Closing Remarks of the EZLN at the Fourth
Preparatory Meeting
And
Invitation to the Fifth Meeting
Originally published in
Spanish by the EZLN
*************************************
Translated by irlandesa
Zapatista Army of National
Liberation
To all those who support the
Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona:
To those attending the
Meeting of NGOs, Collectives and Groups:
Compañeros and compañeras:
These were going to be the
words for the closure of the meeting of NGOs, Collectives and Groups, but the
session ran late, and, in the end, quite a few had already left. But I promised you that I was going to send
you a letter, so here it goes:
I was going to begin by
ranting and raving against those intellectuals who are pro-AMLO and pro-'voting
for the least-worst' who, flaunting their mental laziness, content themselves
with cutting and pasting sentences so, from there, they can construct "malas lecturas"
(I imagine that someone applauds them). Or those who, after a wide detour, end up just telling us that
their psychoanalyst and their chef are Argentineans. Or those who try to apply the three laws of
academic dialectics to the "other campaign": "Ask me for forgiveness," "Ask
for my permission," "Ask for my guidance" and (I know I said 3,
but, since they're dialectics, there's always a fourth) "Ask for my
direction." This after correcting
that "he's going to deliver all of us a death blow" which, as no one
has gone to the trouble of noting, was said at the meeting with political
organizations of the left. That is, AMLO
is going to deliver a death blow to the organizations of the left, not to the
radio and TV announcers, intellectuals, journalists and editorial writers. To those he's going to offer grants,
positions, embassies, consultancies or whatever form the most expensive
caresses take. Then I was going to
continue rectifying that "we're going to make them into little
pieces," because they aren't even solid enough to result in pieces, so I
was going to say: "We're going to make them dust."
But now you see I'm not, I'm
being well-behaved. And so better that I
pass on to you some reflections on what was said during the different
presentations at the meeting.
Leaving aside that they traían en carrilla
with that stuff about my tummy (they don't fool me, I was able to sense more
than one lewd and lascivious glance running up and down my mouthwatering
figure), and there was more than one veiled allusion to my "Pedro Infante Reloaded" style machismo, - We heard a common
concern: respect for the autonomy and independence of the groups and
organizations. More than one presentation pointed out that the "other
campaign" should not devolve into a centralized, hierarchical structure.
There was also a tendency to
seek, and hear, the mirror. They
listened to their counterparts: artists to artists, feminists to feminists,
anarchists to anarchists, alternative media to alternative media and so on. Histories
that referred to different and even opposite realities aroused little interest.
As if, even in the diversity that was convened, each one sought to shut
themselves up in the place and way of their own struggle.
It is understandable that
each one wants to mix with their counterparts, and it's understandable that
each one sees their place in the Sexta and in the
"other campaign." At the end of the day, that is the objective of the
Sexta: at a common point, the anti-capitalist of the
left, a place will be opened for everyone.
But not
just that. The Sexta
and the "other campaign" are also places for listening to what is
different within the common - that which is opposed to the same system but with
different ways and means.
Because, even given the many
and varied colors and forms of that meeting, it is nothing compared to the wide
range of differences which the Sexta has convened and
is organizing in the "other campaign." There are political organizations which have
been engaged in struggle and anti-capitalist resistance for entire decades. There
are social organizations with a long history of struggle and achievements in
demanding better work and living conditions. There are indigenous peoples and
organizations with not just years, but centuries, of resistance against racism
and of struggle for respect for their culture. There are persons, men and women
who, within their family, in their barrio or at their job, are concerned about
what is happening and want to do something to change it.
You will have the opportunity
to see them and listen to them during the plenary. You will see then that there
are many other others, in addition to the others who gathered here together
this time. Men and women who have spent their entire lives
seeking and fighting to transform the system. They have not only an
organized and coherent discourse critical of the system,
they also have an alternative proposal. And in order to make it real they work
with unions, neighborhood associations, campesino and producer groups, cooperatives, student and
teachers groups, indigenous peoples and communities. In some cases, their
demands have a specific view: improving living, salary or work conditions,
respect for the culture, caring for the environment. In others, those demands
are a means for a gradual, but profound, transformation of the system. And for
others the defense of human rights is the mirror in which we all see ourselves.
Because at the end of the day the demand for respect for difference, for
recognition of the culture, for better living conditions, for a free art, for
alternative information, for gender equality, for liberty, for democracy, for
justice, are nothing less than demands for the rights of human beings.
They will find us, the neo-Zapatistas,
at their side in their individual, local, regional and national struggles. We
believe that we all have to make an effort to listen to them, to respect them. Because
you should understand that they also have a place in this large "we"
that we want to build collectively.
But listening and respecting
does not mean subordinating oneself, obeying, being silent. You have made
criticism and questioning your banner and methods: questioning the machismo
which seeps even into the language. Criticizing the large media outlets that
impose even what we drink and how we drink it. Questioning
one method of producing and circulating art. Criticizing the multiple
pyramids of command and obedience which are repeated above...and below to the
left. Questioning the fashions and methods with which difference is influenced.
You criticize the deaf ears turned to the people's anger.
Because if an anti-capitalist
movement does not aspire to transform everything, and not just the
relationships between property and production, then there's no point, and it
will only repeat ancient injustices, but now with a new alibi.
If the transformation we are
attempting does not include the radical transformation of gender relations
between men and women, the generational ones between the "mature" and
young people, those of coexistence between heterosexuals and 'everyone in their
own way," then that transformation will end up being just one more
caricature among those which abound in the book of history.
Someone said here that if we
can't dance in this revolution, then it's not our revolution. I would have to add that if the relationships
between the differences which abound in human beings do not change, then it is
not our revolution. And then another
will have to be made, and another, and another yet, until the "No
one" we are shines with all the colors we are and in all the forms we
have.
While you should understand
that those others, different from you, have a place, they should also
understand that you have a place in the world, in the Sexta
and in the "other campaign."
A few days ago, during the
meeting with Indian Peoples and Indigenous Organizations, we noted that the
neo-Zapatistas would be with the indigenous in the defense of their difference
and their specific condition as indigenous. Now we are telling you that the
EZLN and their Sixth Committee will be with you in the defense of your autonomy
and independence, in your opposition to the creation of a centralized and
hierarchical organizational structure. Our idea is not one but many
organizations, not one but all colors which, from below and from the left, will
paint rebellion.
As we will be with the
political organizations of the left who are struggling against capitalism and
who are proposing a new social relationship, with the Indian peoples who are
remaining firm in their rights and culture, with the social organizations and
movements who are demanding better living and working conditions.
But we will also be with the
artists of the street or of little or nor at all known places, in the alternate
media, with hip-hoppers or rappers or skaters or irketos
or etceteras, with the gang, with homosexuals and lesbians, with transvestites,
transsexuals and transgender persons, with feminists, with human rights defense
organizations and those for the release of political prisoners, with the ways
of young men and women, with the raza, with
individuals, in short, with all those who have
embraced the Sexta and who are now building, with us,
the "other campaign."
I could end by telling you
not to let yourselves be co-opted or absorbed, to defend your space and your
work, but I'm sure that all of you know that the spirit of the Sexta and of the "other campaign" is not to tell
anyone what to do or not do, but to listen, learn and join what everyone does.
And tan-tan. Have a good
trip. We'll see you on September 16.
I'd forgotten - I also want
to let you know that the next preparation meeting is the one with Women, Men,
Old Ones, Boys and Girls, on their own, as families, from communities, barrios
or neighborhoods. Arrival is on Friday,
September 2, the meeting on Saturday, the 3rd and return on Sunday, September
4. The meeting will be in the
Don't be late, because I'm a
little sick with the flu, and I'm noting, appalled, that I'm losing my
succulent waistline.
By the Sixth Committee of the
EZLN
From the mountains of the
Mexican Southeast
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos