STOP THE REPRESSION AGAINST THE OTOMÍ INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY RESIDING IN MEXICO CITY

NO TO THE EVICTION OF THE HOUSE OF THE PEOPLE “SAMIR FLORES SOBERANES”

To the people of Mexico and the world,
To the organizations and groups that defend human rights,
To the media.

In response to the recent acts of repression against the Otomí Indigenous Community residing in Mexico City and the attempted eviction of the “Samir Flores Soberanes” House of Indigenous Peoples and Communities, we declare:

On the 16^th of October, this year, at dawn, more than 500 grenadiers surrounded the House of Indigenous Peoples and Communities “Samir Flores Soberanes” with the order to carry out the eviction of the Otomí Community. This attempted eviction left 10 companions badly beaten and injured, including 13-year-old adolescents, older adults, and companions with different abilities.

The Otomí Community managed to repel the aggression and make the grenadiers retreat, but the result of this repression is the following: a 28-year-old man received strong blows to the body and was injured with a shield in his forehead, causing a deep injury that required suture; a 17-year-old teenager was attacked by a group of 5 grenadiers who kicked and hit him, causing immobility of one of his legs; a 13-year-old girl was beaten by 3 male grenadiers who kicked her head causing her to faint; an 18-year-old teenager was pushed by an element with a shield, causing her to fall, she was pulled by her hair by a male element, 8 other elements arrived who hit her ribs and back, she was kicked repeatedly, they did not want to let her go, they insulted her, pulled her hair to lift her up, and hit her with a shield on her back, causing pain in her back, ribs, head, arms, and hands; 2 elderly women were beaten and thrown to the floor by several elements and a person who was documenting the attack was attacked by a group of at least 8 elements, who beat her, sprained her finger, and broke one of the lenses of her camera and tried to take away his photography equipment and the cell phone with which she was documenting.

Worse still, and as a true act of provocation, almost an hour after the repression a group of more than 6 motorcyclists approached the House of Peoples to attack and provoke. An hour later, the motorcyclists returned and fired three shots at the members of the Otomi community, not only putting at risk the lives of the members of the Otomí community, but also of those who were in the vicinity.

These acts of repression, discrimination and racism against the Otomí indigenous community took place three days after they celebrated the third anniversary of the occupation of the INPI offices, today named the “Samir Flores Soberanes” House of Indigenous Peoples and Communities.

It is regrettable that more than three years after the INPI occupation, the demand for “decent and decorous housing” continues to be ignored just as it was 3 years ago, but also as it was 30 years ago. No matter the color of the government in power, the indifference and contempt remains the same.

Almost twenty days after the Otomí Indigenous Community began the blockade on Mexico-Coyoacán Avenue, and after the bloody repression of last October 16, the response of the government of Mexico City is an ominous silence that leads us to think about the very high probability that at any moment the government will try again to evict and repress the Otomí Community. Consequently, with the above, we demand the cessation of repression and any attempt to evict our brothers who are members of the Otomi Community.

STOP THE WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO AND THE WORLD, TOWARDS THE ZAPATIST PEOPLE AND TOWARDS THE ORIGINARY PEOPLE OF MEXICO!

STOP THE EVICTION OF THE HOUSE OF THE SAMIR PEOPLE FLORES SOBERANES!

NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US!

FOR THE INTEGRAL RECONSTITUTION OF OUR PEOPLE!

SINCERELY

MEXICO, OCTOBER 2023.

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS
ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION

Second Part: Do dead people sneeze?

October 2023

SupGaleano died. He died just as he lived: unhappily.

Of course, he took care, before passing away, of returning the name to the one who is flesh and blood inherited from Master Galeano. He recommended keeping him alive, that is to say, fighting. So Galeano will continue walking in these mountains.

In all other regards, it was something simple. He started humming something like “I know I’m piantao, piantao, piantao”, and, just before he expired, he said, or rather asked: “Do dead people sneeze?”, and that’s it. Those were his last words. No sentence for history, nor for a tombstone, nor for an anecdote told in front of a fire. Only that absurd, anachronistic, extemporaneous question: “Do the dead sneeze?”

He then remained still, his tired breathing suspended, his eyes closed, his lips finally silenced, his hands clenched.

We left. Almost as we left the ‘champa’, already at the doorway, we heard a sneeze. SubMoy turned to look at me and I at him, with a barely hinted “bless you.” None of us had sneezed. We turned back to see where the deceased’s body lay and nothing. SubMoy just said “good question.” I didn’t say a word, but I thought «he must surely be hanging with the moon walking down Callao.»

Then of course, we spared the funeral. Although we lost the opportunity for coffee and tamales.

-*-

I know that no one is interested in another death, and least of all that of the now deceased SupGaleano. In truth, I tell you this because he left that poem by Rubén Darío with which he began this series of texts. If we ignore the obvious hint to the Nicaragua that resists and persists – it could even be seen as a reference to the current war of the State of Israel against the people of Palestine, but, at the time of his death, the terror that overwhelms the world today had not restarted-, he left that poetry as a reference. More as a response to someone who asked how to explain what is happening now in Chiapas, Mexico and the world.

And, of course, as a discreet tribute to maestro Galeano –from whom he inherited the name-, he left what he called a “reading report”:

Who started it? Who is to blame? Who is innocent? Who is the god guy and who is the bad guy? In what position is Francis of Assisi? Who failed: him, the wolf, the shepherds or all of them? Why does the man from Assisi can only conceive making an agreement based on the wolf giving up being what he is?

Even though this happened months ago, the text sparked allegations and discussions that continue to this day. So, I will describe one of them:

It is a kind of meeting or assembly or some sort of roundtable. The best of each house is there: learned specialists in everything, militants and internationalists of all causes except of those in their own geography, spontaneous people with a PhD in social networks (the majority), and one or two who, upon seeing the noise, approached to see whether they were giving away buckets, caps or t-shirts with the name of whatever political party it was. There were quite a few who came near to find out what all the fuss was about.

“You are nothing more than an agent of expansionist and imperial Zionism!,” shouted one.

“And you are just a propagandist of fundamentalist Arab Muslim terrorism!,” responded another, furiously.

There had already been several outbreaks of quarrel, but it had not yet gone beyond a “meet you outside” kind of pushing and shoving.

That point was reached because they were analyzing Rubén Darío’s poem “Los Motivos del Lobo”.

Not everything had been an exchange of adjectives, jabs and bad faces. It started like everything else in those parts: with good manners, forceful phrases, “brief interventions” – which usually lasted half an hour or more –, and a great deal of quotes and footnotes.

Purely male, of course, because the debate was organized by the so-called “Toby’s Hipertextual Club”

“The Wolf is the good guy,” someone said, “because he only killed out of hunger, out of necessity.”

“No,” argued another, “he is evil because he killed sheep, which were the shepherds’ sustenance. And he himself admitted that “sometimes he ate lamb and shepherd.”

And another: “the bad guys are the people from the village, because they didn’t fulfill the agreement.”

One sitting over there: «it’s Assisi’s fault, who gets the agreement by asking the wolf to stop being a wolf, which is questionable, and then doesn’t stay to hold the pact.»

And one sitting over here: “But Assisi points out that human beings are bad by nature.”

They reaffirm themselves on both sides. But it turns out that, if a poll were taken right now, the wolf would have a comfortable double-digit lead over the shepherd village. But a clever maneuver on social networks managed to get the hashtag “killer wolf” to be TT far above #deathtotheshpherds. So, the triumph of the pro-shepherd influencers over the pro-wolf influencers was clear, although only on social networks.

There were some who argued in favor of two States coexisting in the same territory: the Wolf State and the Shepherd State.

And some others for a Plurinational State, with wolves and shepherds, living under the same oppressor, sorry, I meant under the same State. Another responded that this was impossible, given the background of each party.

A man in a suit and tie stands up and asks to speak: “If Ruben (he said this, ignoring the Darío bit), followed the legend of Gubbio, then we can do the same. Let’s continue the poem:

The shepherds, using their legitimate right to defend themselves, attack the wolf. First by destroying his burrow with bombings, and then by entering with tanks and infantry. It seems to me, colleagues, that the end is set: the terrorist and animal violence of the wolf is annihilated and the shepherds can continue their bucolic life, shearing sheep for a powerful transnational corporation that makes clothing for another equally powerful multinational corporation that, in turn , owes an even more powerful international financial institution; which will lead the shepherds to become efficient workers on their own lands – yes, with all the legal labor benefits -, and will elevate that village to first world levels, with modern highways, tall buildings and even a tourist train where Visitors from all over the world will be able to appreciate the ruins of what once were meadows, forests and springs. The annihilation of the wolf will bring peace and prosperity to the region. Sure, some animals will die, no matter the number nor the species, but they are just perfectly forgettable collateral damages. After all, bombs cannot be asked to distinguish between a wolf and a sheep, nor to limit their blast wave so as not to damage birds and trees. Peace will be achieved and no one will miss the wolf.”

Someone else stands up and points out: “But the wolf has international support and inhabited that place in advance. The system cut down trees for pasture fields, and that altered the ecological balance, reducing the number and species of animals that the wolf consumed to live. And it is to be expected that the descendants of the wolf will take fair revenge.”

“Ah, so the wolf also killed other beings. “He’s just like the shepherds,” someone replies.

Thus, they continued, giving as good arguments as those indicated here, full of wit, a wealth of erudition and many bibliographical references.

But the restraint did not last long: it went from wolf and shepherds to the Netanyahu – Hamas war and the discussion escalated until it reached what heads this anecdote, postmortem courtesy of the now deceased SupGaleano.

But at that moment, at the back of the room, a small hand was raised asking to speak. The moderator couldn’t see whose hand it was, so he gave the floor «to the person who is raising his hand back there.»

