Paradox
3rd February 2005, 18:28
The following quotes are from an eight part communique titled "Reading A Video," by Subcomandante Marcos:
The Good Government Juntas are proof that zapatismo does not try to dominate nor homogenize - under their ideas and their way - the world in which we live.
The JBGs were created in order to attend to everyone, to zapatistas, to non-zapatistas, and even to anti-zapatistas. They were created in order to mediate between the authoritie and the citizens, and between authorities and different areas and hierarchies. They have done so, and they will continue to do so... And so the Good Government Juntas maintain respectful contact with different social organizations, with many of the official municipal governments with which the autonomies share land, and, in some cases, with the state government. Recommendations are exchanged, and they seek to resolve problems through dialogue.
The JBGs' actions are already beginning to produce effects in the Autonomous Municipalities and in the official ones. There is less recourse to the use of force or to the exchange of hostages for social problems among groups, communities and organizations, and an ever increasing use of dialogue. In this way it has become evident that many cases are not confrontations between organizations, but individual problems which are presented as organizational ones. The most important thing we have is our word... Now there is first an investigation to see if something was caused for political reasons or if it was a criminal act.
In order to accomplish this, the JBGs maintain a channel of communication, through the Department of Indian Peoples, with the government of the state of Chiapas. When an attack takes place against zapatistas, and there is no contact with the aggressors in order to determine the reason for the problem and to try to reach an agreement through dialogue, the Good Government Juntas advise the autonomous authority to open an investigation. At the same time, they turn the facts of the case over to state officials... If the matter is not political, and it's criminal, they wait a reasonable amount of time for state justice to take action. If they do not, then zapatista justice goes into action... Unlike in previous years, conflicts between communities and between organizations in the lands of the Good Government Juntas have diminished, and the crime rate and impunity have been reduced. Crimes are resolved, not just punished.
Collective rights (like the decision as to the use and enjoyment of natural resources) are not only not in contradiction of individual rights, but they allow them to be extended to everyone, not just to a few. As will be seen in the part about the advances that have been made, there has been no increase in the violation of individual human rights in zapatista territory. What has indeed increased are better living conditions. The right to life is being respected, as is the right to religion, to party affiliation, to liberty, to the presumption of innocence, to demostrating, to dissent, to being different, to the free choice of maternity.
I am transcribing verbatim one of the laws which is in force in the Good Government Juntas. The wording varies from one region to the other, but the essence is the same:
Law Concerning the Care of Trees, or the Care of Nature
By accordance of the Corazon del Arco Iris Good Government Junta this law is valid in the territories of the Rebel Autonomous Municipalities without special treatment for anyone; the law is for the protection of the forests because the forests draw the water, the oxygen, because it is our life, and it is also the protector of the forest animals; for that reason we should all understand that it is important to care for our forests in all the territories of the Autonomous Municipalities.
As the Good Government Junta, we are proposing that each municipality create a nursery in order to help carry out this law.
1. Trees shall only be cut for domestic needs, not for selling.
2. We have the duty to care for and to conserve the forests, and we also have the right to use trees for domestic purposes with a permit from the autonomous authorities.
3. For each tree which is cut down, it is the duty of the person who felled it to plant two saplings and to care for them.
4. Each autonomous territory shall issue sanctions according to its regulations.
5. Each instance of unauthorized felling shall be sanctioned by the planting of 20 saplings.
6. All permits shall be issued by the land and territory committee.
Even though the law dates back from prior to the beginning of the war, the Good Government Junta has formalized the prohibition against drug trafficking. Here is an example:
"The Good Government Junta in zapatista territory still completely prohibits the cultivation, trafficking and consumption of drugs, those who do so shall be expelled by zapatista laws. Zapatista support bases who plant these narcotics shall be rejected by the organization and the community where that person resides. The same shall apply to those who consume.
"If a parcel is found which has been planted, those plants will be burned and destroyed. The person who has done the planting shall be responsible for the costs of the destruction, such as the cost of the gasoline to burn them, and he shall be expelled from the organization. The person who is consuming shall be punished with ten days of work and six months out of the organization. By accord of the Good Government Junta, each municipality in its territory shall make a survey every year in order to be certain that there are no people who are engaged in this illicit work."
There has been an increase of late in the number of undocumented persons who are being driven by the so-called polleros on their way to the United States. These polleros are persons who are engaged in the trafficking of persons, who charge them a lot of money in exchange for promising to take them to find work in the United States... That is why the decision has been made to declare the trafficking in persons, national or foreign, through zapatista territory, to ba a serious crime. This should be made known to all authorities so that they will keep a watch out to see that this is complied with and that those members of the EZLN who participate in, help of protect those who are engaged in the trafficking of persons shall be punished and, in a serious case, be expelled from our organization... All those trafficking in persons (or polleros) who are discovered and detained in zapatista territory shall be obligated to return any monies to the affected persons and, after being warned, and if they repeat their crime, they shall be turned over to the proper authorities in order to be punished according to the laws of Mexico.
All persons, nationals and foreigners, who are clandestinel transported shall be freed and helped by whatever means possible (medical attention, temporary lodging and food) and counseled to not allow themselves to be deceived.
In the five regions where the Good Government Juntas are operating, health campaigns are being carried out which promote the use of latrines and the cleanliness of dwellings. Campaigns are also being undertaken, although they are just now becoming widespread, to fight chronic illnesses and epidemics and in order to detect cancer in women. In order to achieve this we have, in addition to financial support for health projects, the solidarity of specialist physicians and nursed who, stealing time from their rest, come to this land and distribute knowledge and health to all the communities.
Regional and municipal clinics are being built, they are being equipped and companeros and companeras are being trained to use them. In the Tojobal region, the first surgery was done on the first of August, and a laboratory for processing medicinal plants is being equipped. There are pharmacies in all the regions, which are being stocked with money from the projects and donations.
Generally speaking, the Good Government Juntas are seeing to it, little by little, that each of the Autonomous Municipalities has a basic community health structure: health promoters, health campaigns, preventative medicine, microclinics, pharmacies, regional clinics, doctors and specialists.
Regarding education, they are proceeding as they should proceed in politics, that is, from below to above. Schools are being built in all the communities, and those which already exist are being equipped, education promoters are being trained, technological and secondary education centers are being built.
From the urgent to the immediate. The problem of the displaced (primarily the ones of Polho') is the one which most concerns the good government in Los Altos of Chiapas. Of the almost 3 and a half million pesos which Oventik spent, approximately 2.5 million were earmarked for Polho'. But not just for food. A municipal grocery store and a cooperative for displaced women were built and put into operation... In order to improve everyone's nutrition, throughout the five regions there have been put into operation cooperatives for pig production ("No, they don't produce politicians," they clarified before I could pose the standard question), for hens, sheep, chickens and cattle, for vegetables and for fruit trees.
They inform me from La Garrucha that "agro-ecological promoters have been trained in our Autonomous Municipalities so that they can have experience in taking care of the environment, how to care for animals, how to vaccinate them and how to make the recovered lands produce better, and that's why we've made advances in each municipality."
"The advantages we see: all of us were governments, we didn't have any leaders, it was a collective government, so all of us were taught what each person knows, the projects are fairly distributed, social organizations came to our office when their problems weren't being solved..."
These are the advances we have seen and felt in one year of the Good Government Juntas.
Gut what if I'm just lying, what if I'm just talking about this so you think we've improved?
That's why I'm tellin you to come, to walk the villages and then they will add the audio and image to this video...
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, August of 2004. 20 and 10.
More on the Good Government Juntas (JBGs):
http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=32926
The Good Government Juntas are proof that zapatismo does not try to dominate nor homogenize - under their ideas and their way - the world in which we live.
The JBGs were created in order to attend to everyone, to zapatistas, to non-zapatistas, and even to anti-zapatistas. They were created in order to mediate between the authoritie and the citizens, and between authorities and different areas and hierarchies. They have done so, and they will continue to do so... And so the Good Government Juntas maintain respectful contact with different social organizations, with many of the official municipal governments with which the autonomies share land, and, in some cases, with the state government. Recommendations are exchanged, and they seek to resolve problems through dialogue.
The JBGs' actions are already beginning to produce effects in the Autonomous Municipalities and in the official ones. There is less recourse to the use of force or to the exchange of hostages for social problems among groups, communities and organizations, and an ever increasing use of dialogue. In this way it has become evident that many cases are not confrontations between organizations, but individual problems which are presented as organizational ones. The most important thing we have is our word... Now there is first an investigation to see if something was caused for political reasons or if it was a criminal act.
In order to accomplish this, the JBGs maintain a channel of communication, through the Department of Indian Peoples, with the government of the state of Chiapas. When an attack takes place against zapatistas, and there is no contact with the aggressors in order to determine the reason for the problem and to try to reach an agreement through dialogue, the Good Government Juntas advise the autonomous authority to open an investigation. At the same time, they turn the facts of the case over to state officials... If the matter is not political, and it's criminal, they wait a reasonable amount of time for state justice to take action. If they do not, then zapatista justice goes into action... Unlike in previous years, conflicts between communities and between organizations in the lands of the Good Government Juntas have diminished, and the crime rate and impunity have been reduced. Crimes are resolved, not just punished.
Collective rights (like the decision as to the use and enjoyment of natural resources) are not only not in contradiction of individual rights, but they allow them to be extended to everyone, not just to a few. As will be seen in the part about the advances that have been made, there has been no increase in the violation of individual human rights in zapatista territory. What has indeed increased are better living conditions. The right to life is being respected, as is the right to religion, to party affiliation, to liberty, to the presumption of innocence, to demostrating, to dissent, to being different, to the free choice of maternity.
I am transcribing verbatim one of the laws which is in force in the Good Government Juntas. The wording varies from one region to the other, but the essence is the same:
Law Concerning the Care of Trees, or the Care of Nature
By accordance of the Corazon del Arco Iris Good Government Junta this law is valid in the territories of the Rebel Autonomous Municipalities without special treatment for anyone; the law is for the protection of the forests because the forests draw the water, the oxygen, because it is our life, and it is also the protector of the forest animals; for that reason we should all understand that it is important to care for our forests in all the territories of the Autonomous Municipalities.
As the Good Government Junta, we are proposing that each municipality create a nursery in order to help carry out this law.
1. Trees shall only be cut for domestic needs, not for selling.
2. We have the duty to care for and to conserve the forests, and we also have the right to use trees for domestic purposes with a permit from the autonomous authorities.
3. For each tree which is cut down, it is the duty of the person who felled it to plant two saplings and to care for them.
4. Each autonomous territory shall issue sanctions according to its regulations.
5. Each instance of unauthorized felling shall be sanctioned by the planting of 20 saplings.
6. All permits shall be issued by the land and territory committee.
Even though the law dates back from prior to the beginning of the war, the Good Government Junta has formalized the prohibition against drug trafficking. Here is an example:
"The Good Government Junta in zapatista territory still completely prohibits the cultivation, trafficking and consumption of drugs, those who do so shall be expelled by zapatista laws. Zapatista support bases who plant these narcotics shall be rejected by the organization and the community where that person resides. The same shall apply to those who consume.
"If a parcel is found which has been planted, those plants will be burned and destroyed. The person who has done the planting shall be responsible for the costs of the destruction, such as the cost of the gasoline to burn them, and he shall be expelled from the organization. The person who is consuming shall be punished with ten days of work and six months out of the organization. By accord of the Good Government Junta, each municipality in its territory shall make a survey every year in order to be certain that there are no people who are engaged in this illicit work."
There has been an increase of late in the number of undocumented persons who are being driven by the so-called polleros on their way to the United States. These polleros are persons who are engaged in the trafficking of persons, who charge them a lot of money in exchange for promising to take them to find work in the United States... That is why the decision has been made to declare the trafficking in persons, national or foreign, through zapatista territory, to ba a serious crime. This should be made known to all authorities so that they will keep a watch out to see that this is complied with and that those members of the EZLN who participate in, help of protect those who are engaged in the trafficking of persons shall be punished and, in a serious case, be expelled from our organization... All those trafficking in persons (or polleros) who are discovered and detained in zapatista territory shall be obligated to return any monies to the affected persons and, after being warned, and if they repeat their crime, they shall be turned over to the proper authorities in order to be punished according to the laws of Mexico.
All persons, nationals and foreigners, who are clandestinel transported shall be freed and helped by whatever means possible (medical attention, temporary lodging and food) and counseled to not allow themselves to be deceived.
In the five regions where the Good Government Juntas are operating, health campaigns are being carried out which promote the use of latrines and the cleanliness of dwellings. Campaigns are also being undertaken, although they are just now becoming widespread, to fight chronic illnesses and epidemics and in order to detect cancer in women. In order to achieve this we have, in addition to financial support for health projects, the solidarity of specialist physicians and nursed who, stealing time from their rest, come to this land and distribute knowledge and health to all the communities.
Regional and municipal clinics are being built, they are being equipped and companeros and companeras are being trained to use them. In the Tojobal region, the first surgery was done on the first of August, and a laboratory for processing medicinal plants is being equipped. There are pharmacies in all the regions, which are being stocked with money from the projects and donations.
Generally speaking, the Good Government Juntas are seeing to it, little by little, that each of the Autonomous Municipalities has a basic community health structure: health promoters, health campaigns, preventative medicine, microclinics, pharmacies, regional clinics, doctors and specialists.
Regarding education, they are proceeding as they should proceed in politics, that is, from below to above. Schools are being built in all the communities, and those which already exist are being equipped, education promoters are being trained, technological and secondary education centers are being built.
From the urgent to the immediate. The problem of the displaced (primarily the ones of Polho') is the one which most concerns the good government in Los Altos of Chiapas. Of the almost 3 and a half million pesos which Oventik spent, approximately 2.5 million were earmarked for Polho'. But not just for food. A municipal grocery store and a cooperative for displaced women were built and put into operation... In order to improve everyone's nutrition, throughout the five regions there have been put into operation cooperatives for pig production ("No, they don't produce politicians," they clarified before I could pose the standard question), for hens, sheep, chickens and cattle, for vegetables and for fruit trees.
They inform me from La Garrucha that "agro-ecological promoters have been trained in our Autonomous Municipalities so that they can have experience in taking care of the environment, how to care for animals, how to vaccinate them and how to make the recovered lands produce better, and that's why we've made advances in each municipality."
"The advantages we see: all of us were governments, we didn't have any leaders, it was a collective government, so all of us were taught what each person knows, the projects are fairly distributed, social organizations came to our office when their problems weren't being solved..."
These are the advances we have seen and felt in one year of the Good Government Juntas.
Gut what if I'm just lying, what if I'm just talking about this so you think we've improved?
That's why I'm tellin you to come, to walk the villages and then they will add the audio and image to this video...
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, August of 2004. 20 and 10.
More on the Good Government Juntas (JBGs):
http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=32926