Worker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 22:20:34 -0600 (CST)
Subject: (en) Mexico, Zapatistas Renew Struggle with Anger and Fire -
From: Worker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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This is an article by an Irish anarchist
currently living in Chiapas.
Zapatistas Renew Struggle with Anger and Fire.
9th Anniversary of Armed Uprising Marked by
Biggest Mobilization So Far.
by Ramor Ryan
San Cristobal de las Casas, January 1 2003.
Defying their critics who charge they are
divided and disintegrating, the Zapatistas
mobilised their forces today, mustering the
largest and most militant demonstration seen in
San Cristobal since the armed uprising 9 years
ago. As many as 20,000 masked militants of the
EZLN descended on the town from all corners of
Chiapas armed with machetes and lighting huge
bonfires around the central plaza and
surrounding streets. There were no injuries, and
little damage to property, but the feisty rebels
demonstrated in no uncertain terms that, on the
9th anniversary of the uprising they are still
organised, still militant and still enraged.
A Night To Remember
"I am very proud we have peace in Mexico, with
Marcos, with the Zapatistas," said Mexican
President Vincente Fox a few weeks ago, while
visiting Europe.
"Fox says we have peace in Chiapas, that there
is no conflict," said Comandante David from the
podium. "Is the conflict settled in Chiapas?" he
asked.
"NOOOO!" was the emphatic reply from the
multitude, banging their machetes and sticks,
holding up burning torches, as the black smoke
from the multiple bonfires engulfed the town
centre. The masked insurgents packed the
expansive centre plaza and still thousands more
were left chanting in the surround streets. The
mood was combatitive and the chants, banners and
speeches from the stage were uncompromising -
Fox Is The Same As Zedillo, PAN Equals PRI, No
Evictions From Montes Azules, Globalize
Rebellion And Dignity! The rebellion in
Argentina was lauded, and terrorism of Bush and
Bin Laden condemned. "We came to say that here
we are still, stronger than ever and we resist,"
said Comandante Mister. "Before a globalization
of death imposed by the powerful, we proclaim a
globalization of freedom..."
"Are we here to surrender?!" shouted Commandante
Tacho, and the crowd responded with such a hell-
raising clamor that a lady next to me was
prompted to mutter
Betrayal and Oblivion
This is the first public mass mobilization of
the Zapatista Comandancia and rank-and-file in
almost 2 years. The last Zapatista event was the
hugely popular Caravan to the Capital in
February of 2001, bringing out Mexicans in their
hundreds of thousands in support of Indigenous
demands, as Sub-Comandante Marcos and the EZLN
command journeyed up to Mexico City..
The crowning achievement of that odyssey was
presenting an Indigenous Law granting a form of
autonomy for ratification through Congress. But
as soon as the Zapatistas turned their backs and
returned home to Chiapas, that Law was modified
and watered down by government legislators,
amidst charges of betrayal. Appeals to re-
instate the original the Law before the Supreme
Court were rejected.
With this constitutional rejection of Indigenous
Reform, Congress, the Federal government and the
Supreme Court of the nation was seen to negate
the legitimacy of the San Andres Accords, signed
between government and rebels in 1996.
Recognition of the San Andres Accords is the
principle demand in order to re-start dialogue
between the EZLN and the Federal government.
With this failure it seemed the legal and
political means to resolve the Chiapas conflict
had been exhausted.
The Zapatistas seemed exhausted too, and lapsed
into a long piercing silence lasting 20 months.
The Fox Government worked hard to provoke
divisions within the base communities, offering
numerous financial incentives. The Mexican army
remained, if a little less visible, encircling
the Zapatistas areas, and paramilitaries upped
the ante, murdering 4 Zapatista leaders in
August, 2002. The EZLN did not respond to these
provocations, remaining silent throughout the
wave of killings, prompting rumours of their
impotence and inner-turmoil. Marcos has fallen
out with the Clandestine Committee, ran the
rumour mongering and has been sent into exile.
Rank and file are deserting the ranks in floods.
President Fox , ever the opportunist, attempted
a public relations coup amidst the silence,
claiming the conflict had been resolved.
"We have brought peace to Chiapas," he boasted.
A peace of military occupation, continuing
extreme poverty and slow death by strangulation
of the land. The peace of oblivion?
A Spectre Haunts Chiapas.
Chiapas is on the brink of profound structural
change, a change that will not be wrought by a
triumphant Zapatista return, but by a series of
mega-projects financed by global capital called
Plan Puebla Panama (PPP). Envisaging a series of
colossal dams, construction of super-highways
and the development of a vast sweat-shop area,
the planners intend to develop southern Mexico
and Central America into a manufacturing hub and
production corridor. "The Plan Puebla Panama is
a thousand times more important than any
indigenous Zapatista community" according to
President Fox.
Plan Puebla Panama has three goals -
a) increase the transit and industrial
infrastructure of the region, improving the
capacity for export industries,
b) catalyze a shift of the regions economy from
agriculture to assembly plant maquiladoras and
manufacturing, and
c) expand private control over the vast natural
resources in the region.
The process is already underway. The first
sweat-shop has opened in Huixtla. Road
construction is currently a boom industry. Land
ownership is changing - 11% of land in Chiapas
is held communally (in Ejidos) and most of the
ejidos are in the strategically important Jungle
region under control of the Zapatistas. A
government programme Procede offers incentives
to communities to divide their land and
individualize holdings. Once it is privatized,
the land can be sold on to investors, or agents
for foreign companies, thereby opening up the
process of capitalist development.
The battle between bio-prospectors and the
indigenous inhabitants of the jungle region has
already intensified. Bio-piracy, i.e. patenting
plants that can be turned into pharmaceutical
drugs, pesticides or other marketable products,
has become highly profitable - prompting the
title Green Gold, and the current rush to patent
rights the Bio-gold rush.
Influenced by the Zapatista struggle,
communities of small farmers are organising
across southern Mexico and all the way down
Central America, forming international
coalitions and coordinating their protests like
the Day of Action last October 12 (Colombus Day)
against the PPP and capitalist globalization. A
masked protester from the Regional Co-ordination
of Civil Society organisation, blocking a
highway in Chiapas last October articulated
their demands, linking them with those of the
Zapatistas.
"We have seen that all Fox and Salazar ( State
Governor of Chiapas) have done is for the
benefit of the rich and in favour of the owners
of money,... with little benefit for us, the
farmers. We are against the PPP, NAFTA and ALCA,
and as you can see from the banners, in favour
of honouring the San Andres Accords."
In all Mexico about a quarter of the population,
25 million, live off the land, and 80% of them
in extreme poverty. Approximately 600 campesinos
are forced to abandon the land for the cities
every single day. The agriculture sector is in
severe decline, and NAFTA is one of the chief
reasons. The influx of cheap corn and wheat from
the giant commercial farms of the US is driving
small farmers to ruin.
And rather than promote a sustainable
agriculture sector, the Fox government, firmly
committed to NAFTA, and ALCA (Free Trade
Agreement of the Americas) , encourages the
desertion of the land. Migration is rife.
Official figures quote 150,000 migrants from
Chiapas to the US each year, but the growth
industry in Bus Companies running to the US
border - 80 new companies registered in the last
3 years, suggest an even greater number.
Alongside the internal migration to work in
Cancun and the oil fields of Tabasco, a whole
way of rural life and indigenous culture is in
danger of disappearing.
"The PPP will respect the territorial integrity
of the communities and promote a sustainable
development" says Fox, which flies in the face
of the events on the ground. 30 indigenous
communities on Montes Azules in the Lacandon
Jungle are currently facing violent eviction.
This local struggle has become the front line
for wide-spread resistance against the Plan
Puebla Panama. The Zapatistas have sworn to
fight eviction in Montes Azules to the death.
"This traitorous government and the voracious
capitalists know that this land are ours, and we
wont abandon it," says Rosa, a fiery Zapatista
Chol from Tumbala, "and its wealth belongs to
those who have lived here and worked these lands
for centuries. We resist their globalisation in
the same way the indigenous people resisted the
Conquest, and our corn will resist their
transgenic corn!"
The Ninth Anniversary.
The 9 years of struggle of the Zapatistas has,
on the ground, been both advantageous and
circuitous. The initial armed uprising opened up
vast swathes of occupied land taken from the
finqueros. Thousands of campesinos continue to
occupy and work these territories, a de-facto
rebel zone under the authority of the 38
Autonomous Municipalities. This is the one great
achievement for the bases of support of the
Zapatistas. On the other hand, the autonomous
zones are constantly under threat, surrounded by
the army and menaced upon by paramilitaries.
The governments attempts to buy off the rebel
communities has been successful in some areas,
and traditional pre-1994 Zapatista strongholds
are often focus for the most persistent counter-
insurgency programmes. The historical Zapatista
village of Morelia, for example, has seen the
level of support for the insurgents fall to
below 50% of the populace. Support in another
Aguascalientes, Roberto Barrios has fallen to
less than 25%. However, the younger communities
on occupied land remain staunch, and Zapatista
numbers swell as children of the rebellion grow
up and form their own communities.
"We are united here," says Don Anselmo of the
100% Zapatista village 10 de Abril, "although I
do worry about some of the other communities..".
5 or 6 of the surrounding smaller villages have
dropped out of the struggle. Ex-Zapatista
Esteban explains why he dropped out and left 10
de Abril to live in one of the other non-
Zapatista villages - "I got tired, and I needed
to feed my kids. The (Zapatista) Organisation
takes up a lot of time and you get little in
return." Taking advantage of a government
scheme, he received some construction materials
and his children receive state schooling. (It's
true, the Autonomous school in 10 de Abril was
not functioning well.) Is he finished with the
Zapatistas? "No," says Esteban, "I'm taking a
rest".
Renewal of Struggle
And this is the importance of the strong,
militant demonstration on Jan 1. As rumours of
significant desertion of the ranks, internal
division and impotency abound, such a powerful
manifestation of hardcore allegiance rallies the
troops and demonstrates that the Zapatistas are
still the only show in town. As the
constitutional path - marked by betrayal, seems
exhausted and the enemy takes a more global
face, the Zapatistas appear to be changing their
tactical direction, renewing the spirit of
resistance and pursuing a more confrontational
strategy.
Midnight, January 1, 2003, the night sky above
San Cristobal is thick with pungent smoke and
the old colonial streets are jam-packed with
hordes of spirited masked Zapatistas, taking
control of the town deserted of locals, and
security forces. As Chiapas faces an uncertain
future regarding the Plan Puebla Panama, one
thing is sure from this insurgent demonstration
- the conflict has entered into a new phase. The
Zapatistas have returned from their forays into
national Constitutional reform to once more
address the needs and demands of their base
constituency. From the stage, Comandante Bruce
Lee (no, really) commanded the cadre to build
bigger bonfires to warm the cool night air.
"This struggle has hardly begun. Let the fires
shine bright so that the people can see how we
have maintained our rebellion! ".
* Speeches by the Commandancia of the EZLN
on the ninth anniversary of the uprising
Text of the speeches made by Zapatista
commanders at San Cristo'bal anniversary
protests
---
The article is online where some of the more
obscure terms are linked to explanations and
there are links to the texts of the speeches
given by the CCRI on the night. Access them at
http://struggle.ws/new.html
--
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New global anarchist index
http://www.struggle.ws
3000 + pages on anarchism, Ireland, Zapatistas
revolutionary history and struggles around globalisation
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