Parts 4 and 5 of the latest communiques from the EZLN. These portions are the most likely to appeal to anarchists and their kin.
http://www.elkilombo.org/ezln-them-and-us-part-iv-the-pains-of-those-below/http://www.elkilombo.org/ezln-communique-them-and-us-part-v-the-sixth/
Them and Us Part IV:
The Pains of Those Below
January of 2013.
“How many times have the police stopped us in the street for the
crime of “carrying a face”[i] that looks suspicious, or a mohawk, and
after beating and extorting us, they let us go?”
“Repression y Criminalization,” Cruz Negra Anarquista-Mexico. January 2013
“And the young person that now sees you as a hero and an example of
someone who has been unjustly treated by a repressive system?” “Hero,
no. A hero is each of those young people that go outside everyday to
organize themselves to change this unjust society and this economic and
political system. And they do organize, they defend themselves… They
shouldn’t be afraid, because fear is about to change direction.
Alfonso Fernández, held in prison since N14,[ii] in Spain,
interviewed by Shangay Lily, on Kaos en la Red. January 2013.
We need an enemy to give a people hope. […] But the meaning of identity is now based on hatred,
on hatred for those who are not the same. Hatred has to be cultivated as
a civic passion. The enemy is the friend of the people. You always want
someone to hate in order to feel justified in your own misery. Always.
Hatred is the true primordial passion.
Umberto Eco. El Cementerio de Praga (The Prague Cemetery).
When and where did the violence start?
Let’s see.
In front of a mirror, on whatever calendar, in whatever geography…
Imagine you are different from most people.
Imagine you are something very different.
Imagine you have a particular color skin or hair.
Imagine that you are disrespected, humiliated, pursued, incarcerated, or killed for this, for being different.
Imagine that since you were born, the entire system tells you over
and over that you are something odd, abnormal, sick, that you should
repent from what you are, chalk it up to bad luck and/or divine justice,
and do everything possible to modify this “manufacturing defect.”
And of course for you, precisely, we have this product that is simply
m-a-r-v-e-l-o-u-s for genetic defects. This type of thinking will
relieve you of rebellion and that bothersome habit of complaining about
everything all the time. This cream will change your skin color. This
dye will give your hair a fashionable tint. This class on “how to make
friends and be popular in the network” will give you everything
necessary to be a modern individual. This treatment will give you your
youth back. This DVD will show you how to behave at the table, in the
street, at work, in bed, in illegal assaults (by thieves), in legal
assaults (by banks, government, elections, and legally established
businesses), in social gatherings… what? Oh, they don’t invite you to
social gatherings?… ok, well it will also tell you what to do so that
you get invited. Anyway, here you will learn the secret of how to
triumph in life. Leave Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber behind in your number
of twitter followers! Include a mask of your choice. We have
everything! We even have that of CSG…[iii] Okay, okay, okay, that was a
bad example, but we do have something for every need. Let them no longer
look on you with disgust! Let them not call you trash, indian, prole,
Black, region 4,[iv] zombie, Zapatista-lover!
Imagine that you, despite all of your best efforts and intentions, don’t manage to hide the color of your skin or your hair.
Now imagine that a campaign is launched to eliminate everyone who is like you.
It’s not that there’s an event to inaugurate the campaign, or a law
to establish it, but you realize that the system in its entirely has
begun to work against you, and those who are like you. The entire
society has become a machine whose principal purpose is to annihilate
you.
First there are disapproving glances, disgust, contempt. Later there
are insults, aggressions. After that come detentions, deportations,
imprisonment. Later deaths here and there, legally and illegally.
Finally, a true campaign, the machine at full force, to disappear you
and all those who are like you. The identity of those who make up
society is affirmed by the hate directed against you. Your sin? Being
different.
-*-
You still don’t see it?
Okay, imagine then that you are… (insert masculine, feminine, or other pronoun, whatever the case may be):
An Indigenous person in a country dominated by foreigners. A fleet of
military helicopters is heading toward your lands. The press will say
that the occupation of the wind power plant impeded the reduction in
contamination, or that the jungle was being destroyed. “Eviction was
necessary in order to reduce planetary global warming,” —Secretary of
State
A Black person in a nation dominated by whites. A WASP [White Anglo
Saxon Protestant] judge is about to sentence you. The jury has declared
you guilty. Among the evidence presented by the district attorney is an
analysis of your skin pigmentation.
