Resistance and political action in Nuestra América: José Martí in view of the experience of Ayotzinapa

• In Event: Violence, Collective Memory and the State I

Abstract

Almost a year after the violent events in Iguala (Mexico), the struggle of the social movement led by the family members of the 43 of Ayotzinapa has shifted from a global call to solidarity and resistance, resulting in massive demonstrations and protests around the globe, to a certain dissatisfaction with the way in which the international community, Latin America included, has reacted to the events in the long term. When reflecting on these changes, the question about the possibility of an international or inclusive political action comes to the fore: Is it possible to incorporate their demands and struggles in a broader context, linking their resistance to that of other oppressed groups in the rest of Latin America, the US, or even Europe? With the help of contemporary, decolonial thinkers (both readers and non-readers of Martí), but also from interviews and texts by the family members of the disappeared, this paper suggests that José Martí’s idea of “Nuestra América” is still relevant to begin answering this question, and revisits the arguments for this Latin American unity that would define a collective form of resistance against European and US colonialism. In order to attempt a translation of this notion into our contemporary struggles, I will focus in particular on Édouard Glissant’s criticisms of a colonial rootedness and filiation (criticisms that could be applied to some extent to Martí’s thought) and his characterization of a decolonial, collective resistance as a form of “expansion”, challenging a mythical foundation of community and political action.

Author

• Miguel Gualdrón