If you join a Jubilee Delegation to Mexico, you can join the quest for answers to the following 10 questions.

 

1.  What do you feel when Mexicans and Mayans are the teachers and you are the student? The trip reverses the roles of the most familiar U.S. view, namely, that we are the teachers and people of other countries are the learners.

2.  What does Earth-size living Mexican style look like?—The two Jubilee Circles in Mexico are keenly committed to living within Earth's capacities. They form alliances with cooperatives and Indigenous people (Mayans) who share this sense of profound interdependence with the land, the species, each other.

3.  Why is jubilee a compelling practice and vision in two very different geographies and settings? The San Mateo Jubilee Circle is outside of Puebla city (in the central Mexican state of Puebla), a large, agricultural area. The San Cristobal Jubilee Circle is in the city of San Cristobal, the cultural capital of Chiapas—the southern most state of Mexico, bordering Guatemala. It is in the highlands—a large area with steep mountains, deep ravines.

4.  Are Indigenous Peoples (First Peoples) treated differently in Mexico than in the U.S. The states of Puebla and Chiapas rank next to the state of Oaxaca in number of Indigenous peoples and in Indigenous languages spoken. You will visit one or more groupings of Indigenous peoples and learn about the many ways they resist the oppression from transnationals and a non-Indigenous government.

5.  Do local people benefit from “development” by transnationals or are they exploited by them? Transnational corporations seek the wealth of these states as cheaply as possible. Cartels also

6.  What types of resistance to oppression, injustice, and corruption have been most effective? Be sure to learn about the significance of forming autonomous or self-governing structures apart from the government. The Zapatista Movement is perhaps the best known for this type of dignified resistance. Indigenous Peoples continue to be leaders in this resistance—La Resistencia that extends from the conquest to the present.

7.  What alternatives are proving most effective in empowering people marginalized by the powers—both the global capital economy and the cartel-run economy? You will see many examples of appropriate, simple technologies and low investment strategies.

8.  Which expressions of religion largely support the status quo, and which do justice? The Jubilee Circles will show you example of their work to organize people left on the margins or pushed there. The innovation and courage is as inspiring as it is informative.

9. What spectrum of religious expression and spirituality do you see influencing the lives of people? You will see various expressions of people living the biblical jubilee, though they call it by other names. Look for the spiritualities rooted in living interdependently within Earth's community of life.

10. How much of what Jubilee Delegations see differs from what tourists see? Your guides from the Jubilee Circles will show you how they and the people they work with see their realities.

 

You will return with many ideas and examples of resistance to injustice and inspiring alternatives—all learned from another culture and from people who seek to make change from the bottom up more than the top down.