Everyone turned to look and was about to shout out in scandal and disapproval. It was a girl who was carrying a teddy bear, almost equal to her in size, and she was wearing a white blouse with embroidery and pants with a kitten near her right ankle. Anyways, the classic “outfit” for a birthday party or something like that.

The surprise was such that everyone remained silent and kept their eyes on the girl.

She stood up on the chair, thinking that this way they would hear her better and asked:

“What about the kids?”

The surprise then turned into a condemning murmur: “Which kids? What is this girl talking about? Who the hell let a woman enter this sacred precinct? And worse, she is a girl-woman!”

The girl got down from the chair and, always carrying her teddy bear with clear signs of obesity – the bear, of course -, headed to the exit door saying:

«The kids. That is, the pups of the wolf and the pups of the shepherds. Their little babies, ‘pues’. Who thinks about the kids? Who am I going to talk to? And where are we going to play?”

From the mountains of the Mexican southeast.

Captain Insurgent Marcos.

Mexico, October, 2023.

P.S.- Unconditional freedom for Manuel Gómez Vázquez (taken hostage since 2020 by the state government of Chiapas) and José Díaz Gómez (hostage since last year), indigenous Zapatista bases imprisoned for that reason, for being Zapatistas. Afterwards, don’t ask who sowed what you reap.

P.S.- OTIS Hurricane: Collection center for indigenous peoples in the state of Guerrero: at the address of the “Casa de los pueblos ‘Samir Flores Soberanes’”, located at Av. México-Coyoacán 343, colonia Xoco, Alcaldía Benito Juárez, Ciudad de México, C.P. 03330. Deposits and bank transfers in support of these towns and communities in the account number 0113643034, CLABE 012540001136430347, SWIFT code BCMRMXMMPYM, BBVA bank in Mexico, branch 1769. In the name of: “Ciencia Social al Servicio de los Pueblos Originarios”. Phone number: 5526907936.

IN SUPPORT OF OUR ORIGINARY BROTHERS IN GUERRERO

October 2023

TO THE PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS OF MEXICO AND THE WORLD:
TO THE SIXTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL:
TO THE MEDIA:

With great concern we have seen how Hurricane Otis has hit the coasts of the state of Guerrero with unusual fury, causing the death of dozens of human beings and the destruction of towns and cities. Our brothers and sisters from the Organización Campesina de la Sierra del Sur, in the municipality of Coyuca, state of Guerrero, and members of the Congreso Nacional Indígena (National Indigenous Congress), have informed us of the damage that this hurricane has caused in the indigenous and peasant communities of said state and particularly in the towns of the Costa Grande of said entity.

This hurricane is not an atypical phenomenon, as media and bad governments are saying, it is a direct product of the destruction caused by capitalism, of the increasingly greater damage that large companies and government policies, cause to our Mother Earth. What is atypical is not the hurricane, but rather this violent system that is sustained on wars, pandemics and the stark exploitation and dispossession of millions and millions of human beings and nature.

Faced with these serious events that occurred in Guerrero, we observe the way in which the government of the so-called fourth transformation concentrates its support on the large hoteliers and merchants of the port of Acapulco, while forgetting the thousands of poor families, mainly peasants, who are being affected by Otis.

We know that, as bad governments are used to, they will only mock our suffering, they will take a picture standing over the rubble and profit from the pain of peoples in misfortune, which is why we call on good-hearted men and women, we call out to the collectives of the Sixth National and International and the peoples of Mexico and the world, to show solidarity and to concentrate non-perishable food and medicines in support of the affected indigenous peoples of the state of Guerrero, at the address of the Casa de los Pueblos “Samir Flores Soberanes”, located at Av. México-Coyoacán 343 colonia Xoco, Alcaldía Benito Juárez, Ciudad de México, CP03330, likewise, we call for deposits and bank transfers to be made in support of these towns and communities in the following account Number: 0113643034, CLABE 012540001136430347, SWIFT code BCMRMXMMPYM, of the BBVA bank in Mexico, in the name of: Social Science at the Service of Native Peoples.

MEXICO, OCTOBER 27, 2023

FOR THE INTEGRAL RECONSTITUTION OF OUR PEOPLES
NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS
ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION

First part:

The Motives of the Wolf
Rubén Darío
Nicaragua

The man with heart of lis,
cherub’s, celestial tongue,
the minimal and sweet Francis of Assisi,
finds himself with a rude and grim animal,
fearful beast, of blood and theft,
furious jaws, evil eyes:
the wolf of Gubbio, the terrible wolf,
rabid, has devastated the land;
has cruelly destroyed all the flocks;
has devoured the lamb, has devoured the shepherds,
deaths and damages he has caused are countless.

Strong hunters armed with irons,
were destroyed. The hard fangs
accounted for the toughest dogs
as if they were goatlings and baa-lambs.

Francis went out:
and searched for the wolf
at his burrow.
Near the cave, he found the enormous beast,
who, upon seeing him, ferociously jumped
at him. Francis, with his sweet voice,
and raising his hand,
told the furious wolf: – Peace, brother
wolf! – The animal
gazed at the man with the rough sackcloth;
let down his surly air,
closed the aggressive open jaws,
and said: –Alright, brother Francis! –
What is this! –exclaimed the saint—. Is it the law that you live
by horror and death?
The blood spilt
by your diabolical snout, the grief and terror
that you spread, the crying
of peasants, the screams, the pain
of so many creatures of Our Lord,
should they not contain your diabolical bitterness?
Do you come from hell?
Have, perhaps, Luzbel or Belial,
instilled you with their eternal resentment?
And the great wolf, humbly: Winter is hard,
and hunger is horrible! In the frozen forest
I found nothing to eat; so, I searched for cattle,
and sometimes ate cattle and shepherd.
The blood? I saw more than one hunter
on his horse, carrying a goshawk
on his fist; or running behind the wild boar,
the bear or the deer; and I saw more than one
get stained in blood, hurt, torture,
from the hoarse trunks to the deaf clamor,
the animals of Our Lord.
And it was not due to hunger that they were hunting.

Francis answers: There is bad yeast in man.
When he is born, he comes with sin. It is sad.
But the simple soul of the beast is pure.
You will have,
from this day onward, something to eat.
You will leave in peace
herds and people in this country.
May God mellow your wild being!
Alright, brother Francis.

Before the Lord, who binds all and unties all,
in faith of promise, give me your paw.

The wolf gave his paw to the brother
of Assisi, who in return gave his hand.
They walked to the village. People saw,
and what they saw, they almost could not believe.
Behind the religious man went the fierce wolf,
and, with a low head and still, it followed him,
as a house dog, or a lamb.

Francis called the people to the square,
and there he preached.
And said: Here is an amiable hunt.
Brother wolf comes with me;
he swore to me not to be your foe,
and not to repeat its bloody attack.
You, in exchange, will feed
this poor creature of God. Amen!
Answered the people form the whole village.
And then, as a sign
of contentment,
the good animal moved head and tail,
and entered the convent with Francis of Assisi.

For some time, the wolf remained quiet
in the holy asylum.
His large ears listened to the psalms
and his light eyes became moist.
It learned a thousand talents and played a thousand games
When he went to the kitchen with the laymen.
And when Francis prayed,
the wolf, the poor sandals, caressed.
He went out to the street,
he went to the hill, came down to the valley,
came into the houses, and was given
some food. They saw him as a gentle greyhound.
One day, Francis went away. And the sweet wolf,
the meek and good wolf, the honest wolf,
disappeared, went back to the mountain,
and his howling and fury began again.
Again, there was fear, there was alarm,
among neighbors and shepherds;
filled the surroundings with fear,
courage and arms were no good,
for the fierce beast,
never gave truce to his fury,
as if he had
the fires of Moloch and Satan.

When the divine saint came back to the village,
all came to him with complaints and tears,
and with a thousand wails they gave testimony,
of what they suffered and lost
by that infamous demon wolf.

Francis of Assisi went grave.
He went to the mountain
To look for the false butcher wolf.
And found the vermin by his cave.
In the name of the father of the holy universe,
I conjure you – he said –, Oh wicked wolf!,
to answer to me: why have you gone back to evil?
Answer. I hear you.
As in a deaf struggle the animal spoke,
the foaming mouth and the fatal eye:
– Brother Francis, do not come too near…
I was quiet there in the convent;
I visited the village,
and if they gave me something, I was happy,
and ate meekly.
But I started to see that in all of the houses
there was envy, anger and rage,
and in every face burnt fathoms
of hatred, lust, infamy and lies.
Brothers made war to brothers,
the weak lost, the evil won,
female and male were like dogs and bitches,
and then came the day when they all hit me with sticks.
They saw me humble, I licked their hands
and feet. I followed your sacred laws,
all creatures were my siblings:
brother men, brother oxen,
sister stars and brother worms.
And thus, they hit me and threw me out.
And their laughter was like boiling water,
and the beast revived within my gut,
and I suddenly felt a bad wolf again;
but always better than those bad people.
And restarted to fight here,
to defend myself and to feed myself.
As the bear does, as the wild boar does,
that in order to live they have to kill.
Leave me in the mountain, leave me in the crag,
let me be at my liberty,
go back to your convent, brother Francis,
go back to your way and sanctity.

The holy man from Assisi said nothing.
Looked at the wolf with a profound gaze,
and parted with tears and heartbroken,
and spoke to the eternal God with his heart.
The wind from the forest carried his prayer,
which said: Our father who art in Heaven…

December 1913

October, 2023

Almost 15 years ago, in our words, the nightmare was forwarned. It was during a Semillero and it was through the voice of the deceased SupMarcos that we spoke. Here it goes:

Of sowings and reapings
(January 2009)

Maybe, what I am about to say has nothing to do with the main theme of this roundtable, or maybe it has.

Two days ago, the same day in which our word spoke of violence, the ineffable Condoleezza Rice, US government official, declared that what was going on in Gaza was the fault of the Palestinians, due to their violent nature.

The subterranean rivers that run through the world are able to change their geography, but they sing the same song.

And the river we now listen to sings of war and grief.

Not far from here, in a place called Gaza, in Palestine, in the Middle East, just next door, a heavily armed and trained army, from the Israeli government, continues its advance of death and destruction.

The steps it has followed so far are those of a classic military war of conquest: first a massive and intense bombardment to destroy “neuralgic” military posts (so they are called by military manuals) and to “soften up” resistance fortifications; then an iron grip on information: everything that is heard and seen “in the outside world”, that is to say, outside of the theatre of operations must be selected according to military criteria; now intense artillery fire over enemy infantry to protect the advance of troops to their new positions: after that an encirclement and siege to weaken the enemy garrison; then an assault to conquer the position by annihilating  the enemy; finally, the “cleansing” of the probable “nests of resistance”.

The military manual of modern warfare, with some variations or additions, is being followed step by step by invading military forces.

We don’t know much about this, and it is certain that there are specialists on the so called “conflict in the Middle East”, but from this corner, we have something to say:

According to the photos from news agencies, the “neuralgic” military posts destroyed by the Airforce of the Israeli government are houses, huts, civil buildings.

We have not seen any bunkers, barracks, military airports or cannon batteries among what has been destroyed. Then, we think, excuse our ignorance, that either the aircraft gunners have bad aim or in Gaza there are no such “neuralgic” military posts.

We don’t have the honor of having visited Palestine, but we suppose that in those houses, huts and buildings used to live people, men, women, children and elderlies, and not soldiers.

We have not seen resistance fortifications either, only debris.

What we have seen, is the so far futile effort to cordon off information and several governments of the world wavering between playing the fool or applauding the invasion, and a UN, already useless way back, publishing lukewarm press releases.

But wait. It now occurs to us that perhaps, for the Israeli government, these men, women, children and elderly people are enemy soldiers and, as such, the huts, houses and buildings where they live in are barracks that need to be destroyed.

And the enemy garrison that they want to weaken with the encirclement and siege of Gaza is none other than the Palestinian population living there. And that the assault will seek to annihilate that population. And that any man, woman, child or elderly person who manages to escape, by hiding from the predictably bloody assault, will then be «hunted down» so that the cleansing can be completed, and the military chief in command of the operation can report to his superiors «we have completed the mission.»

Excuse our ignorance again, perhaps what we are saying is, in fact, beside the point. And that instead of repudiating and condemning the crime in progress, as indigenous people and as warriors that we are, we should be discussing and taking a position on the discussion about  whether it’s  «Zionism» or «anti-Semitism», or that it was the Hamas bombs that started it.

Perhaps our thoughts are very simple, and we lack the nuances and the always very necessary marginal notes in the analysis, but, for us Zapatistas, in Gaza there is a professional army assassinating a defenseless population.

Who from below and to the left can remain silent?

-*-

Is it useful to say something? Do our screams stop any bombs? Is our word saving the life of a  Palestinian child?

We think that it is useful, maybe we will not stop a bomb nor will our word become an armored shield that prevents that 5.56 mm or 9 mm caliber bullet, with the letters «IMI» («Israeli Military Industry») engraved on the base of the cartridge, from reaching the chest of a girl or a boy, but maybe our word will manage to join with others in Mexico and the world and maybe first it will become a murmur, then a loud voice, and then a cry that will be heard in Gaza.

We don’t know about you, but we Zapatistas of the EZLN know how important it is, in the midst of destruction and death, to hear a few words of encouragement.

I don’t know how to explain this, but it turns out that words from afar may not be enough to stop a bomb, but they are as if a crack opened in the black room of death for a small light to slip through.

Otherwise, what will happen will happen. The Israeli government will declare that it has dealt a severe blow to terrorism, it will hide the magnitude of the massacre from its people, the big producers of weapons will have gotten an economic break to face the crisis and «world public opinion,» that malleable entity, always in tune with the situation, will turn to look the other way.

But not only. It will also happen that the Palestinian people will resist and survive and continue fighting, and continue to have sympathy for their cause from those below.

And perhaps a boy or girl from Gaza will survive too. Perhaps they will grow and, with them, anger, indignation, rage. Perhaps they will become soldiers or partisans for one of the groups fighting in Palestine. Maybe he or she will face combat against Israel. Maybe he or she does it by firing a rifle. Maybe by blowing himself up with a belt of dynamite sticks around his waist.

And then, up there, someone will write about the violent nature of the Palestinians and make statements condemning that kind of violence and there will be another debate about whether Zionism or anti-Semitism.

And then no one will ask who sowed what was reaped.

On behalf of the men, women, children and elderly of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, 4rth of January 2009.

-*-

Those who were children then, almost 15 years ago, and who survived, well…

There are those who were responsible for sowing what is now being reaped, and there are those who, with impunity, repeat the sowing.

Those who just a few months ago justified and defended Putin’s Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing its «right to defend itself from a potential threat», must now be juggling (or betting on forgetfulness) to invalidate that argument in relation of Israel.  And vice versa.

Today, in Palestine and Israel -and all over the world- there are children and young people learning what terrorisms teach: that there are no limits, no rules, no laws, no shame.

And no responsibilities.

-*-

Neither Hamas nor Netanyahu. The people of Israel will prevail. The people of Palestine will prevail. They only need to give themselves a chance and work hard at it.

Meanwhile, each war will continue to be only the prelude to the next, more ferocious, more destructive, more inhumane.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.
Mexico, October 2023.

April 28, 2023

To the peoples of Mexico and the world,
To the human rights organizations and collectives,
To the National and International Sexta,
To the national and international media.

We denounce with rage that today, April 28, at around 10:38 a.m., a large group of members of the National Guard, the Mexican Navy and the Oaxaca state police violently attacked those participating in the CAMP TIERRA Y LIBERTAD, causing its destruction and stealing the belongings of the peasants who were there. IN A WORRYING WAY, THE MIXE EJIDATARIOS* MARÍA MAGDALENA MARTÍNEZ ISABEL, FERNANDO HERNÁNDEZ GÓMEZ, ADELA SEVERO TEODORO, ESPERANZA MARTÍNEZ ISABEL, ELIZABETH MARTÍNEZ ISABEL AND ELIODORO MARTÍNEZ ISABEL WERE DETAINED WITHOUT BEING KNOWN WHERE THEY REMAIN, AND COMRADE ADELA SEVERO TEODORO WAS BEATEN BY MEMBERS OF THESE MILITARY FORCES. In this sense we denounce, as has happened on other occasions, the intentional use of military and police forces by the state to abuse women and generate terror.

Just today the CAMP TIERRA Y LIBERTAD, organized by the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus, completed 61 days of blocking the railroad tracks of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the Mogoñe Viejo-Vixidu section, in protest against the imposition of the mega-project Inter-Oceanic Corridor Istmo de Tehuantepec and in order to paralyze the works for the modernization of the railroad.

Likewise, yesterday the NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CARAVAN «EL SUR RESISTE», in struggle against the Interoceanic Corridor, the Maya Train („Tren Maya“) and all the death projects of this repressive government, servile to the interests of big capital, was received at the CAMP TIERRA Y LIBERTAD with the purpose of weaving together the resistance of the peoples of the south, of Mexico and of the world. Not omitting to point out that since its beginning on April 25 in Pijijiapan, Chiapas, the CARAVAN has been permanently obstructed and harassed by government spying and an endless number of military streetblockades.

With the action orchestrated by the military and police corporations against the CAMP TIERRA Y LIBERTAD it is clear to us, once again, that the current governments are at the service of the large transnational corporations and that militarization, patriarchal violence and repression are the path they have chosen to confront the struggle and resistance of our peoples to the Interoceanic Corridor and the Tren Maya, to capitalist dispossession and war.

WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF OUR COMRADS MARÍA MAGDALENA MARTÍNEZ ISABEL, FERNANDO HERNÁNDEZ GÓMEZ, ADELA SEVERO TEODORO, ESPERANZA MARTÍNEZ ISABEL, ELIZABETH MARTÍNEZ ISABEL AND ELIODORO MARTÍNEZ ISABEL; THE PUNISHMENT OF THOSE GUILTY OF PHYSICAL AND GENDERED VIOLENCE, ROBBERIES AND REPRESSION AGAINST THE TIERRA Y LIBERTAD CAMP; AS WELL AS THE DISCLOSURE OF THEIR REMAIN AND THE GUARANTEE OF FREE TRANSIT AND UNIMPEDED ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CARAVAN «EL SUR RESISTE».

Sincerely

Mexico, April 28, 2023.

For the Integral Reconstitution of Our Peoples

Never Again A Mexico Without Us

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS

INDIGENOUS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT

EZLN-Zapatista Sixth Commission.

—–

Footnotes inserted by the translator

*Mixe: Indigenous People in Oaxaca, Mexico

*Ejidatorios: Members of an ejido. Ejidos: System of land distribution and ownership that was institutionalized after the Mexican Revolution and consists of giving a piece of land to a group of people for collective use. Often, this is the land of indigenous communities, which they collectivly own, manage and cultivate.

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Fuente: Enlace Zapatista

Música: Cumbia De La Paz (rebajada) – Chico Cervantes – Diego Balcázar

YAJALÓN

(Continuar leyendo…)

Sunday the 13th

To the sixth in Mexico and abroad:
To those who signed the Declaration for Life:
To honest people all over the world:

The Zapatista communities, in agreement with various individuals, groups, collectives, organizations, and movements from across SLUMIL K´AJXEMK´OP, hereby call for protests and mobilizations against ALL CAPITALIST WARS currently being waged in multiple corners of the planet. These wars are happening not just in Ukraine, but also in Palestine, Kurdistan, Syria, on the Mapuche people, on all the originary peoples all over the world, and upon so many different emancipatory processes that are attacked, persecuted, murdered, silenced, and distorted.

As our own response to this call, we will participate in mobilizations to be held Sunday March 13, 2022, and continue to protest wars perpetrated by the system across the world.

We therefore propose the launch of a global campaign against all capital’s wars, in whatever geography they are waged, consisting of concerts, gatherings, festivals, meetings, and so on, in a campaign of the arts against the wars.

We call on all honest people, groups, collectives, organizations, and movements in Mexico and abroad to participate in activities demanding a halt to all wars, starting on Sunday the 13th, and in accordance with their own times and ways and their own independence and autonomy.

For our part, thousands of Zapatistas from our communities will carry out demonstrations in the caracoles, in the county seats of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Yajalón, Palenque, Ocosingo, Las Margaritas, and Altamirano, and in the communities along the highway.

All of our arts, our resistances, and our rebellions against all of the wars!
From the mountains of Southeast Mexico,
Zapatista Sixth Commission
Mexico,
March of 2022

Source: Enlace Zapatista

Zapatista Sixth Commission
Mexico

After the battle, no landscape will remain
(On the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine)

March 2, 2022

To those who signed the Declaration for Life:
To the Sixth in Mexico and abroad:
Compañer@s, brothers and sisters:

These are our words and thoughts about what is occurring now in the geography called Europe:

First: There is an aggressor: the Russian army. Big capital’s interests are at play on both sides. It is the peoples of Russia and Ukraine (and soon, perhaps, the peoples of other geographies near or far) who are suffering because of the crazed delusions of some and the cunning economic calculations of others. As Zapatistas, we do not support either state but rather those who are struggling for life against the system.

During the multinational invasion of Iraq (nearly 19 years ago), headed by United States’ army, there were protests all over the world against that war. No one in their right mind thought that opposing the invasion meant supporting Saddam Hussein. The situation today is similar, though not the same. Neither Zelensky nor Putin. No to the war!

Second: Different governments have allied themselves with one side or the other based on economic calculations devoid any of humanist considerations. For these governments and their “ideologues” there are good and bad interventions, invasions and destructive acts. The good ones are those carried out by their allies and the bad ones are those perpetrated by their opponents. The applause for Putin’s criminal arguments justifying the military invasion of Ukraine will become laments when the same words are used to justify the invasion of other peoples whose destruction does not please big capital.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Source: Enlace Zapatista

Ελληνική μετάφραση  (Griego)
Deutsch Übersetzung (Alemán)
Traduzione Italiano (Italiano)
Original en español (Español)

Stop the Repression of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico!

To the Mexican people:
To the peoples of the world:
To the Sixth in Mexico and abroad:
To the media:

We denounce that on February 15 at approximately 1:20hrs, the repressive agents of the bad government including the National Guard, the state police of Puebla and the municipal police of Juan C. Bonilla, invaded and dismantled the space of resistance and organization of the Altepelmecalli People’s House, an autonomous political and cultural space that until March 22, 2021 was a factory owned by Bonafont. Bonafont is a transnational corporation that has for years stolen and hyper-exploited the aquifers in the Cholulteca region.

We fervently condemn the heightened repression by the capitalist government, which calls itself the “4T,”[i] of the resistance and struggle for life waged by our brothers from the United Peoples of the Cholulteca and Volcanos Region [Pueblos Unidos de la Región Cholulteca y de los Volcanes], who converted that landscape of death into a space of encounter and exchange despite determined efforts to impose the Integral Project for Morelos in the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala[ii]. That megaproject would put a natural gas pipeline through the territories of the peoples of the volcano, where old and new forms of organization are sprouting seeds of hope and rebellion.

We are on high alert given the possible persecution of our brothers and sisters from the Altepelmecalli People’s House. We hold the Federal Government responsible for using its armed National Guard thugs to intensify the war of money against life. We hold the government responsible for protecting the Bonafont company, which displaces, steals, privatizes and immorally profits off our people’s waters, creating harm in the form of sinkholes and the running dry of wells, springs, rivers and gullies. This is what has happened to the Metlapanapa river, which the People’s Front of the Cholulteca and Volcano Region [Frente de Pueblos de la Región Cholulteca y los Volcanes] has defended against the river’s exploitation and pollution by industry.

We denounce this repressive offensive on the part of Mexico’s neoliberal bad government against our compañeros and compañeras who are raising the flag of organization from below in their geographies and convoking us to struggle for life. We condemn the following:

1. The assassination of our compañero, Francisco Vázquez, president of the ASURCO Monitoring Counsel[iii], who raised his voice against the theft of water from the ejidos of the Ayala region as part of the operations of the thermoelectric plant in Huexca, Morelos.
2. The criminalization of the Otomí people, and of our compañero Diego García by the head of that shadowy institution of the bad government called INPI [National Institute for Indigenous Peoples], which has served to extend the indigenist and clientelist control of our peoples, and whose offices used to be located in what is today the Samir Flores Soberanes People’s House.[iv]
3. The persecution of the Indigenous Supreme Council of Michoacán for their recent mobilizations against disrespect, racism, and dispossession and for the removal of the appalling monument known as Los Constructores (The Builders) in Morelia, Michoacán[v].
4. The indifference and criminal complicity of the National Guard in the face of violence in Guerrero where drug cartels attack the communities of the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero- Emiliano Zapata who oppose the extractive megaprojects and denounce the governments’ complicity with narco-paramilitary groups that kill and disappear our brothers[vi].
5. The militarization of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in order to impose the Salina Cruz-Coatzacoalcos Interoceanic Corridor megaproject[vii] as well as the illegal occupation of our communities’ lands for this project like what’s happening in the Binnizá community in Puente Madera[viii] belonging to the commons of San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca.
6. The utilization of the National Guard and armed state and municipal groups to stifle the demands of normalistas[ix] students in Ayotzinapa, Tiripetío and Mactumatzá for justice[x] and for recognition of their terms for the escuelas normales.

We hold the Mexican federal government responsible for the escalation of repression against our peoples, and we demand that the National Guard and police forces cease actions against those who oppose the exploitation and destruction of nature and the plundering of the territories and community heritage of originary peoples in order to impose megaprojects of death promoted by the Mexican State.

We call on the peoples, nations, and indigenous tribes of Mexico, as well as on allied organizations and collectives, to be on alert for this wave of neoliberal repression announced by the capitalist government of this country in an agreement published in the Official Journal of the Federation on November 22, 2021.[xi] This agreement also declares the projects and federal governmental works matters of public interest and national security which they can then use as a pretext to exercise armed force against peoples who oppose this unprecedented dispossession and destruction of Mexican territory.

We call on the people, groups, collectives, organizations, and movements in the territory of SLUMIL K´AJXEMK´OP (also known as “Europe”) to mobilize and come out against the transnational corporation Bonafont-Danone, headquartered in France, and the agencies of the current Mexican federal government in Europe.

For life!
Solidarity and support for the originary peoples of the National Indigenous Congress!

Sincerely,
February 16, 2022
For the Full Reconstitution of our Peoples
Never Again a Mexico Without Us
National Indigenous Congress—Indigenous Governing Council
Zapatista Army for National Liberation
Sixth Commission.

[i] The López Obrador campaign has deemed its governing project the “Fourth Transformation” (4T), supposedly on par with historic events such as Mexican Independence (1810), a period of reform in the mid-19th century, and the Mexican Revolution (1910).
[ii] “The Integral Project for Morelos, for example, consists of two thermoelectric plants and well as gas and water pipelines that will dispossess the Nahua indigenous peoples who inhabit the Popocatépetl Volcano region in the states of Morelos, Puebla, and Tlaxcala of their land, water, security, health, identity, and life on the land. The State, along with Elecnor, Enagas, Abengoa, Bonatti, CFE, Nissan, Burlington, Saint Gobain, Continental, Bridgestone and many other companies have imposed this project via the use of state, federal, and military violence, instilling terror in the inhabitants through torture, threats, imprisonment, judicial persecution, the closing of community radios, and now the murder of our brother Samir Flores Soberanes.” https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2019/03/12/samir-lives-the-struggle-continues-declaration-from-the-third-national-assembly-of-the-national-indigenous-congress-the-indigenous-governing-council-and-the-ezln/
[iii] Francisco Vázquez was assassinated on February 11, 2022 in Ayala. ASURCO is the Asociación de Usuarios del Río Cuautla [Cuautla River Users’ Association].
[iv] The Otomí community in Mexico City has occupied the INPI offices in Coyoacán since October 12, 2020, renaming it the Samir Flores Soberanes People’s House at the anniversary of the occupation in October 2021. https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2021/10/06/cdmx-invitacion-a-celebrar-con-resistencia-y-rebeldia-un-ano-de-la-toma-del-inpi/
[v] On February 14, 2022 the Indigenous Supreme Council of Michoacán tore down the statue known as “The Builders” [Los Constructores] that depicted the Spanish priest Fray Antonio de San Miguel giving orders to a group of enslaved indigenous people, symbolizing domination and genocide of the indigenous by the Spanish.
[vi] Most recently, on January 30, 2022, the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata was attacked by the narco-paramilitary organization called Las Ardillas (The Squirrels). The attack lasted for two hours during which the governmental authorities never responded or intervened.
[vii] The Salina Cruz-Coatzacoalcos Interoceanic Corridor is one of the largest proposed megaprojects that would connect the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean by a rail line between two ports in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz.
[viii] On February 4, 2022, two people were caught deforesting and fencing off areas of Pitaya communal lands without the community’s permission.
[ix] Normalista refers to students that participate in the Escuelas Normales which are teaching colleges that principally train rural and indigenous young people to be teachers in their own communities.
[x] In 2014, 43 students from the Escuela Normal in Ayotzinapa in Guerrero were abducted and disappeared.
[xi] The announcement is posted here in Spanish: https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5635985&fecha=22/11/2021