Why I’m Joining the Fast for Ramiro Choc

*To sign the petition to free Ramiro Choc and to learn more about him: http://www.change.org/petitions/free_qeqchi_leader_and_political_prisoner_ramiro_choc

*To join the fast for Ramiro Choc send an email to: solidaridadguatemala@yahoo.com

“We express ourselves through loving nature, loving life, loving humans, loving the past, loving the present, loving the future… I, like other comrades who suffer judicial persecution, try to defend humanity. In its entirety, not just the indigenous or garifuna, but all human beings. This is our ultimate goal.”
-Ramiro Choc

Anyone who knows me knows that if I am good at anything, it is eating. I am always happy to try something new and go for seconds.. and thirds.. in Guatemala or the US. So my friends know I'm serious if I say I'm planning to fast in support of the freedom of q’eqchi’ leader and political prisoner Ramiro Choc. But why stop eating when it seemingly has no direct connection to the Guatemalan justice system, and why do it for the freedom of Ramiro Choc?

The fast is part of a diversity of actions organized at an international level to pressure for Ramiro’s freedom. Fasting is directly linked to Ramiro’s struggle. The majority of q’eqchi’ children do not get enough nutrition and are in danger of starvation. There land is stolen and used to sell unnecessary luxuries to people with more money than them. Fasting in solidarity with Ramiro is a way of exposing and rejecting this system.

Some criticize fasting by saying it does not directly confront those in power, or that it is a tool of the weak. Power only concedes to power they say, and fasting doesn’t build power. The last time I participated in a fast was in 2004, after the United States overthrew Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The criticism of the fast was so strong that since then I have not employed such tactics. But Ramiro has made me realize that these criticisms are wrong. A fast, like much of Ramiro’s organizing, does more than challenge those in power. It challenges those fasting to question their very participation in systems of domination. Certainly we can not ignore power dynamics, and Ramiro is acutely aware of who the decision makers are and how to influence them. But Ramiro also refuses to play the game. He challenges us to not only confront power, but to turn the entire system on its head.

Not spending money on food during the fast can also allow that money to go to good use, such as supporting Ramiro’s legal defense – or as he has recommended, to make donations to pay a q’eqchi’ leader a minimal salary to work with indigenous communities to recuperate ancestral knowledge that has been stolen by national and international armed forces.

Fasting can also help facilitate meditation and reflection. Fasting is a part of many cultures and spiritual belief systems. Ramiro applied himself to study various cultures and religions and has emphasized the need for reflection in his organizing. Capitalism has produced culture which doesn’t value reflection, and I often find myself falling into the same habit of rushing through my days trying to accomplish what I think I need to accomplish without truly reflecting on what I’m doing. Ramiro challenges us to leave this system of mindless consumption, of allowing everything to be privatized and become a path to profit, of allowing cultures and ecosystems to be destroyed in the name of development.

Ramiro’s focus on process, on means as an ends, has helped him survive intense tragedies. His parents were born slaves, and as a child he watched countless bodies, victims of the US-supported “scorched earth policy,” float down the Polochic river. As he grew to prominence as a leader, he survived numerous assassination attempts. He still has scars on his neck showing where bullets came within inches from ending his life. He survived being “arrested” three years ago by the military, taken to a remote location, and then spending approximately six months in isolation. After this he had to hear of the brutal murders of two of his closest friends – Mario Caal Bolom, who according to government reports was tortured to death by the Guatemalan police; and Alfredo Ich, who was murdered and mutilated by the security of a multinational nickel corporation. All the while the mainstream press painted Ramiro to be an evil person, a drug trafficker, a thief. Ramiro has been able to keep his sanity, his focus and his drive throughout all of this not because of his significant power analysis, eloquence or organizational ability. He has been able to continue because of his steady emphasis on reflection, discipline, and spiritual health.

So beginning on February 14, I will fast for Ramiro Choc. I will fast because I know it is one of many tools which will expose the absurdity of his imprisonment and the system he organizes against. But I will also fast for me, and because I know that it is a way to liberate myself from this disgusting system of capitalism, greed and violence which we are born into. I invite you to join me.