the course of that work I’ve discoveredthat most of those processes don’t work, orsometimes they work and we’ll stall some-thing, but the thing that comes up time aftertime is the issue of the electoral process, thefact that bad people have been elected, andbad people beholden to corporations makebad decisions that affect all of us.

So the question is posed to people likeyou and I, what are we going to do? I’mprobably like a lot of other people; I’ve notbeen a big participant in electoral politics,largely because, if you think of it from aNative perspective, if they had one personone vote, 100 years ago, things would lookquite a bit differently in the United States

than they look now. But they did not actu-ally give Indian people the right to vote inthis country until we were less than 1% ofthe population. That’s indicative of howdisenfranchised our community is from theAmerican system. Obviously that’s inten-tional, and obviously there are a lot ofpieces to that, including that we have ourown sovereignty.

In addition, if one considers the circum-stances which we are in, I’m someone whobelieves that we as progressive people, oras people from these rural communities, orpeople from communities like mine who seethe back end of bad public policy—we haveto rise to the challenge and go through theprocess of recovering democracy so thatdecisions and public policy are written notfor the richest people in this country, but forthe poorest. So if I believe that, then Iactually must put my own arm into thatprocess, and struggle with that as each of usdo. As my friend Ralph will say, it’s to risefrom being a private citizen to being a publiccitizen.

As I’ve traveled around there’s an excel-lent response as I go to different places.Now first, I have to issue a disclaimer. I havea four-month old newborn, I’m definitelythe only Vice-Presidential candidate who isnursing, which means that I do not travel asmuch as my colleague Ralph, who is not

nursing in this election year. But as I goaround the country I find what I’m sure a lotof you find, that a lot of people are frustratedwith the options, a lot of people don’t thinkthat there’s much that they can do, a lot ofpeople have disempowered themselves. Theencouragement that I try to give in my talksas I go to these different places is that changeis made by people like you and me. Change ismade by common people; it is not made bysomeone who comes from someplace elseand fixes it. There’s nobody who’s going tofix it but us.

The work that we do on my own WhiteEarth Reservation in northern Minnesota,the people who are resisting plans to suck outall the water from an aquifer up in northernWisconsin, the people who resist those thingsare people like you and I. The words I give areusually to encourage people towards that,and I find that it really resonates with peopleall around the country. They want to feel likethere is something they can do.

We all will agree that electoral politics is animportant part of an overall piece of how youchange things, but it’s not the only thing thatyou do. You engage in your political work inevery arena you can, whether it’s rebuildingyour community, whether it’s litigating,whether it’s seeking some kind of administra-tive redress. You need to continue all thosepieces of work, but you move towards elec-

toral activity. People would like to feel, in myexperience, that there’s somebody they canvote for who meant something to them. I hearthat a lot of places. This one farmer came upto me last year and he says, I must tell youthat I’m a violent and secret supporter ofyou. I think that there are a lot of people outthere who are like that, who are just commonpeople who would like to believe in some-thing, who know that people died for theright to vote in this country and they’d liketo cast their vote for something that theybelieved in.

So I would say that there’s an increasinginterest in this, and I will try to do my part tokeep encouraging this process, to encour-age people to engage in it.

Winona LaDuke is the director of theWhite Earth Land Recovery Project on theWhite Earth Reservation in Minnesota andworks with the Honor the Earth founda-tion. She is the author of two books, LastStanding Woman, and All Our Relations.

Contact Honor the Earth at 2801 21 St.Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55407, ph#1(800)EARTH07; fax (612)721-7162, or<www.honorearth.com>.

Article reprinted with permission from:Independent Progressive Politics Network:P.O. Box 1041, Bloomfield, NJ 07003-9991 973-338-5398 (voice), 973-338-2210 (fax) or <http://www.ippn.org>.

Winona LaDuke Speaks on WhyShe’s Running on Green Ticket

you’ll get the same answer ten times: it issafer for the campesinos or workers in thefield; safer for the workers who consume,and safer for the workers’ families. It is, afterall a socialist country. “Agriculture of thehumble, by the humble and for the humble”said one government functionary. But all ten will admit, not even pressed,that the real incentive was the loss of theSoviet support. When the Soviets were supplying chemi-cal fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, andtractor driven equip-ment to apply them,“we used to spray thecrops every six days,”said INISAV engineerEsperanza Rijo-Camacho “whetherthey needed it or not.” “Luckily, and I choose my words care-fully, luckily, the roof caved in 1989,” saidMavis Alvarez of the Cuban Small Farmers’Association (ANAP) which has decided togo as organic as possible because the sys-tem is sustainable. “It made us pay attentionto that which was already there - more ratio-nal methods.” “We like to call it ‘ecological agricul-ture’,” Alvarez said. “It is a much widerconcept which involves harmony with theland, and the environment. If we don’t saveour natural resources, we are without a basisfor development.” “The campesino in the land is much moreable to cooperate with the environment”than large scale farms, she said. “He hastraditionally been conservative because ofthe impact on his land.” And in Cuba the small farmer is no smallpotatoes. “We have about 250,000 membersand with their families that averages out toabout a million people working the land,”she said, “And we are not a non-govern-mental organization. We are part of the revo-lution and support it.” “It is not a matter of convincing anyonelike American organic farmers sometimestry to do,” she said, “the state is committedto ecological farming.” Yes it is, said Juan Jose Leon Vega, thedirector of external relations for the Agricul-

ture Ministry. “I don’t believe many peopleknow how big organic farming in Cubareally is,” he said. “The day the marketopens Cuba will be the most important sourcefor America for organic products. Ameri-cans want clean food. We grow the cleanestfood on the continent. No other country onthe continent has the capacity, the possi-bilities, and the initiative. Also, we are close.” The Crop Protection Institute has some222 local Centers for the Reproduction ofEntomophages and Entomopathogens(CREES) which produce extremely inexpen-sive biological agents made up of bugs who

eat pesky bugs, virus that combat bad vi-ruses, larvae that kill other pests, and allmanner of natural weapons to combat whatcampesinos universally call “the plague,”be it animal, virus or fungus.

In some cases the sprays are made up ofsliced up bodies of the pest themselves,mixed with water sprayed in the often suc-cessful theory that no species wants tohang around with the smell of its own dead.Inall cases the stuff is made down the road -and, if all goes well, at a time when it isneeded locally. When farmer CirrilloRodrequez, 65, has a problem, seven tech-nically trained members of the local govern-ment committee are available to talk to him.

They know the signs indicating which“plague” is hitting his rice, corn, root crops,pigs, chickens and vegetables, and whatbiological products can be applied to help.He gets the sprays from the local CREE.

Castro’s government has banned the useof any chemical fertilizers, pesticides andherbicides within the borders of any Cubanmunicipality - to protect the workers, theirfamilies and the water they drink. This is not an inconsiderable factor. Ac-cording to minister Leon-Vega there areexactly 2,600 large scale organic gardens incities throughout the island, 3,600 smaller,intensive gardens, and 93,948 little parcels

run by families for their own use, and everysingle mother’s son of them is an organicfarmer. “We sell them their seeds, and theirfertilizer and their pest controls, and it is allorganic.” The result, by and large is clean food forCubans. Marty Bourque of Food First, anOakland California think tank specializing infood policy worldwide, said “ because of thedrastic reduction of pesticides and fertilizersoverall in Cuba, it has to be much cleaner thanany other country, in general terms. And inparticular terms too. In fruit and vegetables,for example, and these are very important

areas because the stuffcomes in fresh off thefields. “In the large-scale production ofsuch things as sugar,rice, and potatoes, theyuse very little insecti-cide, and only where

they absolutely have to, and then only on theareas that absolutely need it, unlike someplaces in the United States where they,whether they admit it or not, use pesticidesby the calendar, whether they need it or not. “The food is not labeled organic, or certi-

Cont. from p. 1

“I don’t believe many people know how bigorganic farming in Cuba really is”-Juan Jose Leon Vega,

Agriculture Ministry director of external relations

fied organic, it just is organic. And it is nota two-tier market with organic food only forthose who can afford it. It is organic food foreveryone.”What are the chances of it reach-ing American shores? Very remote.One en-try to the American market might have beenthrough setting up a joint venture with someEuropean countries to produce the biologi-cal pest control solutions. “We had a lot of interested parties, “ saidDr. Emilio Fernandez of the Crop ProtectionInstitute, “but they were afraid if they didbusiness with us, their own exports (to theUnited States) would be cut off.” So todayit is Cuba. The world tomorrow, and theUnited States maybe a little after that.

Article reprinted with permission from TheEarth Times, edited for length.. For the fulltext,please seeh t t p : / / w w w . e a r t h t i m e s . o r g / j u l /environmentcubaproducingjul13_00.htm

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Page 12, The Prism, April-August 2000

Indigenous women in the Zapatistacommunities have been looking to breakthrough traditional barriers to genderequality.

