Praise

for Compañeras: Zapatista Women’s Stories

“This commanding chronicle of the lives of the Zapatista compañeras provides a guiding light for a new generation of feminists and others who would challenge patriarchy, poverty, gender oppression, racism and all the other inhumanities maintained by global capitalism.”

—Elaine Brown, Black Panther Party leader and author of A Taste of Power

“Beautifully written, Compañeras is a story of love and courage that gives a new depth to our understanding of the Zapatista movement and resonates beyond Chiapas.”

—Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation

“Belongs on the bookshelves of social justice activists and scholars everywhere.”

—Chandra Talpade Mohanty, author of Feminism Without Borders

“Hilary Klein is a major talent and a welcome fresh voice.”

—Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize Finalist for The Devil’s Highway

“Compañeras is a powerful testament to the collective vision and lucha of the Zapatista women. Here are the intimate stories of becoming politicized as mujeres—of taking risks, questioning everything, and rewriting history. This book is a guide for anyone who is trying to walk a new camino at the intersection of gender, class, and race struggles.”

—Daisy Hernández, author of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism

“Full of gritty insights. . . . Compañeras is as moving as it is eye-opening.”

—Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases

“Klein underscores that women’s emancipation is tied to the emancipation of land, to indigenous sovereignty—to liberation. Women’s lives, struggles, and leadership are still invisibilized and our stories are often untold. I am grateful for the herstory of the powerful and mighty Zapatista women.”

—Cindy Wiesner, National Coordinator of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

“Compañeras provides a view from within the Zapatista communities of the women who are making history in the Lacandon settlements. . . . Working in producer and market operations, the women gained the ability to voice their history in moving accounts that reveal what led to the revolt and the changes they have succeeded in making during the twenty years since the uprising.”

—June Nash, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emerita, The City University of New York

“This is a book that should be on every activist’s reading list, and in every social studies class.”

—Raj Patel, author of The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved

“The most complete, well-documented, and moving work about the struggle of Zapatista women spanning twenty years and told from the indigenous communities of Chiapas’ own heart.”

—Guiomar Rovira, author of Mujeres de Maíz

“Women are taking leadership in social change. Again. In this very special book, Hilary Klein describes how women do this within the Zapatista movement and explains why Zapatista women can firmly say, ‘Today there is hope and freedom in our lives.’ Not only is this a fascinating book, it should be a solid point of reference for all those interested in constructing a new world of freedom.”

—Gustavo Esteva Figueroa, author of Celebration of Zapatismo

“The perfect mix of good storytelling, careful documentation, and the sympathetic observation of someone who lived and worked among the Zapatistas for six years. . . . Reading Compañeras gives me hope.”

—Margaret Randall, author of Sandino’s Daughters Revisited and Che on My Mind

“This is a book for women and men, for activists and for students, for survivors and world-changers, for the oppressed, the poor, and the precarious. Onwards compañeras y compañeros!”

—Peter Linebaugh, author of Stop, Thief! The Commons, Enclosure, and Resistance

“Hilary Klein has provided us with the most beautiful gift. . . . I was beyond moved by this book. I love it. It is a tool for constructing freedom, by women, in the creation of new worlds.”

—Marina Sitrin, author of Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina and co-author of They Can’t Represent Us!: Reinventing Democracy from Greece to Occupy

“As refreshing as cool water in a heat wave. . . . A richly textured narrative where political and historical context blend seamlessly with the compellingly personal.”

—Aurora Levins Morales, author of Medicine Stories and Remedios: Stories of Earth and Iron from the History of Puertorriqueñas