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Since emerging aboveground over twelve years ago, the
Zapatistas have managed to mobilize nationally and internationally, and not
only survive, but grow and adapt. In both their words and their practice, they
blur the conventional binary distinctions of Western political thought to
create effective political action. They are armed and peaceful,
indigenous and Mexican, particular and universal.
…
Zapatistas reach out to many and all “different” people to
join them in struggle, not only workers, but the indigenous, farmers, the
unemployed, women, youth, queer folks, in short, all those who, in one manner
or another, experience exclusion. And, with respect to the workers, the Other
Campaign has found that some of the most radical of the workers’ movement are the
“new proletariat,” that is, young, indigenous, and outside of the traditional
unions. Is this not as it is for us on this side of the Rio Grande? What the Other Campaign proposes
is that all of Mexico’s
excluded, inside and across Mexico’s
borders, join together in one movement, with their bodies, thoughts, dreams,
and self-determination intact. In this respect, the Other Campaign is a
reflection of the Zapatista vision of “a world where many worlds fit”—each
person or group finds their place in the movement and defends it as their own.
With a focus on listening and autonomy, the Zapatistas seek to build collective
action.
…
When the Zapatistas convened the first Intergalactic in
1996, there was nothing like it in the world. It became a moment to regroup,
rethink, and remobilize anti-capitalist resistance in the era of neoliberalism.
The following year, a second Encuentro was hosted in Spain. Inspired by their
conversations in these Encuentros, movements from around the world decided to
form the network Peoples’ Global Action Against Free Trade and the WTO (PGA).
The original conveners of the network were peasants’ organizations from India,
Brazil, and the Philippines, indigenous movements from Nigeria, North America,
and Oceania, union workers from Nicaragua, the Zapatista Front of Mexico, a
mothers’ organization from the Ukraine, and youth organizations from throughout
Europe.
PGA’s founding conference was held in February of 1998 in Geneva, Switzerland,
and brought together over 300 delegates from 71 countries. It was there that
the now ubiquitous Global Days of Action against the meetings of the elite were
born. Building off of two decades of revolts against “structural adjustments”
in countries around the world, they started with global protests against the
spring meetings of the Group of 8 in Birmingham,
England, and the World Trade
Organization in Geneva.
As global days of action continued to ricochet around the world, they gave new
meaning to the names of places like Seattle and Prague, helping to form a
common language among rebellious people gathering regularly to confront
neoliberalism.
…
The PT would later join Bernard Cassen, co-founder of the
Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens
(widely known by its French acronym “ATTAC”) and director of the French news
monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, in creating the World Social Forum (WSF),
which met for the first time in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001. The annual WSF,
and its regional and thematic counterparts, have brought together hundreds of
thousands of people to discuss alternatives to neoliberalism. Such convocations
have inspired a myriad of initiatives and collaborations, perhaps the most well
known of which was the February 15, 2003, global protests against the imminent US invasion of Iraq.
…
The Zapatistas’ attack on the political class, including
Obrador and the PRD, has caused discomfort and anger among many on the left,
who perceived it to be a particularly strategic moment to elect another “left
candidate” in Latin America. Indeed, times
have changed in the past twelve years. The electoral left points to the
victories of Lula in Brasil, Kirchner in Argentina, Tabaré in Uruguay, Morales
in Bolivia, Chávez in Venezuela, and Bachelet in Chile, along with a seemingly
politically-reinvigorated Castro in Cuba, as a sign that a successful alliance
against neoliberalism can be formed at the governmental level throughout Latin
America. The two most hopeful figures in this group, Chávez and Morales, even
quote Marcos and the Zapatistas on occasion.
How best do we understand these circumstances? The Zapatistas have been clear
enough about their opposition to Obrador and the PRD, on the one hand, but why,
for example, on the other hand, not accept Morales’ invitation to attend his
presidential inauguration in Bolivia?
As Gustavo Esteva has suggested, in a discussion at UniTierra, the University
of the Land in Oaxaca
City, “It’s not that the
Zapatistas have made a rigid ideological choice against talking and associating
with governments.” “They have negotiated with the Mexican government in the
past,” he reminds us. “It’s [rather] that they are [simply] very clear that
right now they are in the Sixth [Declaration].”
…
With the Sixth Declaration, the Zapatistas have made a
concrete proposal to a rebellious world that is, it is safe to say, better
organized than it was a decade ago when they convened the first Intergalactic
Encuentro. World Social Forums and global days of action are ubiquitous now.
