Let op! De Zapatistas komen eraan! Rafael - 28.07.2003 21:02
Herinner je ze nog? De Zapatistas verbreken twee jaar van relatieve stilte. Je bent uitgenodigd voor een begravenis EN een geboorte in de bergen van zuidoost mexico op 8, 9 en 10 augustus. Als je helaas verhinderd bent om te komen: There's a lot more to come, dus wacht maar af. Let vooral op het tweede en het vijfde communiquee. Eerst een stukje van narconews: The French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guatarri once coined a term – “recruitment through exclusion” – that applies to guerrilla movements and none, more mediatically speaking, than the Zapatistas. Time and time again since the Zapatista’s January 1, 1994, appearance, taking four City Halls in Chiapas with low-tech weapons and indigenous troops, this movement has alternated between epochs of dominating the national media and discourse, and then slipping back into the hills, silently, in the aforementioned game of “rope-a-dope,” giving their enemies enough rope and distance with which to hang. Their presence has often been most powerful through their absence. But now comes another wave from below, this time hitting the weakest national government to date. As we reported and translated on Tuesday of this week, Marcos and the Zapatistas speak again. In March 2001 they said, “Brothers and Sisters: We are going. With all of those whom we are, we shall return.” Now, in the Summer of 2003, that promise prophesy is coming true. For those of us who understand “the importance of keeping one’s word,” it was always clear that this would occur. And we stand ready to report the facts as they unfold. In the communiqué of July 19, 2003, the Zapatistas stated, “the EZLN has decided to totally suspend any contact with the Mexican federal government and the political parties,” and promised a series of communiqués over the coming days not just on behalf of the Zapatista command, but also on behalf of the 20 Autonomous Towns of Chiapas, representing 1,111 villages, that have refused, for years, to accept even a peso of state or federal government monies and remain in rebellion. The second round of communiqués, dated July 20th, appeared publicly on Wednesday of this week, with the strongest, most militant, proclamations the Zapatistas have made since their public launch in 1994: “One: The Zapatistas send a message to Luis Ernesto Derbez, Secretary of Foreign Releations, that his statements about ‘relaunching’ Plan Puebla-Panama could only mean tossing it into the abyss, because in rebel territories this plan will not be allowed. That is to say, the ‘big Zapatistas’ count with the means and the necessary organization to impede the completion of said plan. This is not a threat, but a prophesy.” In addition to declaring that “Plan Puebla-Panama’s” coast-to-coast superhighway (a “Panama canal of the land”) and accessories advocated by the Fox government and foreign business interests on the Isthmus of Tehuantapec, in Oaxaca and Veracruz states, would be a highway-non-grata, Marcos and the Zapatistas issued a bellicose warning to the paramilitary death squads that continue to operate with impunity in Chiapas: “Two: The General Command of the EZLN has sent a message to the paramilitary bands that infest Chiapas. The message says, more or less in these words: ‘According to Talión’s Law it’s an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ but we’re holding a sale and we offer, ‘two eyes for each eye and an entire jaw for each tooth,’ so tell us if you like that.” The statement is clear: Any more Acteal-style massacres by government-backed paramilitary troops, and the Zapatistas are not going to turn the other cheek, but, rather, deliver the justice that the Fox government does not. Marcos also mentioned that the Zapatistas will shortly begin to broadcast a short-wave radio signal around the world, including a late night program by the Subcomandante. And, in a call to all their supporters throughout Mexico and around the world to put on our shoes and socks and get ready to speak en masse, Marcos wrote: “It would be good if national and international Civil Society does not make any appointments for the days of August 8, 9, and 10. We don’t know why.” That’s two weeks from this coming weekend. Many more ears are perking up over that invitation than anything the “president,” Vicente Fox, has said since his party’s July 6th electoral defeat. So, who is leading this country, now, anyway? The first four communiquees on chiapas.indymedia.org: http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105510 http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105518 http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105529 http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=105531 |