This book would never have come to fruition without the help and encouragement from many people along the way.
My family—Kim, Ira, Melissa, and Alison Klein—all provided valuable feedback about the book but, more importantly, created the foundation of love and support that made my time in Chiapas (and later the writing process) possible. My niece and nephew June and Nathan Shepard Klein are an inspiration for the future as only children can be.
Greg Ruggiero believed in Compañeras from the very beginning and was an ally and advocate throughout my work on it. Anitra Grisales provided invaluable support at a critical moment in the manuscript’s evolution. Crystal Yakacki and Jesse Ruddock, my editors at Seven Stories Press, went above and beyond and without a doubt made this a better book.
Christopher Gunderson, my walking Chiapas library, and Vivian Newdick were both there for me again and again.
Mariana Mora, Paco Vasquez, Tim Russo, Siscu Parés, and Jutta Meier-Wiedenbach shared their photos, Amanda Huron made the maps, and Ryan Shepard provided research and other assistance.
Roger Ball, Gyula Nagy, Mickey Ellinger, Ramor Ryan, and many other friends read drafts along the way. Marina Sitrin, Amrah Salomon, Nicole Karsin, and Sarah Shourd were my book buddies and inspired me with their parallel creative projects. Ulla Nilson, Jess Alexander, and the Coates/Rhyne family hosted me on writing retreats.
Mariana Mora, Janette Corzo, Rosaluz Perez, and Eva Schulte were my compañeras de trabajo in Chiapas. And those years in Chiapas would not have been the same without Amaranta, Rocio, Karla, Jessica, Johnny, Cale, Melissa, Lisa S., Lisa S.F., Leslie, Paco, Luz, Alicia, Patricia, Silvia, Jessie, Mara, Álvaro, Karl, Chepe, Olly, Laila, and the rest of the Chiapas banda. Jorge Santiago and Mercedes Olivera are my movement elders in Chiapas and I cherish all the wisdom they have shared with me over the years. Merit Ichin Santiesteban, Estela Barco, Maria Elena Martinez-Torres, Peter Rosset, and Miguel Pickard offered friendship combined with a commitment to the struggle. The San Carlos Foundation provided me with a volunteer stipend for much of the time I spent in Chiapas.
My Bay Area community was my political home before and after Chiapas. Teresa Sharpe and Patty Berne have each given me more than twenty years of friendship, love, and support. John Viola did not allow me to give up on this project. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has been an important intellectual mentor.
My Make the Road New York family has provided an inspiring example of zapatismo in the United States and was patient and encouraging in the last stages of writing.
Most importantly, the men and women of the EZLN struggle every day to create a world of justice and dignity for all of us and I owe a deep debt of gratitude to the movement as a whole. In particular I would like to thank María, Roselia, Mercedes, Vicky, Lucia, Mari, Jacinta, Elizabeth, Sandra, Ester, Segunda, Otelina, Josefa, and Doña Julia; and the communities ofMorelia, Diez de Abril, Nueva Reforma, Siete de Enero, San Caralampio, Moisés Gandhi, La Garrucha, Prado, Galeana, and Patathe.
Girls from the Zapatista community Diez de Abril during the celebration of their village’s first anniversary. (Photograph by TimRusso.)