THE ART THAT IS NEITHER SEEN NOR HEARD.

(Note: the following are the comments made by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés to mark the conclusion of the Zapatista’s contribution to the CompArte, in the Caracol of Oventik, on July 29, 2016. The threat of rain and the pressure of time did not allow for the compañero to fully develop some of his points and there were others that he was unable to touch on at all. Here we present the original version that he was going to give. In his voice, our Zapatista word).

THE ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION

MEXICO.

July 29, 2016.

Artists of Mexico and the world:

Sisters, brothers, and hermanoas:

For us, Zapatistas, art is studied by creating many imaginations, reading the gaze, studying in listening, and practicing.

It is by putting it into practice, that is, by doing it, that you will begin to see the result of the science and the art of imagination – the art of creativity.

There is some science and art that is needed immediately, the kind that helps us imagine how to do it.

There can be medium term science and art, and there is long term science and art that improves over the course of time.

For example: To even make something tiny that will contribute to the new world requires that we involve ourselves profoundly in the science and art of imagination, in the gaze, in listening and in creativity, patience, and attention. It requires that we think about how to move forward while building and many other things that must be taken into account.

Because what we want, or what we think about, is a new world, a new system. We don’t want a copy of what we have, we don’t want to improve it a little bit. This is a problem, we say, because there is no book or manual that explains how to create this new world. This book or manual hasn’t been written yet, it is still in the heads of those with imagination, in the eyes that are ready to gaze at the new world that they want to see, in the ears that are attentive in order to hear the new world that they want.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Listen here: (Descarga aquí)  

The Word of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés

May 8, 2015

Good afternoon compañeros, compañeras, brothers and sisters.

Perhaps by continuing our explanation of how resistance and rebellion are weapons for us you will better understand some of the things that our compañeros and compañeras here at the table have talked about.

Through our resistance and rebellion, we have come to understand that by putting resistance and rebellion into practice we confirm that we will not allow in our struggle what happened in 1910, when so many of our fellow Mexicans died. Who took advantage of that situation?

(Continuar leyendo…)

Words by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés

(Descarga aquí)  

May 7, 2015 (evening session)

Good evening, compañeros, compañeras, brothers and sisters.

It seems like a splash of cold water on our faces was indeed what we needed, because now we are definitely getting some thought-provoking ideas.

So we will need to translate this from Spanish to Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Tzotzil, and Chol, and from there a joint response will arise, because there are some things proposed by the compañeros at this table that we are interested in discussing.

We continue with our words of explanation and discussion on what resistance and rebellion mean to us as Zapatistas.

For us, as an organization that resists and struggles in rebellion, we first need to be clear on why one would resist and rebel. If we are not clear on the “Why?” the “For what?” and the “From what?” we simply cannot go forward.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Listen here: (Descarga aquí)  

Words of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés
May 6, 2015

Good afternoon, compañeros, compañeras, brothers and sisters.

I am going to talk to you about how our resistance and rebellion are our weapons.

Before we begin talking about resistance and rebellion, I want to remind you that we are an armed group. We have our weapons, as one more tool in the struggle, that’s how we explain it now. Our weapons are a tool of struggle, just like the machete, axe, hammer, pick, shovel, hoe, and other such things. Each of these tools has its function, but the function of a weapon, well, if you use it, you kill.

So in the beginning, when we rose up at the dawn of the year 1994, a movement of thousands of Mexicans from all over the country emerged, grew to millions, and pressured the government, the baldy—that’s what we call him, Salinas the baldy—to sit down and dialogue with us, and at the same time urged us to sit down to dialogue and negotiate.

We understood the call of the people of Mexico. So we gave the order to retreat from violent struggle. It was then that we discovered, through the compañeras—because in combat our people died—but the compañeras were developing what we might call another way to struggle. Because the government, a month later, a year, two years later, wanted to buy us off, as we put it, they wanted us to accept aid and forget about struggle.

(Continuar leyendo…)

See also: Full coverage of the Seminar “Critical Thought vs. the Capitalist Hydra”

Political Economy from the Zapatista Communities II
Words by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés. 5 May 2015

Listen here:(Descarga aquí)  

Good afternoon to everyone, compañeras, compañeros, brothers and sisters.

In response to what we have been listening to yesterday, and the day before, we have been commenting in the commission of compañeros and compañeras of the CCRI, that it seems to us that you can see there what it is that we want to do. This is the reason all of us are here, and if we haven’t been dreaming or sleeping, then we are thinking about the things that we have discussed, what the compas and brothers and sisters already brought up and talked about. They have already told us a lot about what this hydra is. So the question is what do we need to do against it?

