Left: A member of Colectivo In Laak Le Ixiimó (CILLI) walks in the milpa he works by hand using traditional methods on common ejido land
Right: Walking to church with our hosts on Sunday morning in a Low German Mennonite colony
In July and August of 2023, the Maya-Mennonite Working Group sent a delegation to Hopelchén, Campeche, Mexico at the invitation of the In Laak Le Ixiimó Collective (CILLI; In Laak Le Ixiimó means “Our Brother Corn”). The delegation was sent with support from the Coalition, Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Central Committee Mexico, and Yale University, in order to learn from, join, and promote CILLI’s work for the integrity of Land-Water and to reaffirm the relationship the working group has been cultivating with the Maya collective for 5 years.
Anika Reynar was present in Hopelchén for 6 weeks, Lars Åkerson for 4 weeks, and Tina Fehr Kehler for 2 weeks. At the request of CILLI, the delegation conducted more than 40 interviews and site visits with members of the Maya collective as well as Low German Mennonite farmers to gain deeper understanding of the agricultural and cultural concerns and commitments of each community. They reported their initial findings to the Maya collective in August. Anika Reynar is working on a project for CILLI with the research as a part of her studies this year at Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of the Environment.
The delegation heard and witnessed how members of these Indigenous communities understand seeds as a relation, a life-sustaining bond that connects them to the past and future of their ancestral territory. Territory, in their view, is not land alone, but Land-Water-Territory-Spirit, a sacred web that defies borders and cannot be owned, but to which they as a people belong and which makes them who they are. They care for seeds as sacred gifts that animate their political resistance, structure their economy, feed their communities, enliven their fiestas, anchor their religious practice, and sustain them through generations.
The Maya collective is concerned about the impacts of agro-industrial practices on these native seeds and local groundwater. This concern led CILLI to reach out to the Coalition 5 years ago. It also guides their interest in learning more about their Low German Mennonite neighbors who practice industrial agriculture of corn, soy, and sorghum.
In support of the Collective’s aim to find strategic ways to invite Mennonites to protect seeds and water, the delegation interviewed Mennonite farmers to better understand their relationships with the land and the structure of their communities. Many Mennonite farmers are concerned about the viability of their current economic arrangements and seek to purchase more land to sustain their families using industrial agricultural practices. Many farmers are also concerned about the debt that conventional industrial agriculture requires they take on. When crops fail or markets fall, some families have had to migrate to Canada.
While many Mennonite farmers worried about the future of farming, they also expressed concern that they lack feasible alternatives. Some Mennonite farmers are experimenting with options: a couple have tried to produce organic fertilizer at scale, others have started greenhouses to grow crops with higher market values, still others are learning beekeeping from their Maya neighbors. These experiments are having mixed success, but the biggest barrier is the colonies’ socioeconomic structure. Their colonies aren’t structured to support anything but conventional industrial farming, and these practices are reinforced by their religious convictions.
Despite the differences in relationship with the place they call home, members of CILLI reiterated that they do not view Mennonites as enemies, but rather understand their work as resisting broader neoliberal systems that are damaging Land-Water-Territory-Spirit and harming the cultural and spiritual lifeways of both Maya and Mennonite communities.
As Mennonites themselves, the delegation heard this reminder as a remarkable extension of generosity, and an invitation to continue growing in practices of solidarity and decolonization. The posture of our Maya friends encourages us to similarly engage with Mennonite communities in generosity, while also committing to accurately represent the impacts and harms that conventional agricultural practices are having on Land-Water-Territory-Spirit, and the self-determination of Maya communities.
This delegation is one step in an ongoing solidarity effort. We continue to follow the lead and respond to the priorities of our Indigenous partners. As such, this work is iterative and requires moving at the speed of trust. CILLI has invited us to attend their Seed Festival in Campeche in May, 2024. By that time, Anika hopes to offer CILLI further outcomes from the research conducted on this delegation, in support of ongoing organizing efforts.
While this delegation has focused on the situation in Maya ancestral land at the invitation of the Coalition’s partner, CILLI, the dynamics in Campeche between Low German Mennonite colonies and Indigenous communities are not an isolated situation. Rather, conventional agricultural practices and Low German Mennonite expansion are impacting Indigenous communities throughout the Americas and beyond. The Coalition has received invitations into conversations with Indigenous groups concerned about Mennonite settlement in other areas, including in Colombia and Suriname.
This article originally appeared in the Coalition’s December 2023 newsletter.
Learn more about the Coalition’s partnership with CILLI
Get involved with the Maya-Menno Solidarity group