-----Forwarded Message----- From: ".:.:cburn:.:." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Jun 22, 2005 4:45 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [imc-la]my thoughts about the red alert in chiapas... (fwd)
Fyi, for those interested in an analysis of what's happening in Chiapas right now, please read Hilary's comments below, who just wrote this today. Hilary has worked and lived in Chiapas for over 6 years with communities down there, and just recently returned. i trust her analysis. in fact it was hilary who was invaluable when i went down to Chiapas to help provide resources and support to the formation of the Chiapas IMC. If people want to contact her directly for an interview, or other information, please let me know. chris ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:12:21 -0700 (PDT) Subject: my thoughts about the red alert in chiapas... Here are some of my thoughts and impressions about what is happening right now in Chiapas. In my effort to write one letter and communicate with a lot of people, please forgive me that I am writing to some people who are following this very closely and already know a lot about what is happening and to other people who may not have known what was happening in Chiapas or have much background information? Feel free to pass this letter along to other people who are interested, send it to lists or publish it on the internet, etc. I think the best places to look for news and comunicados are the Frente (www.fzln.org.mx) and Indymedia (chiapas.indymedia.org) web pages. much love to all, Hilary It feels odd to be here again, sitting in front of a computer screen, trying to collect my thoughts in order to share what?s going on with people in other places. It reminds me of 1998... (a year of a lot of tension and many military operations against the Zapatista communities). The main difference is that now information is available on the internet so quickly that you all may get news as soon as we do here. But I can try and share a little bit more detail about what is happening here, what it might mean, and what it feels like here. On Sunday night we found out from people in the communities that the Juntas de Buen Gobierno (the Good Government Councils) were packing up and leaving, that everything in the Caracoles (the Zapatista Centers of Resistance) was being packed up and taken away and that the Zapatista support base was on red alert. Sunday night there was also a comunicado that basically sends all three political parties to hell and says the whole political system is shit. It criticizes the PRI and the PAN, but the EZLN?s scorn for these two right wing parties is nothing new. But it also focuses on the PRD (a more progressive party) and Lopez Obrador, responding to everything that happened in the last few months with the desafuero (the Fox government?s attempt to charge Lopez Obrador with some petty crime and keep him from running for president next year. After a huge public outcry, he backed down.) Marcos says that Lopez Obrador should not be mistaken for a populist hero and that if he were president, his government would continue with the same neoliberal plans. That comunicado ends with a statement that the sixth hour has arrived and that it is time for the EZLN to struggle against all of the above. Also on Sunday night, the Mexican Army?s only response was that they had burned down marijuana plants in Zapatista territory. Clearly an effort to discredit the Zapatistas and a refusal to take the Zapatista?s political statements seriously. Monday afternoon a comunicado came out declaring the red alert, stating that all five Caracoles were being closed and that the Juntas would be operating clandestinely from now on. It also asked members of civil society to leave Zapatista territory (or if they want to stay, they stay at their own risk) and cut any ties between the EZLN and outside supporters. My interpretation is that this comunicado is an effort to protect the support base, the autonomous authorities, and Zapatista supporters. By evacuating the Caracoles, they protect not only the authorities that might be in danger in the near future, but they also trying to make sure that the Mexican army does not have an excuse to attack the communities themselves. Likewise for the Zapatista supporters, it is a way of saying--these people are not linked to us so do not persecute them because of their relationship to us. (There is history of Zapatista supporters facing government repression, people close to the Zapatistas being arrested, etc.) Many NGO?s at first were saying that the red alert was a defensive response to a lot of movement of the Mexican military in recent weeks. I think this analysis is mistaken (and tends to see the Zapatistas only as victims of human rights violations as opposed to actors in creating history). I don?t think that the red alert was a defensive move or that the EZLN feared a government attack. I think it was part of their own preparations for something that is on the horizon. At this point it is clear that the EZLN is planning something. This was already suggested in the first comunicado and it was confirmed yesterday in a comunicado which says that the EZLN has a proposal and is consulting its support base because this proposal could possibly jeopardize everything that they have been constructing for the past several years. What does this all mean? It is not at all clear what they are planning but I think we will know sooner rather than later. I highly doubt that it will be of a purely military nature, but keep in mind that it is a proposal coming from the EZLN, not from the support base. To me, what is most striking about this is that for the last several years the process of Zapatismo, the whole construction of autonomy really, has been a process of shifting power and decision-making from the EZLN?s political and military structure to the civilian structures in the support base communities. And now the EZLN as a political-military organization is taking the initiative again. Of course it?s still hard to tell, but one way or another, it is a turning point. Not only does it feel like there is something big around the corner, but already, the fact that the Caracoles have been closed and the Juntas are operating clandestinely is huge, especially when you think about the fact that the creation of the Juntas was a culmination of many years of work towards self-determination and having an autonomous government. It could mean that the EZLN is about to head in a totally different direction. Or maybe things will calm down and return more or less to how they were before. Whatever happens, I do think that projects and relationships will continue. I think that everything will be suspended for a while but that once things calm down, work will pick up again and whether or not the Junta is coordinating everything as before, I?m sure the economic projects and cooperatives, the autonomous education and health care, the regional autonomous authorities, all that will continue in some form. How could it not? It is now part of the social fabric of the communities. I also think that we can?t separate what is happening in the Zapatista communities right now from what has been happening for the last few months at the national level. The fact that this all started with a comunicado about the political system and Lopez Obrador in particular is not a coincidence. For the last several years the EZLN has been focusing on strengthening its political project of local and regional autonomy. But I think that the construction of indigenous autonomy has always been part of a broader vision and a long-term plan, in other words, the construction of indigenous autonomy was not the only or the ultimate objective... What does it feel like here? Well, right now, a very tense calm. With the flurry of comunicados and state of emergency sometimes it?s easy to forget that nothing has actually happened yet. It is very strange to know that we are on the brink of something big but not know what it is. In a way, it?s exciting, because it seems like the EZLN is planning something that they assume will have a really big impact one way or another. But mostly it?s very nerve-wracking. I walk around all day with a knot in my stomach. I worry about what might happen to people that I love. I wonder if it?s conceivable that war will break out. I worry about what repercussions this might have for a political process of 12 years and everything that has been built from the ground up. It?s sad and scary not to know what will happen or when I will be able to see folks in the communities again. We?ll see... People that have gone and come back report that there is a state of very tense calm. Not only the Caracoles but other public Zapatista spaces are being packed up and closed down (regional schools and stores, for example.) Everywhere that has been closed there is a painted sign that says ?Closed because of the red alert.? Apparently there is not a lot of police or military presence on the roads but the soldiers in the bases are very nervous and jittery. Mostly we are just waiting, knowing that more is about to happen and trying to be prepared to best respond when it does. For the people who have a history of supporting the Zapatista movement and following closely what is happening right now, I suspect that is how you feel too. Things are changing every day so keep your eyes out for more news... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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