New York Times Story on
Fourth Preparatory Meeting with NGOs Etc.
New York Times
At a 60's Style Be-In, Guns
Yield to Words, Lots of Words
By JAMES C.
McKINLEY Jr.
SAN MIGUEL,
The rebel, who calls himself Subcommander Marcos, emerged from the woods on Sunday
morning surrounded by 24 armed rebels for a second day of listening to the
leaders of dozens of charities devoted to social work and human rights. All the
rebels wore the movement's trademark black balaclava helmets, including Marcos,
who may be the only man in history to make a ski mask and pipe look sexy.
The weekend gathering looked
like a cross between the
More than 280 small
nongovernmental organizations, artists, punk rockers, students, rappers and
social workers attended - a panoply of left-leaning
folks on the fringe of Mexican politics who have rallied to the Zapatista
banner. Many of the charities have been formed since 1994 just to aid the
Zapatistas.
The attendees included an
organization representing lesbian anarchists, a collective of witches,
advocates fighting the privatization of waterworks, gay-rights promoters who
call themselves polysexuals and well-respected human
rights monitors in
This was the fourth meeting
of six that the rebel leaders have planned as part of what Marcos has dubbed
"the other campaign," a drive to galvanize the left wing of Mexican
politics before the election for president in July 2006.
In speeches at the meetings
and in open letters, Marcos has labeled mainstream politicians corrupt,
suggesting that it matters little for the poor and indigenous people who wins
the next election. Opening the meeting on Saturday, he called for "a
national leftist, anticapitalist program" and
"a new constitution, which is another way of saying a new agreement for a
new society."
Mr. Marcos has even tried to
undermine the most popular leftist candidate, Andrés Manuel López
Obrador, a former
"We are going up against
the whole political class," Marcos said after a contentious meeting with
left-wing political organizations on Aug. 6, "for all they have done to
us." He declined requests for interviews.
Precisely what Marcos hopes
to accomplish with the meetings and with a planned national tour by a group of
Zapatista representatives remains murky. He has not defined how he would change
the Constitution.
He has denied that he wants
to enter politics himself or to convert the 11-year-old rebellion into a
political party, even though the administration of President Vicente Fox has
said it will make that transition possible if the rebels disarm.
The Zapatistas have not
mounted a major military offensive since they were pushed back into the
mountains by the military in 1995. After Congress failed to pass an Indian
rights bill the rebels had advocated, they set up "autonomous
municipalities" that reject government aid.
The rebels who appeared with
Marcos did not look like a formidable fighting force. Several were teen-agers.
One woman carried a crippled chicken that Marcos had adopted as a mascot and
dubbed Penguin, because he waddles like one. Of the 24 armed rebels, only a
handful carried automatic rifles.
Some cynical political
analysts have said Marcos wants to distance his movement and other hard-line
leftists from Mr. López Obrador
to help the former mayor with moderate voters.
Others have said Marcos's
true aim is to restore to power the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the
authoritarian machine that ruled
Still others say Marcos's
call for a broad movement reflects a widespread disappointment with
left-leaning politicians throughout
"What they are saying
represents a trend in
That sentiment was expressed
over and over here in San Miguel, a former 15,000-acre ranch that the
Zapatistas seized in 1994 and divided among former Indian ranch hands.
"This movement, for me,
its historic," said Arturo Guzmán González, a 29-year-old singer who did a version a cappella of his protest song, "Manifestarse." "It has a moral base, this
movement. They seek the words of everyone."
Words there were aplenty.
Rebellion was celebrated. Violence against homosexuals was decried. The
mainstream media was derided as untrustworthy. The evils of capitalism were
roundly criticized, while the virtues of socialism, communal farming, organic
foods, same-sex marriage and human rights were expounded at length.
Some participants grew tired
of waiting to speak and left early. A few questioned how they were to change
the Constitution without forming a political party. Several despaired at all
the high-sounding speeches.
"We need more concrete
proposals," said Claudia Ledesma, of the Society
of Popular Organized Alternatives, who had gently suggested the formation of
committees to study issues. "If not, we run the risk of losing ourselves
in the words, or in an illusion."