Re: <nettime> re: zapatistas

[Ricardo Dominguez <rdom@thing.net>]

Quoting "dr.woooo" <dr.woooo@nomasters.org>:

> what do nettimers think the recent communiques mean ?
>
> the return of the shooting war, zapatistas in the electoral system ?  ...
>
> a broadening of the struggle ?
>
>
> re: en) Chiapas, EZLN: A letter of explanation...or, perhaps, farewell
>
>
> from
> http://irlandesa.blogspot.com/
>Hola all,

The Zapatistas are "not planning renewed combat" - but they are planning
to disturb the spaces of power of the PRI, PAN and the PRD in the days to come.
They will not allow the Presidential elections of 2006 to forget the indigenous
peoples - the Mexican State (PAN) "will have to demonstrate, whether now, at the
end of their six years term of office, they are capable of understanding the
example of integrity and humility that the indigenous people of Chiapas have
shown once more." The international communities of support must
be ready to help spread the new initiative "The Sixth Declaration from the
Lacandon Jungle" when it emerges in the next few days by whatever means
necessary and as has always been the case with the Zapatista Intergalactic
protocols it will become extremely important to maintain constant
multidimentional pressure on all the Mexican Parties in the days to come.

>From the navel of the world
D.F Mexico
rdom

PS 3 reports follow:

Subject: Reuters,Mexico's Zapatistas to launch new political phase,Jun 27
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:44:24 +0200

Mexico's Zapatistas to launch new political phase

Mon Jun 27,11:14 PM ET


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Zapatista rebels emerged from a week of
internal meetings on Monday and said they would launch "a new political
initiative" to be outlined in coming days.

Subcomandante Marcos, the group's enigmatic leader, issued the latest in a
series of cryptic public statements since he declared a red alert a week ago
in communities controlled by the Zapatistas, also known as the EZLN, in the
southern state of Chiapas.

"With the approval and backing of the great majority of its members, the
EZLN will begin a new political initiative of national and international
character," said Marcos, who achieved international fame by appearing in
public disguised in a black ski mask.

The statement signaled that the rebels are moving further away from the
violence they espoused when they took up arms more than 10 years ago.

The rebel leadership will soon release a series of texts constituting what
Marcos called "The Sixth Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle."

The Zapatistas shocked the world when they emerged from the jungle in 1994
to demand Indian rights. About 150 people died as the rebels seized towns
and clashed with security forces, but there has been little fighting since
then.

Then in a surprise move last week, the rebels declared a red alert,
abandoned their villages in Chiapas and shut down their radio station to
consider "a new step in the struggle."

Marcos said meetings were held in more than 1,000 indigenous communities
across the poor, largely Indian state last week, and tens of thousands of
supporters were consulted. The vast majority had approved a new phase of the
struggle.

"After analyzing and discussing the advantages and disadvantages, the
dangers and risks, everyone had a personal and free vote on the proposal,"
he said in the six-paragraph communique.

The latest move comes a year before Mexico elects a new president, and some
have speculated that the Zapatistas want to define their role ahead of the
election.

In 2000, the election of President     Vicente Fox ended 71 years of
single-party rule and raised high hopes that the Zapatistas could be brought
back to peace talks.

Instead, the rebels have been holed up in their Chiapas jungle stronghold
since 2001, when the Congress watered down an Indian rights bill sought by
the Zapatista leadership as a prerequisite for returning to the negotiating
table.

They set up civilian "good government councils" in Zapatista communities to
run without government aid, and the pipe-smoking Marcos began a new career
as a crime author, co-writing a serialized novel.

(((MORE)))

Subject: Jornada,Intense military movement in conflict zone, Jun 26
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:50:52 +0200

Intense military movement in conflict zone

Elio Henriquez, La Jornada, June 25th, 2005

San Cristo'bal de las Casas, Chiapas, June 24th. The withdrawal of four
military camps of the Mexican Army in the municipalities of Chenalho', Bochil
and Ixtapa, signifies "no modification of their military strategy" in the so
called conflict zone of Chiapas, affirmed the Centre for Political Analysis
and Social and Economic Investigation (CAPISE).

In a report titled "The Olive Green Occupation", the organisation relates
that the federal Army holds at present 111 positions in the territory of
Chiapas, most of them in the Highlands (los Altos), the Selva and the North
of the state; as a consequence the indigenous peoples "suffer an alarming
military occupation".

In a press conference on the release of the report, CAPISE director Ernesto
Ledezma, said that the general red alert declared by the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation (EZLN) last Monday, generated a great national and
international mobilization, but also an intense military movement in the
conflict zone.

As he explained, the day before a joint brigade of CAPISE and the
International Service for Peace visited the military detachment located in
the community of Patihuitz, Ocosingo. At their arrival "the prolonged sound
of a whistle was heard repeatedly, at which the soldiers ran to their
equipment, and two of them threw themselves to the ground and aimed their
rifles at the group".

The members of the centre declared, that in view of the announcement of the
EZLN not to prepare military actions, the Mexican State "will have to
demonstrate, whether now, at the end of their six years term of office, they
are capable to understand the example of integrity and humility that the
indigenous people of Chiapas have shown once more. They also explained that
now, "the ball is being passed to the civil society".

The organization affirmed, that the communique of the National Defense
Department (SEDENA), claiming the destruction of 44 marijuana plantations in
municipalities under zapatista influence, has been "both dangerous as well
as blown out of proportion".

They reminded that the armed forces has destroyed drugs in the same region
on previous occasions without making this public. This time however the
militaries "not only took care to publicize it in a communique, three of
four days after the actions", but in a time of Red Alert they also "added
the sentence 'in the influence zone of the insurgent group calling itself
EZLN'".

As CAPISE also commented, during a visit to the area in which the drugs were
destroyed, two days ago, they had been informed by the inhabitants, that the
armed forces realized monthly operations there, in particular in Rinco'n
Chamula, Rayo'n and Tapilula.

The report asserts for an instance, that in Pueblo Nuevo - one of the
municipalities referred to by the SEDENA - "not one of the 85 townships are
of zapatista affiliation."

Everything indicated, so the report, that the addition to the military
communique about the operation "seeks to justify in an absurd manner, should
the situation arise, an armed confrontation with the EZLN, in times of a Red
Alert".

The organization detailed, that out of the 111 military camps maintained by
the Mexican Army in Chiapas, 59 were located on ejido land, and 45 had been
expropriated in favour of the SEDENA.

They reiterated that the withdrawal of the military camps of Los Chorros and
Xo'yep (Chenalho'), the municipal capital of Bochil and the ranch El
Calvario, in Ixtapa, "is meaningless in military terms", since the strategy
of the Army towards the armed conflict remained unchanged. "Their military
tactics remain intact".

As part of the investigations realized in the recent weeks by members of the
centre, CAPISE informed that in the military camp located in the community
San Caralampio, municipality of Ocosingo, the soldiers paid "500 pesos for
an indigenous virgin or a young indigenous woman (between 14 and 16 years)".

(((AND MORE)))

Subject: GLW,Zapatistas discuss change of direction,Jun 29
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:27:46 +0200

MEXICO: Zapatistas discuss change of direction
Green Left Weekly

As Mexico redeployed a massive number of troops in the Chiapas region,
around the 1111 villages declared to be in self-government with the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), communiques released on June
19 and 20 by EZLN leader Subcomandante Marcos announced a "Red Alert", the
closure of the Zapatistas' self-governing councils, and its radio station,
in order to allow for a consultation about steps forward and a restructure
of the politico-military organisation of the EZLN.

In a 3000-word letter released on June 21, Marcos clarified that the
Zapatistas are not planning renewed combat, and hinted at a change of
direction. Explaining that during broad marches in the late 1990s the
Zapatistas had seen and heard about the injustices suffered by "campesinos,
workers, students, teachers, working people, homosexuals and lesbians, young
people, women, old ones and children", the letter continues: "We were
touched by a pain and fury, and indignation ... which is ours. But now we
were touched by it in the other. And we heard the 'we' that inspires us
wanting to become larger, to make itself more collective, more national. But
no, we had said just the indigenous, and we had to honour that. Now we are
consulting with our heart in order to see if we are going to say and do
something else."

The communiques are all available in English at
<http://irlandesa.blogspot.com>.


>From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.


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