Gustavo Esteva

Gustavo is an independent writer and grassroots activist. Esteva has been a central figure in a wide range of Mexican, Latin American, and international nongovernmental organizations and solidarity networks, including Universidad de la Tierra en Oaxaca.

In 1996, he was an advisor to the Zapatistas (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional) in their negotiations with the Mexican government. In 2006, he took part in the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

Esteva is well known for his contribution to the post-development theory and practice, a strong advocate for active non-violence, and a proponent of radical pluralism and community-based actionism, for the reorganization of the society from the bottom-up.

A prolific writer, he is the author of more than 40 books, published in seven languages, including Economy and Alienation, Des ruines de développement, La Batalla en el México Rural, Fiesta, jenseit von Entwicklung, Hilfe und Politik. (Frankfurt: 1991) and Grassroots Post-Modernism (with Madhu Suri Prakash). 

He has also written hundreds of essays, such as "The Oaxaca Commune and Mexico's Autonomous Movement".  He is a regular contributor to Mexico’s leading daily, La Jornada, and writes occasionally for The Guardian.

Among his numerous academic honors: an Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa), the National Award for Political Economy, and the National Award for Journalism. He has served as president of the Mexican Society of Planning and the 5th World Congress on Rural Sociology and Chairman of the Board for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.