EZLN on the move again

[TheGodlessUtopian]

You can't compare the Zapatistas to scared Libyans demonstrating for their clownish autocrat or the ideologically disparate, internally divided and politically naive occupy movement. The EZLN rebelled and won autonomy from the state through a mix of armed conflict and diplomacy and has been around 20 years as a popular mass movement where they have power. They have the kind of deep, mass support in many communities which neither of the movements you mentioned did because they *are* the communities.

Rallies are rallies, comrade, simply because one group which you, and we all, favor, does not mean that the launching of it will yield different results: the fact of the matter is that though it was masterfully organized in difficult conditions it is still a rally. What is the strategic goal here? How will this rally have a noticeable impact in a manner fundamentally different from rallies all over the earth?

I also didn't know that the EZLN won autonomy.I thought they were still in the process of struggling to win. Can you provide links on when the Mexican government ceased their actions and accepted this as fact? Thanks.

[Art Vandelay]

I, for one, would not like my opinions grouped in with TGA's; however I will reply to the amount of nonsense supplied by supposed 'communists' within this thread, in due time (could take up to a week, do to the amount of comments and the fact that I am visiting family during the season break).

[Sasha]

December 21, 2012: The sound of Zapatista hope

Escrito en Articles, Audio, Radio Zapatista on: 22 Dec 2012 por Radio Zapatista Chiapas


December 21 was the last day of the baktún of the Long Count of the Mayas. We do not know from what hour the thousands of Zapatistas that would occupy the municipal centers of Ocosingo, Palenque, Las Margaritas, Altamirano, and San Cristóbal de las Casas began to arrive. What we do know is that from 8:00 o’clock of the morning, they began to make themselves visible, to carefully occupy their assigned places in files and contingents. In the city of San Cristóbal the contingents went from the recently constructed Soriana to further than one of the entrances to Huitepec on the periphery of the city. Men, women, and children descended from their communities in the midst of tenacious cold and rain that did not cease throughout the entire day. And thus, with numbers embroidered on their balaclavas that marked the contingent to which they belonged and in perfect order, they began to advance once again over the proud Jovel.
The gray, the tempest that awaited them that day do not cease to be symbolic. The world is thus seen, felt these days, particularly the national reality. The return of the PRI to power (which is practically on the three levels in Chiapas), the labor and education reforms, the imminent threat of the dismantling of what remains of the ejido [commons](in the form of reforms to agrarian law presented by Calderón days before finishing his term), repression and criminalization of social protest with the PRI rearmed, and the deepening of the extractive model, read the open plunder of natural resources. So gray and stormy is the panorama. And in the middle of that night there appeared once again the Zapatistas.
In silence, in perfect order, they bore the rain, the cold, and the wind as if their very nature is to resist. They advanced in columns, the rivers of people, of balaclavas, and bandanas. On their passing, came out their sympathizers who have felt themselves called by Zapatism. There were also journalists and tourists as in ‘94. Many businesses closed their doors, such is shameless fear. But there were also those, the lesser in number, that greeted the contingents from the doors of their businesses.
When the columns reached the Plaza de la Resistencia, already a Zapatista brigade had built a simple and small platform. The vanguard that carried the Mexican and Zapatista flags placed themselves as backdrop for what would be a spectacle of dignity. All the columns passed through that platform, all the thousands of Zapatistas who came to San Cristobal climbed and descended with the left fist raised, in the midst of a silence broken only by the noise of their steps on climbing and descending hurriedly. That and from time to time some word from the sympathizers who watched disconcerted asking themselves at what hour would the communiqué so much announced on the Zapatista link be given. Nevertheless, that act was the communiqué: the message strong and wise that not only the General Command of the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) but the Zapatista bases of support sent, The EZLN that resists, walks and builds are they who are the collective subject and raise the left fist as if to say: we will not give up, we do not surrender, here we continue.
Through the village streets, to the central plaza continued arriving the Zapatistas hurrying their step to then take their place in an act that seemed many times rehearsed and which nevertheless had not seen the stage until that day. The organizing effort of mobilizing thousands of persons in an act loaded with symbolism and dignity contrasts as never before with the emptiness and cynicism of the acts of the government. The ice rink constructed by the municipal government and which practically occupies half the plaza of the cathedral can also serve as metaphor: extremely costly white elephant built without doubt for tourism with monies from the public funds in a state of bankruptcy, the rink finds itself not only out of context but furthermore is useless. Occupation-usurpation of public space. And what happened during the Zapatista mobilization? There stood the white elephant while the mobilization, the Zapatistas overflowed the streets, the limits: the entire center was taken, occupied.
Little by little, as they had come, the thousands of colors that are the Zapatista peoples went out the city in silence to return to the mountains. They left behind once more the gabble in the midst of the gray that reigns. They fertilized the seed of hope they planted many years ago.


(English translation from the Spanish by © Rafael Jesús González 2012)

[human strike]

I think, as proven by this thread, it was a very good PR action. A show of force and a reminder to enemies and friends alike that they are still there but while keeping their actuall cards really close to their chest.

For me, this is something the EZLN have always been incredibly good at. Although I prefer to think of it as propaganda rather than PR...

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Rallies are rallies, comrade, simply because one group which you, and we all, favor, does not mean that the launching of it will yield different results: the fact of the matter is that though it was masterfully organized in difficult conditions it is still a rally. What is the strategic goal here? How will this rally have a noticeable impact in a manner fundamentally different from rallies all over the earth?

No, you're right that rallies in themselves don't do anything substantial, but the context of Mexico right now with the serious political unrest (in addition to the importance of the date to many Mayans) means that a rally can send a much stronger message than in other contexts.

The Zapatistas have also made more successful use of such protests than other social movements in the past.

BTW you might like this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTp1c7bUf-k

I also didn't know that the EZLN won autonomy.I thought they were still in the process of struggling to win. Can you provide links on when the Mexican government ceased their actions and accepted this as fact? Thanks.

The notion that they won some autonomy and that they are still struggling are both true. On one hand, they won autonomy for most of their communities with the San Andreas accords but on the other hand the Mexican state only ever partially implemented it and there are still Zapatista communities facing paramilitary violence.

The San Andreas accords are the treaty they signed with the Mexican state. After this, they successfully pressured the government to implement the policies more fully, however there is still a long way to go. The accords as I said were only ever partially implemented. There are autonomous Zapatista communities, however there are also communities which should be autonomous but the state refuses to recognize it, both in Chiapas and elsewhere in Mexico. I think someone posted a documentary recently about a community in Chiapas which was still struggling.

I'd check out their facebook page - I don't know if it's affiliated with the movement or if it's run by sympathizers but it has good information on it.

I, for one, would not like my opinions grouped in with TGA's; however I will reply to the amount of nonsense supplied by supposed 'communists' within this thread, in due time (could take up to a week, do to the amount of comments and the fact that I am visiting family during the season break).

blah blah if you have something to contribute, say it. There are legitimate critiques of the EZLN but from what you posted earlier it looks like your views are little more than applying tired old theory from the European Industrial world of the 1800s without any attempt to put it in the social context of the indigenous struggle for lands/rights. Question the ideological leanings of the EZLN and its apologists all you like, but they are the closest to an actual successful revolutionary movement since the fall of the USSR.

[Art Vandelay]

blah blah if you have something to contribute, say it. There are legitimate critiques of the EZLN but from what you posted earlier it looks like your views are little more than applying tired old theory from the European Industrial world of the 1800s without any attempt to put it in the social context of the indigenous struggle for lands/rights. Question the ideological leanings of the EZLN and its apologists all you like, but they are the closest to an actual successful revolutionary movement since the fall of the USSR.

I'm spending Christmas with my dad for the first time in my life, sorry if I don't want to spend time typing up a long reply. But yeah, some random dude on the internet dismisses and characterizes my opinion, which he hasn't even heard yet.

Blah, blah, blah indeed.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Regardless of what one thinks about the EZLN, I think everyone can agree that they have a really keen sense of propaganda and symbolism/aesthetics.

[Manic Impressive]

I'm not well read on the EZLN at all, I did just have a quick read of one of their articles and there does seem to be a lot of positives about them. However their major flaw seems to be nationalism or cultural nationalism. Also and most importantly as gladiator said their goal is not the emancipation of the working class but a friendly capitalism for a certain ethnic/cultural group. Which really relegates them to a civil rights movement.

It seems a shame that they set their sights so low as they also seem to have a lot of good things to say. Anyway that's my impression, happy to be proven wrong, also happy to get any suggestions on further EZLN reading material.

[brigadista]

they are playing the long game...

[Manic Impressive]

they are playing the long game...

aren't we all...

[brigadista]

aren't we all...

yeah but i think the 21 dec mobilisation and day to day community action and organisation could teach us something

[Delenda Carthago]

A. The title is wrong, since these are not EZLN, but Zappatistas. EZLN is the protection army of the zappatistic communities, not the movement itself.

B. Zappatistas are not bakunists, are not leninists, are nothing like that. They are zappatistas, which is their political identity. They are Mayas, and the core of the ideas they are based on, are ideas that come from their traditions.

C. The zappatistas begun as a civil rights movement, but later on they transformed to a anticapitalist movement. They were also connected with other communist and anarchist and other organisations, mostly through "La otra campana".

D. Zappatistas do not control Chiapas, not even most of the villages. Most of their members live in villages that are not zappatistic. As a matter of fact, they might live for example in a house where the next door neighbour is paramiltary.

E. What they do is pretty fuckin hard. We might think its something like peaceful, in touch with the nature and all these stereotypical bullshit, but the reality is that they come across the violence of the mexican state in a daily basis. But this does not make them revolutionaries. Revolution is when a class takes over power ie the working class of Mexico takes over the power from the capitalists. Zappatistas do not set these kind of issues. They want to be left alone from the State, something that is different and something that I dont really find very logical.

I respect them though and I feel for their cause in a general way.

[Sasha]

A. The title is wrong, since these are not EZLN, but Zappatistas. EZLN is the protection army of the zappatistic communities, not the movement itself.

B. Zappatistas are not bakunists, are not leninists, are nothing like that. They are zappatistas, which is their political identity. They are Mayas, and the core of the ideas they are based on, are ideas that come from their traditions.

C. The zappatistas begun as a civil rights movement, but later on they transformed to a anticapitalist movement. They were also connected with other communist and anarchist and other organisations, mostly through "La otra campana".

D. Zappatistas do not control Chiapas, not even most of the villages. Most of their members live in villages that are not zappatistic. As a matter of fact, they might live for example in a house where the next door neighbour is paramiltary.

E. What they do is pretty fuckin hard. We might think its something like peaceful, in touch with the nature and all these stereotypical bullshit, but the reality is that they come across the violence of the mexican state in a daily basis. But this does not make them revolutionaries. Revolution is when a class takes over power ie the working class of Mexico takes over the power from the capitalists. Zappatistas do not set these kind of issues. They want to be left alone from the State, something that is different and something that I dont really find very logical.

I respect them though and I feel for their cause in a general way.

They did march past an EZLN banner, the only declaration given was by EZLN subcommedante marcos. Who speaking of is not an Mayan either. And I do feel there is a long term strategy towards more than only "being left alone", at least marcos must have studied autonomist theory and praxis and i have the feeling that while being left alone is a short term goal of the EZLN they not only build their alternative society and "power"structure to protect their base but also to hopefully expand and connect with other anti-authoritarian progressive movements towards a fundamentally different world.
If only because they have had never anything to win from capitalism, even its left-wing they know that ultimately the only thing that will win them full autonomy, freedom and justice is the global overthrow of capitalism.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

I'm spending Christmas with my dad for the first time in my life, sorry if I don't want to spend time typing up a long reply. But yeah, some random dude on the internet dismisses and characterizes my opinion, which he hasn't even heard yet.

Merry Christmas. I'm sure it's a special moment for you.

I dismissed you after you dismissed and insulted all of the people sympathizing with the EZLN (as well as, implicitly, the Mayan peasants who risking their lives for their rights as well) without offering any kind of mature critique. If you're too busy to provide a full critique (which is more than fair) don't just insult people instead, wait until you have the time to say something interesting. Perhaps you're smart and have a thoughtful critique but I'd rather see that than your silly ad hominem attacks.

I'm not well read on the EZLN at all, I did just have a quick read of one of their articles and there does seem to be a lot of positives about them. However their major flaw seems to be nationalism or cultural nationalism. Also and most importantly as gladiator said their goal is not the emancipation of the working class but a friendly capitalism for a certain ethnic/cultural group. Which really relegates them to a civil rights movement.

They're not fighting for "friendly capitalism" but communal localism based on principles of village agriculture. A lot of indigenous communities around Latin America have a kind of village socialism

The ethnic nationalism is not really an issue so much, the movement brings together several Mayan ethnic groups (one could call these ethnic groups "stateless nations") even though these groups speak very different languages, have different cultures, and often practice religion in different ways too. Yes they respect Mayan culture but think that's also in the context of Latin American history where indigenous culture and heritage is dismissed and viewed as primitive. Granted, there is a mild amount of Mexican nationalism but it's not a major part of their movement any more than the fact that Palestinian groups focus on Palestinian issues, Kurdish groups on Kurdish issues, and so on.

It seems a shame that they set their sights so low as they also seem to have a lot of good things to say. Anyway that's my impression, happy to be proven wrong, also happy to get any suggestions on further EZLN reading material.

To say that they set their sights low is a misunderstanding of their situation. They have no ability to topple the Mexican state on their own due to the fact that the Mayans which constitute the movement are geographically and economically remote and most have a limited or no grasp of the Spanish language, which means that as a group they are somewhat isolated from the rest of the population of Mexico. Therefore, it makes the most sense for them to fight for their own liberation and use propaganda to advance themselves as an example of an alternative society.

They did march past an EZLN banner, the only declaration given was by EZLN subcommedante marcos. Who speaking of is not an Mayan either. And I do feel there is a long term strategy towards more than only "being left alone", at least marcos must have studied autonomist theory and praxis and i have the feeling that while being left alone is a short term goal of the EZLN they not only build their alternative society and "power"structure to protect their base but also to hopefully expand and connect with other anti-authoritarian progressive movements towards a fundamentally different world.
If only because they have had never anything to win from capitalism, even its left-wing they know that ultimately the only thing that will win them full autonomy, freedom and justice is the global overthrow of capitalism.

This is very true, I think the idea of the EZLN as trying to offer the people of Mexico, Latin America, and perhaps even the rest of the world with an alternative political model is one of the most revolutionary things that they've done, and is a critical motive of PR efforts like this. It's a brilliant statement to the hopeless, pessimistic leftists of the developed world to have 40,000 impoverished people from the poorest, most third world corner stand up and say "hey, we took back our land, organized our society along our own lines and have thus far survived nearly 20 years of state violence, so can you"

B. Zappatistas are not bakunists, are not leninists, are nothing like that. They are zappatistas, which is their political identity. They are Mayas, and the core of the ideas they are based on, are ideas that come from their traditions.

So true, I wish European Marxists would stop trying to force the indigenous Mayan peasants within one of their own ideological frameworks. The charge of them being "Bakuninists" is particularly galling, as if indigenous people are somehow incapable of coming up with their own political ideology and necessarily must be following some Russian Slav whose political theories really don't apply to their context anyways. People pick up on some superficial similarities between them and some white anarchist and base a critique around it where no critique exists.

C. The zappatistas begun as a civil rights movement, but later on they transformed to a anticapitalist movement. They were also connected with other communist and anarchist and other organisations, mostly through "La otra campana".

From what I understand some of the initial founders were actually thinking of starting a Maoist people's war, but found the Mayans unreceptive to that strategy.

D. Zappatistas do not control Chiapas, not even most of the villages. Most of their members live in villages that are not zappatistic. As a matter of fact, they might live for example in a house where the next door neighbour is paramiltary.

That is true, there is still a great deal of victimization. Chiapas is still run by a State government not the EZLN and the local PRI, PRD and PAN continue to support police, military and paramilitary violence against villages which are disputed. They only control the Northeastern chunk of the State, though they did manage to occupy the state capitol very briefly when they initially rebelled. They also chased the Mexican military out of parts of Chiapas which is fucking badass.

E. What they do is pretty fuckin hard. We might think its something like peaceful, in touch with the nature and all these stereotypical bullshit, but the reality is that they come across the violence of the mexican state in a daily basis. But this does not make them revolutionaries. Revolution is when a class takes over power ie the working class of Mexico takes over the power from the capitalists. Zappatistas do not set these kind of issues. They want to be left alone from the State, something that is different and something that I dont really find very logical.

I half agree with this ... yeah what they do is fucking dangerous and they die due to state repression, but I think many Zapatistas are revolutionaries insofar as if there were a social and economic revolution, they would join in, and their propaganda is clearly aimed at convincing other people to rebel. In addition, there was a sort of limited, local revolution when they took power and appropriated swaths of land from the landowners. I think we're setting too high a bar on the term "revolution" to deny that what they did in 1994 was quite revolutionary even if only on a very small scale. On the other hand they lack the capacity to instigate a revolution by themselves so that is why I think that thy don't.

I respect them though and I feel for their cause in a general way.

This ... the EZLN is not above critique, no revolutionary movement is but you have to respect their tenacity.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I mean, I think one of the things that is great about the Zapatistas is that they are not "revolutionary" in the traditional sense. I think a lot of old ideas about "revolution" and what it might look like are really rooted in the bourgeois revolutions, in liberal idealism, and in a model of centralized power that doesn't reflect the decentering of capital.

[Manic Impressive]

They're not fighting for "friendly capitalism" but communal localism based on principles of village agriculture. A lot of indigenous communities around Latin America have a kind of village socialism

They operate without money, distributing the produce of their labour on a needs basis and are completely self sufficient, they have no trade with the rest of Mexico or anywhere else, there is no commodity production or extraction of surplus value? If no then there is no claim to socialism, without the rather obvious arguments of socialism in one country. If they're not in it for the abolition of capitalism then they are anti-capitalist in the same way that monsieur Hollande or SYRIZA are anti-capitalist.

The ethnic nationalism is not really an issue so much, the movement brings together several Mayan ethnic groups (one could call these ethnic groups "stateless nations") even though these groups speak very different languages, have different cultures, and often practice religion in different ways too. Yes they respect Mayan culture but think that's also in the context of Latin American history where indigenous culture and heritage is dismissed and viewed as primitive. Granted, there is a mild amount of Mexican nationalism but it's not a major part of their movement any more than the fact that Palestinian groups focus on Palestinian issues, Kurdish groups on Kurdish issues, and so on.

From what I've read, which again isn't much, I didn't find their nationalism to be 'in your face' as it is with other groups especially those you mentioned. However this is a national liberation struggle, to create a state within a nation.

To say that they set their sights low is a misunderstanding of their situation. They have no ability to topple the Mexican state on their own due to the fact that the Mayans which constitute the movement are geographically and economically remote and most have a limited or no grasp of the Spanish language, which means that as a group they are somewhat isolated from the rest of the population of Mexico. Therefore, it makes the most sense for them to fight for their own liberation and use propaganda to advance themselves as an example of an alternative society.

Oh really? I don't think any socialists anywhere are in a position to topple any state. Is the ability to topple a state the prerequisite to being a socialist? Perhaps we all have our sights set too high? Perhaps we should all give up on socialism, accept capitalism and focus all our attention on passing reforms. Oh wait....that's actually been done before....didn't work out too well.

While their organizational methods and rejection of leadership are extremely praise worthy. The article I read earlier was the response to ETA entitled "I shit on all the revolutionary vanguards of this planet" a sentiment I entirely share and have probably said myself countless times. Despite these extremely positive features I would be a hypocrite if I did not apply the same analysis of their economic and internationalist credentials as I do with every other movement and it's here that they fail due to not representing the proletariat.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

They operate without money, distributing the produce of their labour on a needs basis and are completely self sufficient, they have no trade with the rest of Mexico or anywhere else, there is no commodity production or extraction of surplus value? If no then there is no claim to socialism, without the rather obvious arguments of socialism in one country. If they're not in it for the abolition of capitalism then they are anti-capitalist in the same way that monsieur Hollande or SYRIZA are anti-capitalist.

I don't know for a fact the full details of how their economy works and there is a certain amount of trade with other parts of Mexico and the world, and some commodities necessarily must be purchased (any more than distributing a marginal amount of goods on a needs basis rules out the possibility that one is capitalist). Autarky shouldn't be seen as some moral necessity for a socialist society existing in a capitalist world. Of course the villages will need to form cooperatives and whatnot so that they can obtain commodities only produced by other communities. Cooperatives of course are a form of capital but I think they are the best way in which a community fighting for socialism can participate in the market and obtain necessary commodities without risking the accumulation of surplus value by private interests. I do know that they have coffee cooperatives which you can buy from which share the profits with the communities and movement at large.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatis...e_cooperatives

I wouldn't say that their society is completely socialized because of that need to purchase goods on the international capitalist market. On the other hand their land is collectively owned and managed as well as the more expensive pieces of infrastructure which would be reduced to capital in most countries (like power plants etc). Only a few of their communities participate in the cooperatives and as far as I know most support themselves by growing corn, etc, but economic development in a world dominated by the capitalist mode of production necessitates come amount of capital to work with. Their economy is not based on alienation of workers from property, investment capital and exchange, even though as a group they need to sell on the markets to some extent because they lack the industrial capacity to, say, produce hydropower dams or buy firearms.

From what I've read, which again isn't much, I didn't find their nationalism to be 'in your face' as it is with other groups especially those you mentioned. However this is a national liberation struggle, to create a state within a nation.

I don't think that they want to create a new state so much as rebel against what they see as a tyrannical state.

Oh really? I don't think any socialists anywhere are in a position to topple any state. Is the ability to topple a state the prerequisite to being a socialist? Perhaps we all have our sights set too high? Perhaps we should all give up on socialism, accept capitalism and focus all our attention on passing reforms. Oh wait....that's actually been done before....didn't work out too well.

You misunderstand, I was arguing against this notion that they were not socialist revolutionaries because they were not organizing the proletariat to overthrow the state. They lack the ability to do that on their own, and as such they needed to focus on local issues in the mean time to support their own communities. As I've said elsewhere, they are largely a movement and militia of farmers and workers with families to feed.

While their organizational methods and rejection of leadership are extremely praise worthy. The article I read earlier was the response to ETA entitled "I shit on all the revolutionary vanguards of this planet" a sentiment I entirely share and have probably said myself countless times. Despite these extremely positive features I would be a hypocrite if I did not apply the same analysis of their economic and internationalist credentials as I do with every other movement and it's here that they fail due to not representing the proletariat.

Yeah they have some pretty agreeable critiques of traditional Leftist vanguard movements

[Sasha]

Communique from yesterday;

In the cities of Palenque, Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo, and San Cristóbal de las Casas, we looked at you and at ourselves in silence.
Ours is not a message of resignation.
It is not one of war, death, or destruction.
Our message is one of struggle and resistance.
After the media coup d’etat that catapulted a poorly concealed and even more poorly costumed ignorance into the federal executive branch, we made ourselves present to let them know that if they had never left, neither had we.
Six years ago, a segment of the political and intellectual class went looking for someone to hold responsible for their defeat. At that time we were, in cities and in communities, struggling for justice for an Atenco that was not yet fashionable.
In that yesterday, they slandered us first and wanted to silence us later.
Dishonest and incapable of seeing that it was within themselves that there was and still is the seed of their own destruction, they tried to make us disappear with lies and complicit silence.
Six years later, two things are clear:
They don’t need us in order to fail.
We don’t need them in order to survive.
We, who never went away, despite what media across the spectrum have been determined to make you believe, resurge as the indigenous Zapatistas that we are and will be.
In these years, we have significantly strengthened and improved our living conditions. Our standard of living is higher than those of the indigenous communities that support the governments in office, who receive handouts that are squandered on alcohol and useless items.
Our homes have improved without damaging nature by imposing on it roads alien to it.
In our communities, the earth that was used to fatten the cattle of ranchers and landlords is now used to produce the maize, beans, and the vegetables that brighten our tables.
Our work has the double satisfaction of providing us with what we need to live honorably and contributing to the collective growth of our communities.
Our sons and daughters go to a school that teaches them their own history, that of their country and that of the world, as well as the sciences and techniques necessary for them to grow without ceasing to be indigenous.
Indigenous Zapatista women are not sold as commodities.
The indigenous members of the PRI attend our hospitals, clinics, and laboratories because in those of the government, there is no medicine, nor medical devices, nor doctors, nor qualified personnel.
Our culture flourishes, not isolated, but enriched through contact with the cultures of other peoples of Mexico and of the world.
We govern and govern ourselves, always looking first for agreement before confrontation.
We have achieved all of this without the government, the political class, and the media that accompanies them, while simultaneously resisting their attacks of all kinds.
We have shown, once again, that we are who we are.
With our silence, we have made ourselves present.
Now with our word, we announce that:
First – We will reaffirm and consolidate our participation in the National Indigenous Congress, the space of encounter with the original peoples of our country.
Second – We will reinitiate contact with our compañeros and compañeras adherents of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle in Mexico and the world.
Third – We will try to construct the necessary bridges toward the social movements that have arisen and will arise, not to direct or supplant them, but to learn from them, from their history, from their paths and destinies.
For this we have consolidated the support of individuals and groups in different parts of Mexico, formed as support teams for the Sixth and International Commissions of the EZLN, to become avenues of communication between the Zapatista bases of support and the individuals, groups, and collectives that are adherents to the Sixth Declaration, in Mexico and in the World, who still maintain their conviction and commitment to the construction of a non-institutional left alternative.
Fourth – We will continue to maintain our critical distance with respect to the entirety of the Mexican political class which has thrived at the expense of the needs and desires of humble and simple people.
Fifth – With respect to the bad governments – federal, state, and municipal, executive, legislative, and judicial, and the media that accompanies them, we say the following:
The bad governments which belong to the entirety of the political spectrum without a single exception have done everything possible to destroy us, to buy us off, to make us surrender. PRI, PAN, PRD, PVEM, PT, CC and the future political party RN have attacked us militarily, politically, socially, and ideologically.[i] The mainstream media tried to disappear us first with opportunist and servile lies followed by a complicit and deceptive silence. Those they served, those on whose money they nursed are no longer around and those who have succeeded them will not last any longer than their predecessors.
As was made evident on December 21, 2012, all of them failed. So, it’s up to the federal, executive, legislative and judicial governments to decide if they are going to continue the politics of counterinsurgency that have only resulted in a flimsy simulation clumsily built through the media, or if they are going to recognize and fulfill their commitments by elevating Indigenous Rights and Culture to the level of the Constitution as established in the “San Andrés Accords” signed by the Federal Government in 1996, which was at the time led by the very same political party that today occupies the executive office.
It will be up to the state government to decide if it will continue the dishonest and despicable strategy of its predecessor, that in addition to corruption and lies, used the money of the people of Chiapas to enrich itself and its accomplices and dedicated itself to the shameless buying off of the voices and pens of the communications media, sinking the people of Chiapas into poverty while using police and paramilitaries to try to brake the organizational advance of the Zapatista communities; or, if instead, with truth and justice, it will accept and respect our existence and come around to the idea that a new form of social life is blooming in Zapatista territory, Chiapas, Mexico. This is a flowering that attracts the attention of honest people all over the planet.
It will be up to the municipal governments if they decide to keep swallowing the tall tales with which anti-zapatista or supposedly “zapatista” organizations extort them in order to attack and harass our communities; or if instead they use that money to improve the living conditions of those they govern.
It will be up to the people of Mexico who organize in electoral struggles and resist, to decide if they will continue to see us as enemies or rivals upon which to take out their frustration over the frauds and aggressions that, in the end, affect all of us, and if in their struggle for power they continue to ally themselves with our persecutors; or if they finally recognize in us another form of doing politics.
Sixth – In the next few days, the EZLN, through its Sixth and International Commissions, will announce a series of initiatives, civil and peaceful, to continue walking together with other original peoples of Mexico and of the continent, and together with those in Mexico and the world who struggle and resist below and to the left.
Brothers and Sisters:
Compañeros and Compañeras:

Before we had the good fortune of the honest and noble attention of various communications media. We expressed our appreciation then. But this has been completely erased by their later attitude.
Those who wagered that we only existed in the communications media and that, with the siege of lies and silence they created we would disappear, were mistaken.
When there were no cameras, microphones, pens, ears, or gazes, we continued to exist.
When they slandered us, we continued to exist.
When they silenced us, we continued to exist.
And here we are, existing.
Our path, as has been demonstrated, does not depend on media impact, but rather on comprehending the world and all of its parts, on indigenous wisdom that guides our steps, on the unswerving decision that is the dignity of below and to the left.
From now on, our word will be selective in its destination and, except on limited occasions, will only be able to be understood by those who have walked with us and who continue to walk without surrendering to current or media trends.
Here, not without many mistakes and many difficulties, another form of doing politics is already a reality.

Few, very few, will have the privilege of knowing it and learning from it directly.

19 years ago we surprised them taking with fire and blood their cities. Now we have done it once again, without arms, without death, without destruction.
In this way we have distinguished ourselves from those who, during their governments, distributed and continue to distribute death among those they govern.
We are those, the same, of 500 years ago, of 44 years ago, of 30 years ago, of 20 years ago, of just a few days ago.
We are the Zapatistas, the very smallest, those that live, struggle, and die in the last corner of the country, those that do not give up, do not sell out, those that do not surrender.
Brothers and Sisters:
Compañeros and Compañeras:
We are the Zapatistas, receive our embrace.
DEMOCRACY!
LIBERTY!
JUSTICE!
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
For the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee—General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

Mexico. December of 2012 – January of 2013.

[skitty]

I've been reading Our Word is Our Weapon(highly recommended) and came upon the Chase Memo in the Zapatista Timeline. I wasn't paying attention back when this happened. The EZLN began their armed struggle the day NAFTA went into effect; and the Chase Memo was written a year later, essentially telling the Mexican government to "eliminate the Zapatistas" to increase profits.

http://www.glovesoff.org/web_archive...chasememo.html

http://www.glovesoff.org/features/gjamerica_3.html

[blake 3:17]

IThe EZLN began their armed struggle the day NAFTA went into effect;

The surprise military offensive and announcement to the world was timed to coincide with the implementation.

The specific issue that they were protesting was the destruction of the ejido, a specifically Mexican form of the commons. The PRI were trying to dispose of it and NAFTA was going to be the nail in the coffin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejido