HELP BUILD THE FIRST AUTONOMOUS, INDIGENOUS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN ZAPATISTA TERRITORY!

We are helping sell $5 school bonds to help build the first junior high school in Zapatista territory. The selling of these bonds is a direct way to help support the autonomy of Indigenous people & their struggle to survive in the 21st Century. 100% of the funds receieved from the selling of these bonds goes directy into the Indigenous school board that is overseeing the construction of their school. This allows them to make the purchasing decisions & arrangements for buying the construction materials. The idea of these bonds was directly administered by civilian Indigenous Zapatistas and has received a great amount of much needed support, with bonds being sold in Mexico, the US, and various other countries.
Every person that buys a bond has a material investment in the construction of the school. On the back of each bond sold is information on how you can get in touch with the Chiapas Schools Construction Teams to get more involved in this effort.

What is the progress of the school construction?
Last summer, over 120 volunteers from around the world worked together with hundreds of Mayans from Chiapas to complete four concrete classrooms. In December, 150 international volunteers traveled to Chiapas to expand the construction of the school in Oventic, a Zapatista civilian community. However, the construction team arrived just five days after the massacre of over 45 members of a Zapatista community, mostly women & children. This highly publicized attack was only one of many on Zapatista civilians in the last few months, leaving 300 dead & as many as 20,000 displaced. As the Mexican Army escalated its manuevers, the Indigenous school board advised the construction team to leave the area & seek safety. But the volunteers were able to interview many eyewitnesses of the massacre & their reports have been published worldwide. A human rights delegation was planned for Feb. 21 & a construction team was planned for April.
As of July 18, a group of approximately a dozen workers have left Mexico City & are now safely in Oventic, Chiapas working on building the school. The goal is to complete contruction by September so that classes can start in the fall. The Junior High School is meant to ultimately be able to offer a college level education but, for this year, will provide relief for many orphans from villages violated by paramilitary actions. Another construction group is planned to leave for Oventic, Chiapas on August 8th to help with more construction.
If you would like more information on the progress of the school, or other Zapatista related news, then click here.

If you would like any more information on the school bonds, or would be interested in helping to sell them yourself, please either get in touch with us through email, or write to mexicopeace@igc.apc.org for more information. The bonds cost $5 each and, as mentioned above, go directly into helping support the autonomy of Indigenous people. The bonds are tax deductable as well. Please help!