Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Zapatistas: a call to action

UK Zapatista Solidarity Network | 06.07.2008 11:32 | Zapatista | World

Article by the well-respected Oaxacan activist and founder of the University of the Earth, Gustavo Esteva. Gustavo was one of the EZLN's advisors in their negotiations with the Mexican government. This article was published in La Jornada 30th June 2008, and is a call to civil society to respond to a state of emergency.


ZAPATISTAS


We need to recognise and acknowledge the grave seriousness of the current situation, which cannot be overstated.
Neither should we hide the fact that evil triumphs when people shrug their shoulders at it and return quietly
to their daily activities. Now is the time to act. Only with concerted and effective mobilisation can we prevent the
disaster that now threatens us.

In November 2007, 'Peace with Democracy', a group of independent thinkers who cannot be accused of partisan
or dogmatic exaggeration, and who stand out for the calmness and solidity of their judgements, stated "Mexico is
in a state of emergency". They presented many facts and reasons to substantiate their warning.

The tone of their new appeal last month shows that their reading of the signs they observed in our reality
increased their concerns. In response to the emergency, they said, "the organisation of autonomous communities
throughout the country is necessary and urgent; communities whose members autonomously and democratically
govern themselves in the production, sharing, exchanging and defence of their food, basic necessities, and
education need to come together with their children, women, old people and men for the defence of the lives, the
common heritage of the peoples and the nation, to preserve the natural environment and to strengthen independent
movements and spaces for dialogue, to join together their ideological differences and shared values". There is a
clear sense of urgency in their call.

They did not launch this message into an empty space. We have alert and active social groups who have shown their
vitality and their ability to act on many different occasions. But these forces have been showing signs of lethargy.
Occupied in the struggle for survival in conditions that are part of the national emergency, or distracted by internal
disputes or irrelevant quarrels, they have not been showing a clear awareness of the situation nor the mental
attitude that is needed.

Once again, like an antenna which is sensitive to what happens in Mexico and throughout the world, the Zapatistas
have become the focal point. This time we are not dealing with a new initiative for mobilisation, like those which have
woken up the country since the first of January 1994. This is an extreme situation: the attacks on Zapatista communities,
which have not ceased since 1994, are reaching the point where there seems to be no alternative but armed resistance.

'Peace with Democracy', together with a significant number of social and political organisations, recently presented a
timely denunciation of what is happening in Chiapas and made an urgent appeal: we cannot let this happen. This is
not one more call in the desert: it is a mandatory demand for action.

It should be clear to everyone that the Zapatistas cannot be displaced from their lands and territories, and that under
no circumstances will they surrender.

But it is not. Local and federal authorities might be fostering illusions that the relative isolation of the Zapatistas has
created the opportunity to get rid of them. But, as they say Talleyrand said in a similar situation, this is a crime, and it
is also a mistake. It was a similar mistake when Ulises Ruiz thought that the isolation of the teachers would allow him
to repress them without repercussions, and provoked a popular insurrection in Oaxaca. To repeat such a criminal
mistake in the case of the Zapatistas would have devastating consequences. We need to make it absolutely clear,
without reservation, that the Zapatistas are not alone. Many groups in about twenty countries are beginning to do this.
We must do it more clearly in Mexico.

At the same time, we need to co-ordinate our actions. It is increasingly clear that neither the law nor human rights are
considered important by those who currently occupy the offices of government, nor do they show political ability or
wisdom in their obsession with handing over the country to those who are already demanding delivery of the goods.

Little by little, throughout the country, the autonomous communities to which 'Peace and Democracy' are referring are
beginning to emerge. They can be found at every step, in neighbourhoods and villages deep in Mexico (Mexico Profundo).
But not enough. We must speed up the pace and increase the number of public initiatives. We need to build effective
dykes to hold back the wave of irresponsible decisions and initiatives that have created this state of emergency and
are today approaching a headlong disaster.

The war that is taking place does not just target the Zapatistas. But various factors and circumstances put them back into
the centre of confrontation and link their destiny with that of the country. It would be suicidal not to take them into account.






UK Zapatista Solidarity Network

Additions

film: the new attack

06.07.2008 12:07

para tod@s todo
para tod@s todo

Interview with Ernesto Ledesma ( CAPISE) about the Mexican State's new offensive against the zapatist indigenous communities in Chiapas / Mexico.

Ernesto Ledesma reports during his European Tour how threats and repression by paramilitary groups and governmental institutions have increased to a dramatic level in recent months.

Ernesto is staff member of CAPISE, an NGO documenting and analysing the counter-insurgence strategies against the zapatistas and other indigenous communities.

“We have made war and and so we recognize the ways it is prepared and comes closer. The signs for war on the horizon are clear. War has an odor, just like fear has. And now we can already smell its bad odor in our land.”

Subcomandante Marcos during the last public appearance of the EZLN, December 2007.

7:21 minutes
watch the clip online here:
 http://www.cinerebelde.org/the-new-attack-p-70.html

cine rebelde
mail e-mail: cinerebelde@cinerebelde.org
- Homepage: http://cinerebelde.org


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech