I bought the activist's Coffee in Bergen!!

Re: Jooyoung' interview project in Bergen!!‏
보낸 사람:	Magnus Helgesen
보낸 날짜:	2008년 5월 12일 월요일 오후 5:21:41
받는 사람:	LeeJooyoung

Sure!

We're a couple of activists who started a solidarity group in support of the zapatista rebels in Chiapas, South Mexico. The zapatistas consists of mostly indigenous mountain farmers who rebeled against NAFTA, a north American free-trade aggreement between Canada, USA and Mexico. This was in 1994. The news of this radical uprising spread quickly as the zapatistas was more than usually skilled in the use of internet, and also because of one their main speakers, Subcommandante Marcos. They became quite famous during the riots in Seattle 98, and spread across the world during the next couple of years, much because og The Indipendant Mediacenter and lead singer of Rage Against The Machine, Zach de la Rocha. Google any of these, and you'll find more and better info.

The zapatistas arn't exactely Marxists, socialists, anarchists or anarcho syndicalists - but their politics of solidarity and social community certainly derive from some of these thoughts. And their global supporters include everybody from social democrats to communists to die hard crust-punk anarchists.

Anyway. Coffee is one of the main source of income for the zapatistas. Money earned from coffee production goes directely in to the zapatista community, and helps organize this state within the state.

Our group is the Norwegian part of a large European network of solidaric coffee traders, RedProZapa. We try to inform people about this struggle and the thoughts on international solidarity. Every group from each country brands and sells the coffee under their own name. The Norwegian brand is called Café YaBasta (spanish: "Enough is enough'). The coffee is used as a selling point of information about the movement and also a way of generating money for the zapatists. The coffee is sold ideallistic, witch means that Café YaBasta doesn't earn any money. Most of the income goes to the capitalists involved in the shipment, roasting and grinding of the coffee. The rest goes to the zapatista cooperatives.

Café YaBasta is still a young collective, and has yet only imported about a tonn of coffee, but the German group, Café Libertad, imports about 16 tonns a year. They also sells some of the coffee with a specially high 'solidarity price', which gives them an annual income of about 2 million €. Most of this income goes directely in to a fund which different radical groups or actions can apply to. Last year a striking bike factory occupied by the workers got the fund, and they used the money to start a bicycle cooperative run and controlled by the workers! That's highly unusual in Europe.

We can talk more about this later if you want to. I'll have to work now.

Best regards

Magnus Helgesen

Grandpeople

Den 9. mai. 2008 kl. 17.07 skrev LeeJooyoung:

I can't believe every city becomes like every other one in like
Seoul. But its good to hear that at least Bergen is NOT.
Hybridity is abit  too easy these days perhaps.

Please tell me more about your Coffee deal From Mexico.
it sound very interesting.

Jooyoung