“…We do not want to be left behind, we do not want to be stepped over” Dissident Women pgs 3-28, 33-74

Key Themes
It’s very important that women hold leadership roles along side men so that they can been seen as strong and so that they can get the needs of indigenous people, especially women and children, met.
Women get paid less regardless of how hard they work because they are women. Our world is full of inequalities.
Adequate healthcare is not provided for indigenous people and sometimes their needs are ignored because they are Indian. Medications must be available and affordable to all people.
It is important for women to know the law so that they can represent themselves and so that it is “not exclusively in the hands of men” (Speed, Castillo & Stephen, 2006, p. 9).
Education should be provided for all men and women and teachers who speak the native languages should be in the schools.
At the national level these movements have pushed for “the broadening of Mexican political institutions and representative bodies to include indigenous peoples…” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 34).
As in other parts of the world, women and indigenous people have revealed the issues with the “republican discourse on equality…For the first time in Mexico’s political debate, there is recognition of the racism and ethnocentrism concealed in the nationalist discourse on mestizaje and citizen equality” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 35).
The struggle is for autonomy and recognition of political, social, and cultural rights.
The Zapatista movement has been called the “postmodern” social movement because of its use of the internet as a tool.
The central point of these movements has been to create more egalitarian relationships between women and men by restoring the dignity of women and by constructing a more just life for men and women.
(Speed et al., 2006).

Important Quotes
“Women shall not be beaten or physically mistreated by their family members or by strangers. Rape and attempted rape will be severely punished” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 3).
“We have been taught since childhood to be obedient, to silence our complaints, to put up and shut up, to refrain from speaking or participating” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 6).
“The laws should consider the needs of rural communities” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 11).
“Violence—battering and rape—is not right” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 13).
“We cannot say anything, because they tell us we do not have the right to defend ourselves” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 22).
“We, as indigenous women, do not have the same opportunities as the men, who have the right to decide everything” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 11).
“…at the same time that these women have been organizing to change community traditions and structures that exclude them, they are demanding the right to their own culture” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 44).
“Discourses centering on women’s dignity promoted by the Catholic Church began to be supplemented by a discourse centering on women’s rights and by new views on gender” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 11).

Thoughts/Reflections/Reactions
This section of Dissident Women really struck me because the needs of the Indigenous women involved in the Zapatista movement are necessary. I feel that no human being should ever have to struggle for rights so basic like healthcare, the freedom to choose how many children to have and the right to be protected from abuse (Speed et al., 2006). It is amazing to me that the so called “civilized society” can treat human beings with absolutely no respect or concern for their needs and the needs of their children. Yet throughout the world these issues are faced daily and Indigenous people, particularly women are becoming more and more involved in the struggle to gain these rights for their children and families. This is very important because it is only through education and awareness that people can change things for the better. However, without the direct involvement of Indigenous people in mainstream society, people cannot become aware of these issues because they only see these issues through the lens of western society and the popular media. I believe that the use of the internet in the Zapatista movement is a very important aspect of this movement because it is a tool that reaches so many people and consequently through this tool great changes for the better can be made.