Narrative of the Plenary Session of the Other Campaign
Originally published in
Spanish by the EZLN for the Other Campaign
*************************************
Translated by irlandesa: [NB:
You will see the voice move between first and third person, which is how these
narratives were compiled: the nature of taking minutes – irl]
September 17 and 18, 2005, Caracol
of La Garrucha
AGENDA
1. Concerning the ratification, broadening or
modification of the features of the Other Campaign as proposed in the Sixth
Declaration.
2. Concerning the definition of who is being
convened and who is not.
3. Concerning the organizational structure of
the Other Campaign.
4. Concerning the special place of differences
in the Other Campaign: indigenous,
women, other loves, young people, children and others.
5. Concerning the Other Campaign’s position
vis-à-vis other organizational efforts (Promotora, Frentote, National Dialogues).
6. Concerning immediate national
political/general organizational tasks (dissemination and information).
7. Concerning what is missing.
The EZLN is announcing that
it will be holding bilateral meetings throughout the month of October with all
those member organizations, persons and groups who wish to disseminate the
Other Campaign. I am asking them to note
those bilateral meetings through Revista Rebeldía.
The EZLN is proposing that
there be political, artistic and cultural events throughout the country in
memory of our dead, political prisoners and disappeared on October 29, 30 and
31, as well as on November 1 and 2. It
is also being proposed that a large event be held in
Present for the EZLN are Comandantas Rosalinda, Kelly, Yolanda, Gabino,
Gustavo, Omar, Zebedeo, Tacho,
David, Hortensia, Miriam and Lieutenant Colonel Moisés. Comandantas Hortensia and Miriam
will be in charge of recognizing speakers.
Comandantes Zebedeo,
David and Tacho will be in charge of monitoring the
time for members of the audience so they don’t run over their five minutes.
An Initial Discussion Took Place Concerning Tasks
1. POS: We propose that there be immediate tasks and
that a package be prepared of different kinds of tasks. That a distinction be made for some national
political tasks. That the point be
divided in two: national political tasks
and the rest of the tasks. If this is
what we do, that this point take place prior to the definition. Before that point. And that afterwards the Other [Campaign’s]
position vis-à-vis the Promotora, the Frentote and the rest.
The division of immediate
tasks into two parts was approved.
2. Comité de Lucha José Martí [José Martí Committee of Struggle]: proposes that general or global projects be
presented and the discussion not be about small details, but rather involve
large proposals which are to be voted on at a general level. That each organization present global
proposals.
3. Mariana,
of the SCLC, proposes devoting a specific space for gender, ethnicity, but
not just a special place, instead that these issues be addressed within each
point in order to ensure that these points are discussed in each issue. How to build a “we” which includes a space
against discrimination at all different levels.
Whether differences should be
addressed in all the points or if they should be handled in a special manner
was put to a vote.
If they should be addressed
in all the points:
247 in favor
If they should be handled in
a different manner:
419 in favor
Subcomandante Marcos:
It stands as it is.
4. Armando
Martínez Verdugo: As a first point, the national political
situation. It is not possible for us to
begin seeing the characteristics of the Other if we don’t clearly define what
the challenges are which must be confronted.
We should first discuss the political situation here in
The proposal was not
approved.
5. Jesús Franco, DF: Concerning the proposal by the compañera
concerning differences in each point, that two very specific points be
included. If it remains as one point,
you run the risk that it would be nothing more than a general statement, and we
won’t all discuss it. Everyone
understanding the national political situation.
That what we understand within the Other concerning other excluded
sectors be very precise and that it guide the discussion a bit.
6. Angélica, from Un
Puente a La Esperanza [A Bridge to Hope]:
This campaign is an opportunity and a political space for reinforcing
the autonomous projects of the indigenous communities. They exist in Xochimilco
and Zirahuén.
That it serve to build ties, networks and to strengthen the autonomías. That we can begin to build and to provide new
ways of doing politics that are more than just words.
7. A compañera: First of all, we’re missing the
contents: what kind of opposition are we
going to engage in against the political parties.
8. A compañero: We support what the compañera said. It’s not necessary to travel all over the
country, but rather an economic self-management effort. Creating the brigades. That they deal with it in all the tasks.
9. María Elena, of the
FZ: That the agenda stay the same,
because it’s part of the identity of number five [fifth Agenda point, see
above]. They are organizational and
structural proposals. That the fifth
stays as it is, and then the tasks, the how-to.
Approved.
The discussion concerning
the agenda begins:
FIRST POINT. Concerning
the ratification, broadening and modification of the features of the Other
Campaign as proposed in the Sixth Declaration.
Sup:
The list of speakers is
opened.
1. Coordinadora Anarquista Feminista [Anarchist Feminist Coordinating Group]
As to the first point, where
the features of the Other Campaign have to be defined, the Coordinadora proposes that it be
civil, peaceful, national and in solidarity with resistance struggles
throughout the world. That it be
anti-capitalist. We are proposing that
the Other Campaign be of the left, but an anti-hierarchical and
antiauthoritarian left. A left which
tries to change relationships.
2. Jesús Franco, DF:
Proposing that listening is
emphasized in the Other Campaign, we have to turn around all the propaganda
from the political parties, where they conceal the country’s problems, and,
like Subcomandante Marcos said, turn the country on
its head. All of us are ready here to
make a statement, to take a position and to debate, but it seems like we’re not
ready to listen to other people’s proposals.
And so I’m proposing that what we really stress in the first parts of
the Other Campaign is linking ourselves with diverse organizations, NGOs of
various types that work in different places, not just sector organizations or
political organizations. We have to work
a lot with human rights compañeros,
so we can find out and see the real conditions in the country, in order to
build a national program of struggle.
3. Francisco, of POS:
Mentioned that one of the
activities is to hold an international encuentro, which is very important because the movement has
to be linked with struggles in the world.
But the Sexta posits that the encuentro be
convened against neoliberalism and for humanity. This statement is ambiguous, and that is why
it would be appropriate to specify that it should be convened on the same basis
as that of the Sixth Declaration.
Concern that the international encuentro would be a copy of the world forums which have
demonstrated their limitations. Da Silva attended some of them, and that is why it has to
be clear from the beginning. There has
to be correlation between the national and the international encuentros. The national even has to go further. Proposes that it be clearly defined as
anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist at the national and international levels.
4. Alejandro Varas Orozco (UNIOS)
We want to strengthen one of
the criteria used in the Sexta regarding the kind of
political and social movement that the Other Campaign will be. It seems to me, after yesterday’s speech by
the Comandancia,
that many compañeros
and compañeras
might have the feeling that it is an anti-establishment campaign against the
presidential campaigns which have already, in fact, begun and to which the
Mexican political regime has given 13 billion pesos. As the name says, this Other Campaign
basically seeks to position itself, as Marcos defined it, below and to the
left. That is why it seems to me today
that we have to strengthen the issue that it is a political and social movement
in defense of those who are struggling, of those who are victims of this
neoliberal system, of this savage capitalism.
In this regard, definitions are fundamental. It is not an election campaign, but it is
national, and it speaks well of you that you are calling on us to build another
country. A country where we will be able
to change the direction of the economy in favor of the workers. We have to go out now and organize the trip
which is being planned and begin the work of the Other Campaign in favor of the
Social Security workers, in defense of sovereignty. Solidarity with other peoples is
fundamental. I join in with it.
5. Andrés, from CLETA
Regarding the Other
Campaign’s decisions, it would be good to respond as to how we are going to
transform the social relationships of domination and exploitation in community
relations. Political, social and
cultural mediations must be found in order to create a fabric and networks of
collaboration. While at the same time
creating a permanent space for theoretical discussion, from below –
micro-politics it’s called – in order to create new relationships in the
political sphere, which will clarify and allow us to discuss the direction, the
path.
6. Emiliano Thibaut
Invitation to be precise in
the presentations. It is necessary to
define this new project as being of the left, anti-capitalist and not
Stalinist. His argument is that Stalinism
has been a burden which has destroyed wonderful programs. Capital and the
7. Marcos, ONPP
I would like to talk about
the Sexta. All
of us meeting here are supporting the Sexta because
it provides us with a fundamental point of agreement. But the Sexta has
to present the specific theme of re-founding the nation in perspective. We need a concrete nation proposal. What we will present in response to the great
national issues. This is what is going
to allow us to build a popular unity.
The building of popular unity has to do with the unity of resistances,
not just of the people who like to make speeches to us, instead linked with the
process of resistance which is going on in other places. All forms of resistance. The Other cannot be an election campaign. It is for re-founding the nation, in order to
build national dialogue, in order to posit that
8. La Guillotina
We would like to insist on
the Sixth Declaration and the Other Campaign work from a territorial and
municipal manner, in order, by sectors, to discuss the problems. Experience has been gained, we believe that
the experience of the Zapatista consulta of 1999 must be revisited, which called on already
structured organizations and which set the political class aside. We are proposing an assembly and a horizontal
method of work.
We should also work on very
precise and defined initiatives, in a territorial and horizontal way, so we
structured organizations can make way for new forms of popular organizations
and in that way not repeat the faults and errors of the political class.
9. Nuria Fernández, of No en Nuestro Nombre [Not in Our Name]
What should be included in
the Other Campaign is the definition of what we want and what we don’t
want. What we don’t want is for it to be
an inverted mirror of the official campaigns, even if it’s just criticism. If we limit ourselves to what they say, we
are limiting ourselves to a very impoverished world. It’s necessary to start thinking about the
Other Campaign like a blank slate. The
blackboard and the chalk make up our experiences, but we need new ideas. If we impose old ideas, and we don’t create
new things, we’re not going to create an Other Campaign nor another world. What limits us is thinking like a Nation
State. The Other Campaign says we have
to think about humanity and against neoliberalism. Those who have died in
10. Arnoldo Borjas, Mexicanos sin Fronteras [Mexicans
Without Borders]
Compañeros: We are grateful first for this
humble but sincere effort at rescuing our nation and the values for which we
are fighting: Dignity, liberty, justice,
democracy, equality and progress. We
salute rebellion.
We, the absent children of
the Mexican Patria consider our struggle for our rights as Mexican migrants to
be, first, a struggle for
We consider our struggle from
abroad for a just, free and democratic patria to be legitimate. As our right to fight against those who
attack our country and our Mexican brothers is legitimate.
We believe that we cannot
conceive of our nation’s past, present and future without us.
We will leave our first
contribution to the campaign in summary form in these points:
-That the bi-national nature
of the Other Campaign be recognized since it will be able to count on the
participation of Mexicans residing abroad.
-That we are offering the
Other Campaign our collaboration, our office which is located in
-That we are leaving our
invitation to the Comandancia
of the EZLN, and to everyone participating in the Other Campaign, open to visit
us.
-That the Other Campaign
promote the autonomous organization of Mexicans residing abroad.
-That the Other Campaign adopts
our proposal to create a national migrant congress for the purpose of achieving
real representation for Mexicans abroad.
-That we refuse to recognize
the Mexican government and any employee or official as our legitimate
representatives: We can never accept as
our representatives those who deny us our rights and who are directly
responsible for our circumstances.
-That we will not accept
anyone negotiating in our name and our circumstances with any other nation’s
government.
-That the Other Campaign adopts
our demand for a constitutional reform of the general population law of the
Mexican Constitution which guarantees full respect for the rights of migrants,
which guarantees security and respect for human and civil rights on the Mexican
borders, and which limits and guides the sovereignty of the Mexican migration
policy, currently subordinated to the interests of the United States.
That we Mexicans residing
abroad are guaranteed our constitutional rights in full, the same as all
Mexicans in
-That the right not to
migrate be recognized within the constitutional rights.
-That our economic
contribution through remittances should not be used for profit-making ends,
participating in speculative projects, nor charitable, nor to promote the
exploitation of Mexicans, but rather to help autonomous community projects of a
sustainable nature which dignify the lives of our families.
-That the discussion of the
Other Campaign’s issues be done in public forums.
11. Luis Miranda Reséndiz, PPS
We should look at the
possibility of building a great alliance that would liberate
Proposals:
-Definition that we are for a
different society with justice, democracy and liberty.
-State definitively that
there is no possibility today for change via the electoral route, because all
the parties are neoliberal, and they are at the service of capital.
-Create a broad and inclusive
social block, of different classes and social sectors, capable of conquering
neoliberalism.
-Take back up the experience
of the fronts which already exist (Frente, Promotora, National Dialogue).
-That space should include
the demands of every social class and each sector, and, above all, avoid being
sectarian.
12. Manuel Fernández Guasti
Proposes including that the Sexta should be an initiative of direct participation. This is what is taking place at this
plenary: all of us are participating and
deciding. Don’t delegate the important
questions to representatives and have them decide for us. This kind of direct participation must be
implemented inside and outside, that is, inside our process as well as in
fighting for it to take place in various government and power decision making
bodies. In those areas where autonomías are
not viable, direct participation must be implemented as its counterpart,
through mechanisms such as plebiscites, referendums, popular initiatives and
recall. If the branches of the union
aren’t wanted or are incapable, plebiscites!
13. La Neta Amorfa
First of all I would like to
offer a reflection, because we are being invited to reflect on the Declaration
and the Other Campaign regarding its civil and pacific nature. But first I believe we have to demonstrate
that we are capable of behaving with civility and peacefully amongst
ourselves. If we do not do things with
love, it will be difficult to achieve the results we’re seeking. In this regard, with your permission: Regarding the points of the Other Campaign as
being civil, peaceful and national, we in the SLP so ratify, and we are now
stating, on the other hand, that as we have been carrying out local struggles,
that now we are moving from the general to the particular. That we carry the struggle from the general
to the particular. Concerning
dissemination and propaganda, we are offering in the SLP, in the
14. Neftalí Miranda, of
the FZLN
After attending, with delegates,
the preparation meeting for the Other Campaign held with the EZLN and political
organizations of the left, and with observers at all the other preparation
meetings, the FZLN ratifies its support of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, as well as its
unconditional participation in all the work and political accords which are
collectively reached in the building of the Other Campaign.
15. José Antonio Almazán
He is a retiree from the Electricians Union. Proposes that the rejection of structural
reforms be stressed, that they support the rejection of the privatization of
oil and electricity, that they come out against the privatization of education;
reject fiscal reform, in defense of sovereignty, the patria and for union
democracy, for the autonomy and political independence of workers of the
countryside and the city.
16. Édgard Sánchez
In addition to what we have
to say here, we are circulating our statement on some points. In summary, concerning the nature of the
Other: it is not another election
campaign, it is not engaging in the system’s rules of the game, but it is an
alternative campaign. Some people have
expressed the proper concern that it not be contrarian
or “anti”, defined in terms of the others.
This is correct, but it’s clear that what we are committing ourselves to
is an alternative campaign alongside the context of parties and political
system. As the PRT, we made a proposal
which we circulated prior to the Sexta, an
alternative campaign to the official system, critical of it, with an
unregistered candidate. At one of the
preparation meetings which was held with political organizations, we presented
the proposal that it be Antonio Almazán. But we want to tell you that for us that is
secondary. What is important is agreeing
that the Other Campaign is a social force and a political alternative. Moises said that
the compañero
who would be going out first will be the Subcomandante. We believe that it is better represented with
the figure of Marcos himself. We
withdraw this unregistered candidacy from discussion. The proposal presented last night strongly
symbolizes the alternative of a political and social force of the
anti-capitalist left, which is what we want to construct.
17. Alejandro Cerezo, Promotora
Por La Unidad Nacional Contra el Neoliberalismo
How we understand and propose
the Other Campaign to be: We agree with
the need to listen. To listen and to be
listened to. To listen to the other and
to listen to each other, among ourselves.
We are all going to speak, and we are all going to listen to each
other. It has to do with listening in
order to analyze the social actors, the struggles and the local
resistances. It has to do with listening
in order to identify local, regional and sector agendas. It is about listening in order to identify
the national agenda of all the social movements. That is what it is about, a great dialogue of
those of below, in order to build, as part of the process, the National Program
of Struggle. Listening and dialogue,
accepting proposals and the recovery of popular experiences. In that regard, the organizations and members
of the Promotora
will contribute the Non-Negotiable Minimum Program and Statement of Querétaro. In addition to listening, the Other Campaign is
a magnificent opportunity for making visible, for nourishing and strengthening
local and sector resistances, for coordinating them, in dialogue and in action,
in order to connect local struggles with the great mobilizations that are
national in nature. In that way, that
same process of listening and engaging in dialogue should resolve how the
resistances will be coordinated. Listening
and engaging in dialogue with all sectors in struggle also creates the necessity
for supporting and accompanying the different struggles and demands. Because of that, the Other Campaign should
also be understood as a campaign of mobilization, mobilization of ideas and
popular mobilization in the streets. In
summary, we understand, and propose, the Other Campaign to be a combination of
efforts directed towards listening, to creating dialogue between those of
below, to connecting struggles and unifying resistance, to strengthening the
mobilization against neoliberalism, to demanding the resolution of the demands
of the peoples and organizations, to building a national program of struggle,
and to defining the route for achieving a New Constitution. Thank you for your attention.
18. Liga de Unidad Socialista [League for
Socialist Unity]
The situation in the country
is difficult, because the workers who filled the streets in 2003 and in 2004
reached a dead-end, because the union machine took the movement to a pact with
this country’s institutions, with the government of the bourgeoisie. Organizations against structural reforms can
only work against the country’s institutions, they cannot be work within
institutions. A collection of forces
promoted the struggles to create another country, where the workers could
change the relations of forces in order to solve the problems. The problems of these movements still
exist. An example of this is the 20
plants which are being closed, the country’s petrochemical plants which are
being sabotaged. The compañeros from the IMSS are
proposing the struggle against privatization.
In their new program, in Guanajuato, on the 24th,
at a meeting of oil owners, they called on activists against the privatization
of water and other struggles to seek forms of organization. They linked their struggle with the Other
Campaign in order to seek solutions and new social relationships.
19. Compañero Sergio, from Tlaxcala
We cannot reduce the Other
Campaign to one campaign by the EZLN in two time periods throughout the
country, where they travel to our places of origin, where they go there and
then comes the forgetting and desolation.
We need to build the popular power of those of below. We should understand it as a permanent campaign
of agitation, of dissemination, a campaign whose starting point is the complex
of struggles or fights which are going to be coming over the next weeks and
months. From that concrete fight that
frees our compañeros
so a political fight can spring up. We
need a strategy of dialogue, the social construction of that political program,
in order to build the democratic and popular part. That will have to be the nature of the social
transformation we’re all looking for. A
program which presents what the necessary conditions are for re-founding the
nation. We should try to emphasize the
fundamental points that will make possible the construction or reconstruction
of the free and popular patria. Not just
the recovery of our energy sources, but the development of our autonomías in the
full exercise of our territoriality as the central focus of the campaign. A program centered around these points is
fundamental for confronting the oligarchy.
That the campaign be
summarized in three great slogans:
1) Raise the resistance, occupy all the
territories.
2) Develop control from those of below and
eliminate all forms of the neoliberal oligarchy’s control.
3) During this first stage, it’s absolutely
necessary to form not the committees of the Sexta,
but popular committees for the transformation of the country.
20. Aurelio
Ángel Villanueva, of the Rumbo Proletario collective [Proletarian
Direction]
This is the first time we’ve
been here, and we are here in order to contribute to the work which the compañeros of the
EZLN have presented us. We do not want
to be more Zapatista than them. We came,
humbly, in order to build. It seems to
us that the Other Campaign is not just about going out through the national
territory and saying that we’re making the Other Campaign. No, what is fundamental is building a new
Mexican society. We are in agreement
with the discussion points, but we are presenting other propositions:
-That the Other Campaign
should build a mobilizing, progressive and inclusive project for the
construction of a new democratic form.
-That we not only carry out
actions in the national territory, but also study how the people who aren’t
here are participating, those millions who don’t have the opportunity to
travel. The Other Campaign should be
inclusive and purposeful.
-It’s necessary for all
sectors to say what demands they’re fighting for and for which programs we
should all be fighting.
21. Ángel Librado Cruz, from the Reflexión en La
Acción collective [Reflection
in Action]
Proposes that we should make
up an historic block through a system of new alliances and of various currents
against neoliberalism. Proposes that the
new historic block replace the hegemonic block which currently exists. This is necessary because that’s the only way
the system can be overthrown.
22. Gabriela Arteaga, from the Reflection in Action
collective
Also in the name of the
Reflection in Action collective. We
believe we are experiencing an historic moment.
At this moment we are building, and we’re going to continue doing so. The Other Campaign should take on the space
for outlining the revolutionary direction which is going to include the forces
which are present here and those which could not accompany us. We’re fed up with the evil system which keeps
us in poverty. We want to overthrow
it. We are going to study it. We’re building. This, the revolutionary direction, is a
guarantee for popular victory. Either
the evil capitalist project is consolidated or space is given for the inclusive
and democratic project in which all of us are going to put all our efforts so
the peoples’ demands can be met. We are
at the moment where the necessary conditions are in place for building the
guarantees for our victory.
We propose the following five
points:
1) Building a popular movement.
2) That the project includes all of us.
3) Defining the spaces that are identified for
the struggle.
4) Alliances.
5) This, which we’ve already seen here: the revolutionary direction.
Let’s keep joining in, compañeros. There’s room for everyone. Those who are here and those who aren’t.
23. José Antonio Yáñez, from the Reflection in
Action collective
We believe that the Other
Campaign is an opportunity for all of us to see, in practice, what we really
are, if we are really democratic and inclusive.
In addition to being peaceful and civil, the Other Campaign should be
radical, even though this doesn’t necessarily mean carrying out extreme
acts. If we call ourselves inclusive and
democratic, but we’re not able to present proposals and projects, we run the
risk of excluding or being excluded.
Insofar as the Other Campaign is radical, it should address the root
problems in order to establish a new model of social relationships. In order for the Other Campaign to not be
just about dissemination, or propagandizing and the lifting of spirits, it has
to be oriented towards real social change.
We believe that, as we achieve the ability for analysis and
understanding, we will be able to build a program of struggle which is not just
anti-establishment. Specifically, if we
want this Other Campaign to be different from the one the parties are carrying
out, it should go to the fundamental and stress that we are different in
practice.
Armando (from the same collective) (The assembly
protested and asked him to sit down. He
apologized in the name of his collective.
He said he hadn’t intended to monopolize the time. He withdrew without speaking.)
24. Julio Muñoz Rubio. UNAM Professor, Faculty of Sciences.
There is a risk that this
campaign will be a campaign strictly tied to the political. This would be a mistake, because it would
lead to limiting the campaign to just one part of the problems of the world, of
the country and of the left. I am
therefore proposing that the campaign be cultural in nature, which should not
be confused with the artistic, because the cultural is much broader. We have the wrong idea about what capitalism
is, because it’s thought to be a strictly economic system with political
consequences. That is false. Capitalism dominates all aspects of life, in
philosophy, the arts, the natural and social sciences, technology. Capitalism is an entire world vision. It is true that it’s a fragmentary, partial
and limited conception of the world, but, at the end of the day, it is a vision
which must be confronted by another world vision, another global vision, but
one which is coherent and integrated. If
this campaign doesn’t emphasize all this, it’s going to fall short, because
it’s not going to be able to provide an answer for the totality of the forms of
domination and of capitalist oppression:
the classic capitalist oppression against wage earners, but also the
domination and oppression of human beings against nature (including the
mistreatment of animals), that of the adult or “mature” against children or
adolescents, the heterosexual and monogamous against all other forms of
sexuality and affective relations, of the “healthy” against the sick; the “whites” against other populations (not
races), all of society against the indigenous cultures, and the urban
countercultures being dominated in the arena of ideas, scientific theories and
pseudo-scientists who justify all these oppressions. The Other Campaign should question
capitalism’s ethical, epistemological and ontological values, especially in
25. David Domínguez
What I’m bringing are some
proposals for broadening the campaign in the sense of security, because we’re
all exposed to dangers by the State’s apparatus of repression. That we should, among ourselves, form
self-help groups in order to protect each other. If anything were to happen to anyone, they
would be recovered immediately. Also
that we would have martial arts classes in order to defend ourselves. They are questions of security. If we don’t think the State has really
swinish apparatuses of repression, this isn’t going to grow, and it’s going to
fail from the beginning. It’s a proposal
I have.
