The "Maya" Zug Project is a transdisciplinary and collaborative project that seeks to question the lens through which we see and analyze the world and our reality.
What is progress? Are mega-infrastructures really synonymous with progress? What roles play science in our perception of the world? Is there another narrative, that has been erased during the colonial project, that offers an alternative way of reading and perceiving reality and new possibilities for coexisting with non-human beings?
The dominant narrative has historically silenced a large and complex variety of stories, tales and fables that tell a subversive and resistant narrative. Indigenous narratives are an example of the subversive power of stories. Indeed they subvert and re-create what the Western academy puts forward as valid ways of knowing and present alternatives to it. In the face of colonial extermination, the articulation of Indigenous stories and tales are inherently resistant and threatening.
The symbolic image of the project re-interprets big neoliberal projects from an indigenous perspective. These mega-infrastructures built in indigenous territories and financed by Western transnational corporations reproduce and reiterate colonial dynamics. This is the case of the "Maya" Train, which is being built in Mexico. The story narrated by IQ BALAM has its roots in Mayan mythology and raises new perspectives on how we should re-think and decolonise our relationship with more-than-human beings in response to the troubled Anthropocene era in which we find ourselves.
The project is a collaboration between the visual artist Chiara and the Mayan scholar and activist IQ BALAM.
The research on the participation of German and European companies in the Tren Maya-Project is from Recherche AG (Netz Der Rebellion).
Special thanks to all the contributors and to Caterina and Leonardo for the help with graphic and sound.
The "Maya" Zug project is no substitute for direct action. Merely drawing attention to the problem is not enough; what is needed is further collective mobilization to pressure government institutions, in order to bring about real solutions.
This is an open platform: if you have any other contributions that could be related to the topic and could be published on this page, please send them to: mayazugproject@gmail.com