Volume 47, Number 6 · April 13, 2000
Chiapas & the Church
By George A. Collier, Jane F. Collier, Reply by Enrique Krauze
In response to Chiapas: The Indians' Prophet
(December 16, 1999)
To the Editors:
As anthropologists who have been studying indigenous political and legal processes in Chiapas for almost forty years, we would like to suggest alternatives to two of the conclusions reached by Enrique Krauze in his otherwise useful article on economic and social conditions in the region [NYR, December 16, 1999]. First, Krauze attributes indigenous participation in the Zapatista rebellion to Bishop Samuel Ruiz: "Because of him, hundreds of thousands of Indians in the state of Chiapas have 'become conscious' of the conditions of oppression under which they live."
In our experience, and from our reading of history, Maya Indians of the region have been conscious of their oppression since the Conquest—and have actively rebelled every time a disagreement among ruling elites has offered them a chance of success. Bishop Ruiz provided such an opening. His adoption of Liberation Theology broke the formerly united front maintained by landowners, the Church, and the government. Bishop Ruiz's Liberation Theology also offered indigenous leaders a language in which to appeal to an international audience for sympathy. Nevertheless, Bishop Ruiz's Liberation Church is not the only organization that Maya peoples have joined in their efforts to escape oppression. They have also heeded and contributed to the independent teachers' movement, labor and peasant organizations, alternative religions, and opposition political parties.
Second, Enrique Krauze implies that because indigenous peoples are "unused to tolerating dissident opinions," they would violate the human rights of individuals in their communities if they were granted the political "autonomy" they are demanding. Our experience, based on many hours of observation in indigenous courts, suggests instead that Maya peoples have well-developed respect for what most of us would recognize as individual human rights. Because they believe that every human has a soul that will cry out to the gods for vengeance if angered, indigenous judges try to promote conciliatory settlements that will "calm" everyone's "anger." If indigenous leaders sometimes get carried away with their power and violate the human rights of their opponents, they are only doing what powerful leaders in Mexico and around the world also do. In our experience, indigenous Maya peoples are no more or less prone than other Mexicans—or North Americans, or Europeans—to be intolerant of dissident opinions.
George A. Collier
Jane F. Collier
Professors of Anthropology (emeritus)
Stanford University
Stanford, California