Zapatista Sixth Commission
Mexico

August 30, 2021.

To the Europe below and to the left:

To the Sixth in Mexico and abroad:

To the organizations, groups, and collectives that seek truth and justice for the victims of forced disappearance:

Sisters, brothers, and hermanoas:

Compañeroas, compañeras, compañeros:

We would like to begin by saluting the struggle and the commitment of all those people who search for the disappeared, for their missing loved ones. Their struggle is also, and above all, a struggle for life. It is no coincidence that on this day, we announce the following:

First, after an endless string of paperwork, obstacles, and problems, we hereby announce that the Zapatista Airborne Company, which we have called “La Extemporánea,”[i] will leave Mexico City for Europe on September 13, 2021.

Second, the destination is the city of Vienna, in that geography called Austria, and we will travel in two groups.

Third, a first group will leave the Mexico City airport on September 13, 2021, at approximately 12:10hrs. It will arrive in the city of Madrid, in that geography called Spain, at 06:00hrs on September 14. After a 2-hour layover and connection, the flight will resume at 08:20hrs, to land in the city of Vienna, Austria, at 11:05hrs on September 14. A second group will depart on the same day, September 13 at 20:45hrs with a layover, also in Madrid, at 14:35hrs on September 14, resuming the flight at 16:00hrs and landing in Vienna at 19:00hrs on September 14. Fourth, La Extemporánea is organized into 28 “Listen and Share our Word” teams (made up of 4-5 compas each), plus one Play and Mischief team, and one Coordination team. La Extemporánea can thus cover 28 corners of the European geography simultaneously. A few days later, we will be joined by the delegation of the National Indigenous Congress-Indigenous Governing Council and the Peoples’ Front in Defense of Land and Water. Along with that delegation of sister organizations, we will continue the work started by the 421^st Squadron, which is currently covering that geography they call Switzerland.

Fifth, in a few days we will announce the date on which we will leave the Semillero “Comandanta Ramona” to gather in the caracol of Jacinto Canek in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. From there we will travel by land as a vehicle caravan to Mexico City where we will garrison at the premises on Carmona y Valle street until the day and time of departure. We include this in case anyone wants to accompany the departure and trip from San Cristóbal to Mexico City. Sixth, we dedicate this effort (which included many non-Zapatistas and some even anti-Zapatistas), to all the disappeared, to the families who suffer in their absence and, above all, to the women and men who fight to find them and achieve the truth and justice that we all need and deserve. Know that your example, your tireless work, and your refusal to give up, give in, or sell out are for us, the Zapatista peoples, a lesson in human dignity and authentic commitment to the struggle for life. While we are in Mexico City, we will deliver the minutes of the assemblies of the Zapatista, non-Zapatista and anti-Zapatista communities, with their agreements to support the fight for truth and justice for the victims of violence, according to the popular referendum that was held on the first day of August of this year, 2021.

That’s all.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés
General Coordinator of the Journey for Life—Europe Chapter
Still Mexico. Year 501.

[i] See the EZLN’s August 17, 2021 communique for an explanation of the use of “La Extemporánea” [the extemporaneous]: https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2021/08/17/only-500-years-later/

Only 500 years later
Words of the Zapatista Peoples

August 13, 2021.

Sisters, brothers, hermanoas:

Compañeros, compañeras, compañeroas:

The Zapatista communities speak through our voices.

First, we would like to express our thanks.

Thank you for having invited us.

Thank you for having welcomed us.

Thank you for having housed us.

Thank you for having fed us.

Thank you for having taken care of us.

But above all, we’d like to express our gratitude for the fact that despite differences and obstacles you have all agreed to what we’re doing today. Perhaps it seems small to you, but for us Zapatista communities it is huge.

-*-

We are Zapatistas of Mayan descent.

We are from a geography called Mexico, and we crossed the ocean to share these words with you, be with you, listen to you, and to learn from you.

We are from Mexico and in and with you we find love, care, and respect.

The Mexican state and their administrations don’t recognize us as citizens of this geography. We are strangers, foreigners, undesirable and unwelcome in the same lands that were farmed by our ancestors.

For the Mexican state we are “extemporaneous.” That’s what it says on the birth certificates that we managed to obtain after we made many trips and incurred many expenses on visits to the offices of the bad government. And we did all that to be able to come to where you are.

But we didn’t come all this way to complain or even to denounce the bad government we have to put up with.

We only share this because it is this same bad government which has demanded that the Spanish State apologize for what happened 500 years ago.

You should understand that in addition to being shameless, the bad government of Mexico is also ignorant of history, twisting and adapting it to its liking.

So let’s leave aside the bad governments that each of us have to put up with in our geographies.

They are just overseers, obedient employees of a greater criminal.

-*-

Those of us who make up the Zapatista Maritime Squadron, known as the 421st Squadron, are here in front of you today, but we are just the first wave of a much larger group. There will be up to 501 delegates. There are 501 of us just to show the bad governments that we are ahead of them: while they simulate a false celebration of 500 years, we [nosotros, nosotras, nosotroas] are already heading towards what’s next: life.

In the year 501, we will have explored the corners of this rebellious land.

(Continuar leyendo…)

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MANIFESTACIÓN 13 DE AGOSTO – ZAPATISTAS EN MADRID

20hrs – Inicio del recorrido, Puerta del Sol
22hrs – Fin de recorrido en Plaza Colón

Acompaña a la delegación marítima Zapatista en este histórico evento

Transmisión a través de las siguientes páginas y enlaces:

Yretiemble Madrid
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100016156900034

Camino al andar
https://www.facebook.com/ColectivoCaminoalandar

Red Universitaria Anticapitalista
https://www.facebook.com/RedUniversitariaAnticapitalista

Pie de Página
https://www.facebook.com/Pie-de-P%C3%A1gina-495671770594686/

Avispa Midia
https://www.facebook.com/AvispaMidia/

Pozol Noticias Chiapas
https://www.facebook.com/pozol.colectivo

Desinformémonos
https://www.facebook.com/Desinformemonos

La Comuna Mx
https://www.facebook.com/LaComunaMex

Sexta Grietas del Norte
https://www.facebook.com/sextagrietasdelnorte

La Flor Peri Odico
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011669875752

Personajes México
https://www.youtube.com/user/PersonajesMexico

Zapatista Sixth Commission
Mexico

July 31, 2021.

To the victims and families of victims in Mexico:
To the organizations, groups, collectives and individuals who support the victims:
We present the first results we have received from the Popular Referendum:

1. As of 13:00hrs on July 31, 2021, the twelve Zapatista caracoles and their respective Good Government Councils have received the official decisions of 756 small towns, villages, communities and rancherías [rural farming communities] where the following Mayan languages are spoken: Zoque, Tojolabal, Mam, Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Ch’ol. The decisions come from Zapatistas, CNI communities and partidista [political party-affiliated] communities which came together in “extemporaneous” community assemblies, which is to say that they do not have an official, legal existence.

2. The 756 originary communities have said “YES” in response to the question of whether they agree that whatever is necessary should be done to respect the rights of the victims and their families to truth and justice.

3. What we have noticed up to now is that in many areas, the INE [National Electoral Institute] did not translate the referendum into Mayan languages. The INE did not explain what the referendum is about and in some places it simply dropped off ballot boxes without explaining to the townspeople what they are.

4. The Zapatista communities did the work of explaining the importance of participating in the referendum and what the referendum is about. They did this in both partidista and CNI communities, and they did this in the communities’ mother tongues.

To our surprise, some partidistas communities where there are no Zapatistas held and continue to hold assemblies, and they have sent and continue to send their results to the Good Government Councils.

The partidista communities have thanked the Good Government Councils for explaining the referendum, and have said they will go to the polls tomorrow and will send us the count of how many people from their communities participated in the referendum with their official ID cards.

The gap created by the absence of representatives of the Mexican government and its institutions is being filled by “extemporaneous” individuals who took it upon themselves to translate the referendum into their originary languages and to explain what the referendum is about and its importance.

Not only did no one from the INE show up to explain anything: no one in any government capacity deigned to even try to go to any community (even though the government is supposedly the interested party in the referendum because their overseer ordered it).

The only thing the government officials have done is threaten people by saying that if they don’t go “vote” in the referendum, then their government support programs will be “cut.” They were sent to say: “If you don’t want to lose your cash handouts, go and put down ‘yes.’”

In addition, the government is lying because when it tells people to just go and vote “yes,” it says that the referendum is about whether to take the former presidents to trial.

Instead of explaining things to the people, they resort to threats and lies.
All that was needed was a bit of self-respect and political work.

5. Even though according to the Mexican state they do not exist, the thousands of “extemporaneous” indigenous communities embrace the thousands of families of the victims of the decisions made at different levels of government in recent years.

6. Although we do not legally exist according to the Mexican government, we ask you all – victims, families, and organizations that support them – to accept this embrace from those who have spent centuries (up to the present day) being victimized by the “decisions of political actors” of all governments across the entire political spectrum.

When we have the complete results, we will ensure they are shared with those who struggle for truth and justice for the victims and their families.

With this communiqué we announce that the Zapatista communities, as of July 31, 2021, are initiating their participation in the National Campaign for Truth and Justice.

That is all.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.
Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano
Zapatista Sixth Commission for the National Campaign for Truth and Justice
Mexico, July 2021

Why Yes to the Consultation and Yes to the question.

July of 2021

Summary: A call to participate in the Consultation with the victims in mind. Going to the polls. It is suggested that if you dislike or distrust the Supreme, and rightly so, and think that your participation would be used to legitimize those from above, or that that it is a rehearsal for a later consultation which would extend the mandate of the executive, or that is a waste (yet one more) of pay, or that what the Supreme wants is to negotiate with the exes to bring down the bad vibes a notch, or it is demagoguery pure and simple, then don’t go to the polls.

Instead of this, it is proposed that you write a letter, either individual or collective and that you send it off to an organization of victims, telling them that you honor their pain and that you support them in their demands for truth and justice. Or a newspaper column, a tweet, a comment on your blog, in your newsletter, on your facebook, instagram, or wherever. Or a painting, a song, a mural, a poem, a speech, a sonata, a pirouette, a figure, a play, some art. Or an article of analysis, a colloquium, a lecture, a conference, a seedbed. Or whatever occurs to you. And even more, to make your non-conformity clear, do it extemporaneously, say one or several days after August 1st, and continue it for the rest of the year and the following years. It is stressed that you must get organized because, without even knowing it, you make up part of the future and probable victims of “the political decisions made in the present and coming years by political actors” of the Mexican State. It is that or resign yourself to the fact that when you are the victim, the “political actor” responsible for preventing this from happening to you, of investigating, pursuing, and punishing the guilty parties, declares the you “asked for it,” that he condemns the act and of course, it will be investigated “to the ultimate consequences, regardless of who falls” — as your name, and your personal story, pass into a number and a statistic.

-*-

First: The Zapatista communities will participate extemporaneously in the so-called “Popular Consultation,” following the usos y costumbres of the indigenous peoples, with community assemblies. The results will be sent to the organizations of victims of violence, the search for the disappeared, and prisoners of conscience. Those who have the INE (National Electoral Institute) credential (in fact there are very few), will go to the polls. We ESPECIALLY call upon our indigenous sisters and brothers, organized in the National Indigenous Congress-Indigenous Governing Council to participate also, according to their times and ways, without losing sight of the victims, and holding present all of the murdered brothers and sisters and communities that have been victims of the decisions of those from above before and now, like the long history of plunder, of deceit, of mockery and of contempt, of destruction of territories and disappearance of indigenous languages and cultures.

(Continuar leyendo…)

ZAPATISTA SIXTH COMMISSION.
Mexico.

July 2021.

To the adherents of the Declaration for Life:
To the Europe from Below and to the Left:
To the National and International Sixth:
To the National Indigenous Congress-Indigenous Governing Council:
To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion:
To the Collective «Llegó la Hora de los Pueblos«:

From: Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.

Compañeras, compañeroas, compañeros:

Sisters, brothers, and hermanoas:

I greet you in the name of the children, women, them, elders and men of the Zapatista communities, and I communicate to you the following:

First.- We already have a strong Zapatista airborne company of 177 Zapatistas ready. It is made up in its totality by nativeso f Mayan roots, from the Cho’ol, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal and Castilian languages. We were born in the geography called Mexico. Our ancestors were born and died in these lands. As the Mexican State does not recognize our identity and origin, and tells us that we are “extemporaneous” (so says the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, that we are “extemporaneous” Mexicans), we have decided to baptize  this unit of Listening and Word [Escucha y Palabra] as “The Extemporaneous.”

As we saw in the dictionaries, “extemporaneous” means “that it is  inopportune, inconvenient”, or “that it is inappropriate for the time in which it happens.” In other words, that we are inopportune, inconvenient and inappropriate.

Never before have we been so adequately defined. We are happy that at last the Mexican State recognizes that this is how it considers the original peoples of this geography called Mexico. I think that’s how it laments not having annihilated us… yet; and that our existence contradicts the official discourse about the «conquest.» Now it is understood that the demand of the government of Mexico to that of Spain, demanding that it ask forgiveness, is for not having exterminated us.

Of the 177 delegates, 62 of us still do not have a passport. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs is in a bind due to the «inconvenience» that we represent. Despite the fact that we have demonstrated our identity and origin, it continues demanding more and more documents. The only thing left for them to do is to ask the governments of Central America to say that we are not citizens of those countries.

(Continuar leyendo…)

VOLANTEM EST ALIO MODO GRADIENDI[i]
(What are we waiting for?)

Any day, any month of any year.

Droughts. Floods. Earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions. Pollution. Current and future pandemics. Assassinations of leaders of originary peoples, human rights defenders and guardians of the earth. Gender violence rising to the level of genocide against women (the foolish suicide of humanity). Racism poorly hidden behind handouts. The criminalization and persecution of difference. The irreparable oblivion of forced disappearance. Repression as a response to legitimate demands. Exploitation of the many by the few. Massive initiatives for the destruction of territories. Desolate villages. The displacement of millions concealed as “migration.” Species at risk of extinction or already just a name on the list of “prehistoric animals.” Enormous profits for the richest of the world’s rich. Extreme misery for the poorest of the world’s poor. The tyranny of money. Virtual reality as a false escape from real reality. Dying nation-states. Each individual a strange enemy. Lies as government policy. Frivolity and superficiality as ideals to aspire to. Cynicism as a new religion. Death as a daily routine. War, always war.

The storm wiping out everything, whispering, advising, screaming:

Give up!

Give up!

Give up!

And nevertheless…

Out there, near and far from our lands and skies, there is someone. A woman, a man, an other [unoa otroa], a group, a collective, an organization, a movement, an originary people, a neighborhood, a street, a town, a house, a room. In the smallest, most forgotten and most distant corner there is someone who says “NO”. Someone who says it quietly, almost inaudibly: who screams it and lives and dies by it. And who rebels and resists. Someone: we must look for them. We must find them. We must listen to them. We must learn from them.

Even if we have to fly to embrace them.

Because, after all, flying is just another way of walking. And walking is our way of fighting, of living.

So, on the Journey for Life, what are we hoping for? We hope to see your heart. We hope that it’s not too late. We hope.. for everything.

I testify.
SupGaleano.
Planet Earth.. or what’s left of it.

«On lâche rien» in French, Spanish, Catalán, Basque, Galician. Interpreted by: HK et les SALTIMBANKS with LA PULQUERIA, TXARANGO, LA TROBA KUNG-FÙ, FERMIN MUGURUZA et DAKIDARRIA.

[i] Flying is another form of walking

The Journey for Life: To What End?

June 2021

A clarification: often when we say “los Zapatistas,” we are not referring to men, but to the Zapatista villages [pueblos]. And when we say “las Zapatistas,” we’re not describing women, but the Zapatista communities [comunidades]. That’s why you’ll notice this ‘gender-hopping’ in our wording. When we refer to gender we always use “otroa” to mark the existence and struggle of those who are neither men nor women (our ignorance on the subject prevents us from going to details—but soon we will learn to name all of the differences).

-*-

  That said, the first thing that you should know or understand about the Zapatistas is that when we are going to do something, we prepare first for the worst. We start with a disastrous ending and prepare in reverse to confront it, or ideally to avoid it.

For example, we imagine being attacked: the usual massacres, genocide disguised as modern civilization, total extermination—and we prepare for those possibilities. On January 1, 1994, we did not imagine defeat: we assumed it as a certainty.

Maybe that helps you understand our initial shock, hesitation, and any puzzling improvisation on our part when, after so much time, effort, and preparation for ruin, we discovered that…we live.

So it is out of that skepticism that we develop our initiatives: some smaller, some larger, all outrageous. Our calls are always directed at “the other,” that which is beyond our daily horizon but which we recognize as necessary in the struggle for life, which is to say in the struggle for humanity.

In the maritime version of this initiative-gamble-delirium-folly, we prepared for the Kraken, a storm, or a stray white whale to wreck the vessel. That’s why we carved canoes and sent them with the 421^st Squadron on La Montaña all the way to Vigo, Galicia, Spanish State, Europe.

We also knew that we might not be welcomed, so we sought in advance consensus for the invasion—that is, the visit… Actually, we’re still not sure whether we’re exactly “welcome”. For more than one man, woman, or other [una, uno, unoa], our presence is annoying, if not frankly disruptive. And we get it: it could be that after a year or more of lockdown, some might find it inconvenient that a group of indigenous Mayans, mere producers and consumers of commodities (electoral or otherwise), would try to talk in person. In person! (Do you remember how that used to be a part of daily life?) And worse, that they would make it their principal mission to listen to you, to pepper you with questions, to share nightmares and, of course, dreams.

(Continuar leyendo…)

The Landing

«El desembarco» by León Gieco performed by León Gieco (Vocals and Harmonica), Jairo (Vocals and Djembe), Silvina Moreno (Vocals), Sandra Corizzo (Vocals), Diego Boris (Harmonica), Antonio Druetta (Mandolin), Pablo Elizondo (Guitar), Luciana Elizondo (Viola da gamba). 2021.

The Landing

From the Other Europe.

Individuals, Groups, Collectives, Organizations and European movements – in collaboration with the 421st Squadron.

June 2021.

P.S. – There is a song by León Gieco[i] called «El Desembarco» [The Landing]. I had it archived in a “pending” folder for years, wondering when and in which video to use it. In the end, I thought that when the time came, I would know.

I thought, as I watched Marijose set foot on Galician soil, not about the song, but about the invisible web that brought music together with a buccaneer boot, worn on a native Mayan foot, stepping onto Iberian soil.

I did a little research and it turns out that the song was released in 2011 on an album of the same name. That was 10 years ago … or more. When was this song born in the heart of León Gieco, our unwitting brother – or sworn brother like Juan Villoro[ii] – who we hold within the great embrace that is Latin America? Months or years before?

Did León dream what the lyrics say?

Is it the same dream had by Marijose when, in April’s fiery embrace, it was decided that Marijose [elloa] would be the first to disembark? Is it the same dream that the late SupMarcos had when he wrote «Sailor on the Mountain» years before the uprising? The same one that kept Don Durito[iii] of the Lacandón Jungle awake when he imagined (or made—we’ll never know) his journey through European lands? Did Comandanta Ramona, the first to leave Zapatista territory and from whose path the National Indigenous Congress was born, dream that dream?  Is it the same one dreamed by then Lieutenant Colonel Insurgente Moisés when – in 2010, on the outskirts of a hut in the mountains of the Mexican southeast – he received the rank of Subcomandante? The one that Señor Ik, SubPedro, and 45 other Zapatistas had moments before falling in combat in January 1994? The one that, collectively, the indigenous Sami people – in the northernmost north of Europe – put forward in their Declaration for Life? Was it the dream of Gonzalo Guerrero[iv] over 500 years ago when he made the path and destiny of the Mayan people his own? Is it that dream that unsettled Jacinto Canek[v]?

Did this dream alleviate to some extent the passing of Comandante Ismael, Dr. Paulina Fernández C., Oscar Chávez, Jaime Montejo, Jean Robert, Paul Leduc, Vicente Rojo, Mario Molina, Ernesto Cardenal and so many family members – all brothers and sisters without knowing it – that we have lost in recent months?

Is it the dream that inspired Europe from below to organize such a terrible and marvelous reception in Vigo?

The one that now travels through the streets, neighborhoods, countryside, and coasts of Europe repeating «Will July rain on Paris»?

Is it the dream that inspired the voices that found echo in the emblematic reflections on the beaches of Vigo and crossed the Atlantic to now take nest in the Zapatista communities?

Because the 421st Squadron descends not from a ship, but from La Montaña, «without weapons, and for life.»

Is this what humanity is? That which weaves the long and hidden thread that unites different and distant geographies and links calendars near and far?

I do not know. But I would recommend to those whose curse is art: Give expression to that dream. Whichever it is, let it be yours.

Because you never know when and where another gaze, another ear, other hands, another step, another heart in another calendar and another geography, will need to take it down from the great shelf of hopes and dreams, open its entrails and plant it, like a seed, in painful reality.

I bear witness,

SupGaleano.
June 2021.

—

[i] Argentine folk rock performer, composer and interpreter.

[ii] Juan Villoro is a Mexican writer and journalist and the son of philosopher Luis Villoro.

[iii] Don Durito’s adventures across Europe in 1999: https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/1999/10/13/la-hora-de-los-pequenos-durito-carta-4a/

[iv] Gonzalo Guerrero was a sailor from Palos, Andalucia, Spain who was shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and taken prisoner by the local Maya. Over time he took on Mayan culture as his own, became a Mayan chief, and died fighting alongside the Maya against Spanish conquistadors in defense of Mayan territory.

[v] Jacinto Canek – 18th-century Maya revolutionary who fought against the Spanish in the Yucatán Peninsula of New Spain.

We Arrived

June 20, 2021

It was 06:59am—Mexico time—on June 20, 2021, when, hazy on the horizon, the Iberian Peninsula became visible from La Montaña. At 09:14:45am, the ship anchored in the Baiona or Bayona Bay, Galicia, Spanish State, Europe. From there, the geography of Portugal is just a stone’s throw away, and a bit to the northeast Vigo is visible. Everyone is healthy. Due to paperwork and other matters, La Montaña and the 421st Squadron will remain here until their tentative disembarkation on Tuesday the 22nd at 17:00—Vigo time and date. The Spanish Civil Guard boarded the ship, took down the crew’s and passenger’s information, checked passports, and carried out a routine check. All is well. Weather conditions: cloudy, light but frequent rain, 15 degrees Celsius.

Shortly after, several sailboats carrying compas from rebellious Europe approached to welcome the ship… or to check if the rumors that run through barrios, mountains, and countryside across the world were true: “the Zapatistas have invaded Europe.”

On land, at the foot of what looks like a lighthouse, another group was shouting something like, “We surrender!”… Nah, just kidding. They were shouting “Long Live Zapata,” “Welcome!” and… well that one is hard to hear. They hold banners and posters. As far as the ship’s passengers can see, there are no obscene signs, which might indicate that we have not been disowned… yet. Some poor disoriented soul carries a sign that reads: “The Rebellious Popcorn Diner. Galician Stew, Idem and Sardine Empanadas. Special discounts for invaders, beetles and cat-dogs” Another sign reads, “Get me out of here!” The most prudent ones use their banners as umbrellas.

The European sky cries, moved. Its tears can’t be distinguished from the ones that moisten the cheeks—weathered by sun, sea, anguish and adrenaline—of the intrepid 421st Squadron. In their step, their gaze, and their heartbeats, the Mayan people—the legend will say—crossed the Atlantic in 50 days and nights, in their long and turbulent journey for life.

It’s cold outside, but inside, in the geography of the heart, something warms the soul. In the mountains of the Mexican southeast, the sun smiles and the first notes of a cumbia emerge joyfully from the sound system.

Of course, the disembarkation, the arrival of the aerial delegation, the organization of the agenda, the meetings, and the celebration of the word are still to be done.

In other words, we’ve only just begun.

SupGaleano
June, 2021

Music: La Cumbia del Sapito – Alfredo y sus Teclados