The EZLN announces the closure and evacuation of the Good Government Juntas and caracoles, as well as their autonomous municipal governments, all of whose activities will, for the moment, be carried on underground. They also state that health services will be available, and that elements and troops who form part of EZLN have been called to duty. Similarly, they announce the suspension of radio transmissions and encourage the departure - for safety - of those who have served and helped them, e.g. solidarity groups working in the communities.
The EZLN announces that their efforts at political and military reorganization, which have been going on since 2002, are now complete. They are, therefore, prepared to continue their struggle even if their best known leaders are captured or killed.
The EZLN explains that its members and communities have begun a process of internal discussion about past experience and future strategy and the precautionary measures of the Red Alert are to avoid being taken by surprise by the kind of attack launched by the government in February 1995 during a previous consulta The communiqu also states that any members or supporters will be free to withdraw from the organization if they are not satisfied with the conclusions of the consulta.
In this letter, the Zapatistas address national and international civil society, evoking what the Zapatistas have gone through to defend the rights and liberties of the Indians peoples since 1994. They remind everyone of their .what is missing is missing. communiqu of six months ago, and their decision not to find but to build something else. Hence, they have organized an internal consulta making clear that that they are not considering any offensive action - the Red Alert is intended only to protect the consulta. The letter ends by thanking all the people who have supported their struggle.
The end of the consultas is announced by the EZLN, certifying that their proposals for a new direction received the support of 98% of their communities. They will explain their new direction in a forthcoming .Sixth Declaration of Selva Lancandona.
In this declaration, the Zapatistas announce the results of their internal consultations and the new political direction they intend to pursue. After a brief historical overview of their origins and struggles, of the failure of their attempts to negotiate with the government and of their turn inward to re-organize and govern themselves in new ways, they lay out their new direction of political struggle in which they propose a series of discussions, regionally, nationally and internationally, with like-minded groups, about building a new radical democratic politics outside the arena of professional electoral politics. These discussions, they propose, will include both conversations with groups in struggle in Mexico and a new intercontinental encounter. Within the search for "another way of doing politics" they also propose the construction of a new constitution for Mexico aimed at defending the weak and meeting their demands.
Following the end of the consulta and the issuance of the Sixth Declaration, the EZLN announces the end of the Red Alert and the reopening of the caracoles, the Good Government Juntas and the autonomous municipality councils. They also announce the formation of committees to bring information about the activities of the Good Government Juntas to the municipalities for evaluation and others to provide information to outsiders.
This communiqué announces that the Zapatistas have decided to call their new political initiative "The Other Campaign" and to organize a series of preparatory meetings before setting out to consult with like-minded souls around the country. One part of the CCRI-CG will be in charge of Zapatistas towns. Another part will be in charge of international efforts proposed in the Sixth Declaration and will be named the .Intergalactic committee.. Finally, there will be a Sixth committee in charge of the Other Campaign that will send delegates around Mexico in order to engage in discussions and meetings with those who agree with the aims of the Sixth.
In this letter, Marcos assesses the arguments of leftist articles responding to the Sixth Declaration. On the one hand, he dismisses 1) dishonest interpretations, such as that of Victor M. Toledo who ignored parts of the Sixth and then complained that they had been left out, 2) complaints about the Sexta's reference to "old issues" such as the struggles of the Cuban people, and 3) suggestions that the EZLN should stay in Chiapas or that it should join Lopez Obredor's "citizen's networks." On the other hand, Marcos says the Other Campaign will move out of Chiapas into the rest of Mexico to link up with other grassroots struggles. Then, using rethorical questions about the likely influences on a child who has grown up during the last 12 years of struggle, Marcos argues that the years and connections have produced a new generation of Zapatistas who have learned to look beyond their communities and are not about to withdraw now. Finally, Marcos draws a parallel between a chicken that awkwardly behaves like penguin to avoid being treated like a chicken (and winding up in the pot) and the EZLN that also, awkwardly, struggles to find new ways of being.
The EZLN lays out the schedule for the preparatory meetings and lists the number of various sorts of organizations who support and will be present at the meetings. A PS continues the saga of penguin, recounting his fight with a rooster. .
In this letter, the EZLN gives the directions to Fray Bartolom de Las Casas Human Rights Center, commonly known as Frayba. This center has offered its help to hold the preparatory meetings and can give directions to the meetings.
Marcos explains that in this meeting, the primary objective is to meet with representatives of political organizations. Preference will be given to those organizations that support the Sexta but all will have an opportunity to be heard - even those who support the PRD candidate for president López Obrador. But he also explains that given the history of betrayal and attacks (he gives examples) by the PRD, at both the national and local level, the EZLN has no interest what-so-ever in dealing with it. He also explains that the EZLN is not prosing to lead, or fight for leadership of any movement, that they want to link up with other groups in struggle and together find ways to overcome capitalism and develop an new, radical democratic politics. Moreover the EZLN is not offering any organizational structure for others to join or adopt; it is seeking communication, cooperation and unity with others and to promote "the appearance of new social subjects, the appearance of new organizations, of new forms of organization and of new worlds."
The EZLN describes the results of meeting with political organizations in preparatory meetings. The Zapatistas analyze each group separately, and respond to their proposals. Each response was sent to the particular party and now is publicly shared with everyone else - keeping things public as promised. They reiterate their refusal to support any kind of electoral politics while, at the same time, making clear that people with different ideas should be able to unite struggles against globalization and capitalism. An example of the political parties is the PRD, which the Zapatistas argue is neither a leftist nor an anti-capitalist party. Some other groups discussed include: the communist party, populist socialist party of Mexico, Rebeldia magazine and worker and socialist union.
Marcos responds to a letter written by Rojas Guerrero published in La Jornada about the meeting with leftist political parties. He points out both their willingness to listen to those who support López Obrador and that the EZLN's Other Campaign offers an alternative to the electoral arena. The letter also explains to Rojas Guerrero of why Zapatistas are not grateful to the PRD: because not only did they betray indigenous demands for autonomy but they have kidnapped, beaten and tortured members of various Zapatista communities.
In this letter, Marcos explains the EZLN position to Don Fermin Hernandez and to others who believe that the ideals of the PDR and EZLN should walk together. The letter provides an historical summary of all the promises some of the representatives of the PDR made to Zapatistas' cause which they pretend to forget - denying their betrayal of the indigenous. Marcos names many of those leaders of the PRD who came to Chiapas and promised support, but who now deny those promises. He also recalls the San Andrés Accords and the COCOPA Indigenous Law Proposal which the PRD first supported and then abandoned. He also details such PRD actions as the cutting off of water to EZLN communities and cases of direct violence against them. He argues that López Obrador's support for "investment" is a euphemism for privatization. Finally, he says that if the Zapastistas turn out to be wrong about what López Obrador will do if elected, then they admit their error and will apologize. They will, however, continue with the Other Campaign to build a new radical democratic politics from the bottom up.
The meeting, will be starting September 16, and taking place in La Garrucha Caracol. There is a description of the agenda of the meeting and a specification of who can talk (only those who have committeed themselves to the Sexta) and for how long (five minutes). Furthmore, discussion will not end in a vote (because many will be missing) but in a tentative consensus. Among the basic issues are: "the characteristics of the "Other Campaign" proposed in the Sixth Declaration: civil and pacific; national; anti-capitalist; of the left; with another way of doing politics; favoring listening; recognizing the limits of one's own actions and the need to join with other struggles; towards a National Program of Struggle and a new constitution; learning about the struggles and resistances which are taking place throughout the country, being in solidarity with them, helping them and learning from them and with them; respecting the organizations, groups, collectives and individuals in their methods of work, decision-making, demands, strategies and tactics; seeking, always based on mutual respect, to link struggles and organizations; learning about and helping the struggles for humanity and against neoliberalism which are taking place throughout the world."
In this account of the opening words of the meeting, Comandantes David, Esther, Mois s, Tacho, and Zebedeo evoke the long history of repression and resistance since the time of the Spanish conquest. David speaks of increased wealth in the hands of the rich and increased poverty and suffering among workers. He calls for the coming together of diverse existing struggles. Esther calls for the continued struggles of women - marginalized by rulers and all to often by fathers, brothers and husbands. She points out that indigenous women are triply exploited: by being women, by being indigenous and by being poor. Lieutenant Colonel Mois s speaks for the EZLN, qua army, and says the first phase of the Other Campaign will be a vanguard going out to check out the political terrain (not a vanguard in the old Leftist sense of the word) and then others will follow. Tacho attacks the professional politicians of the PRI, the PAN and the PRD who have all engaged in denying the indigenous their rights. Zebedeo attacks the exploitation of workers in both countryside and city and says that "the hour has come to unite our forces, our struggles, our thoughts, our ideas, our hearts, our faith, our hopes of some day experiencing a real change in our lives."
After listing the number of various kinds of organizations that have expressed support for the Sixth Campaign, Marcos describes - and mocks - various types of oratory used by politicians. Instead, for the forthcoming meetings he encourages people to listen more, talk less and seek both the honest portrayal of the political situation and imaginative, alternative approaches to linking struggles in an horizontal manner rather than hierarchically or hegemonically. He also speaks of the need to prepare for possible repression - in part by remembering those who have suffered from it in the past - both those who have died and those still in prison. The unity to seek, he suggests, is agreement on a path forward. Therefore, as the Campaign moves around the country, everything will be organized locally and openly without any special committees or central control (and possible corruption) over financing. Each group of people in struggle will continue to organize themselves and their activities in relationship to the Campaign. The objective: "another way of doing politics, to listen and to learn about the struggles, resistances and rebellions; to support them and to link with them in the building of a national program of anti-capitalist struggle of the left."
This is a long, one-by-one narrative of over 60 five-minute interventions by representatives of different organizations and communities, expressing their views on the issues of the Other Campaign. Some involved proposals for how to proceed - proposals that were accepted or rejected by vote. Others dealt with the aspects of the items on the agenda: 1) the ratification, broadening or modification of the features of the Campaign, 2) the definition of who is being convened and who is not, 3) the organizational structure of the Campaign, 4) the special place of differences: indigenous, women, other loves, young people, children and others, 5) the Campaign's position vis-a-vis other organizational efforts (Promotora, Frentote, National Dialogues), 6) immediate national political/general organizational tasks (dissemination and information), and finally, 7) Concerning what is missing. As a narrative of interventions it paints the great diversity of both groups and their concerns.
Speaking for the EZLN Marcos speaks to demands that the Campaign declare itself and take a public position on several specific struggles,e.g., those of Social Security workers, of metallurgical workers and against Fox.s energy program. He says that because all of those who have expressed support for the Campaign could not attend the meetings and have not yet been consulted via email or other means, no general declaration is possible - if the Campaign is to avoid imposing the views of those did attend on those who could not. However, he says that the EZLN, qua EZLN, is quite willing to publically express its support for various struggles and will sign on to initiatives taken by other movements or organizations to do so. The principle involved, he argues, is that everyone should be taken into account, not just those who can afford to attend meetings, that everyone's word is worth as much as everyone else's. Figuring out how to do this is not easy but must be done if the Campaign is to remain an expression of the desires of its adherents. He also declares the EZLN position that the Campaign as a whole should be prepared to support and defend those who participate in it when they are attacked. He ends by thanking all who attended the meeting and the local communities whose work made the meetings possible.