Inspired by the call to action sent out by the dignified people of Movement for Justice en El Barrio, Montréal held two events that called for the liberation of the political prisoners still being detained for defending their land in San Sebastián Bachajón, Chiapas. First, on the 28th of March, we hosted an event with Juan and Maria from the Movement for Justice in El Barrio. At this event they presented us with two videos, one of their struggle in New York and then they screened the first video message from San Sebastián Bachajón made in collaboration with Movement for Justice in El Barrio. There were people there to listen with their hearts and see with their eyes the words of the people in San Sebastián Bachajón and inform themselves about their struggle for their land and against the bad government and its police forces. The people in the audience asked questions about the situation in Chiapas, particularly in Bachajón. Maria read out a message from women in Chiapas written for all women in struggle throughout the world, and the entire audience joined in the call in support of the women in struggle. At the end of the event, we gathered the names and contacts of people interested in coming together to watch the second video message from San Sebastián Bachajón and talk together about how we could continue to support the struggle of the people of Bachajón here in Canada.

In the morning of the 30 of March, we held a protest in front of the Mexican Consulate in Montréal. We made lots of noise with a megaphone, explaining to all passers why we were there, and explaining to them the situation in San Sebastián Bachajón. In making the call for the liberation of the 5 prisoners, we caught the attention of the police and the consulate. The police let us continue after speaking with us a bit and asking who the person responsible for the action was (nobody! everybody!) and the man they sent from the consulate took notes of our explanation of why we were there protesting. We passed out flyers with information to those passing in the streets, and many people asked us why we were protesting. The protest was successful in garnering attention for the prisoners and we think with we could hold another protest to put more pressure on the consulate here to call for the liberation of the prisoners in Bachajón, because defending their land is not a crime.

In the next days we are going to hold a meeting here in Montréal to see the second video message together and decide how we can continue to put pressure on the bad government of Mexico until they liberate the prisoners of Bachajón, who are being held under false charges. We are very inspired by the struggle of the people of Bachajón and we were touched by the voices and faces of the women and men in struggle for their land and waterfalls, and standing up for their dignity. Here in Montréal we recognize that an injustice to one is an injustice to all, and because of this we are going to continue the call for the liberation of the prisoners and for autonomous control of their territory by the people fo San Sebastián Bachajón.

Thank you for sharing your struggle, your words and your dreams with us.

May the struggle continue!

Long live the people in struggle!