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For la Maestra, with affection
July 2016
To the maestras [female teachers] of the teachers in resistance:
To the national and international Sixth:
To the attendees and participants of the CompArte all over the world:
Compas, hermanoas,[i] etcéteras:
We send you all [todas, todoas, todos] our greetings and respect. We hope that your health is good and your spirits high.
We are writing to send you a few videos of the contributions that the Zapatista bases of support had prepared for the CompArte. For now we are including two videos dedicated to women below and to the left, and especially to the maestras in struggle. Here goes:
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“TO DANCE A THOUGHT”
This first video that we will show you is from the Caracol of La Garrucha. It a bailable [choreographed dance] entitled “The Rights of Women.” As is the case with almost everything here, it was prepared collectively by men and women, young people trained in the Zapatista autonomous education system. Zapatista bases of support wrote it, practiced it, and prepared to present it at the CompArte. The MC [maestra or master of ceremonies] explains everything. If you end up repeating the chorus, that’s to be expected. But we can tell you one thing: when you are capable of, as the compañera MC says, “singing a thought,” then perhaps you will have to rethink the idea that Art only comes from above, while below what we have are “crafts” [artesanías].
![radio](https://radiozapatista.org/wp-content/themes/radio-zapatista/images/radiozapatista.gif)
Compañeros of the CIDECI-Unitierra announce that the CompArte Festival is on
San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
July 8, 2016
To all of the artists participating and attending CompARTE:
To the national and international Sixth:
Brothers and sisters:
We send you fraternal greetings on behalf of all of those who make up CIDECI-Unitierra.
With regard to the celebration of the CompArte Festival convoked by our compañer@s of the EZLN, and convinced also that “the arts are a hope for humanity… [and] that in the most difficult moments, when disillusionment and impotence are at a peak, the Arts are the only thing capable of celebrating humanity” (EZLN Communique, 7/6/2016), we want to inform you that we are continuing preparations to celebrate this sharing-exchange from July 23 through July 30. Our CIDECI-Unitierra community will keep its doors open to receive all of the persons, communities, and collectives that have felt in their hearts this call to come share experiences of art, struggle, and resistance.
As of the initial CompArte convocation, we have been happy to be able to offer our grain of sand to this celebration. You can count on us to put all of our efforts into making you feel as welcome as possible. We await you here.
Chin up!
CIDECI-Unitierra
P.S. 1. All previously registered participants and attendees can collect their accreditation in CIDECI-Unitierra as of July 18, from 10am to 8pm.
P.S. 2. Anyone not yet registered can register directly at CIDECI-Unitierra, also between 10am and 8pm.