A Jew in Nazi Germany. The Gestapo official stares at you steadily.
The next day the report will say that they have purified the human race.
A Palestinian in today’s Palestine. An Israeli army missile is aimed
at your school, hospital, neighborhood, home. Tomorrow the press will
say that they took out military targets.
An immigrant on the other side of whatever border. An immigration
patrol approaches you. The next day nothing will appear in the press.
A priest, a monk, or a layman that has opted [to advocate] for the
poor, in the midst of the opulence of the Vatican. The Cardinal’s sermon
is directed against those who interfere in earthly matters.
A street vendor in an exclusive commercial mall in an exclusive
residential district. A truck full of riot police pulls up. “We must
defend free trade,” the government representative will declare.
A woman alone, night or day, on some form of public transport full of
men. A small increase in rates of “gender violence.” The police officer
will say: “you know how some women are asking for it.”
A gay person alone, night or day, on public transportation full of machos. A minimal increase in rates of “homophobic violence.”
A sexworker on a strange street on an unfamiliar corner… the police
pull up. “The government efficiently combats sex trafficking” the press
will say.
A punk, a Rastafarian, a skater, a cholo, a metalhead, on the street,
at night… another police patrol pulls up. “We are preventing vandalism
and antisocial behavior” —Head of Government
A graffiti artist “tagging” the World Trade Center… another police
patrol pulls up. “We will do everything necessary to make our city
beautiful and attractive for tourism,” —any government official
A communist in a meeting of the fascist right-wing party. “We are
against the totalitarianism that has done so much damage in the world,”
—Party President.
An anarchist in a meeting of the Communist Party. “We are against
those petit-bourgeois deviationists that have done so much damage to
world revolution,” —Secretary General of the Party.
A “31 Minutes” news show on the CNN ticker. Tulio Triviño and Juan
Carlos Bodoque look at each other, disconcerted, but don’t say
anything.[v]
An alternative music group trying to sell their CD at a concert
featuring Lady Gaga, Madonna, Justin Bieber, or whoever will follow
them. The police come up. The fans scream like mad.
An artist dancing outside a great cultural center where the Bolshoi
Ballet is performing
(yes-it’s-a-gala-invitation-only-we’re-sorry-miss-you’re-in-the-way-here).
Security proceeds to reestablish order.
An elderly person at a meeting presided over by the Japanese Minister
of Finance Taró Asó (he studied at Stanford and recently asked elderly
people “to hurry up and die” because their lives are getting very
expensive). Social spending is cut further.
An Anonymous criticizing “copyright” in a meeting of Microsoft-Apple
shareholders. “A dangerous hacker behind bars,” the press will say.
A young Mapuche who, in Chile, reclaims the land of his/her ancestors
while watching the approach of the tanks and the offensive green of the
soldiers. The bullet that mortally injures him/her will go unpunished.
A young person and/or student or unemployed person at an
army-police-civil guard-carabineer checkpoint. The last they hear?
“Shoot!”
A Nahua commoner in the offices of a transnational mining company.
Uniformed men kidnap him. “We’re investigating,” —respective
governments.
A dissident facing gray, raised metal walls, while on the other side,
the Mexican political class swallows the bitter pill of yet another
imposition. You are hit with the blow of a rubber bullet that takes out
your eye or breaks your skull. “Calls for unity for the good of the
country. Time to leave bickering behind,” —News headlines
A peasant facing an army of lawyers and police, hearing that the land
where you work, where your parents were born and raised, as well as
your grandparents, your great-grandparents, and so on back to where time
becomes blurry, is now the property of a real estate developer and that
you are robbing the poor businessmen of something that legally belongs
to them. Jail.
An opponent of electoral fraud who sees the forty thieves[vi] and
their boot-lickers exonerated. The mockery: “one must turn the page and
look ahead.”
A man or a woman who comes to see what all the racket is about, and
is suddenly “kettled” by the forces of order. While they push, hit, and
kick him or her in taking them to the patrol, you can see the cameras
from a well-known television channel pointing the other way.
An indigenous Zapatista who has been in a prison of the bad
government (PRI-PAN-PRD-PT-MC) for many years. You read in the
newspaper: “Why has the EZLN reappeared now that the PRI has returned to
power? Very Suspicious.”
-*-
Do you follow?
Now…
Do you feel convinced that you are out of place?
Do you feel the fear of being ignored, insulted, beaten, mocked,
humiliated, raped, incarcerated, or murdered, simply for being who you
are?
Do you feel the impotence of not being able to do anything to avoid it, to defend yourself, to be heard?
Do you curse the moment that you came to this place, the day that you were born, the hour that you began to read this text?
-*-
Many of the examples above have a name, a calendar, and a geography:
Juan Francisco Kuykendall Leal. Compa Kuy, adherent of the Sixth
Declaration, professor, playwright, theater director. Skull broken on
December 1, 2012 by a bullet from the “forces of order.” He was planning
to do a play about Enrique Peña Nieto.
José Uriel Sandoval Díaz. Young student from the Autonomous
University of Mexico City, part of the Student Council of Struggle. He
lost an eye in the repression of December 1, 2012 following the attack
by the “forces of order.” He was planning resist the imposition of
Enrique Peña Nieto.
Celedonio Prudencio Monroy. Indigenous Nahua. Kidnapped on October
23, 2012 by the “forces of order.” He was planning to resist the taking
of Nahua lands by miners and loggers.
Adrián Javier González Villarreal. Young student at the School of
Mechanical and Electric Engineering at the Autonomous University in
Nuevo León, Mexico, murdered in January 2013 by the “forces of order.”
He was planning to graduate and be a successful professional.
Cruz Morales Calderón and Juvencio Lascurain. Peasant farmers taken
prisoner in Veracruz, 2010-2011, by the “forces of order”. They planned
to resist the taking of their lands by real estate developers.
Matías Valentín Catrileo Quezada. Young indigenous Mapuche,
assassinated on January 3, 2008, in Chile, Latin America, by the “forces
of order.” He was planning to resist the taking of Mapuche land by the
government, large landowners, and transnational businesses.
Francisco Sántiz López, indigenous Zapatista, taken prisoner unjustly
by the “forces of order.” He planned to resist the governmental
counterinsurgencies of Juan Sabines Guerrero and Felipe Calderón
Hinojosa.
-*-
Now…don’t despair, we are just about finished…
Now imagine you that you aren’t scared, or that yes, you are, but you can control it.
Imagine that you go and, in front of the mirror, not only do you not hide nor cover up your difference, but you highlight it.
Imagine that you make of your difference a shield or a weapon, you
defend yourself, meet others like you, organize, resist, fight, and
without even noticing, you move from “I am different” to “we are
different”.
Imagine that you don’t hide behind “maturity” and “good judgment,”
behind the “now is not the time,” or “there aren’t the appropriate
conditions,” “we must wait,” “it is useless,” “ there is no solution.”
Imagine that you don’t sell out, don’t give in, and don’t give up.
Could you imagine it?
Ok, well although neither you nor we know it yet, we are part of a “we” that is even larger and yet to be built.
(to be continued…)
From whatever corner, in whichever world.
SupMarcos.
Planet Earth.
January 2013.
See and listen to the video that accompanies this text.
M.I.A. “Born Free”
“Born Free” performed by M.I.A. (Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam).
Video. Director: Romain Gavras (Son of Costa Gavras). Photography: André
Chemetoff. Production: Mourad Belkeddar. Executive Production: Gaetan
Rousseau / Paradoxal. This video was censured by YouTube due to its
content.
Bob Marley, “Burnin’ and Lootin’”
“Burnin´ and Lootin´” by Bob Marley. Video from the beginning of “La
Haine” (“Hate”), written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995.
Subtitles in Spanish.
[i] “Carrying a face” [portación de cara] is used here as a
substitute for the usual Mexican legal phrase “carrying a weapon”
[portación de arma] and is used in Mexico much the same way as the
crimes of “Driving while Black” or “Flying while Arab” are used in the
United States.
