Naked City

Members of the Jolom Mayaetik Cooperative will be in Austin next week as part of "Weaving in Warfare From Chiapas," a presentation sponsored by Latino arts organization La Peña and the American Friends Service Committee. But the Jolom Mayaetik visit is more than a pleasing display of artesania by indigenous women; it provides an opportunity to learn how women from the poorest region of Mexico have created a successful fair-trade cooperative, an alternative to the so-called "free trade" imposed by the North American Free Trade Agreement. Critics charge, among other things, that NAFTA favors big agribusiness while trampling on small farmers and indigenous communities' way of life and basic rights to provide for their families. The pending Free Trade Area of the Americas (described as "NAFTA on steroids") would expand the agreement throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The general public may not realize the relevance of NAFTA and FTAA to their daily lives, but the facts are there. Fifteen percent of Texans -- 3.1 million -- live in poverty, including 2.1 million children; nearly one-quarter of all Texans do not have health insurance. The unemployment rate is nearing 10%. All of these indicators are dramatically worse in cities along the border. "These women are here to talk about fair trade as an alternative ... to the relevant economic system that is being imposed all over the world," says AFSC Program Coordinator Josefina Castillo. "These are alternatives we scarcely hear about."

"When people talk about [the economy] it's as if it were this giant," says Judith Rosenberg, an AFSC volunteer. "People talk about this 'giant' like it's a fact of nature ... like a recession is like bad weather. But it's not! These women are ... discovering alternatives and developing them and telling the world about them."

The members of the Jolom Mayaetik Cooperative will make several public presentations in Austin, including Wednesday, Oct. 1, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 600 E. 50th (7pm), and MonkeyWrench Books, 110 North Loop (8:30pm); on Oct. 2 (which is First Thursday), at Hill Country Weavers, 1701 S. Congress; and on Friday, Oct. 3, at UT's Gebauer Student Services Building (in the morning) and 6pm at La Peña, 227 Congress. To learn more, call 477-6007.