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Words of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee-General Command of the EZLN, in the voice of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, on the 26th Anniversary of the Beginning of the War Against Oblivion
Source: Enlace Zapatista
Audio: Radio Pozol
Words of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee-General Command of the EZLN, in the voice of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, on the 26th Anniversary of the Beginning of the War Against Oblivion
.
December 31, 2019.
January 1, 2020.
Good afternoon, good morning, good evening, good day to everyone, [todas, todos y todoas]:
To the compañeras and compañeros who are Zapatista bases of support:
To the compañeras and compañeros who are Zapatista comandantas and comandantes:
To the Zapatista autonomous authorities:
To the compañeras and compañeros who are milicianos, milicianas, insurgentas and insurgentes:
To the National Indigenous Congress – Indigenous Governing Council:
To the National and International Sixth:
To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion:
Brothers and sisters in Mexico and throughout the world:
Through me, the Zapatista Army for National Liberation speaks.
“Canek said:
I read in a book that in the old days, the rulers wanted to call together armies to defend the lands they governed. First, they called up the cruelest men because they supposed that these men were accustomed to blood. So they drew their armies from the prisons and the slaughterhouses. But it turned out that when these people stood face to face with the enemy, they turned pale and threw down their arms. Then the rulers turned to the strongest men – the stone masons and the miners. To these men, they gave armor and heavy weapons and sent them out to do battle. But again, the mere presence of the enemy instilled weakness in their arms and dismay in their hearts. The rulers wisely then turned to men who were neither strong nor fierce nor bloodthirsty, but were simply brave and had something rightly to defend – the land they worked, the women they slept with and the children whose laughter delighted them. And when the time came, these men fought with so much fury that they drove off their enemies and were forever free of their threats and persecution.” [i]
Sisters, brothers, hermanoas:
It was 26 years ago, on an afternoon like this one, that we came down from our mountains to the big cities in order to challenge those in power. At that time, we had nothing more than our own death – a double death, because we were dying a physical death and also a death of oblivion. We had to choose: whether to die like animals or die like human beings who struggle for their lives.
So it was that when dawn broke on that January 1, we had fire in our hands.
The big boss we faced then is the same one who despises us today. He had another name and another face, but he was and is the same ruler.
We rose up and a space was opened for the word. So we opened our heart to the hearts of other sisters and brothers and compañeros, and our voice was met with support and comfort from all the colors of the world from below.
Words from the Zapatista Women at the Opening of the Second International Gathering of Women Who Struggle
Inauguration of the Encounter of Women Who Struggle, 2019. Photo: RZ
ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
MEXICO
December 27, 2019
Compañeras and sisters:
Welcome to these Zapatista lands.
Welcome sisters and compañeras from geographies across the five continents.
Welcome compañeras and sisters from Mexico and the world.
Welcome sisters and compañeras from the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion.
Welcome compañeras from the National Indigenous Congress-Indigenous Governing Council.
Welcome compañeras from the National and International Sixth.
Welcome compañeras from the Zapatista Bases of Support.
Welcome compañeras who are milicianas and insurgentas in the EZLN.
Sister and compañera:
We want to report that as of yesterday, December 26, 2019, registration for this second gathering came to:
3,259 women
95 little girls
26 men
From the following 49 countries:
