Moisés: Little Zapatista Schools in the Communities Are Full

Space in the Communities for the Little Zapatista School is Full

ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY

MEXICO

 June 2013.

To: adherents to the Sixth in Mexico and the World:

To: those invited to the little Zapatista School:

From: Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.

Compañeras and compañeros of the Sixth and students of the little school:

Receive Zapatista greetings, everyone.  We want to let you know how we’re doing with preparations for our little school.

Good, well there’s good news and bad news:

First the bad news:

There is no longer space for attending classes in a community on the August 12 to 16 2013 dates.  And space for the course in CIDECI, en San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, is also about to fill up.

There are many compañer@s want to attend the little schools in our Zapatista communities.  Many more than what we expected. More than what the people believed that changed their allegiance saying that the Zapatistas were no longer fashionable, that their initiatives were no longer ‘attractive,’ and the foolishness that those that have nothing to do repeat.

Then, what we want to report to you is that all the spaces for those who attend in a community in August are already full, all the little classrooms are full; in other words, there is no more space, there is no more room for students.  Because not only are we dealing with receiving them, we also have to see that they are housed and fed well, according to our humble abilities, of course.

First we had prepared to receive 500 students in the Zapatista community. It filled up quickly.  Later we expanded to 1,000 students, and that didn’t last.  Now we made space for 1500 students and now that’s also full.  And we are no longer able to fit more this time around because we think about taking good care of them and keeping them happy.

But don’t be sad, or get discouraged; to the contrary, because we are looking for another date, for another month, for those that will not be able to enter into the little school in a community this time. We’ll advise you of the date later.  What’s most certain is that it will be for next December-January.

And now the good news:

Our Zapatista compañer@s, the ones that will be the teachers, are now finishing their preparations for being teachers.

Yes, they are finishing their preparation because all of the Zapatista peoples will participate in the school. You will have three teams of teachers: the compañeras and compañeros from the communities who will receive, house, and feed you; the compañeras and compañeros who will accompany you at all times and who will take care of you, that is, the guardians, or your “VOTAN”; and also your teachers in the little school.

But SupMarcos, in a separate communiqué, will explain further the three teams of teachers and how things will be in the schools. His computer is almost fixed.

In addition there will be teachers for the videoconference, and for the DVD version they have almost finished recording the class lectures.

The textbooks are also ready. We only need to add the DVDs, filmed by our own compañeras and compañeros in the Zapatista media, which show what we have done in every Zapatista corner here in Chiapas.

Don’t forget that afterwards there will be videoconferences or you can request these materials.

And we are also thinking of sending, later, a team of teachers to other places where there are people who would like to understand our struggle for freedom. Of course, only if they are invited.

In another communiqué, SupMarcos will give you some more information about how everything is going with the students. For now, I will just let you know that the vast majority are young people.

I would also like to take this opportunity to extend a general invitation to everyone who would like to come for the party to celebrate 10 years of the Good Government Juntas.

I also remind you of the “Seminar Tata Juan Chávez Alonso,” which is open to everyone that wants to attend, and that will be celebrated in the CIDECI of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, starting August 17, which is also when all the students are leaving the communities, so that those that are in the community will also be able to attend and to listen to the word of other original peoples of Mexico that struggle for indigenous rights and culture.  Precisely in the month of July, we will have a meeting of the Organizing Commission, in other words of those who call everyone to the homage for our beloved compañero Don Juan Chávez Alonso.

It is all for now.  We await you here.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés,

Mexico, June 2013

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En español: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2013/06/13/cupo-lleno-en-comunidades-para-la-escuela-zapatista/

Click on the link above to listen and watch the videos below that accompany this text:

The song “The Anarchist” by Paradoxus Luporum. Dedicated to the anarchist compas, the new major enemy of the institutional “left.”

Mario Benedetti, in his own voice, “What can the young people do?” also for the anarchists.

So that you can start practicing your steps for the party on the 10 year anniversary of the caracoles and the Good Government Councils: Zapatista Band in Oventik.

 

 

 

EZLN Announces Indigenous Seminar

Indigenous Organizations and the EZLN create the Traveling Seminar: “Tata Juan Chávez Alonso”

JUNE 3, 2013

TRAVELING SEMINAR “TATA JUAN CHÁVEZ ALONSO”

June 2013.

We are the Indians that we are, we are peoples, we are Indians.
We want to continue to be the Indians that we are; we want to continue to be
the peoples that we are; we want to continue speaking the language we speak;
We want to continue thinking the words that we think;
we want to continue dreaming the dreams that we dream;
we want to continue loving those we love;
we want to be now what we already are;
we want our place now; we want our history now, we want the truth now.
Juan Chávez Alonso. Words presented at the National Congress.
March 2001. Mexico.

Brothers and Sisters:

Compañeras and compañeros:

This is the word of a group of indigenous organizations, native peoples, and the EZLN. With this word we want to bring among us the memory of a compañero.

After one year without him, with his memory as company, we want to take another step in this long struggle for our place in the world.

His name is Juan Chávez Alonso.

We were and are the path for his step.

With him, the Purépecha people became travellers amongst the people who gave birth to and who sustain these lands.

Tata was, and is, one of the bridges that we built with others in order to see ourselves and recognize ourselves as what we are and where we are.

His heart was and is the perch from which the indigenous peoples of Mexico look, even though we are not seen, from which we speak but are not heard, and from where we resist, which is how we walk through life.

His path and his word always sought to give voice and echo to the pains and grievances of that Mexico below (the “basement” of Mexico).

The National Indigenous Congress is one of the great houses that his hands helped to build.

The struggle for the recognition of indigenous rights and culture has, in him, in his memory, a reason and an engine to persevere.

Rather than fleeting condolences and a quick forgetting of his absence, we, a group of indigenous organizations and peoples, have looked for the way to extend his walk with us, to raise his voice with ours, to expand the heart that, with him, we are.

We, as the collective color of the earth, have agreed in our hearts and minds to build a space in which the word of the indigenous peoples of Mexico and this continent that we call “America” can be heard without intermediaries. This space will carry the name and history of this brother and compañero.

We have decided to name this space the “Seminar Tata Juan Chávez Alonso,” in order to emphasize how much our native peoples have to teach others during these calendars of pain that now shake all the geographies of the world. In this space we will be able to listen to the lessons of dignity and resistance of the native peoples of America.

As a continuation of the efforts that took shape during the “First Encounter of Indigenous Peoples of America” celebrated in October of 2007 in Vicam, Sonora, on the territory of the Yaqui tribe, the seminar “Tata Juan Chávez Alonso” will hold its sessions at different locations of indigenous America throughout the continent, in accordance with the geographies and calendars agreed upon by those who convoke this seminar and those who join along the way.

This seminar is meant to build a forum in which the indigenous peoples of the continent can be heard by those who have an attentive and respectful ear for their word, their history, and their resistance.

Indigenous organizations and representatives and delegates of native peoples, communities, and neighborhoods will have the floor.

In order to inaugurate this forum, we will hold the:

FIRST SESSION OF THE

TRAVELING SEMINAR “TATA JUAN CHÁVEZ ALONSO”

Here different native peoples, organizations, and communities will speak in their own voice about their histories, pains, hopes, and above all, their resistance.

This first session will have the following characteristics:

1. The first session of the Seminar “Tata Juan Chávez Alonso” will be held Saturday and Sunday August 17-18, 2013, at CIDECI in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México.

2. The organizations that have convoked this seminar now constitute the “Organizing Commission,” which will invite the participation of other indigenous peoples and agree upon all things related to the method of this first session.

3. The “Organizing Commission” will extend a special invitation to organizations, groups, and individuals who have consistently accompanied the struggle of the indigenous peoples.

4. Those who have convoked the forum and those indigenous peoples and organizations of Mexico and the American continent invited by the “Organizing Commission” will participate in this first session with their word.

5. The various sessions of this seminar will be open to the general public.

6. More information regarding the calendar and schedule of participation will be made public by the Organizing Commission at the appropriate time.

Within the framework of the Seminar “Tata Juan Chávez Alonso,” and with Don Juan’s gaze as our horizon, the participating indigenous organization and peoples will also meet on their own to propose (extending an even wider invitation) the re-launching of the National Indigenous Congress of Mexico, and simultaneously make a call to the indigenous peoples of the continent to resume our encounters.

For recognition and respect for indigenous rights and culture.

CONVOKED BY:

Nación Kumiai

Autoridades Tradicionales de la Tribu Yaqui

Tribu Mayo de Huirachaca, Sonora

Consejo Regional Wixárika en Defensa de Wirikuta

Comunidad Coca de Mezcala

Radio Ñomndaa de Xochistlahuaca, (Pueblo Amuzgo), Guerrero

Comunidad Zoque en Jalisco

Organización de Comunidades Indígenas y Campesinas de Tuxpan (Pueblo Nahua), Jalisco

Comunidad Nahua en Resistencia de La Yerbabuena, en Colima

Colectivo Jornalero de Tikul (Pueblo Maya Peninsular), Yucatán

Comunidades Purépechas de Nurío, Arantepacua, Comachuén, Urapicho, Paracho, Uruapan, Caltzontzin, Ocumicho

Comuneros Nahuas de Ostula

Comunidad Nahua Indígena de Chimalaco, en San Luis Potosí

La Otra indígena Xilitla (pueblo Nahua)

Comunidad Mazahua de San Antonio Pueblo Nuevo, Edomex

Comunidad Ñahñu de San Pedro Atlapulco, Edomex

Centro de Producción Radiofónica y Documentación Comunal de San Pedro Atlapulco (Pueblo Ñahñu), Edomex

Comunidad Nahua de San Nicolás Coatepec, Edomex

Ejido Nahua de San Nicolás Totolapan, DF

Comuneros Nahuas de San Pedro Atocpan, DF

Mujeres y Niños Nahuas de Santa Cruz Acalpixca, DF

Mazahuas en el DF

Centro de Derechos Humanos Rafael Ayala y Ayala (Pueblos Nahua y Popoluca), de Tehuacán, Puebla.

Asamblea Popular Juchiteca (Pueblo Zapoteco), Oaxaca

Fuerza Indígena Chinanteca “KiaNan”.
Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca-Ricardo Flores Magón, (Pueblos Zapoteco, Nahua, Mixteco, Cuicateco), Oaxaca.

Comité de Bienes Comunales de Unión Hidalgo, (Pueblo Zapoteco) Oaxaca

Unión Campesina Indígena Autónoma de Río Grande (Pueblo Chatino y Afromestizo), Oaxaca

La Voz de los Zapotecos Xichés en Prisión, Oaxaca.

Temazcal Tlacuache Tortuga de la comunidad de Zaachilá, (Pueblo Zapoteco), Oaxaca

Colonia Ecológica la Minzita, (Pueblo Purépecha), Morelia, Michoacán.

Colectivo Cortamortaja de Jalapa del Marqués (Pueblo Zapoteco), Oaxaca.

Radio Comunitaria Totopo de Juchitán (Pueblo Zapoteco), Oaxaca

CIDECI-UNITIERRA, Chiapas.

CCRI-CG del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (Pueblos Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol, Tojolabal, Zoque, Mame y Mestizo), Chiapas.

Mexico, June 2, 2013.

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See and listen to the videos that accompany this text:

In memory of Don Juan Chávez Alonso. Produced by the Cooperativa de Condimentos para la Acción Cinematográfica.

El Comandante Guillermo, introduces Don Juan Chávez Alonso at the Festival of Dignified Rage (Digna Rabia), in CIDECI, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México.

Baile tradicional “Los Viejitos,” performed by students of the Casa del Estudiante Lenin, Michoacán, México.

Translated by El Kilombo Intergaláctico

 

Zapatista News Summary – May 2013

 

MAY 2013 ZAPATISTA NEWS SUMMARY  

Is this where they want to sell beaches, coastal regions, borderlands and oil?

    

 In Chiapas

1. News Update on Alberto Patishtan - On May 31, the FPDT (Atenco), Las Abejas and Alberto Patishtan’s son, Hector, released a short documentary on YouTube about Alberto’s case. On May 27, Mexico’s Supreme Court sent its file on the Alberto Patishtan case to the federal circuit court in Chiapas via ground transportation. There is no explanation in these press reports for the long delay. However, Patishtan’s lawyers are hoping for a June decision (before the July vacation break). Newspaper reports also indicate that Patishtan was taken twice to Mexico City for medical follow-up on his brain surgery at the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Center, once in April and recently in May, but these reports give no  information about the results of the examinations.

2. San Sebastián Bachajon Legal Dispute Over Ticket Booth Continues – On May 16, a Chiapas court issued its decision in the case of San Sebastián Bachajon (SSB). The decision orders a replacement of the procedure allegedly authorizing the government to take several parcels of land away from the ejido, conveniently all on land belonging to adherents to the EZLN’s Sixth Declaration, for use as a ticket booth where visitors to the Agua Azul Cascades pay an entry fee. The SSB adherents went to court claiming that the procedure used to grant the government authority to do that was unlawful. They asked the court for the return of their land and an order restraining the government from taking it. The decision does not return the land to them, but rather orders that the matter be presented to the Ejido’s Assembly for its position in a lawful procedure. The SSB adherents are concerned that the pro-government contingent in the ejido, especially the ejido commissioner, will manipulate the process. Consequently, two SSB adherents went to Mexico City to present their position in the matter to a member of Mexico’s Supreme Court. They also visited the offices of the UN’s High Commissioner on Human Rights, asking for intervention, and the offices of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, seeking precautionary measures following last month’s (April 24) assassination of the community leader Juan Vasquez Gomez.

3. Two Campesinos Murdered in Venustiano Carranza – On May 5, two campesinos died of gunshot wounds in a confrontation that occurred in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, allegedly over agrarian and political disputes. Two campesinos were killed in the confrontation and 20 houses burned or damaged. There were also injuries. According to newspaper accounts, this attack stemmed from an old dispute for control of the Casa del Pueblo, which was aggravated with the arrival of a new president (in January of last year), who accused his predecessor of “misplacing” 67 heads of cattle. The dispute is between the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization-Casa del Pueblo (OCEZ-CP) and an internal dissident group. The dissident group of 49 families was expelled last year and is sheltered in government buildings near the state capital and demands a safe return to their homes. Those in the current OCEZ-CP leadership want the state government to relocate the dissidents. It arrears that 12 OCEZ-CP members have been arrested in connection with the May 5 violence and that the organization and its allies have set up an encampment and are occupying Cathedral Plaza in San Cristóbal. Supporters allege that paramilitary groups backed by the state government are responsible for the violence. The groups involved are not connected to the Zapatistas in any way, but are part of a large leftist campesino organization in Chiapas.

4. Chiapas Teachers Settle Strike - On May 15, National Teachers Day, Chiapas teachers belonging to Local 7′s Democratic Block went on strike over reforms to the federal education law passed in the federal Congress. Teachers throughout much of Mexico staged massive demonstrations on May 15 against the reforms which take away some of their union rights and job security, and can also lead to the privatization of education. The strike ended 5 days later after union negotiators reached an agreement with the state government. The state government signed a memorandum with the teachers committing that “the entry (hiring), promotion, recognition and permanence (job security) of education workers “will not be conditioned by any standardized evaluation with punitive character that might affect their labor rights.” The state administration also committed to guarantying that the agreements between the rector council of the Pact for Mexico, the federal government and the CNTE “will be ratified by the Chiapas government.” The education reform is part of Peña Nieto’s package of neoliberal reforms. See our blog for more information about the teacher protests and the education reform. Also see: http://newpol.org/content/mexican-teachers-rebel-against-governments-educational-reform

In Other Parts of Mexico 

FPDT Leaders

1. Seven Years After the Police Terrorism in Atenco - On May 3 and 4, the community of San Salvador Atenco commemorated the 7-year anniversary of the brutal police repression that resulted in 2 young people dead, more than 150 jailed and 26 women sexually assaulted by police while in custody. As a result of this police terrorism, the leadership of the Peoples Front in Defense of Land (FPDT, its initials in Spanish) were placed in a maximum-security prison with sentences longer than the lifespan of a human being. The FPDT is the San Salvador Atenco-based organization that successfully resisted (with raised machetes) the government’s plan to take away their agricultural lands in order to use them for building a new Mexico City international Airport. The state and federal police action of May 3 and 4, 2006 was seen by many as “payback” for the FPDT’s successful resistance to the airport; but, its significance went beyond the airport resistance. At that time, the Zapatistas were traveling the country during the “Other Campaign” and had visited Atenco just a couple of days before the police action. The police repression in San Salvador Atenco halted the Other Campaign for several months and, in general, put Mexico’s social movements on notice of what to expect in the future. On May 3 and 4, 2006, the governor of the state of Mexico, where Atenco is located, was Enrique Peña Nieto. He is now Mexico’s president and once again there are plans to build an airport, industrial park and urban sprawl on lands belonging to Atenco and surrounding ejido lands.

2. Amnesty International (AI) Issues Report on Mexico Violence – Amnesty International (AI) recently issued its 2013 Report on human rights. It refers to the term of Felipe Calderón. A number of human rights abuses are described, including the fact that Mexican authorities do not recognize the gravity of the problem and that there is complicity in these abuses by public servants. The complete report on Mexico can be read  here. According to numbers released by the federal government and published by La Jornada, there were 5,296 murders in Mexico, allegedly related to organized crime, during the first 151 days of Enrique Pena Nieto’s presidency; in other words, from December 1, 2012 to April 30, 2013. This represents a slight decrease from the same time period  the previous year under Calderón, but it is, nevertheless, a tragic number of deaths.

In the United States

1. President Obama Visited Mexico on May 2 – United States President Barack Obama visited Mexico beginning May 2. He met with President Peña Nieto and gave a speech to an audience of students and business people. Press reports indicate that the two presidents talked less about security and more about economics, thereby prompting the shopping cart cartoon above. Obama said he was hopeful on immigration reform, but not so hopeful about restrictions on guns. The Mexican economy relies on money (remittances) that Mexicans living and working in the United States send to their families in Mexico. Those remittances are one of Mexico’s top three sources of income and foreign exchange. The United States is also Mexico’s largest supplier of illegal weapons that end up in the hands of organized crime groups and thus feed the current violence in Mexico.

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Compiled monthly by the Chiapas Support Committee.The primary sources for our information are: La Jornada, Enlace Zapatista and the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba).

We encourage folks to distribute this information widely, but please include our name and contact information in the distribution. Gracias/Thanks.

Click on the Donate button of  www.chiapas-support.org to support indigenous autonomy.

_______________________________________________________

Chiapas Support Committee/Comité de Apoyo a Chiapas

P.O. Box  3421, Oakland, CA  94609

Email: cezmat@igc.org

www.chiapas-support.org

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chiapas-Support-Committee-Oakland/86234490686

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resumen de noticias de los zapatistas – Abril de 2013

Abril DE 2013 RESUMEN DE NOTICIAS SOBRE LOS ZAPATISTAS

Viaje de shopping

En Chiapas

1. Asesinato político de líder pro-zapatista en San Sebastian Bachajón – El miércoles 24 de abril, Juan Vázquez Gómez, líder de los pro-zapatistas en San Sebastian Bachajon, fue asesinado por individuos no identificados mientras caminaba hacia su casa. Era dirigente de los ejidatarios adherentes a la Sexta Declaración de la Selva Lacandona en su resistencia al despojo de sus tierras por parte del gobierno para la explotación turística.  Es el primer asesinato político en Chiapas contra zapatistas o pro-zapatista en un largo rato, y puede indicar un aumento en la represión ahora que el PRI está en el poder.

2. Amenazas de desalojo forzado continúan en San Marcos Avilés, caravana  recibe amenazas – El 19 de abril, la Junta de Buen Gobierno en Oventik publicó una denuncia que enumera todas las amenazas contínuas y actos de hostigamiento sufridos por los bases de apoyo zapatista en el ejido San Marcos Avilés desde julio del 2011.  La Red por la Paz en Chiapas luego anunció que el 21 y 22 de abril una Caravana de Observación Civil iría a San Marcos para escuchar testimonios de los zapatistas.  La Caravana fué amenazada por “miembros de partidos políticos” en San Marcos Avilés.  Amenazaron con quitarles los vehículos a la caravana y que “correrá sangre” si no se los entregaban.  Afortunadamente, las amenazas no se convirtieron en acciones y la caravana logró recopilar testimonios sobre las contínuas amenazas de muerte, incluyendo amenazas con matar a niños, y robo de tierras.

3. Marcha en Chiapas por la liberación de Patishtán – El 19 de abril, el movimiento a favor de la liberación de Alberto Patishtán organizó una movilización en Tuxtla Gutiérrez, capital del estado de Chiapas, para exigir su libertad.  En la marcha participaron much@s tzotziles de los Altos del estado, además de la organización católica Pueblo Creyente, Las Abejas, y el Bloque Democrático de la Sección 7 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, quiénes en total sumaron unos 15,000 manifestantes.  Los inconformes marcharon hacia la sede del Poder Judicial federal en el estado, donde se espera se pronuncie una decisión sobre el caso de Patishtán en los próximos dias.

4. La Suprema Corte mexicana libera a otros 15 hombres encarcelados por el caso de la masacre de Acteal – El 11 de abril, la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación liberó a otros 15 de los indígenas procesados y sentenciados por su participación en el asesinato en Acteal de 45 indígenas tzotziles el 22 de Diciembre de 1997.  Esta liberación y reconocimiento de inocencia, al igual que en los casos anteriores, estuvo basada   en la falta de pruebas y violaciones al debido proceso. De los 87 que originalmente fueron condenados por el crimen, ya sólo permanecen 6 en   prisión.  El obispo Felipe Arizmendi, de la diócesis de San Cristóbal de Las Casas, lamentó esta nueva liberación de los sentenciados, muchos de cuáles habían confesado su participación en la masacre.  En su rechazo a esta nueva liberación, la Organización Civil Las Abejas denunció que muchos de ellos ya se han visto caminando por los alrededores de Acteal y comunidades cercanas.  Tanto Las Abejas como el obispo Arizmendi se preguntan, “Si los hombres anteriormente condenados y ahora liberados no son los responsables de la masacre, ¿quién fué?”.

Por otras partes de México

1. Las comunidades forman sus propias patrullas de policías - Como resultado del crecimiento dramático del crimen organizado y la total incapacidad de las fuerzas de seguridad de México para tratar con él, un fenómeno nuevo está surgiendo. Algunas comunidades están tratando de proteger a sus residentes formando sus propias patrullas de policías comunitarias. Hasta el momento, al menos 40 comunidades en ocho estados han formado tales patrullas. Mientras mucha de la violencia que está plagando a las comunidades está vinculada al narcotráfico y los oficiales gubernamentales, la policía y los militares corrompidos por las narco pandillas, las comunidades también están buscando protegerse de la tala ilegal y la invasión de compañías mineras y sus “guardias” armadas. Algunas comunidades indígenas siguen la tradición de elegir a los policías/guardias que protegen a las comunidades de crímenes comunes como el robo o la embriaguez en vía pública, y los crímenes relacionados. Han estado haciendo esto por más de 15 años. Estas policías comunitarias tiene sus armas de caza, machetes y garrotes, ningunos de los cuales son ilegales. Sin embargo, otras comunidades tienen policías armados con armas de alto calibre que son ilegales. Los gobiernos estatales y federales están preocupados sobre este nuevo acontecimiento y quieren poner estas patrullas comunitarias bajo el control de autoridades locales con rango oficial. Pero las comunidades ven a las autoridades locales como parte del problema.

En Los Estados Unidos

1. El presidente Barack Obama visitará México y Costa Rica el 2-4 de Mayo – El presidente de los Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, tiene planes para visitar México el 2 de mayo. Mientras que México espera  lograr un acuerdo sobre más dinero para la Iniciativa Mérida, el Secretario  de Estado estadounidense John Kerry, dice que el presidente Obama también quiere enfocar su visita en tratar asuntos económicos y de comercio. Organismos de derechos humanos, sin embargo, enviaron una carta al Presidente Obama, al presidente de México Peña Nieto y a los presidentes de Centroamérica solicitándoles, entre otras cosas, re-pensar el modelo de seguridad regional (la guerra contra las drogas) y considerar la regulación de las drogas en lugar de su prohibición. También,  23 congresistas estadounidenses, de ambos partidos, enviaron una carta al Secretario Kerry para expresar su preocupación por el incremento en cinco veces más de las quejas contra personal militar sobre abusos en los derechos humanos en los últimos 6 años . La congresista Barbara Lee, de Oakland, firmó la carta.

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Compilación mensual hecha por el Comité de Apoyo a Chiapas.

Nuestras principales fuentes de información son: La Jornada, Enlace Zapatista y el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Frayba).

_________________________________

Chiapas Support Committee/Comité de Apoyo a Chiapas

Email: cezmat@igc.org

www.chiapas-support.org

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chiapas-Support-Committee-Oakland/86234490686

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juan Vázquez Assassinated in Bachajón, Chiapas

Bachajón Ejido Owners Demand that Juan Vázquez Guzman’s Death Not Be Left Unpunished

Juan Vázquez

** The indigenous leader “and Other Campaign” adherent was assassinated Wednesday

** They warn that the struggle over the defense of land and the natural springs “will not diminish”

By: Hermann Bellinghausen, Envoy

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, April 28, 2013

The San Sebastián Bachajón ejido owners, adherents to the Other Campaign of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle, in Chilón, Chiapas, demanded that the assassination of their compañero and representative Juan Vázquez Guzmán, which occurred Wednesday, “is not left in impunity” and warned that: “after the compañero’s death, the struggle will not diminish: we will continue forward, because we know well that his death was because of the defense of our Mother Earth because the mountains and the natural springs are masters of those who care for them.”

Directing themselves to the Good Government Junta of Los Altos and the National Indigenous Congress, to which the assassinated leader also belonged, the Tzeltal ejido owners relate that last April 24, at to o’clock “hour of God” (11 o’clock, “national time”) [1], Vázquez Guzmán “was resting in his house when a person came knocking on his door and he was riddled with six high-caliber bullet impacts, and the guy fled in a red pickup truck in the direction of Sitalá.”

In the communiqué “they make known” who Juan Vázquez was: “An active member of the ejido and of the Other Campaign adherents. We walked with him for seven years after the Sixth. On April 18, 2010, he was named Secretary General of the three centers of the ejido.”

On December 24, 2011, municipal and judicial police detained him without showing him an arrest warrant, when he was entering his house, and he was taken to prison number 16 in Ocosingo.” Hours later the then Commissioner Francisco Guzmán Guzmán arrived, “carrying a file in his hand and pointing to Compañero Juan as the leader against the neoliberal project but, thanks to the mobilizations of organizations and the intervention of human rights defenders, he was released at midnight and they returned him to his house without making him sign any release paper asking for pardon and forgiveness.”

On November 26 and 27, 2011, Vázquez Guzmán, “accompanied by Compañero Domingo García Gómez, he participated in a National Indigenous Congress workshop of dialogue and reflection at San Mateo del Mar (Oaxaca).” He was in charge of following up on the case of protective order (injunction) 274/2011 “against the Neoliberalism Project” and the accompaniment of the three political prisoners from his community

He maintained his participation in the political prison forums and the mobilizations for the freedom of the political prisoners in Chiapas, in particular of Alberto Patishtán, “and in all Mexico;” also in mobilizations for the defense of land, like the one on May 7, 2011 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, and in the Tila and Mitzitón ejidos. He went to the country’s capital “in accompaniment of the liberation of the last five San Sebastián Bachajón political prisoners.” He also appeared in several video messages for distributing the community’s demands internationally.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Monday, April 29, 2013

En Español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/04/29/politica/020n1pol

 

 

 

Paramilitarism, Armed Groups and Community Self Defense

The CRAC-PC elects its community police in February 2013

[As this article explains, violence from organized crime and the Drug War in Mexico is rampant in a number of Mexican states. Some indigenous communities have policed themselves for some time, but more and more communities are now taking up their own armed self-defense due to the dramatic surge in violence. The governments fear this trend and are beginning to crack down on (arrest) some of the groups.CSC]

Paramilitarism, Armed Groups and Community Self-Defense

By: Gilberto López y Rivas

 For years, the country has suffered a social war whose cost in human lives is now around 100,000 dead, the majority poor and young, while society is a prisoner of uncertainty about the future of the families –surely mortgaged by the 70 million Mexicans living in poverty–, and by the desperation of establishing that the PRI “alternative” means –in fact– the gatopardismo [1] in which everything changes so that everything stays the same (or gets worse).

In this lapse, armed groups have usurped the monopoly on violence, which supposedly corresponds to the State, and devastate the streets, businesses, barrios, communities, regions, and even complete states, which are abandoned in the defenselessness and at the mercy of their criminal actions. At the same time, in territories where the Mexican State has put into practice counterinsurgency strategies or an irregular war, paramilitarism has been activated, with the acquiescence, support and complicity of the authorities and furtively linked to the armed forces, police institutions or intelligence organisms. When I was a member of the Commission for Dialogue and Pacification (Cocopa), and in my capacity as rotating president, I presented in 1998 to the Attorney General of the Republic –with the advice of the lawyer Digna Ochoa– a denunciation about the existence of paramilitary groups, one of which was responsible for the Acteal Massacre. At that opportunity, the same attorney general Jorge Madrazo Cuellar told the members of the Cocopa about the presence in Chiapas of at least 12 groups that are euphemistically called “groups of civilians presumably armed.” A special prosecutor for the case was created, the same one that disappeared without pain or glory, years later.

Since those years, I have reiterated that the state grants a fundamental element for a perfect analysis cabal of paramilitarism, and I have defined paramilitary groups as those that count on organization, equipment and military training, those to whom the State delegates the fulfillment of missions that the regular armed forces cannot openly carry out, without implicating that they recognize their existence as part of that monopoly of state violence. Paramilitary groups are illegal and have impunity because it is convenient to the State’s interests that way. The paramilitary consists, then, in the illegal and unpunished exercise of state violence and in the hiding of the origin of that violence. Historically, paramilitarism has been a phase of counterinsurgency that is applied when the power of the armed forces is not sufficient to annihilate insurgent groups, or when their discredit obliges the creation of a paramilitary arm, clandestinely tied to the military institution. A clear example of this type of grouping is the dreaded White Brigade (Brigada Blanca), a criminal extension of the State during the dirty war, whose commanders were Colonel Francisco Quiroz Hermosillo, Captain Luis de la Barreda Moreno and Miguel Nazar Haro.

Although paramilitarism is tightly linked to counterinsurgency strategies, it can occur that the State uses –by omission, passivity or corruption of its officials– the armed criminal groups for their own purposes of social control, criminalization or violent aggression on opponents, passing through this way of state articulation, to also be constituted into paramilitary groups. This could be the case of the so-called guardias blancas, which in many rural regions formed the gunmen or armed appendage of landholders and regional oligarchies, and that because of class loyalties, the State has tolerated and protected.

When the State does not fulfill the legal and constitutional responsibility of preserving the security of the citizens or administering justice and, to the contrary por, uses the Army, police contingents and the judicial apparatus as a means of control and political-territorial intervention with the population by way of a militarization of society and venal justice at all levels, the emergence of mechanisms of self-defense and community justice of a varied nature take place that fulfill the functions that the State illegally alienates or disrupts. Experiences like the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias-Policía Comunitaria, CRAC-PC), that which forms the defense of Cherán Municipality, Michoacán, the autonomous rebel zones protected by the EZLN and those emerged in other latitudes of the Mexican geography, articulated by the communities, which control and monitor them, without any relationship with the State but subject to internal regulations and principles like govern obeying, not only are legal and legitimate according to the Constitution and Convention 169 of the ILO, signed and ratified by Mexico, but rather constitute the only socio-political spaces where control has effectively been achieved over what’s called “organized crime.”

Therefore, greater conceptual rigor and institutional seriousness of organisms like the National Human Rights Commission would be hoped for before the natural proliferation of community self-defenses for supposedly “breaking the state of law,” when to all appearances it has been the State that systematically has violated it through the practices of forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture, corruption-penetration by organized crime of all the spheres of public power and the total inability on the part of the authorities to guaranty public security and the administration of justice.

What is also grave is the State’s pretention of submitting organisms like the CRAC-PC to governmental control, through laws and regulations that subvert the mandate of the assembly, to make official what is a service and break the very essence of the normative community systems.

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Translator’s Note: [1] Gatopardismo refers to a political situation in which there is apparent political change, but in reality nothing really changes. It literally translates into the brown cat, referring to the African leopard.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Translation: Chiapas Support Committee

March 29, 2013

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/03/29/opinion/015a2pol

Moisés, Another EZLN Comandante

Moisés (speaking) with Marcos

Moisés, Another EZLN Subcomandante

By: Gloria Muñoz Ramírez

 Visionary, military strategist, and organizer of the people, these are some of the characteristics of the new Subcomandante of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN, its initials in Spanish). Known as Major Moisés in early January 1994, he would move to the position of Lieutenant Colonel in 2003. Today, Subcomandante Marcos, Zapatista military leader and spokesperson, introduced him as the new Subcomandante of the insurgent forces.

“We want to introduce you to one of the many “he’s” that we are, our compañero Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés. He guards our door and he also speaks using the words of all of us. We ask you to listen to him, which is, to look at him and so to look at ourselves,” said Subcomandante Marcos during the public announcement of the new appointment.

Moisés is one of the most well known insurgent commanders in the public life of the EZLN. On 16^th February 1994, during the handing over of General Absalón Castellanos, the EZLN’s prisoner of war, he was seen for the first time heading what would be the first of the Zapatista public events after the beginning of the war: an act full of symbolism that was finalized with the exchange of the former Governor of Chiapas, known for his ruthless actions, for hundreds of Zapatistas taken prisoner during the first days of the war. The act was taken advantage of to make the ethical presentation of a movement that sentenced him to bear the forgiveness of those he had humiliated, imprisoned and murdered.

“I have come to hand over the prisoner of war, who is General Absalón Castellanos Dominguez. In a few words: The People’s Army, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, has complied as between warriors and rivals.  Military honor has value, as the only bridge. Only real men use it. Those who fight with honor, speak with honor.” These were the first words which were heard from the then Major Moisés, in one of the most emotional events of these 19 years of struggle: the first presentation of the Zapatista support bases in Guadalupe Tepeyac.

Subcomandante Moisés came to the Zapatista organization, as he himself has said, in 1983.  Of Tzeltal origin, he was sent to “the city” as part of his preparation and there, in a clandestine house, he met Subcomandante Pedro, who later became his leader, and for whom he would become his right arm. Afterwards, he would be very close to Subcomandante Marcos.  Moisés was one of the people who opened up the Tojolabal canyon areas of Las Margaritas; he visited village-by- village, family by family, explaining the reasons for the struggle.

Of short stature, and with an enormous heart and political vision, always wearing his black military hat, with a sense of humor which does honor to the depth of the Tzeltal people, it fell to Moisés to withdraw at the side of Marcos during the government’s betrayal of 9^th February 1995; this is why much of the literature produced during that period portrays them together, with him as squire.

Witness to one of the last meetings between Subcomandante Marcos and Subcomandante Pedro, his second in command, Moisés describes how the two commanders argued because both of them wanted to go to war. But both said the other had to stay behind, because if one of them fell the other would have to carry on. Both of them went out, the first one to the taking of San Cristobal de las Casas, and the second to Las Margaritas, where he (Pedro) was killed in combat the same morning. At that time, with uncontrolled insurgent troops, the now new Subcomandante assumed the command and control of the operation in the region.

Later on, after the handing over of General Absalón, the dialogues in the Cathedral, and the opening up of the territory in rebellion to civil society and the media, the vast majority of the Zapatista public activities moved to the Tojolabal canyon area, where Subcomandante Marcos appeared regularly alongside the then Major Moisés and Comandante Tacho, among other civilian and military leaders in the region.

During those first months and years, in addition to his work within the organization, Moisés appeared as the middleman speaking with a good part of national and international civil society; he provided media interviews explaining the beginnings of the Zapatista struggle, the content and motives of their peaceful and political initiatives, and, later, the functioning of the Good Government Juntas, of which he was the promoter of their first forerunner, the Association of Autonomous Municipalities.

In 2005, with the release of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle, he was appointed by the General Command to be in charge of international affairs, in a committee known as “La Intergaláctica.” During that period, while Delegate Zero was traveling the country with the Other Campaign, the then Lieutenant Colonel received visits from other countries and sent greetings to international meetings.

Known for his patience, openness and willingness, on the occasion of the 20th birthday of the EZLN, he said: “It is our way to first do the practice, then the theory. And so, after the betrayal, when the political parties and the government rejected the recognition of indigenous peoples, we began to look at what we were going to do.”

Without a doubt Subcomandante Moisés can, with pride, subscribe to his own words: “I think if you have to be a revolutionary you have to be one right until the end, because not reaching its consequences or abandoning people and those things, well it is not right. We the fighters, our other brothers from other states, from this same country Mexico and the world, we need to assume the responsibility….”. And he does.

Originally Published in Spanish by Desinformemonos

En español: http://desinformemonos.org/2013/02/moises-otro-subcomandante-en-el-ezln/

Translated by Nélida Montes de Oca

Editing: Chiapas Support Committee

Zapatista News Summary – March 2013

MARCH 2013 ZAPATISTA NEWS SUMMARY

In Chiapas

1. EZLN Concludes THEM AND US Essay – During February, the EZLN  released Parts 5, 6 and 7 (the final part) of THEM AND US. All 7 parts are translated into English on our blog:        http://compamanuel.wordpress.com/      The last three parts, signed by Marcos, talk about how money is handled by the Juntas, some experiences in resistance, including critical comments about Rural Cities, the Mesoamerica Project, formerly the Plan Puebla-Panamá and the current Plan for Mexico. They also revealed a little history of their founding organization (the FLN) by revealing that several clinics are named for 2 FLN compañeras who died in the struggle. In Part 7, entitled Doubts, Shadows and one word, Marcos talks about the “shadows” that have made what they have done possible. He also talks about coming to the Little Schools to erase your doubts about the Zapatistas and learning and says that Sup Moisés will send out details about those schools.

2. Moisés Issues Dates and Other Details About the “Little Schools” – On March 17, the EZLN issued a communiqué signed by Subcomandante Moisés. It contains much of the information about the “escuelitas” or little schools” where they will teach Freedom According to the Zapatistas. For details, see: http://compamanuel.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/ezln-moises-dates-and-other-details-for-the-little-zapatista-school/  The Little Schools will begin immediately following the Celebration for the 10th Anniversary of the Good Government Juntas (August 8 to 11) and will last for one (1) week. Another of the details contained in the communiqué is that the Good Government Juntas are now closed to brigades, caravans, interviews or any visit that requires the time of the authorities because all the Zapatistas will be busy preparing for the little schools and the celebrations. The Caracoles remain open to visitors.

3. Mexico’s Supreme Court Denies Patishtán’s Appeal - On March 6, Mexico’s Supreme Court refused to grant a “recognitions of innocence” hearing to Alberto Patishtán, a teacher, human rights defender and prisoner in Chiapas. Sentenced to 60 years in prison for the ambush and murder of 7 police, the Court referred the appeal to a collegiate tribunal in Chiapas. Legal sources in Mexico think the chances are slim that a federal court in Chiapas will do what the Supreme Court refused to do. An international campaign in support of his freedom is underway.

4. Mexico’s Supreme Court Releases Another Man Convicted in the Acteal Massacre Case - One week after it refused to hear the request from the social struggler Alberto Patishtán Gómez for a recognition of innocence, the first hall of the Supreme Court resolved the immediate liberation of Marcos Arias Pérez, accused (and convicted) of participating in the Acteal Massacre on December 22, 1997 in the municipality of Chenalhó, Chiapas. Once again, the rationale for the release was because of due process violations. Patishtán’s case is also replete with due process violations, so what is prohibiting Patishtán’s release? Speculation is mounting that influential politicians in Chiapas may be to blame.

In Other Parts of Mexico

1. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Holds Hearing on Atenco Rapes - When the Mexican governments and the state government of Mexico jointly conducted a police operation to terrorize, repress and torture the population of San Salvador Atenco on May 3 and 4, 2006, the police included sexual torture (forced rape) on at least 26 women in custody. They filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a division of the Organization of American States, with headquarters in Washington, DC. A hearing was finally held in the middle of the month. The government offered an apology and a friendly resolution, but the women who suffered the sexual assaults rejected the offer.

2. Mexican Court Annuls Immunity for Zedillo – On March 6, a Mexican Court ruled that former president Ernest Zedillo was not eligible for immunity protection under the Mexican Constitution and invalidated a diplomatic note from the then Mexican Ambassador to the United States requesting that the US State Department recommend immunity to the Connecticut federal district court in which Zedillo has been sued by some victims of the Acteal Massacre. The court reasoned that Zedillo was no longer entitled to immunity because he was no longer president. He now lives in Connecticut and teaches at Yale. The lawsuit filed on behalf of some of the victims of the massacre is still an open case in the Connecticut court. For the full story: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/03/25/mexican-court-rules-zedillo-ineligible-for-immunity/

3. Drug Trafficking Is 5th Largest Source of Jobs in Mexico! – A report prepared for members of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies state that estimates are that drug trafficking employs around 468,000 people, more that PEMEX (the acronym for Petroleos Mexicanos), the oil company with the most employees in the world). The purpose of the report is to support a proposed legislative change to create a financial intelligence technical unit capable of investigating and pursuing money laundering. The report cites estimates of profits from drug trafficking at somewhere between $25 and 40 billion dollars per year and concedes that governmental structures, including police, are infiltrated with drug trafficking employees and corrupted with bribes, blackmail and threats. The conclusion seems to be that there is no way to stop the corrupting influence of that kind of money without putting dams in the way of money laundering.

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Compiled monthly by the Chiapas Support Committee.The primary sources for our information are: La Jornada, Enlace Zapatista and the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba).

 

Raúl Zibechi: Can the State Be the Commons?

Can the State Be the Commons?

By: Raúl Zibechi

Rigorous and committed reflections and analyses are essential in this turbulent and chaotic period, in which the anti-systemic forces have difficulties orienting themselves and defining a direction. Some of those analyses have played an outstanding role in the debates that the movements carry out, because they illuminate the themes most important for being oriented in the long run.

The works of the geographer David Harvey, in particular those that permit comprehending better the modes of capital accumulation, have been incorporated by numerous movements for analyzing the reality that they wish to transform. The concept of “accumulation by dispossession,” formulated in his book The New Imperialism (Akal, 2004), is one of the force-ideas accepted by those who belong to anti-systemic organizations.

In other works Harvey persists in comprehending in more depth the movements of capital and its imprint on geographical spaces and territories, emphasizing how they have reconfigured the urban scheme in recent decades. In The Enigma of Capital and the Crisis of Capitalism (Akal, 2012), he established the strict relationship between urbanization, capital accumulation capital and sudden appearance of crisis. Since the postwar (1945), he points out; suburbanization played an important role in the absorption of surplus capital and labor.

Consumption explains 70 percent of the US la economy (compared to the 20 percent that it represented in the 19^th Century), which leads him to conclude that: “the organization of consumption through urbanization has been converted into something absolutely decisive for the dynamic of capitalism” (p. 147). Consequent with his previous works, he puts the creation of new spaces and territories in a central place, and considers them the fundamental aspect of the reproduction of capitalism, emphasizing the categories of “rental of land” and “price of land” as the hinges between capital and geography.

The analysis of the “territorial logic” of capitalism, complementary and convergent with the flows of capital that cross spaces with “a logic more systematic and molecular than territorial” (p. 171), leads Harvey to approach power, states and the resistances, remembering that in this period: “the State ands capital are more strictly interwoven than ever” (p. 182). Here he enters into a much more delicate terrain. Although he may seem contradictory with that assertion, he defends “the utilization of the State as the principal instrument of counter-power in the face of capital” (p. 173).

Anyhow, Harvey recognizes the Zapatista Good Government Juntas as territorial organizations capable of creating a new social order. At this point he does not establish any difference between territorial and State organization, or between instituted power and counter-powers. Although he does not work in that direction, the debate about whether all territorial power is synonymous with State remains open and we have still not advanced much in that respect.

I don’t believe that it’s most appropriate to continue a debate of an ideological character about the State –although we know Marx’s position on that, he always held to the need for destroying the State apparatus–, without previously bringing up the paths for leaving capitalism and traveling towards a different world. In his most recent work, Rebel cities, Harvey dedicates a chapter to “The creation of urban communes,” where he criticizes frontally the centralized organization of Leninist inspiration as “horizontalism,” which he accuses of centering on practices of small groups that turn out to be impossible on larger scales and on a global scale.

Harvey also questions the “local autonomies” as spaces adequate for protecting the common good, because in fact “they demand some kind of approach” (enclosure, p. 71). Harvey’s reasoning is anchored in the  “scales”: having a community garden in your barrio is something good, he says, but to resolve global warming, water and air quality or problems on a global scale, we cannot appeal to assemblies or to the forms of organization that the movements have today. For that there is no other path than appealing to the State, on a national, regional or municipal scale.

There are three considerations in that regard. What Harvey proposes is inscribed in a profound historic tendency that has regained vigor in recent years. Although the writer does not share it, the bulk of the Latin American movements migrated from autonomous positions to statist and electoral practices. To not recognize this tendency does not contribute to deepening the debates.

The second has to do with the character of the State: can the State, which is not the commons but rather the expression of a social class, have any usefulness for protecting the commons? The community, the true expression of the commons, is the human organization most adequate for protecting the common wealth. It is not accidental that there where that wealth has been preserved is where communitarian ways predominate in their most diverse forms.

In third place, it is necessary to undo a misunderstanding that has earned enormous esteem in recent years: assuming the administration of the State, the government, became for many activists the path for traveling toward a new world. Beyond how the efforts of the progressive governments are evaluated, there does not exist anywhere in the world any experience with construction of new social relations from the State inherited by capitalism.

“The working class cannot be limited simply to taking possession of the State machine such as it is and using it for its own purposes,” Marx wrote in 1872, upon making of the Paris Commune. That we still don’t have the material force to do what Marx recommended is not saying that our horizon ought to limit itself to struggling by administering what exists, because we will never overcome capitalism that way.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Friday, March 22, 2013

En español:  http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/03/22/opinion/031a1pol

English translation: Chiapas Support Committee

EZLN: Moises: Dates and Other Details for the Little Zapatista School

Dates and Other Details for the Little Zapatista School

ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY

MEXICO

March 2013.

Compañeras and compañeros, brothers and sisters of the Sixth:

Regarding visits, caravans, and projects.

As you all know, we are preparing our classes for the little schools; that is what we will be focusing on for now so that they turn out well and make for good students.

And we, together with the [autonomous] authorities, think that there are things that we will not be able to attend to so as not to distract ourselves from this task, for example: agreeing to do interviews, or exchanging experiences, or receiving caravans, or work teams, or discussing ideas for a project. So please don’t make a trip here for nothing, because neither the Good Government Junta or the autonomous authorities, or the project commissions will be able to attend to you in these matters.

If a person, group, or collective is thinking of bringing a caravan with some kind of support for the communities, we ask you to please wait for the appropriate time, or if you have already arranged the trip, then please leave whatever you bring in CIDECI, with Doctor Raymundo, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

We aren’t saying that caravans of support can never come, but they CAN’T come now, because we want to focus on the little school. We want to let you know this, so that you don’t misunderstand why you are not attended to.

We want to let you know this so that you don’t plan trips that require conversations with our authorities; we won’t be able to attend to you for the simple reason that all of our efforts will go toward our little school, which is for you, for Mexico and the world, and that is why we are directing all our efforts there.

So while we will be in the Juntas de Buen Gobierno of the 5 caracoles; we won’t be able to attend to you, but you can visit the caracoles.

The same goes for ongoing projects in the 5 Juntas, there are things that we won’t be able to attend to, we can only do what is within our ability and which does not require consultations or a lot of movement for our people. If something does require these things, it will be tended to at another time.

We want you to understand us; for us, it is not the time for caravans, projects, interviews, exchanges of experiences, or other things. For us Zapatistas (women and men), it is time to prepare for the little school. We WON’T have time for other things, unless the bad government wants to really mess with us and then yes, that would change things.

We believe that you, compañeras and compañeros, brothers and sisters, understand.

Regarding the School

Here we will give you the first details about the little school, so that those of you who will take classes can begin to make preparations.

1. Everyone who feels called is invited to the fiesta of the Caracoles. The fiesta will be in all 5 caracoles, so you can go to whichever you want. The arrival date will be August 8th, the fiesta will be on the 9th and 10th, and the return date will be the 11th. Note: The fiesta to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Caracoles is not the same thing as the little school. Don’t confuse them.

2. With this fiesta, the Zapatista bases of support celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Juntas de Buen Gobierno, but not only that.

3. These days will be the beginning of our little school, which is very other, where our bosses—that is to say, the Zapatista bases of support—will give classes on their thought and action on liberty according to Zapatismo: their successes, their failures, their problems, their solutions, the things which have moved forward, the things that have gotten bogged down, and the things that are missing, because what is missing is yet to come.

4. The first course (we will have many, depending on when those who attend are able), of the first level is 7 days long, including the arrival and departure time. The arrival date will be August 11th, the class begins on August 12th, 2013 and ends on August 16th, 2013. And the departure date will be August 17th, 2013. Those who finish the course and would like to stay longer can visit the other caracoles outside of where they had their course. The course is the same in all of the caracoles, but people can visit caracoles different from the one they were assigned, but at that point they will be on their own.

5. Little by little, we will explain how registration works for the little school of liberty according to the Zapatistas, but we will let you know now that it is laic and free of cost. The pre-registration will be with the Support Teams of the Sixth Commission, national and international, on the Enlace Zapatista web page, and by email. Students will then register at CIDECI, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. We will begin sending the invitations, according to our capacities, as of March 18, 2013.

6.  The school is not open to anyone who wants to come; rather, we will invite people directly. We will take care of these compas who we invite, we will give them food, a place to sleep that is clean and satisfactory, and we will give each of them a guardian (or guardiana), their own “Votán,”[i] who will make sure that they are well and that they don’t suffer too much in the class, only a little, but always, yes, some.

7. The students will need to study very hard. The first level has 4 themes: Autonomous Government I, Autonomous Government II, Participation of Women in Autonomous Government, and Resistance. Each theme has its own textbook. The textbooks have between 60 and 80 pages each, and the parts that SupMarcos already gave you to look at are only a tiny part of each book (3 or 4 pages). Each textbook costs 20 pesos, which is what we calculated as the cost of production.

8. This first level of the course lasts for 7 days and/or however much time a compa has available, because we know people have their work, their family, their struggle, their commitments, that is to say, their own calendar and geography.

9. The first course is only first grade, there is still much more to come, meaning that the school isn’t finished quickly; it will take a long time. Whoever passes the first level can go on to the second one.

10. Regarding costs: each compa has to cover their own costs to get to CIDECI, in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, and to get back to their corner of the world. From CIDECI they will go to the little school to which they are assigned and when they finish, they will return to CIDECI and from there each one will go home. In the school, which is in the village, they won’t want for anything; it may be beans, rice, or vegetables, but their table will not be lacking. There the Zapatistas will cover the costs for each student. Each student will live with an indigenous Zapatista family. During the days that they are in school this will be the student’s family. They will eat, work, rest, sing, and dance with this family, who will also walk them to their assigned school, to the education center. And the “Votán,” the guardian or guardiana, will always accompany them. That is, we will watch out for each student. If they get sick we will cure them, or if it is serious we will take them to a hospital. But whatever is in their head when they arrive and when they leave, well, we can’t do anything about that; what each compañero or compañera does with what they see, hear, or learn, is their responsibility. That is, we will teach them the theory; the practice they will see about themselves in their own corner of the world.

11. The costs of the school we will figure out ourselves. Maybe we’ll have a festival of music and dancing, or some paintings or artisanal goods, but don’t worry, because we will find a way and in any case, there are always good people who support good things. For those who would like to make a donation to the school, we will leave a jar in the student registration area at CIDECI, with the compas from the University of the Earth, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. Whoever wants to donate some money can put it in the jar, no one will know who gave money or how much they gave; this way those who gave a lot won’t think too much of themselves and those who gave a little won’t feel sad. We will not allow gifts of money or other things to be given in the schools, Caracoles, or families to which you are assigned. This is to avoid an unfair situation where some people receive things and others do not. Whatever people would like to donate should be left at CIDECI, with the compas from the University of the Earth, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. They will collect it all and then we will divide it evenly among everyone later, that is, if there is anything. If not, it doesn’t matter; what matters is you.

12. There are other ways of taking the course at the little Zapatista school. We are going to ask for support from the compas of the free, independent, libertarian, and autonomous media, and from those who know about this thing called videoconferencing. Because we know that many people will not be able to come because of work issues, or personal issues, or family. We also know that there are people who don’t understand Spanish but do want to learn how the Zapatistas have done what they have done and undone what they have undone. So we are going to have a special course that one can take via video camera wherever there is a group of willing students who are ready with their textbooks, and that way, over internet, they will be able to see the course and ask questions of the teachers—the Zapatista bases of support. In order to plan this, we will invite some alternative media to a special meeting in order to come to an agreement on how to do the videoconferences and also so that they can photograph and videotape the places that we will talk about in the classes, so that everyone can verify if what the professors (men and women) say is true or not.

Another form by which people can take the class is with the DVDs we will make of the course, for those who can’t go anywhere and can only study in their house, so that they can also learn.

13. In order to attend the little Zapatista school, you will have to take a preparatory course where the life of the Zapatista communities and their internal rules will be explained, so that you don’t commit any infractions. And also so you know what you need to bring. For example, you shouldn’t bring those things called “tents” that aren’t good for anything anyway; we are going to provide you accommodations with indigenous Zapatista families.

14. Once and for all we want to make it clear that the production, commercialization, exchange, and consumption of any kind of drugs or alcohol is PROHIBITED. The carrying or use of any kind of weapon, loaded or unloaded, is also prohibited. Whoever asks to join the EZLN or anything militarily related will be expelled. We are not recruiting nor promoting armed struggle, but rather organization and autonomy for liberty. Any kind of propaganda, political or religious, is also prohibited.

15. There is no age limit to attend the little school; but any minors should come with an adult who is responsible for them.

16. When you register, after having been invited, we ask you to clarify if you are a man, woman, or other, in order to accommodate you, as every one is an individual (individuo, individua, or individuoa)[ii] and will be respected and cared for. Here we do not discriminate against anyone on the basis of gender, sexual preference, race, creed, or nationality. Any act of discrimination will be punished with expulsion.

17. If anyone has a chronic illness, we ask you to bring your medicine and let us know about it when you register so that we can keep an eye out for you.

18. When you register, after being invited, we ask that you make clear your age and health condition so that we can accommodate you in one of the schools where you won’t suffer more than necessary.

19. If you are invited and you can’t attend at this first date, don’t worry. Just let us know when you can attend and we will do the course for you when you can come. Also, if someone can’t finish the whole course or can’t come after having registered, no problem, you can finish or make it up later. Remember though you can also attend the videoconferences that will be given outside Zapatista territory.

20. In other writings I will continue explaining more things and clearing up any doubts you might have. But what I have said here are the basics.

That’s all for now.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés.

Rector of the Little Zapatista School

Mexico, March 2013.

P.S. I put SupMarcos in charge of adding some videos to this text that relate to our little school.

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Originally Published in Spanish by Enlace Zapatista

En español: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2013/03/17/fechas-y-otras-cosas-para-la-escuelita-zapatista/

Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Cri Cri, with a track that is now a classic: “Caminito de la escuela” (The Path to School).

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The Little Squirrels of Lalo Guerrero with “Vamos a la escuela” (Let’s go to school) and Pánfilo’s excuses not to go to school.

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School squabbles to the rhythm of ska, with Tremenda Korte and this track “Por Nefasto”.

[i] In the lexicon of the EZLN, Votán is usually used in reference to the legendary Votán – Zapata, in which the spirit of Zapata lives as “the guardian and heart of the people.” See “Closing Speech to The National Indigenous Forum,” EZLN, January 9, 1996.

[ii] The EZLN often uses the suffix –oa (individuoa, compañeroa) to provide a noun form that is not strictly feminine or masculine.