The Story of Colors / La Historia de los Colores: A Bilingual Folktale from the Jungles of Chiapas (English and Spanish Edition)

This wonderful folktale reveals some of the down-to-earth wisdom of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas. At the same time, it provides us with a fresh perspective on the struggles of the people there. They fight to conserve their culture and a vision of the world which they see as flowering with holinessa holiness that cannot be measured in dollars or defined by politics. The text for La Historia de los Colores is taken from the communiqué dated October 27, 1994 from Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos to the Mexican People. Originally published in Mexico with illustrations by Domitila Domínguez as La Historia de los Colores © 1996 by Colectivo Callejero, Guadalajara. Who is Marcos? Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos is the military strategist and spokesperson for the Zapatistas, an indigenous guerrilla movement in Mexico. It is his person, more than any other factor, that has pushed the Zapatista movement and the plight of the indigenous people in Mexico onto the international scene. Marcos continues to be the focus of media attentionin Mexico, in the States, and internationally, despite the Mexican government’s attempts to discredit him. On New Year’s Day, 1994, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos and the Zapatistas, wearing their trademark ski masks, erupted on the world scene by declaring war on the Mexican government and attacking military installations in San Cristóbal, Chiapas. Since that time, Marcosbecause of his charm, intelligence and mystiquehas become a post-modern revolutionary hero. In his communiqués to the Mexican people, he has often related folktales and stories that reflect the culture and wisdom of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas. But no one seems to know who Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos is. The Mexican Government claims he is Rafael Guillen, but they’re literalists. He says he’s a Mexican like any other, born somewhere between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and between the northern and southern borders. He says he wears a ski mask because he is no longer whoever he was.

Children's Books

Subcomandante Marcos

Literature & Fiction

Cinco Puntos Press

Once again sharing the wisdom of Old Man Antonio and his Mayan heritage, Subcomandante Marcos tells two folktales from the Zapatista rebellion against the Mexican Government.
"The Story of the Sword" is an ancient parable that demonstrates how the indigenous peoples of Mexico can finally defeat the European invader. The tree, for instance, tried to fight the sword, but was defeated. The stone likewise tried to fight the sword, but was defeated. But not the water. "It follows its own road, it wraps itself around the sword and, without doing anything, it arrives at the river that will carry it to the great water where the greatest of gods cure themselves of thirst, those gods that birthed the world, the first ones."
"The Story of Questions" relates how two gods, Ik'al and Votan, wander the earth wrapped forever in each other's arms. These two gods are the Ying and the Yang, the yes and the no, the night and the day of the Mayan universe. Antonio says, "When they got here they made themselves one and gave themselves the name of Zapata."
Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska and Native American poet Simon Ortiz contribute commentary to explain the significance of the Zapatista Rebellion to the 21st Century. They also discuss the use of folklore and artistic expression to expand our understanding of political thought.
Well-known Mexican artists Domitila Dominguez and Antonio Ramirez—co-directors of the Colectivo Callejero in Guadalajara—each illustrated one of the stories. The Colectivo is dedicated to expanding the understanding of revolutionary thought through artistic expression.
This beautiful full-colored edition—the successor to The Story of Colors that received international notoriety when the National Endowment for the Arts rescinded funding for its publication—will serve equally well as a coffee table book as well as a serious read for lovers of Latin American literature.

Questions and Swords: Folktales of the Zapatista Revolution

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

In this landmark book, Seven Stories Press presents a powerful collection of literary, philosophical, and political writings of the masked Zapatista spokesperson, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. Introduced by Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, and illustrated with beautiful black and white photographs, Our Word Is Our Weapon crystallizes "the passion of a rebel, the poetry of a movement, and the literary genius of indigenous Mexico." Marcos first captured world attention on January 1, 1994, when he and an indigenous guerrilla group calling themselves "Zapatistas" revolted against the Mexican government and seized key towns in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas. In the six years that have passed since their uprising, Marcos has altered the course of Mexican politics and emerged an international symbol of grassroots movement-building, rebellion, and democracy. The prolific stream of poetic political writings, tales, and traditional myths that Marcos has penned since January 1, 1994 fill more than four volumes. Our Word Is Our Weapon presents the best of these writings, many of which have never been published before in English. Throughout this remarkable book we hear the uncompromising voice of indigenous communities living in resistance, expressing through manifestos and myths the universal human urge for dignity, democracy, and liberation. It is the voice of a people refusing to be forgotten the voice of Mexico in transition, the voice of a people struggling for democracy by using their word as their only weapon.

Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Seven Stories Press

En este libro fundamental, Seven Stories Press presenta una poderosa colección de escritos literarios, filosóficos y políticos del enigmático vocero de los zapatistas, SubComandante Marcos. Con la Introducción del ganador del Premio Nobel, José Saramago, e ilustrado con bellas fotos en blanco y negro, Nuestra Arma es Nuestra Palabra cristaliza, la pasión de un rebelde, la poesía de un movimiento y el genio literario de los indígenas de México. Marcos captura por primera vez la atención mundial el primero de enero de 1994 cuando un grupo guerrillero indígena que se llama a sí mismo "Zapatista", en rebelión contra el gobierno de México, se apodera de poblaciones claves en Chiapas, el Estado más al sur del país. En los ocho años que han pasado desde esa rebelión, Marcos ha alterado el curso de la política mexicana y ha surgido como un símbolo internacional de la construcción de los movimientos de base, rebelión y democracia. Su prolífico torrente de escritos de poesía política, cuentos, mitos tradicionales que Marcos ha recogido desde el primero de enero de 1994, llena más de cuatro volúmenes. Nuestra Arma es Nuestra Palabra presenta lo mejor de sus escritos, muchos de los cuales no habían sido publicado antes en inglés. Nuestra Arma es Nuestra Palabra está dividido en tres secciones. La primera junta sus ensayos políticos esenciales y muestra la evolución del pensamiento zapatista como un movimiento tanto dentro, como fuera de México. La segunda, presenta el pensamiento filosófico de Marcos, sus reflexiones personales e incluye una recolección humorística de sus primeros días de guerrillero, así como sus cartas a otros escritores. En la tercera aparecen muchas historias cortas, cuentos populares, y mitos indígenas que Marcos ha conocido, incluída la premiada "Historia de los Colores". A través de este libro extraordinario oimos la voz no comprometida de las comunidades indígenas que viven en resistencia, expresando por medio de manifiestos y mitos el apremio universal de dignidad, democracia y libertad. Es la voz de un pueblo que rehusa ser olvidado, es la voz la transición de México, la voz de un pueblo luchando por la democracia, usando sus palabras como su única arma.

Nuestra arma es nuestra palabra

Marcos, Subcomandante

Siete Cuentos

In this landmark book, Seven Stories Press presents a powerful collection of literary, philosophical, and political writings of the masked Zapatista spokesperson, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. Introduced by Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, and illustrated with beautiful black and white photographs, Our Word Is Our Weapon crystallizes "the passion of a rebel, the poetry of a movement, and the literary genius of indigenous Mexico." Marcos first captured world attention on January 1, 1994, when he and an indigenous guerrilla group calling themselves "Zapatistas" revolted against the Mexican government and seized key towns in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas. In the six years that have passed since their uprising, Marcos has altered the course of Mexican politics and emerged an international symbol of grassroots movement-building, rebellion, and democracy. The prolific stream of poetic political writings, tales, and traditional myths that Marcos has penned since January 1, 1994 fill more than four volumes. Our Word Is Our Weapon presents the best of these writings, many of which have never been published before in English.Throughout this remarkable book we hear the uncompromising voice of indigenous communities living in resistance, expressing through manifestos and myths the universal human urge for dignity, democracy, and liberation. It is the voice of a people refusing to be forgotten the voice of Mexico in transition, the voice of a people struggling for democracy by using their word as their only weapon.

Our Word is Our Weapon: Selected Writings (Open Media)

Zapatista revolution in Mexico is lead by the fair-skinned, urban, university educated poet-warrior-spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos. Marcos has created a unique fusion between 'the two Mexicos': the one white/mestizo and western, the other traditional. This book presents a collection of Marcos' writings.

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Serpent's Tail

Fiction. In this highly anticipated surreal noir collaboration between Mexico's greatest writer and its most feared revolutionary, the consistently excellent Paco Ignacio Taibo II and Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos create an uproarious murder mystery with two intersecting story lines in alternating chapters. Marcos' hero Elias Contreras - an odd but charming mountain man from Chiapas, Mexico - travels to Mexico City in search of an elusive and hideous murderer named Morales. Meanwhile, Taibo's famous series detective, the philosophical Hector Belascoaran Shayne, guzzles Coca-Cola and smokes cigarettes furiously through the search for his own "Morales." The two stories collide absurdly and dramatically in the urban sprawl of Mexico City in an unpredictable dance of death with forces at once criminal, historical, and political.

The Uncomfortable Dead

Paco Ignacio Taibo III

United States

Akashic Books

Kassensturz: Interviews mit Laura Castellanos

History

Americas

Edition Nautilus

En este libro el Subcomandante Marcos acepta el desafio. Por primera vez, y como si fuera la última, explica todo lo referente al movimiento, sus génesis y su evolución, sin metáforas, sin parábolas, trascendiendo lo anecdótico. Con gravedad, urgencia, angustia, pero también con el humor de alguien convencido de suposibleme

El sueño zapatista

Yvon Le Bot

Sociology

Editorial Anagrama

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Books by Subcomandante Marcos