This time, however, the Zapatistas’ proposal for a global gathering is
explicitly anti-capitalist and directed towards the “humble and simple people
who struggle.” Although originally proposed in the Sixth Declaration for the
end of 2005 or beginning of 2006, the actual Encuentro may still be a ways
away. “We walk slowly,” as the Zapatistas say, “because we are going very far.”
…
What is possible here in the US, the “brain of the monster” as
the Zapatistas say? What can happen if we spend less time looking at the power
struggles and debates being waged “up above,” indeed as little as possible, and
spend more time listening to and nurturing what grows up “from below”? In 1969,
before the Young Lords started listening to their neighbors in Manhattan’s El Barrio, did they ever suspect
that doing trash pick-up would be the first step to building a popular
organization? When the Panthers released their ten-point program in 1966, could
they have imagined that they would become innovators in the world of medicine
through their work on sickle cell anemia, or that in 1970 they would convene
the original Rainbow Coalition to organize our own Revolutionary People’s
Constitutional Convention? What amazing things indeed can happen when we take
care to listen and to nurture what is growing up already “from below.”
original
article
The sixth comes before the seventh and after the fifth. What was the Fifth
Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle? Few remember, but the history of the
Zapatistas is written through the declarations that the EZLN (Zapatista
Army of National Liberation) has released, beginning with the first: the
declaration of war. The second: a call
to civil society. The third: a call
for the creation of a National Liberation Movement. The fourth: the
formation of the Zapatista National Liberation Front. The fifth: the
Consulta Nacional, the great dialog with all Mexicans except the government.
And now, the Sixth,
the initiation of the “Other Campaign,” the political struggle that exists
outside the electoral farce.
In the words of
Subcomandante Marcos, “Together, we’re going to shake this country up
from below, lift it up, and stand it on its head.”
SIXTH DECLARATION
Now we are going to explain to you how
we, the zapatistas, see what is going on in the world. We see that capitalism
is the strongest right now. Capitalism is a social system, a way in which a
society goes about organizing things and people, and who has and who has not,
and who gives orders and who obeys. In capitalism, there are some people who
have money, or capital, and factories and stores and fields and many things,
and there are others who have nothing but their strength and knowledge in order
to work. In capitalism, those who have money and things give the orders, and
those who only have their ability to work obey.
Then capitalism means that there a few
who have great wealth, but they did not win a prize, or find a treasure, or
inherited from a parent. They obtained that wealth, rather, by exploiting the
work of the many. So capitalism is based on the exploitation of the workers,
which means they exploit the workers and take out all the profits they can.
This is done unjustly, because they do not pay the worker what his work is
worth. Instead they give him a salary that barely allows him to eat a little
and to rest for a bit, and the next day he goes back to work in exploitation,
whether in the countryside or in the city.
And capitalism also makes its wealth
from plunder, or theft, because they take what they want from others, land, for
example, and natural resources. So capitalism is a system where the robbers are
free and they are admired and used as examples.
And, in addition to exploiting and
plundering, capitalism represses because it imprisons and kills those who rebel
against injustice.
…
And neoliberalism is the idea that
capitalism is free to dominate the entire world, and so tough, you have to
resign yourself and conform and not make a fuss, in other words, not rebel. So
neoliberalism is like the theory, the plan, of capitalist globalization. And
neoliberalism has its economic, political, military and cultural plans. All of
those plans have to do with dominating everyone, and they repress or separate anyone
who doesn't obey so that his rebellious ideas aren't passed on to others.
Then, in neoliberal globalization, the
great capitalists who live in the countries which are powerful, like the United States,
want the entire world to be made into a big business where merchandise is
produced like a great market. A world market for buying and selling the entire
world and for hiding all the exploitation from the world. Then the global
capitalists insert themselves everywhere, in all the countries, in order to do their
big business, their great exploitation. Then they respect nothing, and they
meddle wherever they wish. As if they were conquering other countries. That is
why we zapatistas say that neoliberal globalization is a war of conquest of the
entire world, a world war, a war being waged by capitalism for global
domination. Sometimes that conquest is by armies who invade a country and
conquer it by force. But sometimes it is with the economy, in other words, the
big capitalists put their money into another country or they lend it money, but
on the condition that they obey what they tell them to do. And they also insert
their ideas, with the capitalist culture which is the culture of merchandise,
of profits, of the market.
…
What We Want To Do
What we want in the world is to tell
all of those who are resisting and fighting in their own ways and in their own
countries, that you are not alone, that we, the zapatistas, even though we are
very small, are supporting you, and we are going to look at how to help you in
your struggles and to speak to you in order to learn, because what we have, in
fact, learned is to learn.
And we want to tell the Latin American
peoples that we are proud to be a part of you, even if it is a small part. We
remember quite well how the continent was also illuminated some years ago, and
a light was called Che Guevara, as it had previously been called Bolivar,
because sometimes the people take up a name in order to say they are taking up
a flag.
And we want to tell the people of
Cuba, who have now been on their path of resistance for many years, that you
are not alone, and we do not agree with the blockade they are imposing, and we
are going to see how to send you something, even if it is maize, for your
resistance. And we want to tell the North American people that we know that the
bad governments which you have and which spread harm throughout the world is
one thing - and those North Americans who struggle in their country, and who
are in solidarity with the struggles of other countries, are a very different
thing. And we want to tell the Mapuche brothers and sisters in Chile that we
are watching and learning from your struggles. And to the Venezuelans, we see
how well you are defending your sovereignty, your nation's right to decide
where it is going. And to the indigenous brothers and sisters of Ecuador and Bolivia,
we say you are giving a good lesson in history to all of Latin
America, because now you are indeed putting a halt to neoliberal
globalization. And to the piqueteros and to the young people of Argentina, we
want to tell you that, that we love you. And to those in Uruguay who
want a better country, we admire you. And to those who are sin tierra in Brazil, that we
respect you. And to all the young people of Latin America,
that what you are doing is good, and you give us great hope.
And we want to tell the brothers and
sisters of Social Europe, that which is
dignified and rebel, that you are not alone. That your great movements against
the neoliberal wars bring us joy. That we are attentively watching your forms
of organization and your methods of struggle so that we can perhaps learn
something. That we are considering how we can help you in your struggles, and
we are not going to send euro because then they will be devalued because of the
European Union mess. But perhaps we will send you crafts and coffee so you can
market them and help you some in the tasks of your struggle. And we want to
tell the brothers and sisters of Africa, Asia and Oceania
that we know that you are fighting also, and we want to learn more of your
ideas and practices.
…
Now then, what we want to do in Mexico
is to make an agreement with persons and organizations just of the left,
because we believe that it is in the political left where the idea of resisting
neoliberal globalization is, and of making a country where there will be
justice, democracy and liberty for everyone. Not as it is right now, where
there is justice only for the rich, there is liberty only for their big
businesses, and there is democracy only for painting walls with election
propaganda. And because we believe that it is only from the left that a plan of
struggle can emerge, so that our Patria, which is Mexico, does not die.
And, then, what we think is that, with
these persons and organizations of the left, we will make a plan for going to
all those parts of Mexico
where there are humble and simple people like ourselves.
And we are not going to tell them what
they should do or give them orders.
Nor are we going to ask them to vote
for a candidate, since we already know that the ones who exist are neoliberals.
Nor are we going to tell them to be
like us, nor to rise up in arms.
What we are going to do is to ask them
what their lives are like, their struggle, their thoughts about our country and
what we should do so they do not defeat us.
What we are going to do is to take
heed of the thoughts of the simple and humble people, and perhaps we will find
there the same love which we feel for our Patria.
And perhaps we will find agreement
between those of us who are simple and humble and, together, we will organize
all over the country and reach agreement in our struggles, which are alone
right now, separated from each other, and we will find something like a program
that has what we all want, and a plan for how we are going to achieve the
realization of that program, which is called the "national program of
struggle."
And, with the agreement of the
majority of those people whom we are going to listen to, we will then engage in
a struggle with everyone, with indigenous, workers, campesinos, students,
teachers, employees, women, children, old ones, men, and with all of those of
good heart and who want to struggle so that our Patria called Mexico does not
end up being destroyed and sold, and which still exists between the Rio Grande
and the Rio Suchiate and which has the Pacific Ocean on one side and the
Atlantic on the other.
…
Sixth Declaration of the Selva
Lacandona
And we are here to say, with our
simple word, that...
The EZLN maintains its commitment to
an offensive ceasefire, and it will not make any attack against government
forces or any offensive military movements.
The EZLN still maintains its
commitment to insisting on the path of political struggle through this peaceful
initiative which we are now undertaking. The EZLN continues, therefore, in its
resolve to not establish any kind of secret relations with either national
political-military organizations or those from other countries.
The EZLN reaffirms its commitment to
defend, support and obey the zapatista indigenous communities of which it is
composed, and which are its supreme command, and - without interfering in their
internal democratic processes - will, to the best of its abilities, contribute
to the strengthening of their autonomy, good government and improvement in
their living conditions. In other words, what we are going to do in Mexico and in
the world, we are going to do without arms, with a civil and peaceful movement,
and without neglecting nor ceasing to support our communities.
Therefore...
In the World...
1 - We will forge new relationships of
mutual respect and support with persons and organizations who are resisting and
struggling against neoliberalism and for humanity.
2 - As far as we are able, we will
send material aid such as food and handicrafts for those brothers and sisters
who are struggling all over the world.
In order to begin, we are going to ask
the Good Government Junta of La Realidad to loan their truck, which is called
"Chompiras," and which appears to hold 8 tons, and we are going to
fill it with maize and perhaps two 200 liter cans with oil or petrol, as they
prefer, and we are going to deliver it to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico for them
to send to the Cuban people as aid from the zapatistas for their resistance
against the North American blockade. Or perhaps there might be a place closer
to here where it could be delivered, because it's always such a long distance
to Mexico City,
and what if "Chompiras" were to break down and we'd end up in bad shape.
And that will happen when the harvest comes in, which is turning green right
now in the fields, and if they don't attack us, because if we were to send it
during these next few months, it would be nothing but corncobs, and they don't
turn out well even in tamales, better in November or December, it depends.
And we are also going to make an
agreement with the women's crafts cooperatives in order to send a good number
of bordados, embroidered pieces, to the Europes which are perhaps not yet
Union, and perhaps we'll also send some organic coffee from the zapatista
cooperatives, so that they can sell it and get a little money for their
struggle. And, if it isn't sold, then they can always have a little cup of
coffee and talk about the anti-neoliberal struggle, and if it's a bit cold then
they can cover themselves up with the zapatista bordados, which do indeed
resist quite well being laundered by hand and by rocks, and, besides, they
don't run in the wash.
And we are also going to send the
indigenous brothers and sisters of Bolivia and Ecuador some non-transgenic
maize, and we just don't know where to send them so they arrive complete, but
we are indeed willing to give this little bit of aid.
3 - And to all of those who are
resisting throughout the world, we say there must be other intercontinental
encuentros held, even if just one other. Perhaps December of this year or next
January, we'll have to think about it. We don't want to say just when, because
this is about our agreeing equally on everything, on where, on when, on how, on
who. But not with a stage where just a few speak and all the rest listen, but
without a stage, just level and everyone speaking, but orderly, otherwise it
will just be a hubbub and the words won't be understood, and with good organization
everyone will hear and jot down in their notebooks the words of resistance from
others, so then everyone can go and talk with their compañeros and compañeras
in their worlds. And we think it might be in a place that has a very large
jail, because what if they were to repress us and incarcerate us, and so that
way we wouldn't be all piled up, prisoners, yes, but well organized, and there
in the jail we could continue the intercontinental encuentros for humanity and
against neoliberalism. Later on we'll tell you what we shall do in order to
reach agreement as to how we're going to come to agreement. Now that is how
we're thinking of doing what we want to do in the world. Now follows...
In Mexico...
1 - We are going to continue fighting
for the Indian peoples of Mexico,
but now not just for them and not with only them, but for all the exploited and
dispossessed of Mexico,
with all of them and all over the country. And when we say all the exploited of
Mexico, we are also talking about the brothers and sisters who have had to go
to the United States in search of work in order to survive.
2 - We are going to go to listen to,
and talk directly with, without intermediaries or mediation, the simple and
humble of the Mexican people, and, according to what we hear and learn, we are
going to go about building, along with those people who, like us, are humble
and simple, a national program of struggle, but a program which will be clearly
of the left, or anti-capitalist, or anti-neoliberal, or for justice, democracy
and liberty for the Mexican people.
3 - We are going to try to build, or
rebuild, another way of doing politics, one which once again has the spirit of
serving others, without material interests, with sacrifice, with dedication,
with honesty, which keeps its word, whose only payment is the satisfaction of
duty performed, or like the militants of the left did before, when they were
not stopped by blows, jail or death, let alone by dollar bills.
4 - We are also going to go about
raising a struggle in order to demand that we make a new Constitution, new laws
which take into account the demands of the Mexican people, which are: housing,
land, work, food, health, education, information, culture, independence,
democracy, justice, liberty and peace. A new Constitution which recognizes the
rights and liberties of the people, and which defends the weak in the face of
the powerful.
TO THESE ENDS...
The EZLN will send a delegation of its
leadership in order to do this work throughout the national territory and for
an indefinite period of time. This zapatista delegation, along with those
organizations and persons of the left who join in this Sixth Declaration of the
Selva Lacandona, will go to those places where they are expressly invited.
We are also letting you know that the
EZLN will establish a policy of alliances with non-electoral organizations and
movements which define themselves, in theory and practice, as being of the
left, in accordance with the following conditions:
Not to make agreements from above to
be imposed below, but to make accords to go together to listen and to organize
outrage. Not to raise movements which are later negotiated behind the backs of
those who made them, but to always take into account the opinions of those
participating. Not to seek gifts, positions, advantages, public positions, from
the Power or those who aspire to it, but to go beyond the election calendar.
Not to try to resolve from above the problems of our Nation, but to build FROM
BELOW AND FOR BELOW an alternative to neoliberal destruction, an alternative of
the left for Mexico.
Yes to reciprocal respect for the
autonomy and independence of organizations, for their methods of struggle, for
their ways of organizing, for their internal decision making processes, for
their legitimate representations. And yes to a clear commitment for joint and
coordinated defense of national sovereignty, with intransigent opposition to
privatization attempts of electricity, oil, water and natural resources.
In other words, we are inviting the
unregistered political and social organizations of the left, and those persons
who lay claim to the left and who do not belong to registered political
parties, to meet with us, at the time, place and manner in which we shall
propose at the proper time, to organize a national campaign, visiting all
possible corners of our Patria, in order to listen to and organize the word of
our people. It is like a campaign, then, but very otherly, because it is not
electoral.
Brothers and sisters:
This is our word which we declare:
In the world, we are going to join
together more with the resistance struggles against neoliberalism and for
humanity.
And we are going to support, even if
it's but little, those struggles.
And we are going to exchange, with
mutual respect, experiences, histories, ideas, dreams.
In Mexico, we are going to travel all
over the country, through the ruins left by the neoliberal wars and through
those resistances which, entrenched, are flourishing in those ruins.
We are going to seek, and to find,
those who love these lands and these skies even as much as we do.
We are going to seek, from La Realidad
to Tijuana, those who want to organize, struggle and build what may perhaps be
the last hope this Nation - which has been going on at least since the time
when an eagle alighted on a nopal in order to devour a snake - has of not
dying.
We are going for democracy, liberty
and justice for those of us who have been denied it.
We are going with another politics,
for a program of the left and for a new Constitution.
We are inviting all indigenous,
workers, campesinos, teachers, students, housewives, neighbors, small
businesspersons, small shop owners, micro-businesspersons, pensioners,
handicapped persons, religious men and women, scientists, artists,
intellectuals, young persons, women, old persons, homosexuals and lesbians,
boys and girls - to participate, whether individually or collectively, directly
with the zapatistas in this NATIONAL CAMPAIGN for building another way of doing
politics, for a program of national struggle of the left, and for a new
Constitution.
And so this is our word as to what we
are going to do and how we are going to do it. You will see whether you want to
join.
And we are telling those men and women
who are of good heart and intent, who are in agreement with this word we are
bringing out, and who are not afraid, or who are afraid but who control it, to
then state publicly whether they are in agreement with this idea we are
presenting, and in that way we will see once and for all who and how and where
and when this new step in the struggle is to be made.
While you are thinking about it, we
say to you that today, in the sixth month of the year 2005, the men, women,
children and old ones of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation have now
decided, and we have now subscribed to, this Sixth Declaration of the Selva
Lacandona, and those who know how to sign, signed, and those who did not left
their mark, but there are fewer now who do not know how, because education has
advanced here in this territory in rebellion for humanity and against
neoliberalism, that is in zapatista skies and land.
And this was our simple word sent out
to the noble hearts of those simple and humble people who resist and rebel
against injustices all over the world.
Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!
From
the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Clandestine
Revolutionary Indigenous Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation.
Mexico,
in the sixth month, or June, of the year 2005.
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