Dear friends and enemies: so… err… umm… the thing is… well… remember that at the end of our March 19, 2015 text entitled “About the Homage and the Seminar,” we said that the organization of the seminar was a mess? Well, we have honored that claim: the email address to which we asked you to send your registration information is wrong, erroneous, in other words, that’s not the one. The correct email is: seminario.pensamientocritico15@gmail.com. Okay, okay, okay. It’s on me. Sincerely, yo merengues.

The Storm, the Sentinel, and the Night Watch Syndrome

April 2015.

To the compañeroas of the Sixth:

To all those interested:

Although it may not look like it, the following is an invitation… or is it a challenge?

If you are an adherent to the Sixth, if you are from the free, autonomous, alternative, independent media or whatever it’s called, if you are interested in critical thought, then accept this invitation to the seminar, “Critical Thought versus the Capitalist Hydra.” If in addition to accepting this invitation you would also like to attend the seminar, please follow this link: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/registro-al-seminario-de-reflexion-y-analisis-el-pensamiento-critico-frente-a-la-hidra-capitalista/

If you are an invited speaker,[i] a similar letter will be sent to you via the same channels through which you have already been contacted. The difference will be that the invitation letter sent to the speakers will contain a “secret clause.”

Ok then, the invitation is really something like the wrapping paper.

Inside, further down below and to the left, you will find…

The Challenge

Oh, I know. The classic beginnings to a Zapatista reflection: disconcerting, anachronistic, silly, absurd. As if not really putting in any effort, as if just sort of putting it out there, a kind of “we’ll leave you to it,” or “see what you can do with it,” or something like “it’s on you.” It’s almost like they toss out a piece of a jigsaw puzzle and expect that people would understand that they are not just describing one part of reality, but have the entire image in mind. As if they saw the completed jigsaw puzzle, with its precise figures and colors in place, but with the border of each piece still visible, as if to point out that the whole exists because of all the parts, and of course, that each part acquires its meaning in relation to all the others.

(Continuar leyendo…)

ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION.

March 2015.

To the compas of the Sixth in Mexico and in the World:

Compas:

I have been asked to let you know that…

Despite the significant increase in military activity in the vicinity of the Zapatista Caracoles (aggressive patrols, intimidating checkpoints, threatening flyovers)—particularly in the caracoles of La Realidad and Oventik (the first has just opened a school-clinic, and the second will host the tribute to Don Luis Villoro Toranzo)…

Despite the growing belligerence of the paramilitary groups sponsored by the Chiapas government…

Despite the tired “new” lies in the paid media /no, there is not and there has not been any proposal for dialogue; no, not since 2001, that is to say that no federal official has approached the EZLN in the last 14 years for any reason other than in an attempt to assasinate the Zapatista leadership; no, the federal and state governments are not looking to improve the living conditions of indigenous people in Chiapas, rather, they are trying to divide communities; no, the only governmental approaches that Jaime Martinez Veloz claim for himself were not to Zapatistas but to the paramilitaries backed (before he took over) by Luis H. Alvarez, Juan Sabines Guerrero, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, and now Manuel Velasco Coello, Rosario Robles Berlanga and Enrique Peña Nieto, one of whose groups (the CIOAC-H) is responsible for the murder of the compañero teacher Galeano; no, and so forth and so on/…

Despite the fact that truth and justice are still missing in Ayotzinapa…

(Continuar leyendo…)

Thank you Part III:

The Most Expensive Building in the World

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.  Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano.

February-March, 2015

[showtime]

It is the eve of the big day… in the wee hours of the morning. The cold bites under the cover of shadow. On the solitary table that furnishes this small hut (which has no sign but is known to now be the headquarters of the Zapatista Command), there is a handwritten, wrinkled sheet of paper detailing the accounts for the construction of the clinic-school in the Zapatista community of La Realidad. A voice summarizes the gazes, silences, smoke, rage:

The accounts don’t balance. The life of any Zapatista is worth more than Peña Nieto’s white house and the houses of all of the rich in the whole world combined. The entirety of the funds required to construct the huge buildings where the powerful hide in order to organize their thievery and crimes would not be enough to pay for a even a single drop of Indigenous Zapatista blood. That is why we feel that this is the most expensive building in the world.

So must state clearly that what doesn’t appear in the accounts is the blood of our compañero Galeano. All of the papers in the history of the world would not be enough to balance that account.

And so that is how it should appear in those lists that come out in the press where they name the richest people, and where the poorest live. The rich have first names, last names, lineage, and pedigree. But the poor only have a geography and a calendar. So they should say that the most expensive building on the whole planet is in Zapatista La Realidad, Chiapas, Mexico. And that the Indigenous Zapatista girls and boys attend the most expensive school in the world. And that the men, women, boys, girls, elderly, indigenous, Zapatistas, Mexicans, when they get sick in La Realidad, will be treated in the most expensive clinic on earth.

But the only way to balance these accounts is to struggle to destroy the capitalist system. Not to change it. Not to improve it. Not to make it more human, less cruel, less murderous. No. To destroy it completely. To annihilate each and every one of the heads of the Hydra.

Even then there would be more to do, as what we want here is to construct something better: another system, one without masters, without patrons, without bosses, without injustice, without exploitation, without disrespect, without repression, without dispossession. One without violence against women, children, anyone who is different. One where work is paid justly. One where ignorance does not rule. One where hunger and violent death are just bad memories. One where no one can be above on the backs of others below. One that is reasonable, one that is better.

Then and only then, the Zapatistas can say that the accounts are even.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Capitalism Destroys, the People Build

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés

The words of the EZLN’s General Command in the voice of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés in the Zapatista community La Realidad at the presentation of the Zapatista Autonomous School, “Compañero Galeano” and the Autonomous Clinic 26 of October, “Subcomandante Insurgente Pedro” to the Zapatista bases of support, March 1, 2015.

[showtime]

Good morning to everyone, compañeros and compañeras of this zone, in this caracol of La Realidad, Selva Fronteriza zone.

We are here with you today, compañeros, compañeras of this zone, to officially turn over these buildings to the compañeros and compañeras bases of support of this Zapatista community, La Realidad, Nueva Victoria, as it is called in the struggle for us as the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.

Compañeros and compañeras, what we must make clear and understand is that the pain carried by each Zapatista continues, not only the Zapatistas in Mexico, but across the world, because we do not have with us the compañero whose name this new construction carries: compañero Galeano.

This construction was the fruit and the work, the efforts and the organization of the compañeros and compañeras of the International Sixth and the National Sixth. Here we are demonstrating what we Zapatistas are, in Mexico and in the world.

(Continuar leyendo…)

On Sunday, March 1, 2015, after more than six months of work, the building that houses a health clinic and a school was presented to the Zapatista bases of support of La Realidad. The solidarity of people and collectives throughout the world made this construction possible. Here we present to you the accounts, the words expressed during this event, and some photos from that day.

[showtime]

On the Bulletin Board

Zapatista Army for National Liberation
Mexico

February 2015

To: Doña Emilia Aurora Sosa Marín.
From: Subcomandates Insurgentes Moisés and Galeano
EZLN, Chiapas, Mexico

Compañera Emilia:

We got the news just a few hours ago. We don’t know how long it will take for these lines to reach you, but we know that regardless of the date, you will be able to read in these words the collective embrace that we send you.

That is because here we also feel the pain and sorrow of the death of Don Félix Serdán Nájera, honorary officer in our Zapatista Army for National Liberation, this past February 22 in the early morning hours.

We remember Don Félix’s firm and tender gaze, but we also remember your presence. It is as if between the two of you your journey was complete. That’s why we say that his absence brings us pain, but we also hurt for the pain that you feel in your heart today, Doña Emilia.

That is why with these words we not only want to salute the memory of compañero Felix Serdán, but to embrace you as well.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Escucha el audio aquí:
(Descarga aquí)  

EJÉRCITO ZAPATISTA DE LIBERACIÓN NACIONAL.
MÉXICO.

31 de Diciembre del 2014 y 1 de Enero del 2015.

Compañeras y compañeros familiares de los estudiantes de Ayotzinapa asesinados y desaparecidos por el mal gobierno de este sistema capitalista:
Compañeras y compañeros del Congreso Nacional Indígena:
Compañeras, compañeros y compañeroas de la Sexta de México y del mundo:
Compañeras y compañeros Bases de Apoyo del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional:
Compañeras y compañeros comandantes y comandantas, jefas y jefes del Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena-Comandancia General del EZLN:
Compañeras y compañeros milicianas y milicianos:
Compañeras y compañeros insurgentes e insurgentas:

Compas:

Por mi voz habla la voz del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional.

Reciban todas, todos y todoas que están y no están presentes, el saludo de los hombres, mujeres, niños y niñas, ancianos y ancianas zapatistas.

Sea bienvenido el paso, la voz, el oído, la mirada, el corazón colectivo de abajo y a la izquierda.

Tenemos como invitados de honor a los familiares de quienes nos hacen falta en Ayotzinapa, en México y en el mundo.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Zapatista Army for National Liberation
Mexico

December 19, 2014

To the National Indigenous Congress:
To the National and International Sixth:

Compas:

Greetings to all of you. We are writing to let you know how participant registration is coming along for the First World Festival of Resistance and Rebellion against Capitalism: “Where those above destroy, we below rebuild.”

1. Originary Peoples of Mexico: Representatives from organizations, traditional authorities, and persons from the following native peoples have confirmed their registration:

(Continuar leyendo…)