Imprisoned journalist and FSRN commentator Mumia Abu-Jamal has scored a decisive, and possibly life-saving, legal victory in his two-year-long fight to receive effective treatment for Hepatitis C. The case, Abu-Jamal vs. Wetzel, has broader implications for prisoners in need of life-saving medical treatment. In this commentary, Mumia Abu-Jamal describes the state of healthcare behind bars and the hospital and courtroom odyssey that resulted in the order that he receive Hep C treatment beginning this week.
In the netherworld of American prisons, one must jettison any medical assumptions one brings in from the so-called free world. We’ve been conditioned to see nurses as sweet sources of solace, and doctors as people dedicated to healing the sick and easing our pain.
In prison, new rules govern medicine and care. Here, money is master. The ill are all but ignored. This may seem harsh, but I must assure you, reality is even harsher.
Recently, I wrote of jailhouse lawyer Dennis “Solo” McKeithan and his battle to get examined and treated for the painful nerve disorder known as shingles. As I read this trial transcript, I found the remarkable comments and questions by the judge instructive. He asked, essentially, if the company hired by the DOC to provide healthcare had a conflict because, as a private company, its interests were to make money by refusing to provide medications needed by prisoners. The witness denied his suggestion, but the judge had hit a nerve.
From 2015 to today, my lawyers and I have been demanding real treatment for my Hepatitis C infection. The DOC initially filed a false affidavit, which justified a U.S. magistrate’s dismissal of my own suit. The DOC argued that my Hepatitis was fine, that it could go years without treatment. A federal judge disagreed and held a hearing which showed the affidavit was false, and months later declared the DOC, it’s so-called protocol, was unconstitutional.
The DOC fought back, arguing that my Hep C was at a low level. The judge, again, disagreed, declared the protocol unconstitutional a second time, and ordered my treated.
The DOC essentially ignored the court order for close to two months, and earlier this week subjected me to more testing. Well, the results just came back. Not only do I have advanced Hepatitis C, I have cirrhosis of the liver, call F4, because the DOC didn’t want to spend the money to treat my infection.
The DOC said it would cost them $600 million dollars. It would only cost me my life.
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San Cristóbal, Chiapas. 13 de abril. “Los migrantes no se fueron por que quisieron, sino porque ya no pudieron estar en su finca, mejor conocida como país”, expuso esta noche el subcomandante Moisés, al reiterar su apoyo a los que han emigrado a los Estados Unidos, debido a la pobreza y violencia en su lugar de origen; donde los explotan, reprimen y despojan como en una finca de hace 100 años. Dichas declaraciones las expresó el insurgente chiapaneco en el segundo día del seminario “Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda”, en el Cideci Unitierra, Chiapas.
“Hay que apoyar a quienes nos apoyaron. Nos toca ahora decirles que luchen con resistencia y rebeldía”, es como explicó Moisés, el por qué se solidarizan con la sociedad discriminada y explotada. Ell@s nos ayudaron hace 23 años después de nuestro levantamiento, abundó el vocero zapatista e informó que apoyarán a las y los migrantes en la unión americana con los ingresos de la venta de 3791 kilos de café.
El indígena zapatista convocó nuevamente a la sociedad a organizarse por que “el enemigo capitalista no va dejar que el pueblo mande”. “El enemigo no va a negociar y decir, te voy a medio explotar”, puntualizó el subcomandante. “Necesitamos ayudarnos entre los de abajo, para demostrar que no necesitamos a los que dan apoyo condicionado”, agregó Moisés, en referencia al gobierno y partidos políticos. “hay que reorganizarnos, reeducar lo que ya creíamos que estaba educado”, convocó.
Por su parte el historiador Carlos Aguirre Rojas, con su ponencia “situación de América latina, vista desde abajo y a la izquierda”, invitó a aprender lo que los zapatistas han enseñado, que es a mirar el mundo desde abajo y a la izquierda. “No podemos entender el capitalismo del siglo XXI, sin apoyarnos en la teoría del valor y de la historia de Marx”, también agregó el académico.
¿Cómo podemos ver el arriba de la América latina?, inició preguntando el investigador social, a lo que respondió que existen dos elementos. El primero son los Estados: los cuales pueden ser de ultra derecha, como el de Peña Nieto, que son antinacionales, entreguistas, represores y anticulturales; o pueden ser Estados denominados “progresistas”, como en Venezuela, Bolivia o Ecuador, que en un inicio no apuestan a la represión sino a la cooptación, y que a pesar de su discurso son profundamente pro-capitalistas, como en el caso de López Obrador, expuso.
Otra de los cuestionamientos hechos por Aguirre Rojas fue ¿cómo se presenta el cuadro de los de arriba?, respondiendo con la analogía hecha por el subcomandante Moisés, el día de ayer, en la que los países han pasado a ser como fincas a cargo de la burguesía internacional, la cual no le interesa su merca do interno y son antinacionalistas, citando el caso de Carlos Slim en México. “El Estado es parte del arriba, siempre será el enemigo”, evidenció el historiador, por lo que recomendó que en su lugar se ponga un gobierno como el de los zapatistas, que mande obedeciendo.
