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Mexico is heavily militarized and the US encourages this militarization through the billion-dollar Merida Initiative (Plan Mexico), a plan to stop drug running across the border. However, much of the Mexican Army is deployed to areas other than the border. These are often areas where megaprojects are planned: airports, super-highways, ports, dams and tourist projects. The extraction of oil, minerals and genetic material also produces militarization and violence. The workshop begins with an artistic presentation by the Beehive Collective about the Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP), now re-named the Mesoamerica Project, a regional development plan that encompasses all the states of Southern Mexico, the countries of Central America and Colombia. A digital (power point) presentation by the Chiapas Support Committee follows about conflicts that have arisen due to megaprojects throughout Southern Mexico, with special emphasis on the stateof Chiapas, where the Zapatistas present a strong resistance to developers. Discussions will focus on developing a shared analysis and identifying different strategies for building a transnational movement against militarization and for supporting communities based on social justice and hiuman rights.