Zapatista Women Occupy Radio Station to Demand Respect forWomen, End to Military Occupationby Wendy Courtemanche

Amid an intensification of the militarypresence surrounding their communities,8000 Zapatista women and their supportersgathered in San Cristobal de las Casas,Chiapas on March 8 to celebrate Interna-tional Women’s Day. They traveled fromthe remote corners of the state, some brav-ing a 12-hour journey through a region domi-nated by soldiers and military checkpoints,in order to make their voices heard.

Two hundred marchers peacefully occu-pied the government radio station in order tosend out their message, calling for respectfor women and an end to the military occu-pation of their communities, during a one-hour broadcast. An indigenous woman fromthe jungle explained to her radio listeners,“Many of us do not know how to read orwrite, and for this reason we have come soyou all can listen to us. We want you all toknow that we will not get accustomed to themilitarization.” The march culminated in thePlaza of the Cathedral, where the womenincluded in their demands the liberation ofthe jailed UNAM students in Mexico City-students who have marched together withthe Zapatistas in their common struggle fordemocracy.

In 1994 the Mayan people of Chiapas,Mexico said “Enough!” to 500 years of ex-ploitation, poverty, and repression. TheMexican government’s response to theZapatista demand for justice and dignity hasbeen to send tens of thousands of soldiers(one-third of the entire Mexican army) to theregion, one of the poorest in Mexico. Thesesoldiers, aided by police and paramilitaries,have created a climate of violence and intimi-dation, and are increasingly responsible forthe destruction of forests and the contami-nation of lakes and rivers throughout thecountryside. U.S. military assistance toMexico, including training of soldiers in theinfamous School of the Americas and salesof weapons and equipment, has risen dra-matically during this same time period.

This “low intensity warfare” has a tremen-dous negative effect on the daily lives ofindigenous women in Chiapas. Due to theArmy’s presence, which has brought drugs,prostitution, and threats of rape and harass-ment into their communities, women (andmen) are often afraid to leave their villages.They are unable to gather firewood, tend

their crops, bathe or wash clothes in theriver, or leave to sell their weavings or to seekmedical attention. Thousands, displaced bythe violence, are living in inadequate, tem-porary shelters and suffer from high rates ofphysical and stress-related disorders. Thisregion has the highest rate of infant mortal-ity in Mexico, with 67% of the populationsuffering from malnutrition.

In the face of this harsh and repressivesituation, women are taking a stand andspeaking out. Traditionally one of the mostmarginalized sectors of society, indigenouswomen found in the Zapatista uprising “aspark, a waking call” which led them to seethat they deserved respect as persons. Theybegan to celebrate March 8 after the Zapatistauprising, and they have re-named it Interna-tional Revolutionary Women’s Day. Part oftheir inspiration has come from the ZapatistaRevolutionary Law of Women, which pro-motes the right to participate in communitydecisions, to obtain education and healthcare, and to choose how many children theywant to have. It also gives them the right tochoose their marriage partner and to be freefrom physical abuse.

These are radical concepts for womenwho traditionally have been sold into mar-

riage before the age of 15, “like property”one of them says, and denied an educationor a voice in their own futures. Now indig-enous women are openly organizing them-selves. They are major participants in pro-tests against the military occupation, oftenas the front line in face-to-face confronta-tions with soldiers. They are forming coop-eratives for their weavings and actively seek-ing ways to improve their economic situa-tion. They now believe that they have theright to speak and be heard, and to partici-pate in the construction of a just society forthemselves and their children.

The Zapatista movement has become astimulus for social change and democracy,both within Mexico and in other parts of theworld. Their struggle, and especially thestrength and determination of these Mayanwomen, has inspired many others to jointogether and say “Basta! Enough!” Interna-tional support is extremely important forthem in making their voices heard and theircause known. You can help by asking yourlegislators to support the current U.S. con-gressional initiatives promoting peace andhuman rights in Chiapas.

The Zapatista movement has become astimulus for social change and democracy,

photo by Wendy C

ourtemanche

both within Mexico and in other parts of theworld. Their struggle, and especially thestrength and determination of these Mayanwomen, has inspired many others to jointogether and say “Basta! Enough!” Interna-tional support is extremely important forthem in making their voices heard and theircause known. One way you can help is bysupporting the work of Cloudforest Initia-tives. This non-profit, non-governmentalorganization supports efforts for peace, jus-tice and sustainable development, includ-ing a bilingual womens education project, inthe autonomous Maya communities ofChiapas.

For more information, contact the CloudForest Initiative website at<www.cloudforest-mexico.org> or call651-592-4143 to request one of their news-letters.

Mayan women have found their own ways of organizing to oppose ‘500 years of exploitation,poverty, and repression.’

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