26. Mauricio Villegas
I think this could turn into
an act of self-deception if we don’t understand the spirit of the Other
Campaign. We say we’re anti-capitalist,
but how many products have we decided not to buy from the big companies? We keep on buying, consuming. If we don’t sabotage things, like Gandhi did,
we’ll be left with just very general positions.
If Marcos and the EZLN want to direct this great movement, we have to
sabotage the products of the big companies, promote fair trade in the
communities. If we don’t do it, we’re
going to come up short, we won’t get anywhere.
27. Alejandro Cruz, of the OIDHO
He belongs to Indian Organizations for Human Rights in
Oaxaca. A question came up at a
meeting with his peoples: How should
this meeting be dealt with? After discussing
it, they concluded they had to listen to other thoughts. How to respond to ideological confrontation,
and how can it be resolved? The solution
would be to have more to do with the practical, organizing without going so
much into the ideological. Placing more
emphasis on how to engage in the practical before theorizing. He is willing to share his experiences in
struggle against repression. That is why
his concrete proposal is to create unity.
They are worried because many compañeros are going to come to the meetings, but accords
have to be created. We have to change
the way of doing politics, create processes of accord and unity. He cited:
“A cause doesn’t triumph because of its justice, but because of the
strength and work of its followers.”
23. José Antonio Yáñez,
from the Reflection in Action collective
We believe that the Other
Campaign is an opportunity for all of us to see, in practice, what we really
are, if we are really democratic and inclusive.
In addition to being peaceful and civil, the Other Campaign should be
radical, even though this doesn’t necessarily mean carrying out extreme
acts. If we call ourselves inclusive and
democratic, but we’re not able to present proposals and projects, we run the
risk of excluding or being excluded.
Insofar as the Other Campaign is radical, it should address the root
problems in order to establish a new model of social relationships. In order for the Other Campaign to not be
just about dissemination, or propagandizing and the lifting of spirits, it has
to be oriented towards real social change.
We believe that, as we achieve the ability for analysis and
understanding, we will be able to build a program of struggle which is not just
anti-establishment. Specifically, if we
want this Other Campaign to be different from the one the parties are carrying
out, it should go to the fundamental and stress that we are different in
practice.
Armando (from the same
collective) (The assembly protested and asked him to sit down. He apologized in the name of his
collective. He said he hadn’t intended
to monopolize the time. He withdrew
without speaking.)
24. Julio Muñoz Rubio, UNAM
Professor, Faculty of Sciences.
There is a risk that this campaign
will be a campaign strictly tied to the political. This would be a mistake, because it would
lead to limiting the campaign to just one part of the problems of the world, of
the country and of the left. I am
therefore proposing that the campaign be cultural in nature, which should not
be confused with the artistic, because the cultural is much broader. We have the wrong idea about what capitalism
is, because it’s thought to be a strictly economic system with political
consequences. That is false. Capitalism dominates all aspects of life, in
philosophy, the arts, the natural and social sciences, technology. Capitalism is an entire world vision. It is true that it’s a fragmentary, partial
and limited conception of the world, but, at the end of the day, it is a vision
which must be confronted by another world vision, another global vision, but
one which is coherent and integrated. If
this campaign doesn’t emphasize all this, it’s going to fall short, because
it’s not going to be able to provide an answer for the totality of the forms of
domination and of capitalist oppression:
the classic capitalist oppression against wage earners, but also the
domination and oppression of human beings against nature (including the
mistreatment of animals), that of the adult or “mature” against children or
adolescents, the heterosexual and monogamous against all other forms of
sexuality and affective relations, of the “healthy” against the sick; the “whites” against other populations (not
races), of all society against the indigenous cultures, and the urban
countercultures being dominated in the arena of ideas, scientific theories and
pseudo-scientists who justify all these oppressions. The Other Campaign should question capitalism’s
ethical, epistemological and ontological values, especially in
25. David Domínguez
What I’m bringing are some
proposals for broadening the campaign in the sense of security, because we’re
all exposed to dangers by the State’s apparatus of repression. That we should, among ourselves, form
self-help groups in order to protect each other. If anything were to happen to anyone, they
would be recovered immediately. Also
that we would have martial arts classes in order to defend ourselves. They are questions of security. If we don’t think the State has really
swinish apparatuses of repression, this isn’t going to grow, and it’s going to
fail from the beginning. It’s a proposal
I have.
26. Mauricio Villegas
I think this could turn into
an act of self-deception if we don’t understand the spirit of the Other
Campaign. We say we’re anti-capitalist,
but how many products have we decided not to buy from the big companies? We keep on buying, consuming. If we don’t sabotage things, like Gandhi did,
we’ll be left with just very general positions.
If Marcos and the EZLN want to direct this great movement, we have to
sabotage the products of the big companies, promote fair trade in the
communities. If we don’t do it, we’re
going to come up short, we won’t get anywhere.
27. Alejandro Cruz, of the OIDHO
He belongs to Indian Organizations for Human Rights in
Oaxaca. A question came up at a
meeting with his peoples: How should
this meeting be dealt with? After
discussing it, they concluded they had to listen to other thoughts. How to respond to ideological confrontation,
and how can it be resolved? The solution
would be to deal more with the practical, organizing without going so much into
the ideological. Placing more emphasis
on how to engage in the practical before theorizing. He is willing to share his experiences in
struggle against repression. That is why
his concrete proposal is to create unity.
They are worried because many compañeros are going to come to the meetings, but accords
have to be created. We have to change
the way of doing politics, create processes of accord and unity. He cited:
“A cause doesn’t triumph because of its justice, but because of the
strength and work of its followers.”
28. Cihuatl Arroyo
Greetings, and I hope
everyone listens (Reads a poem)
“Here
we are the forgotten ones even by ourselves…”
“Even
here it is all the same.”
“I
wish it were something else.”
“I
hope the women speak a lot. There, with
you in the other, on the left side of the heart…”
“Is
it true that you are here? That your
encouraging voice is full of love for the land”
“I
hope your voice will be a call for attention, but not for a López,
Sánchez…the adversary is called consumerism and
indifference.”
“Let
us move forward with the work which awaits us every day.”
29.
Claudia López, from the Promotora
While we reach agreement, we have
to look for what unifies us, what makes us brothers. Our thoughts unite us, our identity, the
mother, those thoughts that are born from these lands. We are lost when we look for people to fight
with, and nonetheless we should join together because of the land. Of what use is victory if, when it comes,
we’re going to be dressed in Nikes and we forget our identity? My proposal is to center ourselves in what
identifies us as Mexicans, to reclaim the identity and those values which we
share.
30. Cecilio Pérez Hernández, from CNPI
They have a
proposal-invitation: to come to San
Felipe, Ecatepec.
Proposes fighting for the defense of the lands and for rejecting
government programs; that throughout the
country education be redirected to the education of the indigenous peoples and
that ancestral values be taken into consideration when learning history. That the free determination of the peoples be
respected.
31. Francisco Reyes
Only National Front of Active Workers, Retirees and Pensioners of the IMSS. We believe that the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona is, right now,
the best expression of the struggle of the workers of the countryside and the
city, of the oppressed and exploited sectors.
In the past, other efforts attempted to unify the struggles, and they
lost their opportunity (like the front against privatization of the Electricity
Industry). They lost by playing the
election game, and their strength was reduced until it reached the point of
extinction. They became
institutionalized. The Sexta concurs with everyone’s desire to not engage in
scattered struggles. The Sexta should form the organizations for the anti-capitalist
left that we will be building. We should
gather strengths in order to make a qualitative leap that will tell us that we
are prepared for something wonderful.
Everyone who should be here isn’t, but they will join together along the
way. Meanwhile, the responsibility of
those of us who are here is to care for each other, everyone from their
movement, so that the Other Campaign is successful.
32. Enrique Guerrero, of the Friends of
We have a proposal for the Sexta: That it
explicitly include
33. Pietro Ameglio, of the Gandhi collective Pensar
en Voz Alta [Thinking Out Loud]
The nature of the Sexta is primarily political, nationally and
internationally, and they believe that the key aspect is educational. The Other Campaign is educational in nature,
we cannot let that remain implicit.
Knowledge must be constructed.
The Other Campaign is going to allow there to be a map of autonomías and of
social struggles in the countries. We
have to create a shared knowledge of how to struggle better, to create a
tactical and strategic plan for civil, peaceful struggle. The EZLN established three guidelines: listening, opting for moral strength and
trusting in civil organization. All of
this is summarized in our proposal which states the educational nature of
study-action in the Other Campaign.
34. Sister
Edith Hernández González
Brothers, sisters, my
proposal is that the Other Campaign have the following characteristics:
1. That it be fully revolutionary. That all of us here break with our concepts
of compañeros
and families and see ourselves as a family.
That we leave aside egoism, we have to listen to each other.
2. That we enter into a profound process of
spiritual, personal, family and social transformation. We need to be born again, like Jesus said to
Nicodemus.
3. To become aware of the fact that we ourselves
have to become aware, to reorganize ourselves in this Other Campaign. We are going to become subjects of change, to
be really anti-capitalist.
4. The Bible says that one does not have to
follow the currents of the world.
5. That during the trip those who are going to
go out in order to train ourselves, we should hold our meeting, see how we are
going to do it and see what was accomplished.
Then reorganize what comes next.
35. Alejandro Castillo
I think that, in the building
of the Other Campaign, there are many aspects which can be developed from the
cultural identity of the peoples.
Recover the teachings of the Indian peoples. We have to present the discussion quite well,
and the way the relationship with other peoples is presented, a dialogue with
the world. We have to have a true debate
through multiple points of view, from positivism, the dialectical, theological
and from a neo-positivism.
36. Victor Guzmán, of
Xi Nich
What stands out is that the
indigenous peoples who talk about the characteristics of the Other Campaign are
for a multicultural country, where all the recognized peoples of this country fit,
and it should be oriented towards accompanying the struggle of the indigenous
peoples in all corners of the country, for recognition, for the autonomías and
the territories. They are struggling for
the reconstitution of the peoples and for autonomía. The Other Campaign should be for the
reconstitution of the country.
37. Martha Figueroa
A concrete proposal for the
Other Campaign: the women’s
organizations are not going to apologize.
As women, we make up more than half the population, and we are mothers
of the other half. As part of these
others who think and feel differently, we came to propose that agreements are
reached for this campaign in which equality of gender, class, ethnicity,
differences and self-determination are expressed in all the struggles. We hope that these equalities will be
considered to be irreplaceable principles for this campaign. That we who are different, women, indigenous,
who have another political form of expressing ourselves, will have a place that
will be guaranteed in an egalitarian manner.
This is our unwavering principle.
This vision of culture - which is the collective as being sometimes
above the individual - means it must be guaranteed that all visions are part of
which the Other Campaign is built. It
should be a transversal vision. Forms of
affect which are a political position.
We do not want little separate houses.
There are specific forms for each of our participations. This identity is made manifest every time we
participate as young people, as indigenous.
Participating in the campaign in all places is part of our identity and
of this struggle which we want to continue engaging in.
38. Javier Fernández
I would suggest that, as this
initiative is disseminated, the discussion should not be centered just around
the political class, but directly on capital, that is the issue. We have to deal with the issue of capital and
attack it. The other campaigns, those of
the political parties, don’t want to affect capital. We have to accustom them to the fact that it
is going to change. On the other hand, I
sense that there’s not much emphasis on what has been presented, especially in
the manner of linking with social struggles.
There’s the case, for example, of the IMSS pensioners. We should seek the proper means of linking
ourselves with everyone and of participating in and strengthening other
struggles.
39. Beatriz Baños, of the Colectivo
Homo Sapienz [Homo Sapiens Collective]
Came out in favor of the
Other Campaign stating that it is of the left and anti-capitalist, that
alternatives be proposed for fighting capitalism. It has to be extended throughout the world.
40. Mariana Mora
I have a concrete proposal
about how to build an anti-capitalist struggle for the transformation of the
nation. We have been fighting for eleven
years for the recognition of indigenous rights and culture. It was never a separate point. It was always a central point for the
transformation of the nation. We have
listened to Comandantas
Esther and Ramona over these last few weeks, who have also talked about the
right of women to participate as a focal point of the struggle. We have heard about the right to different
forms of love, but also of speaking, understanding the idiom, not just of the
peoples, but also as forms of communication, for example, as young people do
it. That is why the issue of respect for
differences is a focal point, a principle which has to be part of the
characteristics of the Other Campaign.
My concrete proposal is that the Other Campaign include that it is
against discrimination against indigenous peoples, against sexism, against
homophobia and in favor of a
41. Faustino Santiago, of the Only National Front of Active Workers,
Retirees and Pensioners of the IMSS
We aren’t for the
government’s politics, a politics of handouts which have done much damage to
our culture. It is difficult, but not
impossible, to destroy this system. We
reaffirm our support of the Sexta. A very important goal of this train that is
the Other Campaign is that we will be going very far. Some will want to get off at the next stop.
But we don’t. We are going much further.
42. Reinaldo Beltrán, of the Che Guevara Collective
They are in agreement with
declaring the Sexta anti-hierarchical and anti-capitalist. Given that the Other Campaign will be
fighting capitalism, there has to be a program for linking different economic
programs, through the creation of self managing economic programs in different
communities and to create networks of production and consumption. They said the Other Campaign should assume
the basic infrastructure for the other economic program. They proposed that the only flag that the
members of the Sexta should carry is Comandanta
Ramona’s embroidery piece.
43. Virginia Ortega
I’m from the Popular Defense Committee of the Valley of
Mexico. We are here because of the
interest we have had in this struggle over the last eleven years. The Sexta is
ours. We have supported it, we are
participating and we issued a communiqué to all our bases to be with us. We are holding assemblies in order to release
the communiqués from this important place.
We have come in order to join and to tell Marcos that he is not
alone. He can count on our associations
in the DF. We will continue holding
assemblies and adding more people for a new country, a patria we have
forgotten. Our country has always been
large, combative, well-informed. We will
continue being committed to giving our people all the information about
everyplace we are. The Other Campaign
is, for us, information. The people are
not ignorant, it’s a lack of information.
We have to exercise the right to do, say and state. We are doing so. That is going to be the Other Campaign’s
success.
44. Martha Patricia Ortiz
We are saying our small word
from the
45. Mayan Peninsular Forum of Quintana Roo
They summarized some
affirmative characteristics and proposed some additions. They proposed that the Other Campaign be
representative, democratic, plural, popular and responsive to the needs of the
people, establishing democratic procedures for decision making. In addition it should establish conditions
for a more just society, promote the development of liberty and enforce
universal rights. They proposed that
this campaign doesn’t just turn into a place for crowds, instead it should
establish itself as organized social classes.
Another aspect is to transform from dominant and working class and
install democracy and a socialized system in order to make the indigenous and
the citizens compatible in their constitution.
Form a multicultural Nation State which recognizes equality and
differences.
46. Gregorio Miranda
Revolutionary Left Force of the People. Ratifying the
Sexta and the point [agenda point under discussion],
we are proposing that it state that the Other Campaign is the accumulation of
the resistance and of the rebellion of hundreds of years and of thousands of
Mexicans who have said basta
to capitalism. That it is the response
of thousands of Mexicans in response to the great election banquet which is
trying to maintain this system. Today we
are coming out as Mexicans for national liberation. A
47. Alan Tapia
Ciudad Juárez is the
laboratory of our future. Forty years of
the capitalist economic model has resulted in very serious problems, among
them, and importantly, the feminicides and the
maquiladora industry, which is predatory and exploitative. We have managed to raise the issue of the
murders of the women on the national and international level, but they have not
been solved. The murders of the women
are classist.
We propose that solving and ending the murders be put on the same level
as the defense of energy, that is, that it not be a local demand, but rather a
demand of all of us who are participating in the Other Campaign. What is happening in Juárez is what happens
to a city when it counts only on international capital and it rejects community
work and society’s work.
48. Sergio Rodríguez Arona, from the Citizens Collective Front of Southern Baja
California
The Sexta
proposes building from below and for below in order to destroy neoliberalism,
which doesn’t have only to do with marches, but also with the resistance we see
in our tables and homes. He proposed
that we all build an Economic Development Program in order to confront the
neoliberal program. The ejido no longer exists in BCS [
49. Compañero Édgar, from the
Women and Men for Equality Organization in Tepito
I am telling you that we embrace
the Sixth Declaration, and we support the Other Campaign. We are proposing that a vote of confidence be
given to the EZLN and in that way conclude the debate.
50. Beatriz Torres
That the Other Campaign not
be an alliance just with humanity, but rather a man/nature alliance. That we pay attention to the environment and
know how to listen to it. It’s not only
the neoliberals who could do away with it.
51. Rodrigo Ibarra
Who are the ones who didn’t
come? Those who didn’t have the money,
but there are also many others who didn’t come, those who are resigned to
sorrow, those who have been blinded by hunger, those who don’t move because
despair has left them in oblivion. Are
they not our brothers? Are we willing to
build all of them a new world? This
campaign is a very otherly hurricane which is born
from our mouths and our hearts. It will
not be stopped until it carries fertile water to the deserts. When it arrives, we will all be there, and
the caracol
will be called
52. Sergio
From the Martín Lancero Popular Defense Committee, of
53. Yoyo, from Jerusalén
We want a cultural, spiritual
and environmental revolution. If we
don’t take these issues into account in the Other Campaign, we will be
forgetting the most important. We are
proposing to reform the use of the word anti-capitalist. We are for an alternative democracy. It is inconsistent to attack capital if we
continue consuming products. We are all
accomplices of capitalism as consumers.
We can speak of alternatives through sustainability. The foundation of these alternatives is the
organic, autonomous self-sustaining communities. We are proposing that the Other Campaign
reevaluate its methodology and, instead of traveling through the cities where
the foci of capital are located, go by horseback through the rural communities.
54. Enlace Civil
They wanted to add
characteristics: that the Other Campaign
take into account all the aspects of dignified life. That it be exemplary and self-critical, that
it favor mutual ethics over ideologies, that it be a joint place of collective
conscience and that it express itself against discrimination.
55. Jorge Salinas, from the Zapatista telephone
workers collective
We in the collective are very
happy to be in this community after eleven years of a successful movement by
civil society which was able to bring help here. It’s worth remembering. Towards a program of struggle is one of the
aspects of this first point. We are
making a very concrete proposal. In
1990, Carlos Salinas de Gortari awarded the telephone company to Carlos
Slim. Today Peje
has awarded him the historical center because he has the telephone industry in
his hands. This great popular group
should take the struggle for recovering the telephone industry into their own
hands, once again into the hands of the nation.
Take it away from that swine Carlos Slim and the pro-management unions. If the telephone industry were returned to
the hands of the nation, the wealth could be used for the nation’s demands.
56. Gregorio Pérez Núñez, from Matías Romero
Fraternal greetings. We can’t be beating each other up. It’s said we’re looking for unity, that’s why
we can’t be enemies between brothers. If
we want a new country, we have to work shoulder to shoulder in order to be
successful. If we want a new country, we
have to build a new program.
57. Juan Trujillo, Political Science student at
UNAM
The Other Campaign has to put
emphasis on the artistic-cultural.
During the Sixth Committee’s trip, the cultural organizations will be
not only a weapon, but also a means of judgment against capitalist forms. Theoretical-philosophical discussion centers
can be organized now in order to achieve unity for constructing the utopia of a
better life and for creating a solid movement.
They proposed developing political consciousness and achieving
legitimacy. We need to recover the
pre-Hispanic vision, the Other is a metaphor which is looking for results not
in one year, but over several years. In
order to understand it, we need to recover cyclical time, the land. Solidarity with
58. Jorge Huerta
From the Native Art collective. We’re
in agreement with what the EZLN has presented, but we’re proposing that the
organizations make real the statement that we are broad and plural. When we propose a boycott, they tell us it’s
out of context. As for the professor of
the Science faculty, the struggle has to embrace all aspects. We should say what kind of products we’re
going to boycott. These struggles aren’t
out of context. The problem of
pre-Hispanic history has to be addressed in depth. There is the problem of identity. If we are engaged in a national struggle, we
have to make clear what the uses and customs are that we should be
defending. The indigenous are fighting
for their uses and customs to be respected, because they’re clear as to what
they are. But we, as mestizos, should fight for uses
and customs which bring us closer to the land.
Consuming nopal,
consuming beans and the products which bring us closer to our national
identity, class, which make us more like other struggles. To make clear which are the products which
bring us close to capitalism and we have to eradicate. Make a list of the uses, customs and products
that we’re proposing should be rejected because they belong to the culture
imposed by capitalism, as well as promoting a list of uses, customs and
products which help us create an alternative economy and helps us rescue and
create a national and class identity (products which bring us closer to our
land), as well as rescuing our pre-Hispanic history.
59. Martha Mendoza (in defense of animals)
We are proposing that in the
Other Campaign the changing of the patriarchal mental structure be promoted, as
well as sensitizing the heart so that as human beings we respect non-human
beings. Since we are against the system
doing violence to us, we, as non-violent human beings should not abuse
non-human beings and their habitats. If
we achieve that, we will be better quality and conscientious beings with our
goal of creating a world where many worlds fit.
60. Óscar Chávez
Comes from Anarcopunk Space, reporting on the situation of
the prisoners in
61. Eva Macossay, from
the Popular Culture Movement of
We have to be humble and a
little self-critical. It’s fairly obvious
how much we’re lacking in terms of organization. If the Zapatistas and indigenous
organizations have taught us anything, it’s that capacity for
organization. Reach an agreement, but
not just that. Also, do it, not just say
it. We don’t need the microphone for
expressing solidarity and recounting our histories, because that is built with
our struggles. Use it for proposing and
building. Proposal: that we be consistent with our words about
getting rid of conventional methods (westernized). That the Other Campaign not forget about an
issue that’s fundamental: racism and discrimination (subtle levels,
psychological). You’re not going to get
rid of five centuries of racist culture in a flash. We have to make an effort at introspection in
search of that little racist we all carry inside ourselves so we can see how it
manifests itself in our daily lives. We
have to look for and discuss experiences in order to try and explain this
phenomenon in the present. I propose
that we especially work on this with the children, racism in schools (in formal
education, but also in informal education), because they are the ones who can
have the road half done. That the Other
Campaign work with children and young people, orient them ideologically and
educate them on justice and solidarity.
62. Hermenegildo Aguilera, from Nezahualcóyotl
Greetings to those with whom
we’re sharing this dialogue. We want to
tell you that we join in with this program.
It is part of our ideology to support popular movements and be in solidarity
with them. The popular movements are
those which are fighting for their rights and recognition. We have followed your struggle, and we
respect it. The EZLN has the stature to
call on us for a struggle for a better
63. The
compañera E. González
Her concern – being from
[Chiapas95
Note: this is "parts 1 & 2" of irlandesa's
narrative, as she completes other parts, I'll add them to this one on this
website.]