Compañeras: Zapatista Women's Stories

I am grateful for this book. It had catalyzed many conversations online and in person about organizing, building healthy alternative systems alongside oppressive systems, engaging communities for the long haul, and what it takes to accomplish major social and political change. The story of the Zapatistas shows that power is not defined by money, and it need not be gained through the use of violence. The vast majority of the change and development in Zapatista society had come from patient nonviolent actions. This book will sit with me for a long while and will probably be read several more times as I process the many lessons for women, for activism, and for other worlds which are possible. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the commons, in alternatives to globalism, in the fight for indigenous liberation, in women's rights, or generally in finding pathways to a better world for themselves and their children.

This book is by far the best that I have ever read about the Zapatista struggle. It's beautifully written around the stories of Zapatista women in a way that illustrates both how and why we build a better world. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Zapatistas, regardless of how familiar you may already be with their efforts. I would also suggest it to anyone interested in women's liberation, Indigenous rights, campesino movements, or social movements generally.As an educator, I also see this book being incredibly empowering for some of my young Latina friends - many of whom come from migrant and/or farmworking families. I think this book would be a great addition to a college reading list and would also be suitable to some high school students. Because of the content and complexity, it would likely be tough for a younger audience. However, I think it is important that younger kids learn about the Zapatistas and the women's stories. I would suggest selected reading and guided reading/discussions for the younger audiences. I don't believe in censoring content for younger audiences, but there is discussion of rape and murder and, at the very least, I'd want to be sure kids had someone that knew what they were reading to check in with.In my community, I have noticed that kids know very little about Mexican history or the history of chicana/o social movements in US America. As a consequence of their history and culture being ignored in schools, I have noticed a lot of kids in the community debating what it means to be Mexican and whether or not they are Mexican. I really think this book could do a lot towards healing from some of that violence and engaging in the work of social justice both locally and internationally.

I will confess that I had become a little weary of the books I "should" read in order to understand social movements and political struggle. I have been craving a bit of junk literature to just let my brain rest and be entertained. But this book defied my expectations - rather than another book that I read for 50 pages and then let linger on my bedside table while I watch tv, this one drew me in. The struggles of the Zapatista women are of course intense and painful and hard, but what comes through in this book - in really lovely and engaging prose - is the joy and power and liberation. The feel of this book is not heavy or pedantic or "important" to read. This is a book to pick up when you feel that life or work is hard, and you want a taste of beauty and inspiration and love. You move quickly through the pages and the gorgeous words of powerful women. And you will feel much better falling asleep after a few chapters of Companeras than after an hour or two of indulgent t.v.!!!!

This extraordinary book is a study in all that it means to become a revolutionary, not only for women but for the communities in which they live. It describes in visceral detail, in the voices of the women themselves, the brutal, startling, and sometimes beautiful process of internal and communal political and interpersonal transformation.Hilary Klein's skillful narrative is crafted as a framework to provide context for the first hand stories she collected during the years she lived and worked in Chiapas, traveling to many indigenous communities to collect testimony and spend time as an observer. From the decade before the Zapatista uprising in 1994, to the twenty years of community building that followed and continues today, 'Companeras' chronicles a powerful movement. But more importantly it illustrates how the EZLN and the women who joined it were lifted up each by the other, empowering them both to succeed.With this book, Hilary makes of herself a bridge so that the voices of the companeras can walk out of their communities and into the international arena, illuminating the dark places where hopelessness and despair harbor the belief that revolution is impossible.

Before the Zapatistas became widely known around the world, there were many humble, illiterate, hard-working indigenous women being oppressed in medieval ways, who began organizing to survive. This ia a history of how women with no formal power or status found the courage to resist that most of their highly educated and much wealthier cohorts in other places have yet to discover.

Klein writes this book in a way that is seldom seen or done. She has written this book through the experiences that she gained while living in Chiapas for six years. The storytelling in this book is incredible. Through the eyes of the Zapitista women, we are able to experience first hand what they go through rather than the conventional method of one author relying on another author's works in order to come to a conclusion. This is not to say that the book has no scholarly value. Indeed, if anything, the scholarly value of this book is greatly enhanced as the writings are from first hand experiences and conversations with the women in Chiapas. If only more scholarly titles were written in this manner.