K’usil balumil: ecología política y tierra en la autonomía zapatista

Abstract

The zapatista movement is known for the construction of an autonomous existence that crosses the different spheres of their lives. In this article, based on fieldwork carried out in Los Altos de Chiapas, we propose to focus on the conceptions of political ecology and land in the own zapatista’s terms. When the relationship between the emergence of epidemics and deforestationis made explicit, the decolonial zapatista thinking becomes even more important. According to this perespective, humanity is not an entity isolated from the environment, but the k’usil balumil (earth) is a great network of relationships formed by human and non-human beings. For the planet to be healthy, it is necessary to respect the yajval (gods).