Organize ourselves. When we give this response, organize ourselves, it means that our brain is already telling us what must be done first, and then second, and third, and fourth, and so on. And so, it’s an idea, when it is in your head it is an idea. Now, when you move your tongue, then it is in your words. What is still missing is action, that is, to organize. Now when you are organizing yourselves, watch out, because it isn’t going to come out like you thought in the idea, or like you said in the word. You are going to begin to encounter a lot of barriers, a lot of challenges.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Words by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés (4 May 2015)
Seminar “Critical Thought vs. the Capitalist Hydra”

Listen here:
(Descarga aquí)  

Good afternoon compañeros, compañeras.

What I’m going to talk to you about—not read to you—has to do with what the economy was like and is like in the communities, that is, I’m going to talk to you about capitalism. I’m going to talk to you about how it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and in these past few years. I’m going to speak to you about this in three parts: how the communities lived before, 30 years ago; how those who are not organized as Zapatistas live today; and then about how we live, we the Zapatistas of today.

This isn’t to say that we don’t know how it was centuries ago; we do know. But we want to demarcate things from here because we are 30 years old—starting from ’83, the year 1983 when the group of compañeros arrived, and so from that date to now, we are 30 years old.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Listen here:
(Descarga aquí)  

ON THE ELECTIONS: ORGANIZE.

April 2015

To the compas of the Sixth:

To those who are reading because it interests them, even though they’re not part of the Sixth:

These days, every time that this thing they call the “electoral process” happens, we hear and see the stuff that comes out saying that the EZLN calls for abstention, that the EZLN says that people shouldn’t vote. They say this and other idiocies, these big-headed people who don’t study history or even try to understand. And they even put these absurdities into history books and biographies, and then charge for them. That is to say, they charge for these lies. Like politicians.

Of course, you know that we’re not interested in these things that those above make up in order to try to convince those below that they’re concerned about them.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Listen here:
(Descarga aquí)  

Zapatista compañeras and compañeros from the bases of support of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.

Compañeras, compañeroas, and compañeros from the National and International Sixth.

Sisters and brothers from Mexico and the world.

We greet the family of compañero Luis Villoro.

Welcome to the rebel lands that struggle and resist in Zapatista territory.

It is an honor to have you with us, the Zapatista bases of support from the five zones.

Greetings to the family of Zapatista teacher, compañero Galeano.

Receive our embrace, compañeros and compañeras of the family of compañero Galeano, and of the family of compañero Luis Villoro.

We should honor, and know how honor, those who deserve it for the mission fulfilled by the compañeros Galeano and Luis Villoro.

(Continuar leyendo…)

Capitalism Destroys, the People Build

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés

The words of the EZLN’s General Command in the voice of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés in the Zapatista community La Realidad at the presentation of the Zapatista Autonomous School, “Compañero Galeano” and the Autonomous Clinic 26 of October, “Subcomandante Insurgente Pedro” to the Zapatista bases of support, March 1, 2015.

[showtime]

Good morning to everyone, compañeros and compañeras of this zone, in this caracol of La Realidad, Selva Fronteriza zone.

We are here with you today, compañeros, compañeras of this zone, to officially turn over these buildings to the compañeros and compañeras bases of support of this Zapatista community, La Realidad, Nueva Victoria, as it is called in the struggle for us as the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.

Compañeros and compañeras, what we must make clear and understand is that the pain carried by each Zapatista continues, not only the Zapatistas in Mexico, but across the world, because we do not have with us the compañero whose name this new construction carries: compañero Galeano.

This construction was the fruit and the work, the efforts and the organization of the compañeros and compañeras of the International Sixth and the National Sixth. Here we are demonstrating what we Zapatistas are, in Mexico and in the world.

(Continuar leyendo…)

COMMUNIQUE FROM THE INDIGENOUS REVOLUTIONARY CLANDESTINE COMMITTEE—GENERAL COMMAND OF THE ZAPATISTA ARMY FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION.

October 2014:

To the students of the Escuela Normal[1] “Raúl Isidro Burgos” in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico.
To the national and international Sixth:
To the people of Mexico and the world:

Sisters and Brothers:

Compañeras and Compañeros:

To the students of the Escuela Normal of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico, and to your family members, classmates, teachers, and friends, we simply want to let you know that:

You are not alone.

Your pain is our pain.

Your dignified rage is ours also.

-*-

To the compañeras and compañeros of the Sixth in Mexico and the world, we call on you to mobilize, according to your means and ways, in support of the community of the Escuela Normal in Ayotzinapa, and in demand of true justice.

-*-

We as the EZLN will also mobilize, within our capacities, on October 8, 2014, in a silent march as a signal of pain and outrage, in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, at 1700 hours.

Democracy!
Liberty!
Justice!

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast.

For the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee—General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation.

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.

Mexico, October 2014. In the twentieth year of the war against oblivion.

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[1] The Escuelas Normales in Mexico are teaching colleges that principally train rural and indigenous young people to be teachers in their own communities.

Translated by El Kilombo