[ii] November 14, 2012 was the day of a massive general strike in
Spain and Portugal, as well as other strikes across Europe, especially
in Greece and Italy.
[iii] Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
[iv] Region 4 refers to Latin America on DVD coding. Referring to
someone as “región 4” is a putdown, something like saying “oh, you’re so
third world.”
[v] “31 Minutos” is a Chilean television show that parodies
television newscast. Tulio Triviño and Juan Carlos Bodoque are both
puppet characters who parody real life figures.
[vi] “40 thieves” (as in Ali Baba and his 40 thieves) refers to the
30 governors and presidential cabinet members that assisted the
launching of the “National Crusade Against Hunger” by Enrique Peña Nieto
in Las Margaritas, Chiapas (a zone of heavy Zapatista influence), but
is also used by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos and the Zapatistas as a
way to refer to the Mexican political class in general.
Protected (full text):
Them and Us, Part V. The Sixth.
(The Enlace Zapatista website made the password public for the hidden text: marichiweu)
ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION.
MEXICO.
January 2013
To: The compañer@s adherents of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle across the world.
From: The Zapatista men and women of Chiapas, México.
Compañeras, compañeros, y compañeroas:
Compas of the Red contra la Represión y por la Solidaridad (Network against Repression and for Solidarity):
Receive greetings from the smallest of your compañeros, the women,
men, children, and elderly of the Zapatista Army for National
Liberation.
We have decided that the first of our words directed specifically to
our compañer@s of the Sixth Declaration be released in a space of
struggle, a space like the Red contra la Represión y por La Solidaridad.
But the words, thoughts, and feelings outlined here are also meant for
those who are not present…especially for them.
-*-
We are grateful for the support that you have given our communities,
our Zapatista bases of support, and to the adherents to the Sixth who
are prisoners in Chiapas, during this entire time.
In our hearts we carry your words of encouragement and the collective hand that reached for ours.
We are sure that one of the points you will address in your meeting
will be, or has already been, a great campaign of support for our
compañero Kuy, to denounce the aggression which he suffered, to demand
justice for him and for all of those injured on that day, and to demand
absolute exoneration for all of those detained in Mexico City and in
Guadalajara during the protests against the imposition of Enrique Peña
Nieto as head of the federal executive branch.
And not only that, but it is also important that this campaign take
into account the need to raise funds to support the compañero Kuy with
the costs of his hospitalization and his subsequent recovery, a recovery
that the Zapatista men and women hope will be a quick one.
To support this fundraising campaign, we are sending a small amount
of money, in cash. We ask that, although it is small, you add it to
whatever you are compiling for our compañero in struggle. When we can
get together more, we will send it to whomever you designate for that
job.
-*-
We wanted to take the opportunity of your scheduled meeting not only
to acknowledge your own persistence, but also and above all to
acknowledge, through you, all of the compas in Mexico and in the world
who have remained firm in this bond that ties us together and that we
call the Sixth.
We want you to know that it has been an honor for us to have you as compañeroas.
We know that this may look like a farewell, but it is not. It only
means that we have ended one phase in the path that we call the Sixth,
and that we think that we must now take another step.
We have suffered more than a few setbacks along the way, sometimes together, sometimes each of us in our own geography.
Now we would like to communicate and explain to you some of the
changes that we will make on our path. On this path, if you agree and
accompany us, we will take up once again, but in another form, the
extended recounting of pain and hope that before was called the Other
Campaign in Mexico and the Zezta Internazional in the world, and that
now will simply be known as The Sixth. Now we will continue further, up
to…
The Time of the No, the time of the Yes
Compañeras, compañeros:
Having defined who we are, our past and present story, our place and
the enemy that we face, as laid out in the Sixth Declaration of the
Lacandón Jungle, what is left pending is to further define why we fight.
We defined the “no,” we still haven’t fully delineated the “yes”
This isn’t the only thing, as we also need more answers to the “how,” “when,” “with whom.”
All of you know that it is not our intention to build a great big
organization with a central governing body, a centralized command, or a
boss, be it individual or a particular group.
Our analysis of the functioning, strengths, and weaknesses of the
dominant system has led us to believe and to emphasize that unified
action is possible if we respect what we call the “modos” [manner, way
of doing things] of each of us.
And these things we call “modos” are nothing but the knowledges that
each of us, individual or collective, have of our own geography and
calendar. That is, of our pains and our struggles.
We are convinced that any attempt at homogeneity is no more than a
fascist effort at domination, regardless of whether it is hidden in
revolutionary, esoteric, religious, or any other language.
When one speaks of “unity” they elide the fact that such “unity”
occurs under the leadership of someone or something, be it individual or
collective.
On the false altar of “unity,” not only are differences sacrificed,
but the survival of all of the small worlds under the tyranny and
injustice they suffer is obscured.
In our history, this lesson is repeated time and again. And every
time the world turns, our place is always that of the oppressed, the
disdained, the exploited, the dispossessed.
What we call the “four wheels of capitalism”: exploitation,
displacement, repression, and disdain, have been repeated throughout our
history, with different names up above, but we are always the same ones
below.
But the current system has gotten to a state of extreme madness. Its
predatory ambition, its absolute disrespect for life, its delight in
death and destruction, and its effort to impose apartheid on all of
those who are different, that is, all of those below, is taking humanity
to the point of disappearance as a form of life on the planet.
We could, as someone might advise, wait patiently for those above to
destroy themselves, without acknowledging that their insane arrogance
and pride will destroy everything.
In their drive to be higher and higher above, they dynamite the
floors below, the foundations. The building—the world—will ultimately
collapse and there won’t be anyone to hold responsible.
We think that yes, something is wrong, very wrong. But that if in
order to save humanity and the badly damaged house it inhabits someone
has to go, then it should be, it must be, those above.
And we aren’t referring here to banishing those above. We’re talking
about destroying the social relations that make it possible for someone
to be above at the cost of someone else being below.
The Zapatistas know that this great line we have drawn across the
world geography is not a conventional understanding. We know that this
model of “above” and “below” bothers, irritates, and disturbs some. This
is not the only thing that irritates them, we know, but for now, we are
referring specifically to this discomfort.
We could be mistaken. Quite likely we are. The thought police and
knowledge inspectors will surely appear in order to judge, condemn, and
execute us… hopefully only in their flamboyant writing and not hiding
their vocation as executioners behind that of judges.
But this is how the Zapatistas see the world and its modos:
There is machismo, patriarchy, misogyny, or whatever one may call it,
but it’s one thing to be a woman above and something completely
different to be one below.
There is homophobia, yes, but it’s one thing to be a homosexual above and something very different to be one below.
There is disdain for those who are different, yes, but it’s one thing to be different above and quite another to be so below.
There is a left that is an alterative to the right, but it is one
thing is to be on the left above and it is something completely
different (we would say opposite) to be on the left below.
Place your own identities within the parameters we are laying out and you will see what we are saying.
The most deceitful identity, fashionalbe every time the modern state goes into crisis, is that of “citizenship.”
The “citizen” above and the “citizen” below have nothing in common; they are opposite and contradictory.
Differences are chased, cornered, ignored, disdained, repressed, displaced, and exploited, yes.
But we see a greater difference that crosses all of these differences: that of above and below, the haves and the have-nots.
And we see that there is something fundamental to this great
difference: the above is above on the backs of those below; the “haves”
have because they dispossess those who don’t.
We think that being above or below determines our gaze, our words, what we hear, our steps, our pains, and our struggles.
Perhaps there will be another opportunity to explain more of our
thinking on this. For now we will just say that the gazes, words, ears,
and steps of those above tend to conserve this division. This does not,
of course, imply immobility. Conservatism seems to be very far from a
system that discovers more and better forms of imposing the four wounds
that the world below suffers. But this “modernization” or “progress” has
no other objective than to maintain above those who are above in the
only way it is possible for them to be there, that is, on the backs of
those below.
In our thinking, the gaze, words, ears, and steps of those below are
determined by the line of questioning: Why this way? Why them? Why us?
In order to impose answers to such questions on us, or in order to
avoid our asking them in the first place, gigantic cathedrals of ideas
have been built, more or less well thought out, usually so grotesque
that not only is it amazing that someone has developed them and someone
believes them, but also that they have also constructed universities and
centers for research and analysis based on them.
But there is always a party pooper who ruins the festivities at the end of history.
And that stick-in-the-mud responds to these questions with another: “could it be another way?”
This question could be the one that sparks rebellion and its broader
acceptance. And this could be because there is a “no” that has birthed
it: it doesn’t have to be this way.
Forgive us if this confusing detour has irritated you. Chalk it up to our modo, our ways and customs.
What we want to say, compañeras, compañeros, compañeroas, is that
what convoked us all in the Sixth was this rebellious, heretic, rude,
irreverent, bothersome, uncomfortable “no.”
We have gotten to this point because our realities, histories, and
rebellions have brought us to this “it doesn’t have to be this way.”
This and also because, intuitively or by design, we have answered “yes” to the question, “could it be another way?”
We still need to respond to the questions we encounter after that “yes.”
What is that other way, that other world, that other society that we imagine, that we want, that we need?
What do we have to do?
With whom?
If we don’t know the answers to those questions we have to look for
them. And if we have them, we have to make them known among ourselves.
-*-
In this new step, but on the same path of the Sixth Declaration of
the Lacandón Jungle, as Zapatistas we have tried to apply some of what
we have learned in these 7 years. We will make changes in the rhythm and
speed of our step, but also in its company.
You all know that one of the many and great defects we have as
Zapatistas is memory. We remember who was present when and where, what
they said, what they did, what they didn’t say, what they undid, what
they wrote, what they erased. We remember the calendars and geographies.
Don’t misinterpret us. We don’t judge anyone, everyone constructs
their alibis as they can for what they do or don’t do. The stubborn
advance of history will tell if they were correct or erroneous.
For our part, we have seen, listened to, and learned from everyone.
We saw who came around only to take political advantage of the Other
Campaign, who jumped from one mobilization to another, seduced by the
masses, and thus revealing their incapacity to generate anything
themselves. One day they are anti-electoral, another day they hang their
flags in whichever mobilization is in style; one day they are teachers,
the next students; one day they are indigenists, the next they are
allied with landowners and paramilitaries. They clamor for the avenging
fire of the masses, and disappear when the antiriot tanks arrive with
water cannons.
We will not walk again with them.
We saw who appears when there are stages, dialogues, good press, and
attention, and who disappears when it is time for the work that is
silent but necessary, as the majority of those who are hearing or
reading this letter know. All this time our gaze and our ear were not
directed toward those on the stage, but rather toward those who built
it, who made the food, swept the floors, tended to things, drove,
flyered, stuck it out, as they say. We also saw and heard those who
climbed over everyone else.
We will not walk again with them.
We saw who the professionals of the assemblies are, with their
techniques and tactics for driving meetings into the ground so that only
they, and their followers, are left to approve their own proposals.
They distribute defeat wherever they appear, facilitating roundtables,
sidelining the “yuppie” and “petit-bourgeoisie” who don’t understand
that at stake in the day’s agenda is the future of world revolution.
Those who think poorly of any movement that doesn’t end in an assembly
that they themselves run.
We will not walk again with them.
We saw those who present themselves as struggling for the freedom of
the political prisoners during events and campaigns, but who insisted
that we abandon the prisoners of Atenco and continue the journey of the
Other Campaign because they had their strategy ready and their events
programmed.
We will not walk again with them.
-*-
The Sixth was convoked by the Zapatistas. To convoke is not to
unite. We don’t intend to unite under a single leadership, be it
Zapatista or any other. We do not seek to coopt, recruit, supplant,
impersonate, simulate, trick, subordinate, or use anybody. Our destiny
is the same, but the richness of the Sixth is its difference, its
heterogeneity, the autonomy of distinct modes of walking, this is its
strength. We offer and will continue to offer respect, and we demand and
will continue to demand the same. The only requirement to adhere to the
Sixth is the “no” that convokes us and the commitment to construct the
“yeses” that are necessary.
-*-
Compañeroas, compañeros, compañeras:
On behalf of the EZLN we say:
1.- For the EZLN, there will no longer be a national Other Campaign
and a Zezta Internazional. From now on we will walk together with those
we have invited and who accept us as compas, whether they are on the
coast of Chiapas or that of New Zealand.
In this sense, our territory for our work is now clearly delimited:
the planet called “Earth,” located in that which is called the Solar
System.
We will now be what we are in fact already: “The Sixth.”
2.- For the EZLN, to be in the Sixth does not require affiliation,
membership fee, registration list, original and/or copy of an official
ID, or account statement; one does not have to be judge, or jury, or
defendant, or executioner. There are no flags. There are commitments and
consequences to these commitments. The “no” convokes us, the
construction of the “yes” mobilizes us.
2.- Those who, with the resurgence of the EZLN, hope for a new epoch
of big stages and large gatherings, with the masses peering in to see
the future being made, and the equivalent of assaults on the winter
palace will be disappointed. It is best they leave now. Don’t waste your
time, and don’t make us waste ours. The walk of the Sixth is a long
one, not meant for mental midgets. For “historical” and “conjunctural”
actions, there are other spaces where you will surely find your place.
Here we don’t want only to change the government, we want to change the
world.
3.- We confirm that as the EZLN, we will not ally ourselves with any
electoral movement in Mexico. Our conception about this in the Sixth has
been clear and has not varied. We understand that there are those who
think that it is possible to transform things from above without
becoming one more of those above. Hopefully the coming consecutive
disappointments do not turn them into that which they fight against.
4.- When we propose organizational, political, and dissemination
initiatives, our word will be EXCLUSIVELY for those who request it and
whom we accept, and sent from our website email to the addresses that we
have. They will also appear on the website of Enlace Zapatista, but
their full content will only be accessible with a password that will
continually change. We will get you this password somehow, but it will
be easy to deduce by those who read carefully what they do see and for
those who have learned to decipher the feelings that become letters in
our words.
Every individual, group, collective, organization or however each
refers to themselves, has the right and the liberty to share this
information with whomever they see fit. All of the adherents to the
Sixth will have the power to open the window of our word and of our
reality to whomever they desire. The window, not the door.
5.- The EZLN asks your patience while we make public the initiatives
that, over 7 years, we have developed, and whose principal objective
will be to put you in direct contact with the Zapatista bases of support
in what is, in my humble opinion and long experience, the best way
possible: that is to say, as students.
6.- For now we’d just like to let you know that those who can and
want to, and who are explicitly invited by the Sixth-EZLN, should start
getting together the bread, the dough, the money, or whatever it’s
called in whatever part of the planet, in order to be able to travel to
Zapatista lands on dates yet to be decided. Later we will give you more
details.
To conclude this letter (which, as is evident, has the disadvantage
of lacking a video or soundtrack to accompany and complete the spoken
version [the version to be read at the Red’s meeting]), we would like to
send the best of our embraces (and we only have one best) to the men,
women, children, elderly, groups, organizations, movements, or however
each might refers to themselves, that all this time have not let their
hearts grow distant from us, who have continued to resist and who have
supported us as the compañeras, compañeros y compañeroas that we are.
Compas:
We are the Sixth.
It will take a lot.
Opening ourselves to those throughout the world who have pain will not lessen our own. The path will be even more treacherous.
We will battle.
We will resist.
We will struggle.
We may die.
But one, ten, a hundred, a thousand times, we will always win always.
For the Revolutionary Indigenous Clandestine Committee—General Command of the
Zapatista Army for National Liberation
The Sixth-EZLN
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.
Chiapas, Mexico, Planet Earth.
January 2013.
P.D.- For example, the password to see this text on the webpage is,
as is evident, “marichiweu,” just like that, without caps (letters
“below”) and starting from the left.
::::::::::::::::::::::::
See and listen to the videos that accompany this text:
“Cumbia Zapatista,” by the group “Sonido Psicotropical.” Part of the
album “Rola la lucha Zapatista.” Move your behind to the rhythm of the
cumbiaaaaa!
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PLD999D1842E26...)
“Nadie mira,” by the group “RABIA.” With Iker Moranchel, guitar and
vocals. Alejandro Franco, drums and vocals. Manco, Bass. Camera, Sara
Heredia. Editing, Eduardo Vargus. Recorded and edited in Gekko Audiolab,
Mexico City, July 2012. Also from the disk “Rola la lucha Zapastista.”
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrock!
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YFJHBoWRkWk)
