The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.
A primary school in the Zapatista village of Oventic, the southern state of Chiapas Mexico, August 2004. Wikicommons. Some rights reserved.Mexico offers a clear illustration of the impact of globalization. It affects some more than others and is implemented by structural reforms, notably privatization in areas such as education and the dismantling of labor rights[1].
Teachers, indigenous Zapatista communities and young people who have graduated from teacher training schools have created citizen-based projects and established education as the solid foundation for the pedagogical construction of alternative futures – although not without difficulties. Education brings together symbolic proposals for emancipation and social transformation. Schools, as the concrete, formal arena of education, become triggers for forming consciousness, and creating new political subjects, with an identity based on community work. Schools, as the concrete, formal arena of education, become triggers for forming consciousness, and creating new political subjects, with an identity based on community work.
