solidaridad
Intellectuals, scholars, artists, and activists from around the world in solidarity with Zapatista autonomy
Letter of Solidarity and Support for Zapatista Resistance and Autonomy
January 2019
We, intellectuals, academics, artists, activists and others in solidarity, as well as organizations, associations and collectives from across the world, express our solidarity with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in this critical moment in its history, and condemn the ongoing campaign of disinformation, lies, and slander directed against the Zapatistas.
For us, and for many others around the world, the Zapatista struggle is a key referent for resistance, dignity, integrity and political creativity. 25 years ago, the cry of Ya Basta! was a historically transcendent event and one of the first categorical rejections of neoliberal globalization at a planetary scale, because it opened the way toward the critique and refusal of a model that at that time seemed unquestionable. It was and continues to be an expression of the legitimate struggle of indigenous peoples against the domination and contempt they have suffered for centuries and for their rights to autonomy. The self-government that the Zapatistas have put into practice with the Juntas de Buen Gobierno(Good Government Councils) in the 5 Caracoles is an example of radical democracy that inspires people and should be studied in social science departments around the world. For us, the Zapatista construction of autonomy represents the persistent and honest search for an alternative and emancipatory model crucial for a humanity facing the challenges of a world that is rapidly sinking into a deepening economic, social, political, ecological, and human crisis.
We therefore express our concern for the Zapatista communities and many other indigenous peoples in Mexico whose territories are being attacked by mining, tourism, agribusiness, and large infrastructure projects, etc., as recently denounced by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) of Mexico. At this very moment, the new Mexican administration is imposing a series of large-scale development projects — including the Trans-isthmus Corridor, a one million hectare commercial tree planting project, and the so-called “Mayan Train”– that Subcomandante Moisés, EZLN spokesperson, recently denounced as a humiliation and provocation that would have very serious impacts on the territories of the Mayan peoples of southeastern Mexican.
(Español) La Otra Europa contesta a los zapatistas: “¡No están solos; seguimos escuchándoles!”
Tras la publicacion del comunicado de los y las Zapatistas el 1o de enero del 2019, y su amarga celebración (segun el articulo de Jérôme Baschet), centenas de colectivos, organizaciones e individuales, en su mayoria de Europa (Estado Español, Pais Vasco, Francia, Belgica, Grecia, Alemania, Italia, Inglaterra…) pero igual de Sur America (Uruguay, Argentina…) firmaron de manera conjunta un comunicado para recordar a las y los Zapatistas que no Estan Sol@s!
Comunicado a los 25 años del levantamiento zapatista
Hace 25 años, en la fría madrugada del primero de enero de 1994, una voz resonó en las montañas del sureste de México; al grito de ¡Ya Basta!, hombres, mujeres, niños y niñas declararon ser producto de 500 años de lucha y estar dispuestos a enfrentarse a una guerra genocida no declarada en contra de sus pueblos desde hacía muchos años; reclamaban trabajo, tierra, techo, alimentación, salud, educación, independencia, libertad, democracia, justicia y paz y poco después añadieron información y cultura.
La voz de los que hasta entonces no tenían rostro, no tenían voz, de los que convivían con la muerte, “tan cotidiana, tan nuestra que acabamos por dejar de tenerle miedo”, la de los muertos, “tan mortalmente muertos de muerte “natural”, es decir, de sarampión, tosferina, dengue, cólera, tifoidea, mononucleosis, tétanos, pulmonía, paludismo y otras lindezas gastrointestinales y pulmonares”, saltó fronteras y geografías y se oyó en pueblos y ciudades de todo el Planeta Tierra.