En la sesión de esta noche también estuvo el sociólogo Arturo Anguiano, quien destacó el carácter reivindicativo de la lucha de los pueblos contra las políticas neoliberales de los gobiernos. Hay gobiernos que no pueden definirse como progresistas ni de izquierda, porque permiten el extractivismo minero y los agronegocios, que dejan a un lado los parámetros de sustentabilidad y destruyen el medio ambiente, señaló el investigador social.
¿Qué verdaderamente se puede caracterizar como izquierda?, preguntó Anguiano, indicando que solo aquello que ataque la discriminación, el despojo, la opresión, es decir acabar con el capitalismo. “No puede haber más izquierda que la anticapitalista, la de abajo, con pueblos originarios, campesinos, proletarios, en donde se luche contra el poder y el capital, por una igualdad verdadera, por la autogestión y autonomía”, expuso.
Para el día de mañana viernes a las 16:00 hrs. se contará con la participación de Paulina Fernández y Magda Gómez. Posteriormente a las 19:00 hrs, darán su palabra Alicia Castellanos, Luis Hernández Navarro y la Comisión Sexta del EZLN, a l@s cuales se podrá sintonizar por la página enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx
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San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. 13 de abril. “Hacer retemblar en su centro la tierra, no tenemos otra opción”, indicó Gilberto López y Rivas, con respecto a la propuesta hecha por el Congreso Nacional Indígena CNI, sobre la creación de un Concejo Indígena de Gobierno y la postulacion de una candidata indígena en las elecciones del 2018 en México. La ponencia del antropólogo se dio en el inicio del segundo día del seminario “Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda”, en Cideci Unitierra, Chiapas. La opción del CNI, “es una luz al final del túnel, de una guerra colonial contra los pueblos”, abundó.
López y Rivas, argumentó sobre lo que denominó “el terrorismo global de Estado”, esto es la actitud fascista de la burguesía, contra los pueblos, añadió. Por ello se pronunció por un nacionalismo popular, frente al nacionalismo estatal y militar, en donde la república deja de ser cosa pública y simplemente se convierte en una oficina de contratos, ajena al pacto social de la construcción del 17.
Tom Hansen, de México Solidarity Network, explicó que llevan 12 años trabajando en un Centro Autónomo, en la ciudad de Chicago, y de los zapatistas han aprendido “la paciencia para organizarse abajo y a la izquierda”. Para Hansen es importante preguntarse como izquierda en Estados Unidos, “Cómo construir comunidad, en un mundo dominado por el individualismo y el capital”.
Por su parte el economista, Sergio Rodríguez Lascano, indicó que el capital ha dejado de tener patria y que hoy en día se ha dado el fin del Estado y el desmantelamiento de las conquistas sociales. Para ello el capital destruye los procesos colectivos y comunitarios de los trabajadores, en especial los del campo, tan codiciado por sus suelos, subsuelo, agua. Los pueblos originarios son el obstáculo central para ese despojo, subrayó el investigador social.
Rodríguez Lascano recordó al finado sub Marcos, cuando indicaba que en la lógica del capitalismo el que paga manda y que no importa que se pague sino que la deuda se incremente. Es por ello que es necesario destruir al Estado burgués y crear otras relaciones sociales en donde el que gobierne mande obedeciendo.
Por la noche de este jueves se espera la participación del historiador Carlos Aguirre Rojas, Arturo Anguiano y la Comisión Sexta del EZLN, y se podrá sintonizar por la página enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx
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Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda
13 de abril de 2017
San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Cideci / Universidad de la Tierra Chiapas
“AHORA NOS TOCA A NOSOTROS APOYAR”
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Jueves 13 de abril.- Este día la Comisión Sexta del EZLN, Gilberto López y Rivas, Arturo Anguiano, Carlos Aguirre Rojas, Sergio Rodríguez Lascano y la Mexican Solidarity Network compartieron sus experiencias y reflexiones para continuar agrietando los muros del capital.
Apenas una hora después de que Tom Hansen, de la Mexican Solidarity Network, destacara la paciencia y la pasión de la militancia zapatista como un ejemplo para construir comunidad, solidaridad y autonomía en tanto centros de la vida cotidiana, el Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés anunció que, tras vaciar sus bolsillos y no hallar euro, las comunidades zapatistas acordaron trabajar en colectivo para juntar un total de 3,915.5 kg. de café limpio y tostado para mandarlo a los hermanos migrantes, para que sean ellos quienes allá se organicen y vean cómo volver el café resistencia y rebeldía:
“Los migrantes no se fueron porque quisieron, sino porque ya no pudieron estar en su finca, mejor conocida como país -inició su participación el Sub Moisés-. Nosotros los comandantes y comandantas, y bases de apoyo somos iguales que ellos, nuestros hermanos migrantes son parte de nosotros, pero está cabrón lo que les va a pasar, era su pensamiento de los compañeros y compañeras del EZLN frente a las acciones de Trump contra el pueblo migrante. Por lo cual en reunión de las bases de apoyo Zapatistas, se tomó la decisión de apoyarles”.
Gilberto López y Rivas apuntó que conocer a los dominadores, quienes adquieren ahora un rostro fascista, continúa siendo una tarea pendiente del pensamiento crítico. Ante un terrorismo global de Estado que no respeta ningún derecho con tal de apretar las tuercas de la dominación, López y Rivas esbozó la necesidad de retomar una hegemonía popular (incluso hizo alusión al concepto <<Nación-Pueblo>>) construida a partir de los distintos ejercicios Autonómicos. Sólo así, con una resistencia integral, independiente y unida que contenga un programa mínimo, podrá hacerse frente al fascismo del siglo XXI. Para Gilberto López y Rivas, la propuesta de conformar un Concejo Indígena de Gobierno podría avanzar hacia este horizonte. “No tenemos otra opción que hacer retemblar en sus centros la tierra”, concluyó.
En su participación, Sergio Rodríguez Lascano señaló las mutaciones más recientes del sistema productivo capitalista. Tras desmantelar conquistas sociales urbanas y rurales y destruir el mayor número de procesos comunitarios posibles, el capital habría realizado una deslocalización de sí hacia países “en desarrollo”, que al final terminaron siendo economías de enclave listas para ser completa y abiertamente extraídas. En tal reconfiguración capitalista, los nuevos mandones son aquellas grandes compañías transnacionales cuyos accionistas, dispersos y conectados en el mundo, terminaron formando una suerte de transnacionalismo rizómatico líquido. Es decir, compañías que, más allá de tener dueños, tienen ahora por mandones a accionistas que a la vez son accionistas de otras empresas transnacionales, lo que, por citar un ejemplo, explicaría que 25 empresas posean hoy más capital que el PIB de Estados Unidos y Japón juntos.
Bajo este panorama, Lascano resaltó que, con el Brexit y el ascenso de Trump, no estaríamos regresando a la fase anterior a este proceso neoliberalista, sino que este momento de extracción –ahora amurallado– se volverá aún más extremo. Por todo ello, en una época en dónde ganar un gobierno se vuelve acaso un asunto decorativo, la izquierda tendría que comprender –continuó Lascano– que la gran tarea pendiente es generar organización social y autogestión económica, ello para tumbar esa cuarta pared del escenario social que impide que unos sean actores y otrxs espectadores. Si la agenda del poder no es la nuestra, y las cosas se cambian realmente en la calle y no en las instituciones, Lascano enfatiza que la propuesta de conformar un Concejo Indígena de Gobierno podría generar una nueva red que construya con su propia fuerza lo común, lo parejo y lo comunitario. Si lo bueno de las catástrofes –continuó Lascano– es que obliga a la gente común a actuar en común, esta propuesta aumentaría la capacidad de que el apocalipsis extremo capitalista no nos lleve entre las patas. “En tiempos mórbidos es necesario reencantar a los de abajo por medio de la práctica y las ideas”, lanzó Sergio.
En el final de la jornada, el Sub Moisés reiteró que “el enemigo capitalista no nos va a dejar, no va a permitir que sea el pueblo, mujeres y hombres los que van a mandar, jamás lo van a permitir (….) El enemigo capitalista no va a dejar de explotarnos, no nos va a explotar a medias, no va a haber nada más que el pueblo, mujeres y hombres que tienen que organizarse”. “Así como en el ’94 nos apoyaron, creo que ahora nos toca a nosotros apoyar, de decirle al pueblo que luche con resistencia y rebeldía porque ya no les queda de otra”, concluyó el Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.
Good afternoon or good morning to those who are listening to us around the world.
What I’m going to talk about, compañeros, compañeras, brothers and sisters who are present here and those who watch us from elsewhere… what I’m going to talk to you about is not what I think, but rather what the compañeras and compañeras who make up the Zapatista Army for National Liberation bases of support think.
We compañeras and compañeras here in front [members of the EZLN comandancia] understand that we serve as support for the thousands of compañeras who are bases of support; we support the thousands of compañeros who are bases of support. That’s how we’ve defined it lately because we pass along to them what we see, what we hear, what we come to know. And what is it that we have come to know or hear about? Trump’s wall.
When we started hearing about this, when we began to understand what was going on, we met with the compañeras and compañeros of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee [CCRI] and began to discuss what is happening to our migrant brothers and sisters who are in the United States.
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Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda
12 de abril de 2017
San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Cideci / Universidad de la Tierra Chiapas
“ABRIL TAMBIÉN ES MAÑANA”
Campaña Mundial “Contra los muros de arriba las grietas de abajo y a la izquierda”
Seminario de Reflexión Crítica Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda
Día 1
Miercoles 12 de abril, Cideci-Unitierra Chiapas. Es el primer día del Seminario-Encuentro, para la reflexión, para compartir el pensamiento crítico sobre los muros y las grietas. Comandantes y comandantas acompañaron la mesa al Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, jefe y vocero del EZLN, y al Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano, que tuvo como invitado a Don Pablo González Casanova, para darle un abrazo colectivo a quien consideran un compañero, “nos enorgullece la compañía de su paso, su palabra crítica y sobre todo su compromiso sin tibiezas, ni dobleces”.
Como parte del inicio, tomaron la palabra las comandantas zapatistas, la palabra chol de la comandanta Amada, la palabra tojolabal de la comandanta Everilda , la palabra tsotsil la comandanta Yesica, la palabra tseltal de la comandanta Miriam, y la palabra castilla de la comandanta Dalia, que dijo “chinga tu madre Trump”. “Fuck Trump” en traducción de Galeano.
Continuó la palabra del Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, jefe y vocero del EZLN, previa intervención del Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano, que abrió la reflexión con el Preludio: “Los relojes, el apocalipsis y la hora de lo pequeño”. Un reloj de arena zapatista…
Y en esta reflexión, otra plática, la de Galeano y Marcos Entre la luz y la sombra, sobre los personajes, el que moría, pero también otro de ellos, Don Durito. El significado del personaje, “la liga entre el escarabajo y los indígenas zapatistas”, se encuentra en la intervención del Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés para dar la explicación de Por qué el mundo capitalista semeja una finca amurallada.
EL Sup Moisés compartió la historia de las abuelas y abuelos sobre la experiencia de esclavitud en la finca, su estructura de mando de Patrón-Caporal-Mayordomos-Capataces, similar a la estructura gubernamental, subordinada al mando del capital, su patrón. El modo en que fueron explotados y violentados, su régimen económico y político. Pero también el modo en cómo resistieron y se rebelaron, de manera colectiva, la posibilidad. “Sí hay como” llevar a cabo la transformación hacia la libertad frente el capitalismo quiere convertir en su finca al Mundo, como lo expuso.
Tomó nuevamente la palabra el Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano para reflexionar que Abril también es mañana. La ciencia social del mundo bipolar de mitad del siglo XX, el análisis de la realidad social, la derrota de la inteligencia y el pensamiento crítico. Pero llegó Cuba, Fidel-CUBA, el pueblo y su Revolución que se extendió en la geografía mundial. Playa Girón, una grieta en el muro del capital que “nos enseñó que el grande y poderoso puede ser derrotado por el pequeño y débil cuando hay resistencia organizada, necio empeño y horizonte”. El derecho del pueblo, el soberano para decidir sobre su régimen de gobierno y su Libertad.
En el inicio del seminario y de la campaña mundial “Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda”, lxs zapatistas han puesto sobre la mesa el secreto de su método. Para sobrevivir al mundo contemporáneo que vuelve a ser una suma de fincas amuralladas con sus nuevos castigos, capataces, mayordomos, caporales y psicóticos asesinos, el subcomandante insurgente Móises ha recordado las palabras de nuestros abuelos, quienes cuentan que en algún momento decidieron cambiar su modo de luchar y detener la explotación. Decidieron, nos ha contado Moisés, dejar de recibir los chicotazos por separado para hacerlo en colectivo. En lasmemorias y experiencias compartidas esta noche brotaron las carcajadas de Tacho y Zebedeo hace 21 años en San Andrés ante la crítica de los negociadores gubernamentales por usar relojes occidentales,los poemas de“Los versos del capitán” de Neruda, Mercedes Sosa cantando “Todo cambia”, y la arena de Playa Girón, esa gran grieta en el muro que hizo nacer tantísimas grietas más. Y también el secreto: aún más en tiempos apocalípticos, el reloj de los zapatistas elude ser lineal, exacto y digital como el de la izquierda ilustrada institucional porque el zapatista es un tiempo –ha dicho el subGaleano- poco práctico, irreverente e incómodo que les da la ventaja de poder ver el tiempo pasado y el tiempo que viene. En tiempos apocalípticos lxs zapatistas ven en su reloj con arena de playa Girón que, como en aquel abril de hace 56 años, Cuba, los pueblos originarios y la humanidad pervivirán. Además, han apuntado ya en el inicio del seminario que el apocalipsis no es la pregunta ni el espejo sino nuestras respuestas, y que es en ellas dónde el mundo o se acaba o comienza. Como un reloj de arena…
A few months ago, Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés gave me a more extensive and substantive summary of what he just told you.
Perhaps unintentionally, he had detected a through line between the past and the storm that’s here now.
Early this morning, after listening to the stories—told through the voice of SupMoy—of the oldest of our compañeros, I returned to my hut. In any case, an unseasonal rain had begun to lash the tin roof, and it was impossible to hear anything beside the storm.
I continued rummaging through the trunk that SupMarcos had entrusted to me, because I thought I had seen a text that might relate to what I had just heard.
Reviewing those writings is not easy, believe me. Most of the texts piled in disarray in that trunk date from 1983 to January 1, 1994, and it’s clear that at least until 1992, the Sup not only did not have a computer, he didn’t even have a mechanical typewriter. So the texts are handwritten on pages of all sizes. The deceased’s handwriting was far from legible in any case, in addition to the impact of the time in the mountains, humidity, and tobacco stains and burns.
There’s all kinds of things in there. For example, I found the original manuscript with the operating orders for the different Zapatista military units on the eve of the uprising. Not only do they contain each unit’s makeup, but also each operation, detailed with a thoroughness that reveals years of preparation.
These are not the notes of a poet lost in the mountains of the Mexican southeast, or of a storyteller. They’re the writings of a soldier. No, better said, of a military commander.
The Capitalist World is a Walled Plantation
Words of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés
Seminar “The Walls of Capital, the Cracks of the Left”
Cideci / Universidad de la Tierra Chiapas
Wednesday April 12, 2017
Good evening, good afternoon, good morning, according to where you’re listening from.
Brothers, sisters, compañeros, compañeras:
What I’m going to talk about today is not what I believe, but rather what our great-grandfathers and grandfathers and great-grandmothers and grandmothers told us.
I talked with one of our great-grandfathers who says he’s 140 years old. According to my calculations he’s around 125 years old. You have to get very close to his ear for him to be able to hear what you ask him.
I spoke with about 20-some of them, of our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. We were asking them– the compañeros from the Clandestine Committee were there too–and it turns out that part of what SupGaleano was saying is exactly what they told us about.
For example, for the bricks that they used to make for the plantation owners—that is, the owners of the haciendas, the hacendados they call them, or the patrón—they had to fill large sacks with horse manure. Then they dried them, and after having dried the sacks of manure, they turned the manure into dust using a heavy club to beat the sacks. Then they mixed that with mud to make the adobe bricks with which they built the plantation owner’s house.
This great-grandfather said that he remembers that the work was organized by quota. Quota means that each one of them had to turn in a certain number of sacks. So each time there was fresh horse manure, they had to bring it, with the water running down their backs. The point is that they had to turn in the number of sacks that the patrón demanded.
They learned how to make their own houses that way too, they used the same materials. They called it mud wall, mud construction is what it’s called. So, they learned to build this way, but their houses were much smaller, with just two rooms.
So, what I’m going to explain here further is where our ideas come from, as the Zapatistas we are—what we’re seeing and studying about how we are exploited today. In sum, I’m going to tell you this because this is what is going to help us to understand what happened before and what situation we’re in now, and what the future will hold.
Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, great-grandmothers and grandmothers tell us that the patrón is the owner of the plantation,of many plantations, many haciendas. All the plantation-owners have their managers [caporales], foremen [mayordomos], and overseers [capataces]: those three, well four with the patrón.
They tell us that there are plantations of fifteen thousand hectares, of twenty thousand and twenty-five thousand hectares. There are plantations with different kinds of work, and some plantations that only produce one thing, like coffee. There are others that produce coffee, livestock, corn, beans, sugar, and lots of different things.
They tell us, too, about the methods of exploitation. They tell us that there are plantation owners, landowners, who never paid them anything, and they gave their whole lives to work. Others tell us that Sunday was the only day they had for themselves; all the other days were for the patrón. Still others tell us that they worked one week for the patrón and one week for themselves. But that it was a trick, a swindle, they tell us, because that week our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers supposedly had for themselves, whatever they harvested that week (whether it was beans, corn, or a few animals they were able pull together), when it came time to sell, they had to give half to the patrón and they kept the other half.
They tell us that when the patrón wants to see if his herd of animals is complete, they had to go and get them, herding the animals and putting them in the corral. They tell us that if one of the patrón’s animals was missing, they had to go look for it and bring it back, dead or alive. How did the patrón, that is, the landowner, require that they prove that it was dead? They had to bring back a piece of its hide so that the patrón would know for sure that his animal was dead. If they couldn’t find it, they had to keep looking until they found it, dead or alive.
When the patrón took the livestock to market, he organized the workers into groups who were responsible for so many heads of livestock. Whether it was ten or twenty people, men, they had so many heads of livestock that they had to transport. The patrón would count them before leaving and he count them again upon arrival at the destination where the animals were taken. Each person had to deliver all of their livestock; if they didn’t account for every single one, they would have to pay for it, or the person in charge of that group would.
They tell us that the corral, if the patrón so desires, is made of stone. If not, it’s made of wood carved with an axe. And they say that it had to be pure heartwood. That means that it’s the hardest part of the wood, so that it doesn’t rot later. The patrón wouldn’t accept softer wood, he would refuse it.
They also tell us that when it was time to take the pigs to market (not the patrón, the animal: the hogs) it was the same process as with the cattle. But there was a difference, say the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers. They say they had to transport the load at night, because the hogs get overheated during the day. So their flashlight, their light source, was a torch made of ocote wood.[i] They carried bundles of ocote as their lamp to walk by night. The same as with the cows, each person was responsible for a certain number of pigs. And if they wanted to advance by day, they had to carry water with them to wet the hogs down, that is, to cool them off so they didn’t suffer in the heat.
The women, the grandmothers and the great grandmothers, tell us that the patrón had his way of how he liked things done. For example, the grandmothers and great-grandmothers say that when the work was difficult, it was always the married women who had to do it. What was their job? To grind coffee, to grind salt in bulk. They tell us that the mothers went with their children to grind salt, with a flat stone for grinding, a metate. And the managers, foremen, and overseers were right there, as well as the patrón and his wife. The women had their babies on their backs but weren’t allowed to take care of them, even though they cried and cried, because the patrón was there watching and the women had to meet their quota. It wasn’t until the patrón or his wife decided to go use the bathroom that the mother would have a chance to breastfeed her child.
They tell us that the patrón would ask for only young women to attend to him in his plantation house, to do different jobs. But one of the patrón’s tricks was to choose a young woman and say, “You, I want you to go and make up my bedroom,” to make the bed. And when the young woman went into the room, the patrón would follow to rape her. So he chose them one by one. And they tell us too that he would grab them whenever he wanted to.
They tell us also about what I already mentioned, that they were there grinding the coffee, grinding the salt, and the pay that the patrón would give them was three pieces of beef, but from animals that were already dead. That was their payment.
They also tell us that the children were given work too. No one escaped it. They called them porteros, keepers, but not the keepers like in soccer, they just called the children that. The job of those six-year-old children was to grind the nixtamal [partially cooked maize] without lime; this was for the dogs, the pigs, and the chickens. Once that was done they had to carry water, usually in a barrel on their backs we are told. The barrel was made of wood in which they would make a hole, that is, they would perforate it. The barrel held between 18 and 20 liters, and this is what the children had to carry so the patrón could wash his hands, use it to bathe, or whatever he wanted. Once that was finished, the children had to go and carry wood. After they brought the wood, they were responsible for de-kerneling the corn.
The elders tell us also that once the men got old and couldn’t work in the fields, and the older women too…well, nobody was free from work. The older men would go look for a plant that we call “ixchte.” The men would scrape it until a kind of thread was formed. One group would do this part. Another group of older men would then make the thread into a kind of rope. Another group would be responsible for turning that into nets. That was the work of the old men. And the older women? One group would be responsible for unraveling cotton. Another group would turn the cotton into thread and another group would weave the thread into cloth. And then that little piece of cloth is what our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers would later have to buy to use as clothes. They tell us that the clothes they wore were just to cover the most necessary parts, nothing else, not like we are dressed today.
They also told us about punishment. There were various kinds of punishment. One was that the patrón would have some corn mixed with beans, and he would throw it on the ground and tell you to separate the corn from the beans. And the patrón knew—the elders tell us—that you weren’t going to be able to do it, because he would give you a a time limit. He’s say: “I’m going to spit and in the time that it takes my saliva to dry is the time you have to separate the corn from the beans.” But how were you going to pull that off?
Since you couldn’t possibly do this, there close by the patrón would have gathered some little rocks together, prepared a little piece of ground with rocks. That’s where he would make you kneel because you couldn’t separate the beans from the corn. So you had to kneel there and you couldn’t get up until the patrón decided to let you. And if you got up, that meant you were not accepting your punishment. So you had to endure kneeling there and thats where the whip came in. I’m going to tell you exactly what the grandfathers told me. They said that whenever one of the patrón’s bulls died, he’d have the penis cut off the bull, dried, and that’s what he used to whip the workers. So while you’re kneeling there, the patrón would come whip you and you couldn’t get up because—this is what they tell us—if you got up it would be worse. But they tell us that you had to get up because of the pain from the whip and and the pain from your knees—that it was intolerable and you just had to get up.
But the moment you got up, there were the managers, the foremen, and the overseers to grab you and tie your hands and feet to the beams of the house until the patrón got tired of whipping you or until he realized that—as our grandfathers say—you were beaten senseless. In other words, you had fainted or lost consciousness. That’s how he left you.
They tell us that all of the work that had to be done was by quota. There wasn’t any task that didn’t have a quota. And everything was under the watch of the managers, the foremen, and the overseers. They told us for example about the coffee fields. When it was time to harvest the coffee, everyone had a quota for how much coffee they had to turn in. The children who couldn’t pick coffee, who were too small to reach the coffee beans, their work was to pick up everything that fell on the ground. When it wasn’t coffee harvest time, there was other work: one group had to clear the coffee field, that is, the vegetation and weeds; another group was responsible for what’s called “crating,” that is, they had to make a kind of crate for each coffee bush that would hold the composted fertilizer; another group had to tend to the coffee bush, because it gets growths on its trunk which had to be removed. Our grandparents and great grandparents tell us that you couldn’t do it with your hands; you had to burn a corncob—because when you burn a corncob it develops a sharp edge and that’s what you use to clean the trunk. And the overseer would go around checking to make sure it was good enough, and if it wasn’t, you had to start over. If not, then punishment.
They also tell us that another group had to prune the coffee; that there couldn’t be vines or vegetation climbing up the coffee plant. They say there was also a group for “de-shading,” as they call it. That is, if there were trees above the coffee plants, they had to cut them back to remove the shade, only as much as necessary the patrón would say.
They also say that on all the plantations then—and now, because there are still some today—there was always an ermita, as they call it, a chapel. When it was time to go pray, our great-grandparents couldn’t sit on the chairs and benches in the chapel. If they sat there they would be physically pushed off. And the priest would be there watching, but wouldn’t say anything. Only the patrón and other mestizos could sit there. If our great-grandparents wanted to sit down, well then it was on the floor.
In the cities, our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers tell us, they weren’t allowed to go sell the little they had. They say that they were told that they made the city ugly. They weren’t allowed to go to the center city; what the mestizos would do was close off the entries to the city at the outskirts and either just take everything [the indigenous people] had brought if they felt like it, or pay whatever they wanted for it.
Our grandparents tell us that there were no highways at that time, just wagons pulled by horses. So when the patrón’s wife wanted to go to the plantation, she wouldn’t use the horse and wagon, because “an animal is an animal, it doesn’t think,” and there could be an accident with her on board. So what they had to do was send a group to the city in order to carry the patrón’s wife back. But they also had to bring back goods, so a group would go and they take turns carrying her back. When they arrived at the plantation, the patrón’s wife would be asked if anything had happened to her, and they would ask those who carried her if they had had any accidents. They had to do this all the way to the plantation and all the way back.
They told us many more things. For example, they showed us a cent, which is what they were paid at that time. They say that when the patrón started to actually pay them something, he paid them one cent a day. They showed us the coin. They also said that at some point they couldn’t put up with the mistreatment anymore. So they tried to organize themselves, to look for land where they could live. The patrones found out that they had fled the plantation and begin to investigate where they had gone. Our grandparents say that the patrones dressed up like soldiers and went themselves to evict, destroy, to burn down the little house that our great-grandparents were building where they wanted to live.
That’s what they told us happened. And that’s how they found out that the patrón was disguised as a soldier—because one of our grandfathers had worked on various plantations. They say that [the patrones dressed as soldiers] destroyed the little huts they had built, that they got everyone together who had fled to create a community and asked them, “who headed this up?” That’s what the soldiers said, “whose idea was this? If you don’t tell us who’s leading this, all of you will be punished.” And the people said “it was so-and-so,” the one who led the escape from the plantation and the search for where to live. So they [the patrones] said to that person: “you have to pay 50 pesos.” Our great-grandparents say that to come up with 50 pesos—at that time, because this great-grandfather is 140 years old, so we’re talking about 140 years ago—at that time it would take a year to come up with 50 pesos.
So they realized that it would be difficult for someone to choose to lead an attempt to flee the suffering. But they also told us that once they realized this, what they did was not name anyone, but rather say that it was the group. They began to rebuild…they found another piece of land and began to build their houses again, but this time, with all of them leading. Nothing more about who would lead. That is, they became a collective. That’s how they began to start a life somewhere else.
So, why are we telling you about this? We as Zapatistas see that today we are re-entering this same scenario. In capitalism there are no countries, that’s how we see it. Capitalism is going to turn the whole world into a plantation. It will break everything up, as it already is—what we call the country of Mexico, the country of Guatemala, but it will all be under a group of governing patrones. All those who say things about Peña Nieto’s government…no, no, we say, it’s not a government. Because the person in charge is no longer the person in charge. The capitalist patrón is in charge. What are referred to as the governments of Peña Nieto, of Guatemala, of El Salvador, and elsewhere are just the managers. The governors are the foremen. The municipal presidents are the overseers. All of them act in the service of capitalism.
We see then that it doesn’t take a lot of study to see how things are. For example, this new law on structure, the new structural law that was passed here in Mexico: we don’t think this law was made by congressional representatives and senators. We don’t buy it. That law was mandated by the patrón: capitalism. They are the ones who want to do again what their own great-great-grandparents did. But now it’s even worse.
That’s why we are beginning with this topic. We are talking about, for example, Absalón Castellanos Domínguez, the ex-general, who had plantations here in Chiapas and had or has a plantation in Oaxaca. We’re talking about 5,000, 10,000 hectares. Here, in today’s capitalism, the capitalist patrón says: I’m going to my plantation Mexico, I’m going to my plantation Guatemala, I’m going to my planation Haiti, I’m going to my plantation Costa Rica… all of the capitalist underdeveloped countries are going to be plantations.
This means that the governing patrón, capitalism, is going to turn the entire world into its plantation, that is, if we allow it. Our question there as Zapatistas is: why do they—the capitalists—change their mode of exploitation? And why don’t we change our form of struggle to save ourselves from that?
That’s why I’ve been telling you about what our great-grandparents did, where we indigenous come from. They said that they made a mistake when they said “so-and-so led us.” But they didn’t give up. They searched for a way to continue struggling, for a way to escape from the patrón and they said, “nobody led us,” “we are all of us.”
So, why all of us now? Because under capitalism today, it is not only we indigenous who are suffering in the world. Now we are suffering in the countryside and the city, that is, indigenous and non-indigenous. So, what are we going to do?
We Zapatistas who live here in the shit of capitalism, we are still fighting, still struggling, and we will continue to struggle… small as we are, but we are showing—just like our great-grandparents taught us—that there is a way. We have our small freedom. We still have to liberate Mexico. But now we say, how will we liberate the world?
Here in this little piece of the world, in Chiapas, the compañeros and compañeras have their freedom, the freedom to do whatever they want to do. They have in their hands what it means to be autonomous, independent. So how are we all going to do it? What are we going to do? Because now we are seeing that the whole world is going to be turned into the capitalists’ plantation.
So then, look at this reality, think about it, analyze it. See how it works where you live, where you are; see if you are also living in the shit of capitalism and what to do about it. Because this is what capitalism is doing now.
Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano is going to continue.
[i] The wood of the ocote pine tree can be used as a light source as it catches fire at the stroke of a match and burns steadily.
We want to thank the compañeras and compañeros of CIDECI-UniTierra for having offered, with compañero generosity, this, their space, once again in order that we can meet here; as well as the support teams for the Comisión Sexta [Sixth Commission of the EZLN] who are in charge of transportation (we hope they don’t get lost again), logistics, and security for this event.
We also appreciate the participation of those who will accompany us with their reflections and analysis in this seminar which we’ve called “The Walls of Capital, the Cracks of the Left.” So thank you to:
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Organización Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal
Tierra Sagrada de los Mártires de Acteal
Municipio de Chenalhó, Chiapas, México.
A 12 de abril 2017.
Les comunicamos que 3 compañeros, Alonso Ruiz Lopez, Alonso Jiménez Méndez y Manuel Jiménez Méndez de la organización fueron detenidos por partidistas de la colonia Los Chorros, de Chenalho, Chiapas. Después de las labores de reconexión de luz y Agua que anuncíamos, haríamos el día de ayer.
Así mismo volvieron a cortar el suministro de Luz y Agua a los compañeros José Vasquez Entzín y Antonio Rámirez Pérez, así como a Juan Diego Pérez López Por los que estan sufriendo por la falta de agua, ya las autoridades de Los Chorros han prohibido que les proporcionen agua, estas acciones son un ataque por nuestra pertenencia a la organización ya que quieren desmovilizarlos.
exijimos la liberación inmediata de nuestros compañeros, cese de los ataques, agresiones y acciones de intimidación a las y los integrantes de nuestra organización, la reconexión de los servicios de agua y que las autoridades de Los Chorros no multen ni amenazen a las personas que quieren apoyar con agua a las familias de Las Abejas que en este momento se encuentran en una situación crítica por falta de agua.
Responsabilizamos a la Presidenta Municipal de Chenalho Rosa Pérez Pérez por cualquier agresión o ataque que puedan tener nuestras y nuestros compañeros de la orgnización.
ANTECEDENTES:
Organización Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal
Tierra Sagrada de los Mártires de Acteal
Municipio de Chenalhó, Chiapas, México.
A 10 de abril 2017.
Al Congreso Nacional Indígena (CNI)
A las Juntas de Buen Gobierno
A la Sexta Nacional e Internacional
A la Sociedad Civil Nacional e Internacional
A las Organizaciones Sociales y Políticas
A los Medios Libres, Alternativos, Autónomos o como se llamen
A las y los Defensores de los Derechos Humanos
A la Prensa Nacional e Internacional
Y a la opinión pública.
Hermanas y hermanos: Entre la sequía y la lluvia los saludamos desde la Tierra Sagrada de los Mártires de Acteal; Casa de la Memoria y la Esperanza.
Nosotros la Organización de la Sociedad Civil de Las Abejas de Acteal manifestamos públicamente nuestra preocupación y llamamos a estar pendientes por la situación de los dos compañeros miembros de nuestra Organización de nombre José Vázquez Entzin y Antonio Ramírez Pérez (quien actualmente es secretario general de nuestra Organización) y junto con sus respectivas familias, del Barrio Río Jordán, Miguel Utrilla Los Chorros, municipio de Chenalhó, Chiapas que desde el 30 de noviembre de 2015 les fueron cortados los servicios de agua potable y la energía eléctrica, por las ex autoridades y algunas personas que incitaron en su contra por no aceptar un proyecto del mal gobierno, porque de por sí como organización no aceptamos ningún proyecto gubernamental, porque son parte de la estrategia de contrainsurgencia. Estos hechos ya los hemos denunciado anteriormente.
En el momento de los hechos ocurridos denunciados a las autoridades del gobierno para que hicieran una resolución pronta y positiva, pero desafortunadamente no tomaron en cuenta nuestra demanda. Por eso hoy cumple 1 año con 4 meses el sufrimiento de nuestros dos compañeros y con sus respectivas familias.
Nosotros como Organización Sociedad Civil de Las Abejas de Acteal, hemos analizado que es una violación a los derechos humanos y vimos el sufrimiento de los compañeros y sus familias, por eso decidimos hacer una acción pacífica para la reconexión del servicio de agua y la energía eléctrica. El 11 de abril de 2017, llegará un grupo de nuestros compañeros miembros de Las Abejas de Acteal al barrio Río Jordán, Los Chorros para realizar dicha acción.
Por esto queremos hacer un llamado a los gobiernos estatal y municipal para que tomen las medidas para que la gente que incita en contra nuestra no llegue a cometer ningún acto violento en contra de la integridad física y psicológica de nuestras y nuestros compañeros de Las Abejas de Acteal.
Llamamos a todas las organizaciones y colectivos conscientes a estar pendientes y solidarizarse por cualquier ataque que podamos sufrir durante nuestra acción, así como en los días siguientes a la reconexión del agua y la luz de nuestros compañeros José Vázquez Entzín y Antonio Ramírez Pérez con sus respectivas familias.
Atentamente
La Voz de la Organización de la Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal.
