Forest BB

Jamie from zapatista suppliers came in today:
it's a fiver for 500g zapatista beans (compared to 8.30ish for 1kg from Equal exchange)
all proceeds go to construction of health clinics and schools in zapatista communities. he mentioned a possible discount on bulk orders, and mentioned that prices would fluctuate according to the strength of the pound.
I have his contacts should anyone be interested - perhaps we discuss this at the next cafe/events meeting??

sounds good? what do we currently pay for coffee? i recall that we halted zapatista coffee in the café before as prices had gotten wacky due to currency strength(?).

aside; are the zapatista communities all as illiberal regarding alcohol and drugs as the sign in the bottom on the right notes that specific municipality is?

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From what Zapatista suppliers? We used to buy it direct from the crew in Hamburg that process/package the coffee. I would recommend going direct with them if you decide to start it up again. And yeah, it was stopped because the strength of the euro against the pounds was making it pretty expensive.

@ Milk: Yes, all municipalities have these same policies on drugs and alcohol since the beginning of the uprising. But I'm not sure if it is still going on in this way, because there was talk of allowing soft drugs, in response to some of the fucked up stuff happening around the so-called 'war on drugs.' But I don't think you can simply call these policies 'illiberal,' if you take a closer look at the cultural and historical context you're speaking about, including the power structures at play and the fact that this was a decision taken collectively/by consensu, by the communities (and especially advocated for by the women). You can find out more from these links:

Zapatista Women

The First Zapatista Women's Encuentro

Zapatistas Reject the War on Drugs

The Hamburgers were tricky to pay, if I remember well. I had to grovel in German to them, after we hadn't coughed up for several months. But maybe things are more organised now, or they can take international orders more easily.

From either supplier, I would be in favour of getting more Zapatista coffee in the cafe.

I liked the sign. We should get one for the Forest. But why are they down on the woodmongers? If anyone fancies a nice bit of teak, I'll be in the Captains Bar every Tuesday between 2.30 and 4.

A few months ago I contacted the guys in Hamburg when I wanted to order Zapatista coffee for the Shop. It was indeed hard to get any answers from them and because of the euro-pound balance their prices weren't cheaper than getting it from Jamie from EAC. But Jamie (he also gets the coffee from them) told me that they deliver to the UK again now, so maybe it's worth mailing them again? I'll just send a request and then we can see if it's worth it... if they're really fast i'll have an answer for the cafe and events meeting, but don't count on that.

cheers for the links, interesting stuffs.

while recognising the sociatal forces at play, i say 'illiberal' because they've gone down the route of prohibition and disadvantaging those not in marriage to get to some kind of positive liberty, rather than the progressive alternative of trying to educate/make aware/enlighten people to the full ramifications of their actions/methods in whatever walk of life, and to form and encourage support networks for both those who enjoy such things (and all aspects of life in general) and to those who need help with a problem. not that their situation might not be better, but i'm not keen on revolutionaries that seem to miss this kinda point.

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hey, if you don't like it, post on the BB (so you can ask about participating for better) | MilkMiruku