Forward Union
7th June 2007, 14:39
IN OUR GROUP most of us were for it, because we felt strongly identified with the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Rainforest and with the beginnings of the otra campaign, as we could relate to the horizontality which was proposed. We joined it wholeheartedly, because at the start we could see the affinity between its struggle and our principles. It was then that we joined, full of enthusiasm, the organisation that the zapatistas had proposed.
We could only take part according to our means, which means that we mainly supported it by publishing its documents, news and other things coming out of the assemblies in our magazine, Mundo nuevo, and helping with the organisation of demos in support of the social struggles that were going on at Atenco, Oaxaca, and the support camp for the cupaca [indigenous group].
We think that the zapatistas have contributed many good things, as they have highlighted the dignity of the indigenous peoples who are seeking their emancipation, and we think that this struggle has been an example for other peoples in Mexico and all over the world, spreading rebellion and autonomous organisation. As anarchists, we think that the emancipation of the people will come out the people's autonomous struggle, which has to pursue its own liberation and not a power that would be built on the domination of some over the rest.
In our group we always take our decisions in assemblies, and after careful consideration we have decided to abandon the otra campaign. Some of the reasons why we have decided to do this are the following:
* Some of the decisions taken in the campaign's assemblies are somewhat authoritarian, that is, the autonomy of the individual is breached, in the case of persons who do not agree with the decisions of the majority.
*Some beaurocratic groups have and obvious protagonism, and their ways of working do not allow the free development of the local assemblies, and in many ocassions they have used the zapatista banner as an argument to gather support for their agenda, and have been supported by the sexta in doing so.
*All too often we receive the information through those very same groups, which hand it down through a centralised process, and we have no other means of knowing how true it can be.
*Some groups are given preference over others, and they put aside the point of view of the most marginalised, like when they turn up at communities asking to see the self appointed leaders, without questioning first if they are recognised as such by the rest of the community. By doing this they are reproducing shemes of domination in which a minority takes a preference over the majority.
* We can not agree with the struggle for a new constitution, because we are anticapitalists, but we are also against the state and we think that reforming the consitution will be of no use, and neither will be a whole new one that we could have in the future, as it would lead to a new state and new hierarchies.
We want to highlight that in the camp in support of the cucapa people the sexta comission was not impartial, because they backed their most favoured group, and they shunned the majority of the community. We think that this is an example of how the sexta worked in the camp in support of the cucapa.
In the same way in which one day we decided to organise with people whom we have an affinity with, in ideas and principles, to form GAPA, today we decide to organise outside the sexta, and do so with groups and individuals who do not fight only against capitalism, but also against the state.
There's no way to freedom, freedom is the way!
¡SALUD Y ANARQUIA!
We could only take part according to our means, which means that we mainly supported it by publishing its documents, news and other things coming out of the assemblies in our magazine, Mundo nuevo, and helping with the organisation of demos in support of the social struggles that were going on at Atenco, Oaxaca, and the support camp for the cupaca [indigenous group].
We think that the zapatistas have contributed many good things, as they have highlighted the dignity of the indigenous peoples who are seeking their emancipation, and we think that this struggle has been an example for other peoples in Mexico and all over the world, spreading rebellion and autonomous organisation. As anarchists, we think that the emancipation of the people will come out the people's autonomous struggle, which has to pursue its own liberation and not a power that would be built on the domination of some over the rest.
In our group we always take our decisions in assemblies, and after careful consideration we have decided to abandon the otra campaign. Some of the reasons why we have decided to do this are the following:
* Some of the decisions taken in the campaign's assemblies are somewhat authoritarian, that is, the autonomy of the individual is breached, in the case of persons who do not agree with the decisions of the majority.
*Some beaurocratic groups have and obvious protagonism, and their ways of working do not allow the free development of the local assemblies, and in many ocassions they have used the zapatista banner as an argument to gather support for their agenda, and have been supported by the sexta in doing so.
*All too often we receive the information through those very same groups, which hand it down through a centralised process, and we have no other means of knowing how true it can be.
*Some groups are given preference over others, and they put aside the point of view of the most marginalised, like when they turn up at communities asking to see the self appointed leaders, without questioning first if they are recognised as such by the rest of the community. By doing this they are reproducing shemes of domination in which a minority takes a preference over the majority.
* We can not agree with the struggle for a new constitution, because we are anticapitalists, but we are also against the state and we think that reforming the consitution will be of no use, and neither will be a whole new one that we could have in the future, as it would lead to a new state and new hierarchies.
We want to highlight that in the camp in support of the cucapa people the sexta comission was not impartial, because they backed their most favoured group, and they shunned the majority of the community. We think that this is an example of how the sexta worked in the camp in support of the cucapa.
In the same way in which one day we decided to organise with people whom we have an affinity with, in ideas and principles, to form GAPA, today we decide to organise outside the sexta, and do so with groups and individuals who do not fight only against capitalism, but also against the state.
There's no way to freedom, freedom is the way!
¡SALUD Y ANARQUIA!