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La Sexta Bachajón: Invitación a la Quinta Conmemoración por Juan Vázquez Guzmán

Compañeros y compañeras, en este medio les hacemos llegar la invitación a la Quinta Conmemoración Anual de nuestro compañero finado Juan Vázquez Guzmán.

Reciban nuestros saludos combativos

EN EJIDO SAN SEBASTIÁN BACHAJÓN, ADHERENTES A LA SEXTA DECLARACIÓN DE LA SELVA LACANDONA CHIAPAS, MÉXICO, A 11 DE ABRIL DE 2018.

A l@s compañer@s adherentes a la Sexta Declaración de la Selva Lacandona de México y el Mundo.

Al Movimiento de Justicia por el Barrio de Nueva York.

A los Defensores de Derechos Humanos Solidarios.

Al pueblo en General de México y el Mundo.

Amigos y amigas, vecinos solidarios, compañeros y compañeras de lucha y resistencia, en este medio, nos permitimos enviarles saludos combativos a todos y en especial al Grupo del Movimiento de Justicia por el Barrio Nueva York de parte de la familia del finado Juan Vázquez Guzmán y a los Compañeros Adherentes a la Sexta.

Para hacerles de su conocimiento y a la vez invitarlos para que asistan en la Quinta Conmemoración Anual de nuestro compañero finado Juan Vázquez Guzmán, defensor de derechos humanos, para el día 24 de abril del presente año, en el transcurso del día y en la noche, en el domicilio de sus familiares, en san Sebastián Bachajón, barrio onte’el, salida a Chilón, ya que el compañero fue asesinado en frente de su casa el 24 de abril 2013, los familiares de Juan Vázquez Guzmán y los compañeros Adherentes a la Sexta Declaración del Ejido San Sebastián Bachajón les damos la cordial invitación para que participen y honrar juntos la memoria del compañero, en esta Quinta Conmemoración Anual.

Desde la zona norte del estado de Chiapas las mujeres y hombres de san Sebastián Bachajón les enviamos combativos saludos.

Nunca más un México sin nosotros

Tierra y libertad

¡Zapata vive!

¡Hasta la victoria siempre!

¡Juan Vázquez guzmán vive, la lucha de Bachajón sigue!

¡Juan Carlos Gómez Silvano vive, la lucha de Bachajón sigue!

¡No al despojo de los territorios indígenas!

¡Viva la digna lucha de los compañeros y compañeras choles del ejido tila!

¡JUSTICIA PARA NUESTRO COMPAÑERO JUAN VAZQUEZ GUZMAN, AYOTZINAPA, ACTEAL, ABC, ATENCO!

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Tras la incursión al espacio de la democracia electoral permitida y promovida por el sistema político institucional, ¿cumplimos o no cumplimos?, ¿terminamos en lo mismo o realmente hicimos otra cosa? Así la pregunta, la reflexión, la autocrítica, el verdadero examen y el espejo propuestos por el EZLN en voz del SubComandante Insurgente Galeano en el primer día de charlas del conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿Prohibido pensar?”. Con esta invitación ha iniciado este lunes 16 de abril en el CIDECI-UNITIERRA de San Cristóbal la valoración colectiva de la etapa en la cual el Concejo Indígena de Gobierno intentó contar con una vocera que participara como candidata en las elecciones presidenciales de este año. Algunas de las primeras respuestas compartidas fueron: “Faltará en la opinión pública el nos están matando”; “Se logró un importante avance pues se construyó, reinstaló y amplió un auténtico espacio político que abre el camino y el horizonte de los pueblos”; “Tal vez como experiencia estuvo buena, pero debemos cuidarnos de no repetirla”; “Sabemos muy bien que nuestros sueños no caben ni cabrán jamás en sus urnas, en cualquier tipo de urnas”; “Nosotros decimos que no legitimamos al sistema sino que lo desnudamos” o “La verdad, hicieron un desmadre”.

A la par de éstas y las próximas reflexiones sobre la recolección de firmas como pretexto para generar organización colectiva autónoma –el SubGaleano incluso declaró que ellos pensaron que a lo mucho se obtendrían 100,000 firmas y que de ellas quizás 10,000 personas entenderían la propuesta–, en el primer día de este nuevo “semillero” sobresalió lo que en su momento era la agenda secreta del zapatismo. Al contarnos el origen y el camino para preparar el Primer Encuentro Internacional de las Mujeres que Luchan, las compañeras de base y coordinadoras de los cinco caracoles zapatistas, así como Mercedes Olivera, Márgara Millán, Sylvia Marcos y María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, trazaron veredas sobre cómo pensar y hacer hoy, juntxs y desde abajo, una transformación radical, ese “caminar que va lento, de lo pequeño a lo mayor, se va apropiando del territorio, tiene reglas desde el trato hasta lo que se produce y lo que se consume, se burla del dinero, reencuentra el juego, el espacio de la fiesta, se niega a la victimización, distribuye y disemina el poder y es siempre atento al poder de las estructuras de género”.

Entonces, ¿valió la pena el reciente esfuerzo al que fuimos convocadxs? A decir de Marichuy, en el CIG-CNI querían promover el poder y la organización desde abajo. El recorrido fue con esa finalidad y les dio gusto encontrar organización en los lugares donde imperaban el dolor, el despojo, la criminalización y la división comunitaria impuesta por los partidos políticos. “Más que ir nosotros a decirles, aprendimos mucho. Y yo creo que eso nos va a servir mucho al CNI. El recorrido fue un primer paso de muchos que se avecinan. Vamos a seguirle porque hay mucho qué hacer. Sigue lo que sigue. No podemos pensar que ya no la hicimos, sino que tenemos que seguir fortaleciendo los trabajos que hacemos de por sí. Falta mucho por hacer”, sintetizó Marichuy. A las preguntas zapatistas de los últimos años –¿Valió la pena el esfuerzo? ¿El trabajo generó organización o no? ¿Somos más grandes en horizonte (que no en número) y en capacidad? ¿Cumplimos o no cumplimos?– Marichuy respondió “Cumplimos”, pero acaso el auditorio del CIDECI se inundó con la sensación de que quedaron y quedan pendientes muchas más respuestas en muchxs otrxs lugares.

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Ayer 15 de abril inició el Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” con un festivo y combativo “concierto musiquero” en el Cideci/Universidad de la Tierra Chiapas. Los Originales de San Andrés abrieron el concierto a las 4:30 de la tarde, animando el baile… “preparando el zapato, la zapatilla y la chancla”, invitando al público a cantar y a bailar, y a la 1 de la madrugada cerró con un ensamble de todas las bandas zapatistas de los caracoles y con la cumbia de Marichuy. En un ambiente festivo, el público bailó y coreó las canciones, mientras se recordaban a los ausentes y se denunciaba el sistema de muerte. Varias rolas zapatistas se dedicaron al Maestro Galeano, asesinado en 2014, a las compañeras víctimas de feminicidio en Ciudad Juárez y otras geografías, a los 43 de Ayotzinapa. Celebrar, recordar, denunciar, resistir… La música y la palabra poética sembrando vida en tiempos de muerte. Presentamos aquí el registro fotográfico del Concierto, que da inicio al Conversatorio/Semillero, que en los próximos 9 días reúne pensadores dedicados a reflexionar sobre la tormenta que nos acomete y los siguientes pasos en la resistencia de la vida. Mirar, escuchar, decir… pensando.

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Escucha en vivo aquí: (Descarga aquí)  

Programa del concierto aquí: https://radiozapatista.org/?p=26339

Programa del Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” aquí: https://radiozapatista.org/?p=26336

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De Chiapas a la ZAD: ¡¡No al despojo!!

Colectivos de apoyo, medios libres, organizaciones e individu@s, nos levantamos en contra de la decision del Estado frances de desalojar con fuerza a los y las habitantes de la ZAD quienes construyen desde años una nueva experiencia autonoma y autogestionada, del vivir juntos en otro mundo posible.

Si el abandono de la construccion del aeropuerto fue una victoria para todas y todos quienes lucharon desde hace décadas, frente a una hidra codicioso de megaproyectos destructores, la decision de despojar las y los que viven en la ZAD, Zona A Defender, nos repugna.

Guarderia autogestionada, panaderia libre, tienda solidaria, nuevos tipos de viviendas, alimentacion autonoma en luz, solidaridad entre el mundo campesino y ocupant@s, plantas medicinales… todos esos proyectos nacen unos tras otros y muestran que en Europa tambien, otro mundo es posible. Que, sí, es posible para todas y todos rechazar este sistema de vivir junt@s para construir algo mejor, decidir colectivamente de manera horizontal.

Una delegacion de la Zad participó en el Festival Mundial de las resistencias y de las rebeldias, organizado por el EZLN y el CNI en 2014, para aprender a conocer las luchas de México ; y las obras del Comparte zapatista fueron presentadas en la Zad, en 2017. Habian participado al primer foro mundial en contra del despojo urbano y rural. Vinculos fuertes existen con los y las herman@s de Atenco en la lucha comun contra esos aeropuertos inutiles que destruyen la Madre Tierra y las zonas humedas. Llegaron igual para conocer y entender la experiencia zapatista, y las de otros grupos organizados desde abajo y la izquierda de la Sexta y del Congreso Nacional Indigena. Esos intercambios, esos encuentros crearon de ambas partes ideas, y construyeron puentes entre los dos lados del charco!

(Continuar leyendo…)

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En abril de 2015 se realizó conferencia “Desafiar la Modernidad Capitalista II” en Hamburgo, Alemania. Uno de los participantes fue John Holloway, profesor de sociología en el Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México, y Profesor Visitante Honorario en la Universidad de Rodas, Sudáfrica. Holloway ha publicado ampliamente sobre teoría marxista, sobre el movimiento zapatista y sobre las nuevas formas de  lucha anticapitalista. A continuación publicamos la ponencia completa del sociólogo.

I

Un gran honor, una emoción intensa. Estoy aprendiendo mucho sobre el movimiento de liberación kurdo. Pero esto va más allá del movimiento kurdo, ¿verdad? Hay un desbordamiento, un desbordamiento que llega desde Kurdistán y somos ese desbordamiento. Nosotros, que estamos aquí no solo para aprender de ellos, sino porque son parte de nosotros como nosotros somos parte de ellos. Nosotros que recibimos ataques constantes y buscamos desesperadamente una salida. No solo estamos aquí para apoyarles, sino porque vemos en ellos también nuestra esperanza. Nosotros que intentamos tejer un mundo distinto contra y más allá de este mundo de destrucción y muerte y que no sabemos cómo hacerlo, y por eso caminamos preguntando, preguntando caminamos, aprendiendo caminamos, abrazando caminamos.

Cada vez nos atacan de forma más agresiva, tan agresiva que en ocasiones parece que es una noche oscura sin amanecer. Los zapatistas lo llaman la Cuarta Guerra Mundial, pero el nombre no importa. Estos días hemos escuchado el término de guerra del capital contra la humanidad. Ayotzinapa es el nombre que resuena ahora en los oídos de quienes vivimos en México y en otros lugares, pero hay muchas, muchas imágenes del horror de la agresión capitalista: Guantánamo, los 300 migrantes que se ahogaron en el Mediterráneo hace tan solo unas semanas, el ISIS y el aparentemente interminable horror de la guerra en Oriente Medio, el daño causado por las políticas de austeridad en toda Europa y en Grecia en particular, los ataques constantes al pensamiento crítico en las universidades de todo el mundo, etcétera, etcétera. Todo son símbolos de la obscenidad violenta de un mundo en el que el dinero es el amo y señor. Cuarta Guerra Mundial, entonces, no como un ataque planeado a conciencia, sino como un ataque del dinero contra la humanidad que sigue su lógica de manera coherente y la renueva constantemente.

II (Continuar leyendo…)

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Desde el 8 de este mes un enorme operativo policial intenta desalojar la Zad de Notre Dame de Landes, una de las experiencias autónomas más importantes de Francia. Desde las 3 de la madrugada el operativo se implementó con brutalidad: filas de camiones azules interminables, tanques blindados, gases lacrimogenos, primeros heridos, primeros arestos. La gendarmeria prohibió la presencia de los medios de comunicación y bloqueó su acceso.

Desde Francia, compañerxs nos mandan este comunicado, con las declaraciones de quienes desarrollan actividades agrícolas y otras, expresadas en conferencia de prensa la tarde del 10 de abril.

Hoy, en la Rolandière, estábamos una treintena de personas representando las diversas actividades agrícolas, paragricolas, artesanales y culturales de la ZAD. Hemos llevado un mensaje colectivo para responder a las contra-verdades diseminadas desde ayer por los que nos están expulsando. Tenemos proyectos muy diversos en sus formas, pero somos totalmente solidarios, aun más cuando la prefectura [de policía] intenta dividirnos por medio de chantaje a la destrucción de nuestras actividades y lugares de vida.

Ayer, la granja de los cents noms ha sido destruida. Esta mañana, de nuevo, la policía [gendarme] quería atacarse al gran huerto colectivo de los Rouge et Noir y al huerto de plantas medicinales cercano. Hoy, todas las actividades y las habitaciones de la zona están amenazadas. El gobierno ha decidido interrumpir el dialogo, militarizar la zona, venir destruyendo con excavadoras, vehículo blindado, y miles de gendarmes mobiles la esperanza que ha sido sembrada en las tierras de Notre-Dame-des-Landes.

(Continuar leyendo…)

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The Sixth Commission of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation convokes a ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION (or seedbed, depending on who you ask): “To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: No Thinking Allowed?”

ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
Sixth commission of the EZLN.

Mexico.
March, 2018.

To the persons, groups, collectives and organizations throughout the world who understood and took on as their own the initiative of the Indigenous Governing Council and its spokeswoman:

To the national and international Sixth:

To everyone who contributed their signature in support of the Indigenous Governing Council’s spokeswoman:

CONSIDERING:

First and only:

The Happy Family.

A town, or a city, or whatever it’s called. A place in the world. A wall. Hung on the rough surface of the huge wall is a flyer, a poster, or whatever you call it. In the image, a man and woman smile in front of a table brimming with a wide variety of food. To the couple’s right, a smiling girl; to their left, a boy grinning to display gleaming teeth. Above them in large and intimidating letters reads “THE HAPPY FAMILY”. The poster is old by now, time’s march forward having muted the colors that, we assume, were once bright and, yes, happy. Anonymous hands have added small paper signs to the wall: “The happy family is happy only with God’s blessing”; “No to gay parenting! Death to faggots and dykes!”; “Motherhood is what defines a happy woman”; “We unclog pipes: no-obligation estimates”; “Happy home available for rent to a happy family. Unhappy families need not apply”.

 Along the sidewalk that runs in front of the wall, people hurry from one place to another without paying any attention to the opaque image. Occasionally, someone is crushed to death under a huge chunk that falls off the decrepit wall. In fact, these partial rockslides are becoming more and more frequent. Loose pieces of the wall break off and crush sometimes one person, sometimes a small group, sometimes whole communities. The crowd is thrown into commotion only for an instant before resuming its trajectory under the pale gaze of the happy family.

Catastrophes big or small, these should not distract us from what is most important now: every so often, the supreme maker of “happy families” announces the free and democratic election of who will preside over the poster.[i] And precisely at this moment, you are just now noticing, a happy calendar that can be seen behind the happy family indicates that it’s election season. Around this time, a feverish activity runs through the crowd that, without stopping, discusses, offers opinions and argues about the different options presenting themselves as potential stewards of the enormous poster.

There are those who point out the danger posed to the image on the already battered poster—the symbolic identity of the city or town or whatever—by their opponents’ obvious inexperience. One person offers to renovate the poster and return to it the brightness and color it once had (in reality, nobody remembers that time, so we can’t be sure that it actually existed—if, of course, we can in fact attribute existence to time). Someone else says that previous administrations have neglected the image, and that this is what has caused its visible deterioration.

The different proposals ignite arguments among passers-by: accusations, insults, fallacies, arguments of a purely ephemeral base, condemnations and apocalyptic predictions fly back and forth. People reflect on the importance and transcendence of this moment, on the necessity of conscious participation. It wasn’t for nothing that they struggled for so many years to be able to choose who presides over the happy image of the happy family.

Factions are formed: on one side are those who insist on a sensible renovation; on the other are those who insist on the scientific postulate, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”; another faction consists of those calling for proper behavior, good taste and modernity. A few here and there shout, “Don’t think! Vote!”. A giant placard obstructs the flow of people; it reads “Any call to think rationally about voting is a call to abstention. This is not a time to think, it is time to take sides”.

The discussions are not always level-headed. The selection of the steward of the image is so important that many times the competing groups resort to violence.

Some talk of the boundless happiness that accrues to whomever ends up the victor, but, far from mundane worldly interests, the severe faces of the contenders belie the seriousness of the matter: it’s an historic task; the future is in the trembling hands of those who must choose; this most serious responsibility weighs heavily on the shoulders of the people. Happily, though, this weight will be lifted once the winner is known and sets him or herself to the task of procuring happiness for the happy image of the happy family.

The frenzy is such that everyone forgets entirely about the image portrayed. But on the lonely wall, the happy family still displays its perennial and useless smile.

t the foot of the long, high wall, a little girl raises her hand, asking to speak. The factions barely take notice, but someone finally says, “Poor little thing, she wants to talk, we should let her.” “No,” says another faction, “it’s a trick from the opposition group, an attempt to divide the vote, a distraction designed to stop us from reflecting on the gravity of the moment, a clear call to abstention.” Another faction objects: “What capacity could a little girl have to even opine about the poster? She needs to study, grow, and mature.” And from another wing: “We’re not going to waste time listening to a little girl. We should concentrate on what’s important: deciding who is best suited to take care of the poster.”

The “Commission on Transparency and Legitimacy for the Election of the Person in Charge of Stewarding the Image of the Happy Family” (abbreviated CTLEPCSIHF) released a brief and serious memo, in accordance with the gravity of the times: “The rules are clear: NO LITTLE GIRLS ALLOWED.”

Specialized analysts publish new reflections: “The only thing the little girl achieved was the legitimization of the CTLEPCSIHF. In asking for the floor, the girl entered the game and lost; the rest is consolation.”; “The failure of the girl is symptomatic of the failure of the renovation process, the institutions should let the girl talk”; “It was very moving, the little girl with her little hand raised, asking for attention, poor little thing”; “It was an adverse outcome, the product of an erroneous analysis of the conjuncture, the context and the correlation of forces. This signals the absence of a revolutionary vanguard to direct the masses”; “Etcetera”.

 But the discussions lasted only a few minutes before the coming and going of footsteps and injustices continued its course. No one listened to the girl speak as she pointed, not to the image, but to the wall upon which the happy family shone its by now deteriorated tranquility.

Standing on a pile of rubble, surrounded by the cadavers of little girls and broken stones, she stated, flatly, the obvious:

“It’s going to fall.”

But no one listened…

Just a minute…no one?

(To be continued?)

-*-

Based on the above statement, the Sixth Commission of the EZLN convokes:

A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION (or seedbed, depending on who you ask):

“To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: No Thinking Allowed?”

 In which various participants from the National Indigenous Congress, the Indigenous Governing Council, the arts, the sciences, political activism, journalism and culture will share with us what they are seeing and hearing.

The roundtable will take place from April 15-25, 2018, at the CIDECI-Unitierra in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

The following, among others, have confirmed their participation:

Marichuy (spokeswoman for the Indigenous Governing Council).
Lupita Vázquez Luna (councilwoman of the Indigenous Governing Council).
Luis de Tavira Noriega (theater director).
Mardonio Carballo (writer).
Juan Carlos Rulfo (filmmaker).
Paul Leduc (filmmaker).
Cristina Rivera-Garza (writer).
Abraham Cruzvillegas (visual artist).
Néstor García Canclini (anthropologist).
Emilio Lezama (writer and political analyst).
Irene Tello Arista (columnist and activist).
Erika Bárcena Arévalo (lawyer and anthropologist).
Ximena Antillón Najlis (psychologist specializing in victims of violence).
Jacobo Dayán (academic and human rights activist).
Marcela Turati (investigative journalist).
Daniela Rea Gómez (journalist).
Carlos Mendoza Álvarez (philosopher).
John Gibler (journalist).
Javier Risco (journalist).
Alejandro Grimson (anthropologist).
Enrique Serna (novelist).
Paul Theroux (writer).
Juan Villoro (writer).
Pablo González Casanova (sociologist and Zapatista, not necessarily in that order).
Gilberto López y Rivas (anthropologist).
Alicia Castellanos Guerrero (anthropologist).
Magdalena Gómez Rivera (lawyer).
Bárbara Zamora (lawyer).
Margara Millán Moncayo (feminist sociologist).
Sylvia Marcos (psychologist and feminist sociologist).
Jorge Alonso Sánchez (anthropologist).
Fernanda Navarro y Solares (philosopher).
Néstor Quiñones (graphic artist).
Raúl Romero (sociologist).
Rafael Castañeda (political militant).
Luis Hernández Navarro (journalist).
Carlos Aguirre Rojas (sociologist and economist).
Sergio Rodríguez Lascano (political militant).
Carlos González (lawyer and activist for the struggles of originary peoples).
Adolfo Gilly (political militant, historian and analyst).
Carolina Coppel (video artist).
Mercedes Olivera Bustamante (feminist anthropologist).
María Eugenia Sánchez Díaz de Rivera (sociologist).
“Lengua Alerta” (musician).
“Panteón Rococó” (musicians).
“El Mastuerzo” (guacarocker[ii]).
“Batallones femeninos” (feminist musicians).
“Los Originales de San Andrés” (Zapatista musicians).
“La Dignidad y la Resistencia” (Zapatista musicians).

As the rest of those invited confirm their attendance (and whose names are not listed here so as to protect the innocent) the complete list will be made public, as well as the dates and times of each participant’s contribution.

The email address to register as a listener-observer, or member of the free or paid press, is:

asistentesemillero@enlacezapatista.org.mx

Please include your name, city, state or country, and whether you are attending as an individual or member of a collective.

That said, don’t miss it… or do miss it, the point is that you watch, listen, and think.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

For the Sixth Commission of the EZLN (Department of “Invitations and Stating the Obvious”).

SupGaleano.

Mexico, March, 2018.

[i] The original Spanish used here is “cartel,” which can mean a poster or sign, but also literally means cartel, as in, for example, a drug cartel.

[ii] “Guacarock” was coined by Mexican rock band “Botellita de Jerez” (of which “El Mastuerzo” was a member) to describe their unique style of fusing Mexican popular rhythms with the sounds of rock’n’roll. The term combines the Mexican word for avocado (aguacate) with rock.

Convocation for the Next Step in our Struggle

Sisters and brothers, compañeras and compañeros of the countryside and the city, in Mexico and around the world:

The National Indigenous Congress (CNI), the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG), the Civil Association “The Time for the Flourishing of Our Peoples Has Come,” and the Zapatista Army for National Liberation here address those individuals, groups, collectives, organizations, peoples, barrios, tribes, and nations that, in Mexico and in other countries, took on as their own the initiative to register the CIG spokeswoman, María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, as candidate for the Mexican presidency.

The information that we have been able to verify is the following:

• Signatures received by the National Electoral Institute (INE): 281,955. Of these, 10,624 were registered on paper, rather than via the digital application. Of those paper registrations, the vast majority came from community assemblies.
• According to the INE’s own criteria, 94.5% of the signatures collected were found to be valid.
• Auxiliaries: 14,117 people registered as auxiliaries, with 5,704 actively registering signatures. With respect to the difference between registered and active auxiliaries (8,413), of 5,322 emails that were sent to those who registered as auxiliaries but did not document any signatures, there were 2,137 replies. Of those replies, 1,618 explained that they did not have an adequate mobile device with which to gather signatures, either because of the requirements of the INE application or because of the quality of the camera on their device.
• Average number of signatures per active auxiliary: 49.43 (information from the webpage of our brothers and sisters at Cryptopozol, who processed this information from November 3, 2017, through February 24-26, 2018. See: https://criptopozol.github.io/avance_marichuy/
• The following is an approximate (but not precise) count of auxiliaries by state:

Location not listed        4930

Aguascalientes             89

Baja California              251

Baja California Sur        69

Campeche                    42

Chiapas                        864

Chihuahua                    188

Mexico City                 3398

Coahuila                       92

Colima                          30

Durango                       42

Mexico State                1070

Outside Mexico            105

Guanajuato                  345

Guerrero                       99

Hidalgo                         179

Jalisco                          1040

Michoacán                    264

Morelos                        274

Nayarit                          63

Nuevo León                  257

Oaxaca                         242

Puebla                          407

Querétaro                     301

Quintana Roo               189

San Luis Potosí             197

Sinaloa                          98

Sonora                          149

Tabasco                        48

Tamaulipas                   69

Tlaxcala                        94

Veracruz                       367

Yucatán                       151

Zacatecas                    89

(Note: the final count does not match the registered auxiliaries because, we are told, some auxiliaries registered more than once out of desperation because the INE did not respond in a timely manner).

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Compañeras and compañeros, sisters and brothers:

As is evident, we did not reach the necessary number of signatures to register Marichuy as a presidential candidate.

We think explanations for and evaluations of this fact should stem from a serious and rigorous analysis.

Had we reached the number of signatures necessary we would have been able to take advantage of this space to continue to reveal the suffering and struggle of the originary peoples and to point to the criminal character of the system, as well as to echo the pain and rage that seethes across the entire national territory and to continue to promote self-organization, resistance, and rebellion.

We did not reach that goal, but we must continue on our path, seeking out other ways, methods and forms with ingenuity, creativity, and boldness to achieve what it is that we want.

Our purpose was never to take Power, but was and will be for self-organization, autonomy, rebellion and resistance, for solidarity and mutual aid and for the construction of a world built on democracy, freedom, and justice for all.

The National Indigenous Congress’ initiative to form the Indigenous Governing Council and run its spokeswoman, Marichuy, as candidate for the Mexican presidency has completed another stage. The first stage was marked by the decision made during the Fifth National Indigenous Congress on our twentieth anniversary in October of 2016 to hold a referendum on this initiative among all of our peoples and communities. The second stage consisted of the CNI’s internal referendum from October through December of 2016 on whether to form the CIG and name its spokeswoman. The third stage culminated in the Constitutive Assembly of the CIG and the naming of María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, by consensus of that Assembly, in May of 2017. The fourth stage consisted of the collection of signatures for Marichuy’s presidential bid, a process that we have just concluded.

Our path continues. The fundamental difference between the current moment and the previous stages is that there are now many more originary peoples walking together with us, and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, that there are many more people, groups, collectives, and organizations focused on finding our own solutions, solutions that we know will never come from above.

This last stage was marked by the involvement of many more people and sectors, beyond the originary peoples and the CNI, in a civil, peaceful, and inclusive struggle for a just cause using legal, legitimate, and honest methods toward a horizon of the radical transformation of the reality we all suffer today. This is something that no member of the institutional political class can say.

Faced with the undeniable fact that we did not reach the number of signatures required by law to continue this stage, we call for an analysis and evaluation that, like the entire process so far, is collective, participative, inclusive, honest, and true.

For these reasons, and for others for which we have no words:

First: We thank with all our hearts the people who, in Mexico and in other countries, gave their signatures. For us, each of them is an embrace and encouragement to continue on without fail. We salute each and every one of them and, in response, reaffirm our commitment to not falter on this path.

Second: We offer special thanks to those who, with or without the label of “auxiliaries,” understood the reach of our initiative and made it their own, offering their time, resources and labor in the process of creating, growing, and consolidating collective and communitarian organization in order to be able to confront in better conditions the storm that we are all living through.

Third: The Civil Association “The Time for the Flourishing of Our Peoples Has Come,” the National Indigenous Congress and all who constitute it, the Indigenous Governing Council, and the Zapatista Army for National Liberation have begun a serious internal analysis and evaluation of the stage which has just concluded.

Fourth: We think this analysis is not just up to us. We believe that, given the collective effort put into this initiative which far surpassed the horizon of the originary peoples, we want to consolidate and maintain this broader desire to build another way of doing politics.

Thus, we convoke:

All those individuals, groups, collectives, organizations, nations, tribes, peoples, and communities of the countryside and the city, indigenous and non-indigenous, in Mexico and in other countries, who committed themselves to this process and took it on with work, dedication, and honesty: we invite you carry out an analysis and evaluation of this effort using the objectives announced by the CNI and the CIG and above all, the objectives you yourselves established, and to send it to us at the following email:

valoraciones@congresonacionalindigena.org

We would also like to announce that, parallel to these analyses and evaluations, the Civil Association “The Time for the Flourishing of Our Peoples Has Come,” the National Indigenous Congress, the CIG, and our Zapatista brothers and sisters will convoke a series of public activities open to all those who participated in the process in order to follow through with this struggle that, as we know, has only just begun. These activities will be announced by the convoking bodies.

We also invite you to hold your own activities for analysis and evaluation of what is happening in Mexico and around the world according to your own ways, times, and criteria. As the CIG and its spokeswoman Marichuy have said time and again, the horizon of our struggle is not marked by July 1, 2018, nor does it apply only to Mexico.

Resistance, rebellion, and the endeavor to build a world where many worlds fit is an international one and is not limited by the calendars or geographies of those above who exploit, disrespect, rob, and destroy us.

Mexico, March 2018.

NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US

NEVER AGAIN A WORLD OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CONGRESS

INDIGENOUS GOVERNING COUNCIL

CIVIL ASSOCIATION “THE TIME FOR THE FLOURISHING OF OUR PEOPLES HAS COME”

ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION