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Con motivo que el día de ayer el Presidente de la República anunció que someterá a consulta el Proyecto Integral Morelos (termoeléctrica, gasoducto y acueducto) para el próximo 23 y 24 de febrero con una sola pregunta que dice: “¿Está usted de acuerdo que inicie la operación de la termoeléctrica la Huesca de la CFE?” Manifestamos que esta pregunta está mal elaborada, es tendenciosa y no incluye preguntar sobre el funcionamiento del gasoducto y el acueducto.

Nos preocupa que el derecho a la consulta y autodeterminación que durante 9 años se nos ha negado por gobiernos anteriores, hoy se pretenda resolver en 13 días, y sin siquiera tomarnos en cuenta en la consulta, de manera especial, a todos los pueblos afectados, uno por uno. Pues se pretende preguntar en lo general a todo el Estado de Morelos y 24 municipios de Puebla y Tlaxcala, si se está de acuerdo en echar andar una planta eléctrica. Pero la pregunta también implica decidir “¿Si se está de acuerdo en que Huexca viva entre una termoeléctrica a 300 metros de su kínder y franqueada por dos gasoductos?”. Muchos al contestar esta pregunta dirían “yo no vivo en Huexca, no puedo decidir por ellos”, pero López Obrador dice: “decidan por los demás y ahí les va lo que yo quiero hacer para que lo consideren en su voto, yo no decido, ustedes deciden, yo no soy el malo, soy el amlo”

Decidir por el otro y disfrazarlo de consulta, es una burla para cualquier persona y una violación a su derecho de autodeterminación. Por eso no estamos de acuerdo que otros decidan por nuestro territorio, solo Huexca puede decidir por Huexca, Ayala por Ayala, Puebla por Puebla y Tlaxcala por Tlaxcala. Una consulta diferente a esta no se le puede llamar consulta, sino juego de dados cargados.

Exigimos que la consulta solo sea con las comunidades afectadas y sea vinculante su decisión en su territorio y que la misma se posponga hasta que se llegue a un acuerdo conjunto con las comunidades de cómo organizarla, los tiempos y modos de informarse adecuadamente y sobre todo, se garantice que el proyecto es seguro para las comunidades, antes no se puede consultar nada.

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Letter in Japanese
Letter in Turkish
Letter in Italian
Letter in Portuguese
Letter in French
Letter in German
Letter in Spanish

LETTER TO THE ZAPATISTA WOMEN
FROM THE WOMEN WHO STRUGGLE IN MEXICO AND THE WORLD
(signed by 891, Organizations, Collectives, Networks, and Individuals)

To our compañeras Zapatistas
To the women of the world who struggle
To the grandmothers, mothers, sisters, youth and girls
To those who have the heart of a woman

We the undersigned are women of Mexico and the world, convened by the Zapatista women on March 8th, 2018 in the First International Political, Artistic, Cultural and Sports Encounter of Women Who Struggle.

We reaffirm that every one of us committed ourselves to struggle, each one from our own place of origin or new home places, from our distinct cultures and occupations, so that “not one more woman in the world, regardless of color, size, or place of origin, should feel alone or afraid anymore”. We committed ourselves to the light that all of you shared with us in our gathering, and to the light that all of you represent to all of us. We keep that light alive in order to be, to walk and to struggle together.

Today we proclaim that we will not allow the bad governments to destroy your worlds and displace you from the territories that provide the roots, heartbeat and direction to your lives and dreams. We will denounce, through multiple venues and modes, the misuse of practices of cultural resistance, staging ancestral people’s rituals to justify megaprojects of death and sickness imposed by the patriarchal capitalist system.

Given the conditions of war that we continue to face every day as women, we reaffirm our agreement to “stay alive, and for us to live is to struggle, each one according to her means, her time and her place.”

Now is the time to tell the bad governments, past and present, in every corner and place in the world, that we repudiate, from our multiple locations and territories, the practices of concessions, extraction, and the misuse and abuse of our Mother Earth. “Fracking,” gas and oil pipelines, massive hydroelectric dams, extensive agro-industrial monocultures of crops and trees, and infrastructure for corporate tourism in indigenous territories, all benefit major commercial projects, at the cost of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples’ lives and territories. In the face of profit-seeking interests, we will struggle for Life, for the lives and territories of people and other living beings.

As women, we know the value of life and for this reason we work to build conditions that support life. We declare that yes, we can do this, we women with our collective hearts. You are not alone compañeras zapatistas, friends, and sisters, and neither are your children, families and peoples!

Quotations excerpted from Zapatista Women (2018) Zapatista Women’s Opening Address at the First International Gathering of Politics, Art, Sport, and Culture for Women in Struggle. March 8, 2018. Caracol in the Tzots Choj zone. March 26, 2018, Enlace Zapatista:
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2018/03/26/zapatista-womens-opening-address-at-the-first-international-gathering-of-politics-art-sport-and-culture-for-women-in-struggle/

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(See also: Letter to the Zapatista women from the women who struggle in Mexico and the world)

ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
MEXICO

February 2019

To: Women in struggle everywhere in the world
From: The Zapatista Women

Sister, compañera:

We as Zapatista women send you our greetings as the women in struggle that we all are.

We have sad news for you today, which is that we are not going to be able to hold the Second International Encounter of Women in Struggle here in Zapatista territory in March of 2019.

Maybe you already know the reasons why, but if not, we’re going to tell you a little about them here.

The new bad governments have said clearly that they are going to carry forward the megaprojects of the big capitalists, including their Mayan Train, their plan for the Tehuantepec Isthmus, and their massive commercial tree farms. They have also said that they’ll allow the mining companies to come in, as well as agribusiness. On top of that, their agrarian plan is wholly oriented toward destroying us as originary peoples by converting our lands into commodities and thus picking up what Carlos Salinas de Gortari started but couldn’t finish because we stopped him with our uprising.

All of these are projects of destruction, no matter how they try to disguise them with lies, no matter how many times they multiply their 30 million votes. The truth is that they are coming for everything now, coming full force against the originary peoples, their communities, lands, mountains, rivers, animals, plants, even their rocks. And they are not just going to try to destroy us Zapatista women, but all indigenous women—and all men for that matter, but here we’re talking as and about women.

In their plans our lands will no longer be for us but for the tourists and their big hotels and fancy restaurants and all of the businesses that make it possible for the tourists to have these luxuries. They want to turn our lands into plantations for the production of lumber, fruit, and water, and into mines to extract gold, silver, uranium, and all of the minerals the capitalists are after. They want to turn us into their peons, into servants who sell our dignity for a few coins every month.

Those capitalists and the new bad governments who obey them think that what we want is money. They don’t understand that what we want is freedom, that even the little that we have achieved has been through our struggle, without any attention, without photos and interviews, without books or referendum or polls, and without votes, museums, or lies. They don’t understand that what they call “progress” is a lie, that they can’t even provide safety for all of the women who continue to be beaten, raped, and murdered in their worlds, be they progressive or reactionary worlds.

How many women have been murdered in those progressive or reactionary worlds while you have been reading these words, compañera, sister? Maybe you already know this but we’ll tell you clearly here that in Zapatista territory, not a single woman has been murdered for many years. Imagine, and they call us backward, ignorant, and insignificant.

Maybe we don’t know which feminism is the best one, maybe we don’t say “cuerpa” [a feminization of “cuerpo,” or body] or however it is you change words around, maybe we don’t know what “gender equity” is or any of those other things with too many letters to count. In any case that concept of “gender equity” isn’t even well-formulated because it only refers to women and men, and even we, supposedly ignorant and backward, know that there are those who are neither men nor women and who we call “others” [otroas] but who call themselves whatever they feel like. It hasn’t been easy for them to earn the right to be what they are without having to hide because they are mocked, persecuted, abused, and murdered. Why should they be obligated to be men or women, to choose one side or the other? If they don’t want to choose then they shouldn’t be disrespected in that choice. How are we going to complain that we aren’t respected as women if we don’t respect these people? Maybe we think this way because we are just talking about what we have seen in other worlds and we don’t know a lot about these things. What we do know is that we fought for our freedom and now we have to fight to defend it so that the painful history that our grandmothers suffered is not relived by our daughters and granddaughters.

We have to struggle so that we don’t repeat history and return to a world where we only cook food and bear children, only to see them grow up into humiliation, disrespect, and death.

We didn’t rise up in arms to return to the same thing.

We haven’t been resisting for 25 years in order to end up serving tourists, bosses, and overseers.

We will not stop training ourselves to work in the fields of education, health, culture, and media; we will not stop being autonomous authorities in order to become hotel and restaurant employees, serving strangers for a few pesos. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a few pesos or a lot of pesos, what matters is that our dignity has no price.

Because that’s what they want, compañera, sister, that we become slaves in our own lands, accepting a few handouts in exchange for letting them destroy the community.

Compañera, sister:

When you came to these mountains for the 2018 gathering, we saw that you looked at us with respect, maybe even admiration. Not everyone showed that respect—we know that some only came to criticize us and look down on us. But that doesn’t matter—the world is big and full of different kinds of thinking and there are those who understand that not all of us can do the same thing and those who don’t. We can respect that difference, compañera, sister, because that’s not what the gathering was for, to see who would give us good reviews or bad reviews. It was to meet and understand each other as women who struggle.

Likewise, we do not want you to look at us now with pity or shame, as if we were servants taking orders delivered more or less politely or harshly, or as if we were vendors with whom to haggle over the price of artisanship or fruit and vegetables or whatever. Haggling is what capitalist women do, though of course when they go to the mall they don’t haggle over the price; they pay whatever the capitalist asks in full and what’s more, they do so happily.

No compañera, sister. We’re going to fight with all our strength and everything we’ve got against these mega-projects. If these lands are conquered, it will be upon the blood of Zapatista women. That is what we have decided and that is what we intend to do.

It seems that these new bad governments think that since we’re women, we’re going to promptly lower our gaze and obey the boss and his new overseers. They think what we’re looking for is a good boss and a good wage. That’s not what we’re looking for. What we want is freedom, a freedom nobody can give us because we have to win it ourselves through struggle, with our own blood.

Do you think that when the new bad government’s forces—its paramilitaries, its national guard—come for us we are going to receive them with respect, gratitude, and happiness? Hell no. We will meet them with our struggle and then we’ll see if they learn that Zapatista women don’t give in, give up, or sell out.

Last year during the women’s gathering we made a great effort to assure that you, compañera and sister, were happy and safe and joyful. We have, nevertheless, a sizable pile of complaints that you left with us: that the boards [that you slept on] were hard, that you didn’t like the food, that meals were expensive, that this or that should or shouldn’t have been this way or that way. But later we’ll tell you more about our work in preparing the gathering and about the criticisms we received.

What we want to tell you now is that even with all the complaints and criticisms, you were safe here: there were no bad men or even good men looking at you or judging you. It was all women here, you can attest to that.

Well now it’s not safe anymore, because capitalism is coming for us, for everything, and at any price. This assault is now possible because those in power feel that many people support them and will applaud them no matter what barbarities they carry out. What they’re going to do is attack us and then check the polls to see if their ratings are still up, again and again until we have been annihilated.

Even as we write this letter, the paramilitary attacks have begun. They are the same groups as always—first they were associated with the PRI, then the PAN, then the PRD, then the PVEM, and now with MORENA.

So we are writing to tell you, compañera, sister, that we are not going to hold a women’s gathering here, but you should do so in your lands, according to your times and ways. And although we won’t attend, we will be thinking about you.

Compañera, sister:

Don’t stop struggling. Even if the bad capitalists and their new bad governments get their way and annihilate us, you must keep struggling in your world. That’s what we agreed in the gathering: that we would all struggle so that no woman in any corner of the world would be scared to be a woman.

Compañera, sister: your corner of the world is your corner in which to struggle, just like our struggle is here in Zapatista territory.

The new bad governments think that they will defeat us easily, that there are very few of us and that nobody from any other world supports us. But that’s not the case, compañera, sister, because even if there is only one of us left, she’s going to fight to defend our freedom.

We aren’t scared, compañera, sister.

If we weren’t scared 25 years ago when nobody even knew we existed, we certainly aren’t going to be scared now that you have seen us—however you saw us, good or bad, but you saw us.

Compañera, hermana:

Take care of that little light that we gave you. Don’t let it go out.

Even if our light here is extinguished by our blood, even if other lights go out in other places, take care of yours because even when times are difficult, we have to keep being what we are, and what we are is women who struggle.

That’s all we wanted to say, compañera, sister. In summary, we’re not going to hold a women’s gathering here; we’re not going to participate. If you hold a gathering in your world and anyone asks you where the Zapatistas are, and why didn’t they come, tell them the truth: tell them that the Zapatista women are fighting in their corner of the world for their freedom.

That’s all, compañeras, sisters, take care of yourselves. Maybe we won’t see each other again.

Maybe they’ll tell you not to bother thinking about the Zapatistas anymore because they no longer exist. Maybe they’ll tell you that there aren’t any more Zapatistas.

But just when you think that they’re right, that we’ve been defeated, you’ll see that we still see you and that one of us, without you even realizing it, has come close to you and whispered in your ear, only for you to hear: “Where is that little light that we gave you?”

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

The Zapatista Women
February 2019

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¿Cómo afecta el Tren Maya y el corredor Transístmico a los pueblos indígenas? Carlos González, especialista en leyes agrarias, nos explica. ¿Qué han significado históricamente estos proyectos? #Entrevista, parte I.

Ve también: Servilleta para un monero indolente, o por qué oponerse a un tren devastador.

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AL PUEBLO DE SAN DIONISIO DEL MAR.
AL PUBLICO EN GENERAL
A LOS MEDIOS DE COMUNICACIÓN
A LOS PUEBLOS INDIGENAS
A LAS ORGANIZACIONES NACIONALES E INTERNACIONALES..

7º ANIVERSARIO DE LA RESISTENCIA EN LA DEFENSA DE NUESTRO TERRITORIO DE LA ASAMBLEA DE PUEBLOS DE SAN DIONISIO DEL MAR EN DEFENSA DE NUESTRO TERRITORIO.

Durante estos siete años de resistencia en contra de la empresa eólica Mareña Renovables, ahora eólica del Sur. Hemos vivido muchas vicisitudes con grupos políticos que han pretendido usar nuestra Asamblea de Pueblos de San Dionisio del Mar, para conseguir alguna prebenda económica en nuestro lenguaje popular conocido como (shishito), con el anterior administrador municipal y un puesto en la pasada administración municipal priista, y ante el fracaso de dicha administración han retornado a la Asamblea de Pueblos.

Nuestros actuales objetivos son del conocimiento público, se trata de transitar hacia nuestro sistema de elección para nuestras autoridades de manera tradicional que se denomina Sistemas normativos internos (usos y costumbres), para seguir defendiendo nuestro territorio.

Recordamos al grupo colegiado de servidores del pueblo recientemente nombrados que no pueden tomar decisiones sin el consenso de nuestra Asamblea de Pueblos. Y que todos estaremos vigilantes que se cumplan estos mandamientos.

En honor a los hombres y mujeres que lucharon con nosotros y que ahora están en el cielo, dejando en nuestras manos la responsabilidad de cuidar el destino de nuestro territorio, les pedimos honestidad, y transparencia en su gestión para no caer en los mismos errores de pasadas administraciones de traicionar al pueblo.

La lucha sigue, sigue y sigue.
La tierra, el mar, el viento y el sol no se venden
¡¡¡Que Viva La Asamblea del Pueblo de San Dionisio del Mar, fuera partidos políticos!!!

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Jornada de movilización global contra los proyectos de destrucción y en defensa de la madre tierra, CDMX. Foto: RZ.

Mensaje para el EZLN de la
COORDINACIÓN METROPOLITANA ANTICAPITALISTA Y ANTIPATRIARCAL CON EL CIG Y SU VOCERA MARICHUY
“PODRÁN CAMBIAR EL CAPATAZ, LOS MAYORDOMOS Y CAPORALES, PERO EL FINQUERO SIGUE SIENDO EL MISMO”

(Leído por la compañera Vica el viernes 25 de enero de 2019 en el zócalo de la Ciudad de México)

L@S ZAPATISTAS NO ESTÁN SOL@S
JORNADA DE MOVILIZACIÓN GLOBAL CONTRA LOS PROYECTOS DESTRUCCIÓN Y EN DEFENSA DE LA MADRE TIERRA.

 Al CCRI CG EZLN
Al Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional.
A la Comisión Sexta del EZLN.
Al Concejo Indígena de Gobierno y su vocera, María de Jesús Patricio Martínez.
Al Congreso Nacional Indígena.
A la Sexta Nacional e Internacional.
Al Encuentro Internacional de “Redes de Resistencia y Rebeldías” en apoyo al Concejo Indígena de Gobierno.
A quienes se asumen anticapitalistas y antipatriarcales.
A los medios de comunicación, independientes, alternativos o como se llamen.
A las Resistencias y Rebeldías en todo el mundo
Al pueblo de México.

Hermanas y Hermanos.

En defensa de la vida y en defensa de la Madre Tierra: el EZLN no está solo.

…

Por más que intenten humillarnos con todas las fuerzas represivas, como es la guardia nacional, no descansaremos en defender nuestra madre tierra, porque en ella nacimos, porque en ella vivimos y en ella moriremos.

 En estas tierras de hombres y mujeres rebeldes, deben saber que no nos rendimos, no nos vendemos y no claudicamos, ni mucho menos traicionaremos  la sangre, la vida y la muerte de nuestros compañeros caídos en nuestra lucha.

…

Palabras del Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena.

1° de enero de 2019

Estamos con ell@s contra el capitalismo y los proyectos de destrucción.

El pasado 1º de de enero, a 25 años del levantamiento armado del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional por Democracia, Libertad y Justicia para tod@s l@s mexican@s; justo cuando entraba en vigor el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte y, después de 12 días de conflicto armado entre el EZLN y el Ejército Federal, cientos de miles de hombres y mujeres en México y el mundo tomamos las calles para exigir un “ALTO TOTAL A LA GUERRA”. El 12 de enero de 1994, se declaró oficialmente, un “cese al fuego” y se establecieron mesas de diálogo para negociar con los zapatistas. Sin embargo, 25 años después, frente al capitalismo que impone despojo y destrucción, señalan, que “llegó la hora para nosotros los pueblos zapatistas”. Ante esta declaración ratificamos nuestros andar, nuestro paso digno y rebelde junto a nuestros hermanos del EZLN y les decimos una vez más, que ¡No Están Solos!, que estamos con ell@s contra el capitalismo y el patriarcado.

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Aquí no había luz eléctrica, aquí no conocíamos ni una bicicleta ni un radio”, afirma Santiago Vázquez, ciudadano de San José del Progreso, en un video corporativo emitido por Fortuna Silver Mines, empresa que trata de evadir su responsabilidad tras el derrame minero que contaminó el Arroyo Coyote de la comunidad de Magdalena, Ocotlán.

La minera afirma que lo ocurrido por el derrame solo fue una coloración gris en el Arroyo Coyote y que “no es contaminante, ni dañina para el medio ambiente”. En el video de 5 minutos de duración, la misma persona sentencia “entonces aquí vivimos, yo he visto un cambio enorme”, esta segunda frase es innegable y se puede describir ese “cambio enorme” en los siguientes cinco puntos:

Exigencia de justicia a las afueras de la Minera Fortuna Silver/ Fotografía: Daniel Arellano

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Por Nora Rodriguez Aceves | Siempre

Entrevista a Raúl Romero | Académico de la UNAM

El Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) no es un grupo provocador, es una fuerza política reconocida internacionalmente, que tiene una opinión, que la respalda su trayectoria y su propio trabajo. El zapatismo está en todo el derecho de opinar y de oponerse a los proyectos que no le parezcan.

“El presidente se equivocó al decir que se trataba de una provocación, tiene que reconocer que es una fuerza política de las más importantes no solo en la historia de México, sino en los últimos años en el mundo entero”, afirma Raúl Romero Gallardo, experto en movimientos sociales, en especial del EZLN.

El sociólogo por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) asegura que el EZLN no está en contra del lopezobradorismo, está en contra del capitalismo, sea Enrique Peña Nieto, Felipe Calderón, Andrés Manuel López Obrador o quien continúe con ese proyecto, ellos estarán en contra.

El pasado 1 de enero, el EZLN advirtió que no permitirán que se construya el tren Maya en la zona que pasa por Chiapas, así como acusó a Andrés Manuel de estar engañando a los pueblos originarios, por lo que el movimiento zapatista resistirá y enfrentará al nuevo gobierno.

En respuesta, López Obrador dijo con su habitual estilo: “Nadie me va a cucar”, y explicó que el Ejecutivo no va a caer en “ninguna provocación”, reiteró que está abierto al “diálogo” y que cualquier persona puede manifestar sus opiniones porque hay “derecho a disentir”.

(Continuar leyendo…)

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Jornada de movilización global contra los proyectos de destrucción y en defensa de la madre tierra, CDMX. Foto: RZ.

Ciudad de México, 25 de enero 2019.
Texto, audios y fotos: Colectivo RZ.

Quien habite el palacio nacional que enmarca el zócalo de la Ciudad de México habrá podido leer desde sus ventanas una frase pintada a brochazos en el arroyo vehicular con grandes letras blancas: #EZLNNoEstánSolos. Decenas de manos rebeldes la estamparon en el pavimento justo cuando nacía una tarde soleada de cielo clarísimo que acompañaba a una pequeña multitud de personas convencidas de que los megaproyectos que enarbola el actual gobierno de México sólo traerán consigo destrucción.

La “Jornada de movilización global contra los proyectos de destrucción y en defensa de la madre tierra”, convocada desde las Redes de Resistencia y Rebeldía para este 25 de enero, responde al mensaje lanzado por el zapatismo el pasado 31 de diciembre, cuando el Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés se dirigió al Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional en el 25 aniversario de su levantamiento. En ese mensaje, el Sub Moi lanzó fuertes críticas a proyectos impulsados por el presidente de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, como el tren maya y la guardia nacional, al tiempo que enfatizaba una y otra vez que el zapatismo está solo. Como respuesta inmediata a su mensaje, miles de voces en diversos países se unieron a la crítica y decidieron organizarse para buscar maneras de hacer sentir al EZLN, y a ellas mismas, que la solidaridad global con la lucha zapatista y la necesidad de organización propia están de pie.

(Continuar leyendo…)

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Lee el comunicado aquí.