Zapatistas

Zapatistas Warn Mexico: ‘We Won’t Back AMLO Projects’

January 3, 2019 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Resist! AMLO, Mexico, Zapatistas

"It’s not easy to face political parties and bad governments are the current one: dishonest and deceitful,” said Subcomandante Moises. Mexico's National Liberation Zapatista Army (EZLN) has declared it won’t allow the “death projects” of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in its territory, vowing to maintain autonomy based on Indigenous customs. “We will fight, we will face, we won’t allow him to come here with his destructive projects,” said Subcomandante Moises, without naming Lopez Obrador directly, at the closing ceremony of the 25th anniversary celebrations. “We don’t fear his National Guard, a name chosen instead of army.”

Zapatista Women Inspire The Fight Against Patriarchy

April 6, 2018 Shirin Hess, Wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Mexico, Nationalism, Sexism, Women, Zapatistas

Dawn had only just broken over the mountains. While most of the women and children on the camping grounds were still asleep, others were already wide awake, huddling together in the first rays of sunlight and drinking coffee. To a casual observer, this place might have seemed similar to any mainstream festival campsite. A distinguishing factor, however, was that there wasn’t a single man in sight. The sign on the main entrance left no one in doubt that only women and children were welcome at this event: “Men not permitted to enter.” Women’s participation in Mexico’s 25-year-old Zapatista National Liberation Army, or EZLN movement, has represented an incredible organizational achievement since its original uprising in 1994.

Zapatista’s ‘Women in Struggle’ Summit Sets Historical Precedent

March 13, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! Chiapas, Mexico, Women's Rights, Zapatistas

Thousands of women met in Zapatista territory against capitalist and patriarchal society. Thousands of women from all around the world met in Zapatista territory to participate in the first Women in Struggle International Summit, hosted by Mayan Zapatista women. The Zapatistas say over 5,000 women came to the Caracol of Morelia for the summit, which took place between March 8 and 10. Women started gathering in Caracol, located in a remote area of the Tzotz Choj zone of Chiapas, one day before the opening ceremony to begin arranging accommodation for themselves at the designated shelters or set up tents. More than 200 political, artistic and sports proposals had been registered for workshops and showcases, including music, dance, theater, poetry, book presentations, photography, cinema, football and volleyball.

Cracks In Wall Of Capitalism: Zapatistas And Struggle To Decolonize Science

March 2, 2018 David Meek, Towardfreedom.com Create! Capitalism, Decolonize, Mexico, Science, Zapatistas

Below images of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, and a many-headed hydra consuming humanity, sit two groups. To the right, facing a stage, are approximately 200 delegates of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), seated as a homogenous block. Wearing black ski masks, they furiously take notes. To the left, 300 scientists and observers from throughout the world are seated. With a tiny pink ribbon pinned to her mask, Julía, a Zapatista delegate from Oventic, Chiapas, takes the microphone: “The rivers are drying up. We know that the people before had a way of planting their crops, but now it doesn’t rain like it’s expected to. Now, there are epidemics that weren’t common before, like cancer and diabetes…” Julía is unequivocal about the linkages between science and capitalism in perpetuating this crisis.

Mexico Is Trying to Stop an Indigenous Woman Candidate for President

February 11, 2018 By Tamara Pearson, Truthout Educate! Indigenous People, Mexico, Zapatistas

Mexico's first Indigenous female presidential hopeful might not even get her campaign off the ground, thanks to outright discrimination and a host of arduous requirements that stop ordinary people from participating in politics. The campaign of Maria de Jesús Patricio Martinez (also known as Marichuy) so far has just 14 percent of the signatures necessary to register her as a candidate for July's general election. Marichuy is representing the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), as well as a broader campaign in defense of land against multinationals, for environmental justice, women's rights and more. But those campaigning for her know she doesn't stand a chance.

Zapatista Indigenous Presidential Candidate’s Vision For Mexico

July 10, 2017 Benjamin Dangl, www.towardfreedom.com Create! Elections, Mexico, presidential elections, Zapatistas

By Benjamin Dangl for Toward Freedom - The Zapatistas and National Indigenous Congress (CNI) held an assembly in May in which they chose María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, a Nahua indigenous healer, as their spokesperson and presidential candidate for the 2018 elections in Mexico. Patricio’s candidacy and radical vision for Mexico challenges conventional politics and marks a new phase for the Zapatista and indigenous struggle in the country. The 57-year-old traditional Nahua indigenous doctor and mother of three from western Mexico is the first indigenous woman to run for the presidency in Mexico. Patricio joined the struggles related to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in 1996, when she was involved in the formation of the CNI, a network of indigenous communities in the country. She began helping out sick members of her community with herbal remedies when she was 20-years-old. Her skills as a healer were passed down to her from elders in the community, and are based on a close relationship with the local ecosystem. “Back then, there was a shortage of doctors and medicine and the health department had no answers,” Patricio told the Guardian. “But we have so many plants and so much knowledge from our elders. My grandmother would give us special teas to cure stress, coughs or diarrhea, and they worked. So I thought: why not give herbal remedies to those who can’t afford medicine?”

The Most Important Day In The Last 10,000 Years

June 15, 2017 Quincy Saul, www.counterpunch.org Create! Mexico, Zapatistas

By Quincy Saul for Counter Punch - And so there we were, at the University of the Earth, outside San Cristobal de las Casas, in a valley between the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, to watch the birth of a new government. We were there as participant-observers – a position which may appear paradoxical for those who missed the presentations on quantum physics at the Zapatista science conference last year – with the responsibility to bear witness and carry it home. For three days at the end of May, delegates and representatives from the Yucatan to Baja California gathered and formed an Indigenous Governing Council. Over 50 languages were registered. The council includes 71 members, the majority of whom are women. In the closing ceremony, on behalf of their ancestors and future generations, they swore an oath to give their lives to dignified rebellion and the defense of Mother Earth. Resurgent Mexico has made world history yet again. On the first day of the Congress, we watched as representatives and delegates from dozens of indigenous nations waited patiently in the sun for hours to enter the building where the opening ceremony was held.

Zapatistas Urge Scientists To Join In Building A Better World

May 1, 2017 Staff, www.climateandcapitalism.com Create! Science, Zapatistas

By Staff of Climate and Capitalism - My name is SupGaleano. As I am only a little over two and a half years old, my version of what used to be called a “curriculum vitae” and now is called a “user profile” is quite brief. In addition to being an insurgente and a Zapatista, I have various other professions. One of them, for example, is to make those who consider themselves fine upstanding citizens uncomfortable, and to awake the basest instincts of those who do not. I do this by showing my clearly seductive and voluptuous figure, which I have achieved, through much effort, via a rigorous diet of greasy meals along with supplementary junk food at my discretion. I am also, much to my own dismay and that of many readers, the unwilling scribe for the whims of a particular being—mythological for people over 12 years of age and of obvious existential importance for any person passionate about science and any child [niño, niña, or niñoa] who doesn’t care about calendars except to play with. I am referring, of course, to that being whose mere existence lays social and biological Darwinism to rest and marks the emergence of a new epistemic paradigm: the cat-dog.

Zapatistas Demand ‘Grassroots Resistance’ Against Trump’s Walls

February 17, 2017 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Donald Trump, Immigration, Zapatistas

By Staff of Tele Sur - “We call for grassroots movements to resist, resist and rebel against the persecution, the arrests and deportations." The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, EZLN, called on all of its members and supporters to rally behind the immigrants currently facing arrest, deportation and human rights abuses at the hands of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. “We call for grassroots movements to resist, resist and rebel against the persecution, the arrests and deportations ... Because every human being has the right to live in freedom and dignity in the place he finds the best for himself, and has the right to fight to stay there,” said the communique, calling resistance an act of "duty.” Signed by Subcomandante Moises and Subcomandante Galeano, the document reinforced the idea that migrants and refugees are “not alone” and that the Zapatistas, "even with our limited possibilities," fully support their struggle.

Newsletter – The Consent Of The Governed

January 7, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Cooperatives, Democracy, illegitimate government, Indigenous Peoples, Neoliberalism, New Economy, Nonviolence, Propaganda, Rojava, Russia, Ungovernable, Venezuela, Wealth Ineqaulity, Worker Cooperatives, Zapatistas

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Governments function because of the consent of the governed. When a government does not serve the needs or interests of the people, it loses its legitimacy and no longer deserves the consent of the people.Plutocracy defined We have argued for a long time that current governments at all levels - local, state and federal -function primarily to benefit the wealthy. Academics have proven that the United States is a plutocracy - rule of, by and for the wealthy. It is time for us to withdraw our consent. Let's consider how to do that and what protections will be needed. When a government loses the consent of the people, all it has left to wield to keep its power is repression and force. Cooperation Jackson and the Malcolm X Grassroots Organizing Movement, is calling for "a program of noncompliance and noncooperation on both the federal and state levels." We have entered a new era, a presidency of protest and an increasing illegitimate government. We have the power to withdraw our consent from hate and exploitation and build love and prosperity.

Zapatistas And Indigenous Congress Seek To Revolutionize Mexico’s 2018 Election

November 2, 2016 Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater, www.truth-out.org Create! Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, presidential elections, Zapatistas

By Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater for Truthout - After two decades of declining to engage with electoral politics in Mexico, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and the National Indigenous Congress of Mexico (CNI) have announced their plans to form a national Indigenous governing council and choose and support an Indigenous woman candidate in the 2018 Mexican presidential elections. For many longtime supporters of the EZLN and CNI, the October 14 announcement came as a surprise, given these organizations' consistent and staunch critique of electoral politics.

Zapatistas Enter Mexico’s Presidential Race

October 21, 2016 Andrew S. Vargas, www.remezcla.com Resist! Mexico, presidential elections, Zapatistas

By Andrew S. Vargas for Remezcla - The Zapatistas are dipping their toes into Mexican electoral politics. Last week, the near-mythical army of indigenous resistance released a communiqué summarizing the basic points of discussion that characterized the 5th National Indigenous Congress (CNI) in Chiapas, and it included a bombshell announcement. After ticking off an infuriatingly long list of violations of indigenous rights and sovereignty across Mexico (with a shoutout to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests,)

The Zapatista’s CompArte Art Festival In Images

August 29, 2016 Ryan Mallett-Outtrim, www.newint.org Create! Art, Zapatistas

By Ryan Mallett-Outtrim for New Internationalist - Over a thousand artists gathered in San Cristobal, Chiapas in July to attend the alternative art festival, CompArte for Humanity. Supported by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), the festival drew 1,445 artists from 45 different countries and from every continent. The aim of the festival was to promote art as a way to create dialogue across social movements, and as a form of social and political expression. Over the course of the week long festival, from 23 to 30 July, dozens of artists spoke out about the political, social and cultural messages of their art.

Zapatista Solution To Food Sovereignty, Decolonization & Equity

August 22, 2016 Levi Gahman, www.thesolutionsjournal.com Create! Decolonize, Equity, Food and Agriculture, Sovereignty, Zapatistas

By Levi Gahman for The Solutions Journal - One of the biggest threats to food security the world currently faces is neoliberalism. It’s logic, which has become status quo over the past 70 years and valorizes global ‘free market’ capitalism, is made manifest through economic policies that facilitate privatization, deregulation, and cuts to social spending, as well as a discourse that promotes competition, individualism, and self-commodification. Despite rarely being criticized, or even mentioned, by state officials and mainstream media, neoliberal programs and practices continue to give rise to unprecedented levels of poverty, hunger, and suffering.

Dismantling Neoliberal Education: A Lesson From Zapatistas

April 5, 2016 Levi Gahman, www.roarmag.org Educate! Education, Liberation, Neoliberalism, Zapatistas

By Levi Gahman for ROAR Magazine - The story of the Zapatistas is one of dignity, outrage, and grit. It is an enduring saga of over 500 years of resistance to the attempted conquest of the land and lives of indigenous peasants. It is nothing less than a revolutionary and poetic account of hope, insurgency and liberation—a movement characterized as much by adversity and anguish, as it is by laughter and dancing. More precisely, the ongoing chronicles of the Zapatista insurrection provide a dramatic account of how indigenous people have defied the imposition of state violence...

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