A thousand rages, one heart: long live the autonomous Zapatista communities!

The building of autonomy by the Zapatista peoples and communities in Chiapas has demonstrated that another way of organizing and governing ourselves is possible. This idea signifies defiance and has been seen as a threat by the state and by the capitalists.

With the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, the Other Campaign and the Zezta International, the Zapatistas propose to organise together with other peoples groups and individuals in Mexico and the world. This has been seen by the Mexican government as one more threat that the example set by Zapatista autonomy would be followed by others.

The response to these challenges has been the escalation of counter-attacks in Mexico, especially since 2006, starting with those against Atenco and generalising into attacks against all the organisations and social movements in the Other Campaign, especially through the rise of paramilitary attacks against Zapatista support bases and even in other places like Copala, Oaxaca and Ostula, Michoacán.

The counterinsurgency strategy accompanies these attacks with misinformation to present the paramilitary actions as "clashes" or even attacks by the Zapatistas.

Therefore, the campaign "A thousand rages, one heart, the Zapatista communities live!" aims to counter misinformation, denounce paramilitary and governmental attacks, and raise awareness of the significance of Zapatista autonomy for all the anti-capitalist struggles in the world.

The first call was for July 24 and was answered with graffiti in various places in the city of Mexico, Valle de Chalco, Estado de Mexico, Fresnillo, Zacatecas, in Navarra and Zaragoza in the Spanish State. We made a volanteo and put up posters in Xalapa.

The next date is 16 August, and the proposal is to display mantas, and for each group and organization to undertake the actions which it believes to be appropriate, and to prepare for a global day of action on 17 November, the anniversary of the founding of the EZLN.

Among the recent attacks that have been denounced by the Good Government Juntas are:

In the highlands, caracol of Oventik, in the community of El Pozo, on June 21, a group of approximately 240 offenders (PRI and PRD) cut off the water and electricity supply. Armed with machetes, hoes, and sticks, they fractured the skulls of Miguel and Manuel Hernández Pérez, injured 5 Zapatista support bases and disappeared one. Three health promoters were detained by police when they tried to rescue the wounded: Francisco Velasco Mendez, Sebastian Hernandez and Francisco Gómez Santiz Mendez.

In Choles de Tumbalá, near Palenque, in the first days of June, 79 members of Xinich official, supporting the aggressors of the area, seized the land of the Zapatista support bases, caused a fire, fabricated crimes, invaded lands and threatened the victims with death , as well as threatening to invade more land with the support of the security forces.

In La Garrucha, in Ocosingo, in May 2010, aggressors originating from Peña Limonar arrested five Zapatista support bases: Evelio Montejo Hernández, Manuel Gutierrez Lopez, Luis Gutierrez Vazquez, Pedro Hernandez and Narciso Gutiérrez Gutiérrez Jiménez. There are also 9 people missing.

In La Realidad, in April 2010, there were threats of new evictions of communities in Montes Azules, under the ecological pretext of the defence of the biosphere reserve, but the Zapatista communities have stated that "We love the land, take care of it, work it and defend it. We are ready to defend it at all costs".

Throughout Mexico, the detentions, extrajudicial executions and disappearances of social activists, along with widespread repression, have gone hand in hand with militarization and the creation of paramilitary groups, particularly aimed against indigenous autonomy in Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacan and Oaxaca.

On Saturday 31st July, paramilitaries from UBISORT, along with Oaxaca state military police, invaded the community of San Juan Copala, seat of the Triqui autonomous municipality, in a situation of serious counterinsurgency violence caused by the Oaxacan and federal governments. Under this strategy the paramilitaries, as in Chiapas, Guerrero and Michoacan, have the full support of the different levels of government, the police, the army, and the commercial media.

For these reasons, we will continue to denounce this counterinsurgency strategy and to support the autonomous Zapatista indigenous communities.

Zapateando





Work, Solidarity and Observation Brigade
"Thousands of Rages, one heart: Long live the Zapatista Communities"

We invite adherents of the Other Campaign to join the Brigade which will take place as part of the Campaign "Thousands of Rages, one heart: Long live the Zapatistas Communities!" from 8th to 15th August, 2010.

Since the Zapatista uprising in 1994, we have watched with great attention, respect and admiration their 26 years of struggle and we have also witnessed the fruits of their autonomy, so 11 years ago we decided to accompany this worthy struggle with our humble work.

The process of transformation of the social relations of production in the autonomous municipalities, and their progress in the process of freedom, justice and democracy have become known worldwide and have had a strong impact on anti-systemic thinking and on many national and international struggles.

This construction of Another Possible World is evidence of the failure of the capitalist system, and this is the reason for the fight against autonomy, through which all levels of the bad government - political parties in power, media disinformation, the political and business classes - have orchestrated with impunity a campaign of counterinurgency and state terrorism against our Zapatista companer@s, who have known how to resist with great dignity.

So we will put together this Brigade to hear directly the feelings and experiences of our compas who are living in the face of the repression that has been denounced by the five Good Government Juntas.

WE PROPOSE:
To observe and report the counterinsurgency measures operated by the three levels
of the bad government against the Zapatista support base communities.

To investigate and disseminate the advances in the construction of Another Possible World: Zapatista Autonomy.

To break the information blockade.

To support Zapatista resistance and autonomy.

To express our solidarity and companionship with the BAZ and the EZLN.
To Register this caravan as part of the Campaign "Thousands of Rages, one Heart: the Zapatista Communities Live!"



RESISTANCES LINKING DIGNITY - ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT AND HEART
(REDMyCZ)

For information and coordination contact:
 redmyczapatista@gmail.com
 brigadaszapatistas@yahoo.com.mx
04455 5435 3824