Red Alert in Chiapas

by Andrew Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:24

This looks like a return to war is almost certain. So for all those interested I'm calling an emergency solidarity meeting in 5 Merrion Row (above the Centra) for 8pm this Thursday.

(I was involved in the Irish Mexico Group which has been defunct for some years. )

by iosaf Tue Jun 21, 2005 13:16

They say soldiers of the 16th and 20th motorised divisions destroyed 3 hectares of marijuana on June 15th with a "narcotraffic value" of 5million pesos.

The bank accounts of EZLN solidarity groups in Spain with the bank BBVA were frozen last week under allegations of money laundering despite the support groups of EZLN satisfying all the transparency rules in Mexico and Spain. This led to various protest actions.

by io Tue Jun 21, 2005 14:00

is that this declaration is a "light version" of the 1997 red alert when 45 indiginous including children of Acteal were killed by military actions by the Mexican federal forces.
The Mexican authorities have no official plan to enter the territories, the official Luis H. Alvarez, who is the commisioner for dialogue and negotiation with Chiapas has said the forest and mountain region is in complete normality.
EZLN last went to arms the 1st of January 1994 but after 10 days conflict with approximately 150 deaths, there came the ceasefire which has lasted to this day. Negotiations began with the government in 1996 but were suspended in autumn of that year to this day. Then in 2001 a caravan of 23 sub commandantes led by Marcos brought the demands of the indiginous communities for a formal legal recognition of thier rights to autonomy to the capital in a long march.
the law was approved by the Mexican senate-
2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1298151.stm
then rejected by indiginous communities for falling short of their campaign.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1301490.stm
2003 - 2004
a return to dialogue was hinted at during conflicts on water-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3659727.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3140313.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_4113000/4113586.stm

sub. comm. Marcos EZLN the autonomous communities of the indiginous peoples of Chiapas

by - Tue Jun 21, 2005 14:04

that mainstream mexican press see "no motive" in a return to war. And solidarity comments on spanish speaking indymedia sites see "no wish" to return to war.

the EZLN armed forces in 2001

by Andrew Tue Jun 21, 2005 15:04

We've put a feature up on Anarkismo.net with the news we've managed to gather so far and a collection of articles that gives some background as to what is going on. It's at http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=751

by io Tue Jun 21, 2005 16:03

Blanche Petrich, is a columnist with La Jornada Mexico, who has spoken before of the possible tactic of using "narco-traffic" or {"the whiff of druggies"} as an excuse to attack communities such chiapas. His article published today sees him return to the theme with references to an interview with Carlos Montemayor the author of the book "Los informes Secretos" in which they look at the "subtle" messages inside this alert, the third to be made in 11 years against 5 years of equivocation by Mexican president Fox, and ongoing low-level strife and struggle on issues such as water, land, evictions.
The "whiff of drugs" was it seems a tactic to goto war in 1994. The communication it seems is thus more "political" than "military".
The EZLN have not gone away. & they want & still merit our interest in their affairs. And a field of grass up a mountain in a federal union of state which cuts deals with narco-billionaires on cocaine supply ought not be a reason for war.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/jun05/050621/011n1pol.php

by James R Tue Jun 21, 2005 16:38

thumbnail

by Nina Francez - Free Local Villages from Globlization Tue Jun 21, 2005 17:55

Review of the persecution of local framers around the world by USA Coporations.
http://peru.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/17085.php

by rafeal Tue Jun 21, 2005 23:31

Last Sunday, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has put her regular army and her militia on red alert. Dozens of members of autonomous regional zapatista governments, the Councils of Good Government, fled to the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state. From now on they work in a clandestine and nomadic manner. The offices of the autonomous municipalities and regions have been closed. Members of civil society who are in Chiapas right now are urged to leave rebelious territory, or stay at their own risk. The motivations for the red alert are unknown right now. It is very likely that the shooting war, that cost hundreds of lives in january of 1994, will be resumed.

INTRODUCING THE ZAPATISTAS
After a short shooting war in january of 1994, the Zapatistas fought, in a non-violent but sometimes spectacular fashion, for democracy, freedom, justice, ethnic minority rights, women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights, rights for transvestites, rights for transsexuals and the protection of the rain forest. For “a world in which all worlds can fit”. After long negotiations between the zapatista rebels and the federal government, a treaty of one of many zapatista demands, indigenous rights, was signed. The Zapatistas mobilised millions of people in Mexico and around the world in support of this treaty. However, the law that was passed in the Mexican parliament in august of 2001 was a completely altered version of the treaty. The Zapatistas felt betrayed and entered, once more, a period of silence. Periods of silence traditionally follow periods of public appearance of the Zapatistas. In these periods of silence they built the strength of their organisation and deliberate on their next strategic moves.

In silence the Zapatistas strengthened their autonomous organizations according to the agreements of the treaty that later was watered down by the government. By now there are approximately some hundreds of thousands of (mostly indigenous) zapatista support bases who are organized in thousands of autonomous rebel communities, some thirty autonomous municipalities and five overarching regions, who each have their representative councils. In these regions they built and organised, with financial aid of many NGO’s and private donators, hundreds of autonomous primary schools (for children who otherwise would not have acces to any form of education, most of the indigenous of Chiapas are illiterate), a couple of secondary schools, autonomous commercial cooperations, dozens of microclinics, a few larger hospitals, a few media collectives to, a few rebel radio stations and they trained many health promoters in an area where 55% of the people suffer from malnutrition and one in every foru infants dies of curable diseases like chronic diarrhea. But the most remarkable achievement of the movement is the creation of an highly developed, multi-level autonomous government.

The Mexican political system for decades has been characterized by widespread clientelism, in which local political bosses, caciques, are supported by national, dinosaur-like, parties and can do whatever they want in their territories, as long as they ensure support for this party throughout their territory. They traditionally use these powers for their own good and that of their allies. However, in the autonomous territories “the people command and the government obeys”. All major decisions in the communities are made after extensive deliberations in which all members have had the opportunity to speak. The translocal decisions are made by the communities. There is no such thing as a supralocal government. The elected Zapatista officials have to obey thes orders. When they use their position to do anything else than execute the instructions of the people, they will be removed from their positions. The Zapatistas have no illusions about the corrupting influence of power, nor should they after decades of caciquismo. The Zapatistas reject the notion of the necessity of a professional political class. They think the leadership will eventually act in its own interest, and not in that of the people. As a simbol, administrative officials all hide their faces behind ski masks or scars. This emphasizes the the unimportance of the leader as a person. He or she has to get the job done, and if they mess up, they are immediately replaced.

RED ALERT
In may of 2005 the Zapatistas released a communiquee in which they announced to send a delegation to Europe. Their spokesman, “Subcomandante Marcos” ended with a post scriptum:

"P.S. in the tone and volume of a sports announcer – The Sup, using the tactics of the Uruguayan Obdulio Varela in the final against Brazil (World Cup, Maracaná Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, 7/16/1950), ball in hand, having traveled as if in slow motion (since May of 2001), from the zapatista goalpost. After complaining to the referee about the illegitimacy of the goal, he puts the ball in the center of the field. He turns around to look at his compañeros and they exchange glances and silences. With the scorecard, the bets and the entire system against them, NO ONE has any hope for the zapatistas. It starts to rain. A watch reads almost 6. Everything appears ready for the game to resume…"

And the game resumed last Sunday. Today on Tuesday, when I’m writing this article, it is still unclear what prompted the red alert. There are a few possible explanations:

A peaceful solution to the conflict seemed impossible to the Zapatistas. The Zapatista support bases have decided to restart the shooting war to achieve their objectives. This explanation seems highly unlikely to me. The past ten years the Zapatistas moved away from armed struggle to achieve their goals. Furthermore, they lack the military capabilty to confront the Mexican federal army in a full-out war.

The Zapatistas have been alarmed by troop movements of the federal army. They foresee a possible attack and prepare to defend themselves. According to spokespersons of the Mexican government there have been no troop movements that can be explained as such. Moreover, the Zapatista spokesperson wrote ended the communiquee of last Sunday with: “Vale. Health, and pay attention, because down below the watch reads six”. This might mean that back in may the Zapatistas already knew they were preparing for this red alert”.

The Zapatistas fear an attack by a paramilitary organisation. The pas eleven and a half years, hundreds of civil Zapatistas and members of the civil society have been assassinated by forces that were trained, armed and directed by the federal army and the political parties. Although the murderers and the intellectual authors of these murders were rarely prosecuted and convicted, the Zapatisata have never retaliated these crimes. They denounced the murders by the official government and waited for justice.

A fourth possible reason is to my opinion the most probable. About six months ago a communiquee was released in which the Mexican justice department was urged to arrest and trial the murderers of unarmed civilians in Chiapas and end the impunity that had reigned Chiapas for eleven years. They warned the government that if justice would not be achieved, the zapatistas, after turning the other cheek for 11 years, would arrest and trial these murderers themselves. It is very likely that they are about to do just that. And they expect retaliation by the paramilitaries and the army who are intimately connected.

Last Sunday, “the EZLN release[d] from responsibility for any of our future actions all persons and civil, political, cultural, citizens and non-governmental organizations, solidarity committees and support groups who have been close to us since 1994. We thank all of those who have, sincerely and honestly, throughout these almost 12 years, supported the civil and peaceful struggle of the zapatista indigenous for the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture”. Also “basic community health services will continue functioning in the different Caracoles. Civilians will be in charge of these services, and the CCRI-CG of the EZLN is distancing them from any of our future actions, and we are demanding that they be treated as civilians and with respect for their life, liberty and goods by government forces”. And “the EZLN announced the closing of the Zapatista Information Centre (CIZ), not without first thanking the civil societies who have participated in it, from the time of its creation until today. The CCRI-CG of the EZLN formally releases these persons from any responsibility for the future actions of the EZLN”.

Since 1994, many social (non-violent) activists were targeted by the army and the paramilitaries because the Zapatistas were well protecten. Dozens of villages, from which the villagers had fled, were raided an plundered by the federal military and many houses were boobytrapped in case the people returned to their homes. At this moment, seven thousand displaced persons live in refugee camps because they can not go home. Right now the Zapatistas want to distance themselves from the civilians to make clear that these people are not responsible for what will happen in the near future.

Will be continued…

LINKS:
The communiquee, dated june 19th, in which the red alert is declared (in English):
http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=113783

The second communiquee dated june 19th which deals with the Mexican political system (in Spanish)

An article on CNN about this second communiquee:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/06/20/mexico.zapatistas.ap/

The communiquee, dated may 25th, which announces the journey to Italy:
http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=113483

Sites on which you can find updates about the situation in English:
http://Chiapas.indymedia.org
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~archive/chiapas95/2005.06/
http://www.narconews.com/ (I expect them to publish an article shortly)

Sites on which you can find updates about the situation in Spanish:
http://www.fzln.org.mx
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~archive/chiapas95/2005.06/
http://www.el-universal.com.mx 3
http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/289766.html
Http:www.jornada.unam.mx
http://Chiapas.indymedia.org

THIS TEXT PUBLISHED ONLINE HERE-
http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=113809
& here-
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/187819/index.php

Text, Info and Updates are compiling on indymedia, ireland (here) http://anarkismo.net
chiapas, bcn, all over the place.

by tim gaynor - reuters Wed Jun 22, 2005 00:00

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (Reuters) - After years of calm, Mexico's Zapatista rebels are stirring again in a conflict that President Vicente Fox has failed to end despite a promise to solve it "in 15 minutes."

Rights workers on Tuesday accused the army of provoking the guerrillas, led by the elusive, ski-masked Subcomandante Marcos, into putting its forces on a "red alert" this week.

The Zapatistas announced on Monday they were grouping fighters in bases, suspending their radio station and pulling political officers out of villages in the state of Chiapas.

The last similar alert was in 1997 when paramilitaries massacred 45 pro-Zapatista villagers in Acteal but the rebels did not give a reason this time around.

The Fray Bartolome de las Casas human rights group said it was likely a response to military moves in the area in recent weeks which it described as "a tactical repositioning in a war campaign."

Residents said drug raids by almost 200 soldiers last week in Zapatista-held land could also have upset the rebels. The Defense Ministry said troops destroyed 44 marijuana plantations in three municipalities run by the guerrillas.

The rebels shocked Mexico and the world when they emerged unexpectedly out of the jungle on New Year's Day 1994 with an armed campaign to claim Indian rights.

But there have been no clashes since the 1990s and the pipe-smoking Marcos had even begun a new career as a crime author, co-writing the novel "Uncomfortable Deaths."

The Chiapas state government said troops had actually pulled out in recent weeks, but the rights group contested that.

"The army is not retiring, it is reactivating," it said in a statement. Troop movement in the area is at its highest level since 2001, when seven bases closed, but this time there was no explanation from the government, the group said.

Government spokesman Ruben Aguilar said there was nothing unusual going on in Zapatista-held territory, an area of mountains and jungle that borders Guatemala.

"The government affirms categorically that the Los Altos border zone and the Chiapas jungle are completely normal," Aguilar told journalists in Mexico City.

NO SOLUTION

Fox vowed during the presidential election campaign in 2000 that he would negotiate an end to the Zapatista problem "in 15 minutes" but that never happened.

The rebels suffered a serious setback in 2001 when Congress watered down an Indian-rights law that the Zapatista leadership had set as a condition for returning to peace talks.

"Vicente Fox said he was going to leave all the Zapatistas in peace within 15 minutes but ... now toward the end of his mandate he has done nothing," said Gregorio Lopez, 64, a shoeshiner in the main square of San Cristobal de las Casas, a pretty colonial town once taken over by the rebels.

Officials in town hall showed a video of the Zapatista stronghold village of Oventic, deserted on Monday night after the alert.

"Closed Due To Red Alert" read a sign above a rebel headquarters there. Only a handful of the village's several hundred people remained.

Marcos, who became an anti-globalization icon hidden behind a ski mask, said on Monday the rebels working in villages "have been called into the ranks and our regular troops have been brought into barracks."

He advised rights and aid workers in Chiapas, many of them foreign, that they stayed in Zapatista territory at their own risk.

by copy and paste job Wed Jun 22, 2005 08:46

available @:

by Andrew Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:18

Two more communiques have been released which makes it clear that the Red Alert is just a precaution to allow a consulta to take place (The army attacked during a previous consulta in 1995). The communiques and more details on what a consulta is can be found at http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=751

by iosaf Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:56

Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel is the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the diocese in which the Zapatistas are to be found. The RC church has put itself on "pastoral alert" since yesterday.
Speaking to various media sources, the bishop [& RC church] has warned the Fox and Federal Government [Luis Ernesto Derbez] in particular not to provoke the EZLN and in a clear message to the Zapatistas themselves has asked -
“we hope that they hold the line which has always been maintained since the beginning except for those few days, which were beligerent... we hope they continue to struggle together with us and with the government at its different levels, in combatting poverty, misery, marginalisation and racism which are persistent.”.

closed for red alert at the entry to the Zapatista village of Oventic

by io Wed Jun 22, 2005 13:04

There are many enemies of the communities, as there are opponents to Fox, and even large factions of the RC church who are quite against the Cristobel diocese.
And they are asking that there be a final end to "an armed rebellion" which disgraces the United States of Mexico and causes it to be the laughing stock of the world, and that Mr Marcos explain why he's growing drugs.
(Mexico is one of those places where everyone grows marijuana, my neighbour across the street has three balconies full of marijuana, and the street generally just thinks its coz she's mexican, coz she doesn't smoke?!)
Others have suggested the whole thing just proves that Marcus and the whole EZLN have lost their sense of humour along with a few bank accounts.
Yet others see the final long bloody march on washington via mexico city coming soon, coz thats why they bought the T-shirt.

by redjade Wed Jun 22, 2005 20:58

Photos from Zapatista Territory

In solidarity with the EZLN who yesterday went on red alert, I just posted a collection of photos I took a bit less than a month ago while studying spanish in Oventic, one of the Zapatista Caracoles. I have over 800 photos I took in Guatemala and Mexico over the last 11 weeks that I just started going over today, but I decided to upload these first. Vive Zapatismo!

Blog
http://detritus.net/steev/mt/

Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/steev/sets/484906/

by redjade Wed Jun 22, 2005 22:34

from jacobito :
Ok. Now comes the part where we can speculate on what the fuck is happening in Chiapas. First, lets listen to what the Zapatistas themselves say. Lets go back a month. On May 25th, 2005, el Sub Marcos released a communique in response to a request by the Italian team, Inter Milan, for a game. You can read it in English or Espanol if you like. It's pretty funny. He proposes 7 soccer games in different places, criticizing the politics of ever location along the way. Now, at the end of the communique, he wrote:

//quotes communique//
The Sup, using the tactics of the Uruguayan Obdulio Varela in the final against Brazil (World Cup, Maracaná Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, 7/16/1950), ball in hand, having traveled as if in slow motion (since May of 2001), from the zapatista goalpost. After complaining to the referee about the illegitimacy of the goal, he puts the ball in the center of the field. He turns around to look at his compañeros and they exchange glances and silences. With the scorecard, the bets and the entire system against them, NO ONE has any hope for the zapatistas. It starts to rain. A watch reads almost 6. Everything appears ready for the game to resume…
//end communique quote//

Now the interesting part is the end: It starts to rain. A watch reads almost 6. Everything appears ready for the game to resume . Some people interpreted this sentence as a warning of what was to come, the Red Alert, the going-underground. As I wrote before, the Zapatistas are seemingly quiet, quiet, quiet, and then BAM, news developments, new structures, new autonomous realities. Always working, planning, strategizing, pushing forward. Seemingly transparent, but also very very clandestine. So the clock reads 6. The game will resume. What game? War? Revolution? Autonomy?

And then, on May 31, 2005, another communique came out.....

read more at
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jacobito/10118.html

'NO ONE has any hope for the zapatistas'

by iosaf Thu Jun 23, 2005 00:54

President Fox of the United States of Mexico today said during a state visit to Russia that there had been no moves by the mexican federal army to enter the autonomous communities of the neo-Zapatista movement in the southern state of chiapas.

Mr Fox said :- "to the citizenry the only thing I can say is that its calm, and there is nothing new in that which is presented and nothing official either"

His remarks were echoed by his spokesman Rubén Aguilar who said there had been no mobilisation of the federal army in the south, Aguilar also confirmed that the army divisions who had destroyed Zapatista crops had returned to barracks directly.

Fox is in Russia as part of a standard pre-G8 round of diplomacy & said at a press conference today:- “My talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on the implementation of the agreements, which had been reached as part of the Russia-Mexico summit last year.”

“We exchanged views on major international issues, including the U.N. reform. Vladimir Putin and me also discussed the strengthening of Russian-Mexican relations in all fields,”

source mexican-
http://www.emol.com/noticias/internacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=186335
source russian-
http://www.itar-tass.com

President Vicente Fox of the United $tates of Mexico enjoys his 15 minutes of Fame in Red Square Russia & comments on the poorest peasants of his land...

by contraaltermundista Thu Jun 23, 2005 07:36

You know, there are other views on what's going on in Chiapas....

Flash back to 1994, when the EZLN was the darling of the Mexican and Western Left. Its blue-eyed, white-skinned, pipe-smoking leader, Sebastian Guillén Vicente (a.k.a. “Subcomandante Marcos”) was the heartthrob of Mexican and “progressive” women from across the Atlantic realm. Leftist intellectuals like Carlos Fuentes, Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, John Berger and Roger Burbach anointed the Zapatistas the first “postmodern insurgency”—whatever that means—and the likes of Oliver Stone and Danielle Mitterand made obligatory pilgrimages to the poor villages of Zapatista-controlled areas. In addition, European (and some American) human rights NGOs showered the Zapatistas with publicity and, equally important, money.

Today, even in Mexico’s Leftist media, there are fewer and fewer mentions of the EZLN, whereas, just a few years ago, there was serious hope that the group was key to the survival and success of a socialist/indigenous territory within Mexico. Even Zapatista sympathizers admit that they now have the support of only 10 percent, or one-third (and rapidly decreasing) of Chiapas’ Indian population—less than half of what it used to be. Moreover, Marcos’ long-running logorrhea (he used to publish his quasi-political poetry rants on websites and even had a “children’s book” published in Texas) seems to have slowed down markedly. After organizing an “intergalactic” assembly and a march to Ciudad de Mexico in 2001, Marcos has fallen into obsolescence in the West, in Mexico, and, most importantly, in Chiapas. Such are the difficulties of a virtual guerrilla trapped in the midst of rapid globalization.

Founded as the product of another reactionary Mexican (and Latin American) force—the radical Marxisant sector of the Catholic Church—the EZLN originally operated under the misleading label of “liberation theology.” This was the very same movement (one which was repeatedly disavowed by John Paul II) that gave the Sandinistas their priestly ministers and made Brazil a haven of Catholic radicalism. In Chiapas, its promoter was Bishop Samuel Ruiz (since forcibly retired), whose search for revolutionary help led him to invite first Maoists and then Castroite intellectual organizers from the North to help create a Marxist Utopia in his bishopric. One of those outsiders was Guillén, a former Mexico City University professor of design, committed Marxist, and scion of a radical and well-connected Tampico family.

Guillén came to Chiapas and decided to start a Sandinista-type Marxist revolution among the local Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Tolojobal Maya groups. He took over Ruiz’ radicalized catechists and prepared for war, which he started in 1994, using the neglected Maya as cannon fodder. Prior to that, he tried and failed to obtain armed support from Cubans and Sandinistas, who knew that the ideological winds at the time were blowing away from radical Marxism. Nevertheless, the EZLN began its violent insurrection in 1994 as a typically Marxist one, and Marcos settled back into more fashionable discourse on “indigenous” collectivism. His education and public relations talents led to success on the Internet and in the media, and many of the orphans of the global Left—still reeling from the collapse of the Soviet bloc—were happy to support him.

Increasingly devoid of political support in Chiapas and credibility in Mexico, Marcos & Co. tried to organize their Utopia in isolated mountain villages. The result was predictable: rejecting by force any aid from Mexico City, the caracoles—groups of villages led by so-called “good government” councils—are now even worse off than they were before the progressives took over decades ago. In Oventic, a large Zapatista-controlled area, there are no doctors or teachers, which has led former supporters to migrate into government-controlled (and abundantly subsidized) areas. That leaves the “good government” councils with only the “brotherly” 10-percent tax they levy on all foreign-funded projects in the region, which pays for a Che Guevara cafeteria/cooperative, a Women for Dignity folk art store, and, of course, guns.

Meanwhile, as elsewhere in Latin America (Guatemala comes to mind), former Bishop Ruiz’ efforts to introduce Marx into the Gospel led to the collapse of Catholicism and made Chiapas the first Mexican state with a neo-Protestant majority. Zapatista threats and pressures on non-radical Catholics only hastened that process. On December 8 for example, in the main Zapatista center of Altamirano, there was a demonstration of hundreds demanding a return to government control and the cessation of Zapatista “arrests, humiliations, and abuses.”

Considering its previous record of relentless repression and successful eradication of guerrilla groups, the Mexican government, under the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) that ruled until 2000 and the independent Fox government since, has acted subtly in Chiapas. In a word, it has decided to let the Zapatistas die a natural death. No open crackdown, but support for mass defections and paramilitary groups reacting to Zapatista repression, social and economic investments in Chiapas, and public silence. PRI is now regularly winning elections in Chiapas, Marcos is regularly ignored and, since his offer of support for the murderous ETA terrorist group in Spain (which was ridiculed by Spanish judge Garzón and rejected even by ETA), spiraling toward obscurity. Meanwhile, the victims of Marcos’ attempts at Utopia are becoming poorer and poorer in Mexico’s poorest state.

The Red Alert is just the latest signal that Marcos and Co are washed up, unwanted and irrelevant. Thus, the world’s first “virtual insurgency” is now ending where all things virtual do when confronted with real life: in an increasingly remote corner of our memory. And that is where it should remain.

by Joe Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:14

Interesting bit of a spin above with a lot of local 'knowledge' thrown in to mislead the ignorant. Not bothered answering it all but lets just pick the easiest lie to unravel, ie 'contraaltermundista' claim that "Marcos is regularly ignored and, since his offer of support for the murderous ETA terrorist group in Spain".

This is actually 'based' on a set of communiques released in late 2002 and early 2003 where Marcos offered the Zapatistas as mediators to get a peace process going in Spain. Both ETA and the Spanish state went nuts (both of course demanding the Zapastistas mind their own business and accusing them of supporting the 'other side'.

Here are some extracts from the Marcos reply to ETA, for those who want the short version is was captured in his PS "It should already be evident, but I want to remark: I shit on all the revolutionary vanguards of this planet."

"What's more, we don't have the means, or the interest, or the obligation to "consult" ETA before speaking. Because the Zapatistas have won the right to the word: to say what we want to, about what we want to, when we want to. And for this we do not have to consult with or ask permission from anyone. Not from Aznar, nor the king Juan Carlos, nor the judge Garzo'n, nor ETA."

"About us "lacking respect for the Basque people"; this is something that Garzo'n has also accused us of (which, consequently, he should auto-declare illegal because ETA is coinciding with his positions) along with all the Spanish and Basque right wing. This is due to the fact that to suggest giving an opportunity to the word goes against the interests of those that, from apparently contrary positions, have made their alibis and business out of the death of the word. Because the Spanish government kills the word when it attacks the Basque language Euskera or the Navarrorum tongue, when it harasses or jails journalists that "dare" to talk about the Basque theme and include all points of view, and when it tortures prisoners so that they "confess" to whatever will be useful to Spanish "justice". And ETA kills the word when it assassinates those that attack with words and not weapons."

"The matter about representation. The judge Garzo'n claims to represent the Spanish and Basque people (and unites with the representation of the king, Pepillo, and Felipillo) and says that if I offend these said people then I offend all the Basque and Spanish people. ETA claims to represent the Basque people and if we offend them by proposing an opportunity to the word then we offend all the Basque people. I don't know if the Basque or Spanish people agree with being represented by one or the other. It is up to them to decide, not us. Contrary to judge Garzo'n and you, we do not claim to represent anyone, only ourselves. We don't represent the Mexican people (there are many political and social organizations in this country). We don't represent the Mexican left (there are other consistent leftist organizations). We do not represent Mexican armed struggle (where there are at least 14 other armed political-military organizations on the left). Nor do we represent all the Indian people of Mexico (there are, fortunately, many indigenous organizations in Mexico, some better organized than the EZLN)."

"What are you going to teach us? To kill journalists who speak badly about the struggle? To justify the death of children for reason of the "cause"? We don't need or want your support or solidarity. We already have the support and solidarity of many people in Mexico and the world. Our struggle has a code of honor, inherited from our guerilla ancestors and it contains, among other things: respect of civilian lives (even though they may occupy government positions that oppress us); we don't use crime to get resources for ourselves (we don't rob, not even a snack store); we don't respond to words with fire (even though many hurt us or lie to us). One could think that to renounce these traditionally "revolutionary" methods is renouncing the advancement of our struggle. But, in the faint light of our history it seems that we have advanced more than those that resort to such arguments (more to demonstrate their radical nature and consequences than to effectively serve their cause). Our enemies (who are not just a few nor just in Mexico) want us to resort to these methods. Nothing would be better for them then the EZLN converting into a Mexican and indigenous version of ETA"

I think this gives a context whish allows indymedia.ie readers to judge how accurate 'contraaltermundista' other claims are.

by hs - sp (per cap) Thu Jun 23, 2005 13:53

The mexican gov. tried to jail the main opposition leader, backfired on them though.
Hopefully the people will come out again.

http://www.socialistalternative.org/justice43/12.html

by ipsiphi Thu Jun 23, 2005 22:31

The Red Alert holds, as mexican authorities attempt to exhonerate themselves from responsibility by denying the marijuana crop destruction was not in the territories of the zapatistas, does it matter if the farmers were poor but not recognised by the U$M as zapatista?

If such were true, then the closure of BBVA bank accounts would be completely unwarrented and illegal.

Yet the Red Alert Holds.

cave lupo
as we say in vulgate latin.
for we do not cry wolf.

Sub Comm Marcos of the EZLN is reported by mainstream commercial press to have re-assured the federal authorities that an offensive action by the EZLN is not imminent. Whilst the consequences of the red alert are find alert
are to be read in newspapers from Russia to Mexico, and the leadership of the PRD
http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?idc=188361
assure journalists that the EZLN red alert shall not have as much influence on the 2006 general elections in the United $tates of Mexico, not much new has come from the people being so politically non-debated except that they are capable of surviving any assasination move against their leadership, for there are many who have read the words, these many years, who have answered the calls to solidarity, and those voices which for so long were ignored will not be left without effective political voice again.

.:.We're not talking brussels here.
@We're not talking pop music.
/ We're saying
BASTA
=
THE RED ALERT HOLDS.

http://chiapas.indymedia.org/
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=755

the last communication as chiapas imc seems "not to be working as well as one would wish"
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/188176/index.php

the red alert holds = €st@mos X alert@ roj@

by redjade Fri Jun 24, 2005 15:34

from Indy-Blogger Project Steev

click here to see photos
http://detritus.net/steev/mt/archives/000387.html

San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas, Mexico

by dara Fri Jun 24, 2005 16:06

thank you for the photos, redjade, a really lovely glimpse into the Zapatista culture.

what was the outcome of the solidarity meeting?

by JackJack - N/A Sat Jun 25, 2005 01:07 jackjackincredible at gmail dot com

The old Edwin Starr song comes to mind; "War! What Is IT Good For?". The arguments over the Zapatistas centre around this, surely. Can you advocate a quasi-(and I use the term as lightly as a feather here)"terrorist" group controlling an area of a state where they have less than ten percent of the indigenous support? Or are they a viable and realistic alternative to a Bush-friendly federali-toting government under Vicente Fox?

Unfortunately, possibly, this red alert could lead to more bloodshed. In support of the ideals of the Zapatistas, can this be condoned? I hope, that is a grasp for much needed funding and publicity. If so, it's worked.

by contraaltermundista Sat Jun 25, 2005 02:35

I've already made the case that this group has no mandate and has done a fine job of brainwashing, enslaving and impoverishing innocent people who should be benefitting from global trade.

Just take a look at the pictures - the glorification of Che Guevara is enough to clarify any person's minds where this one is going to end up.

Here's news:
* Graffiti;
* Che Guevara images;
* Anarachy Symbols;
* White people with dreadlocks juggling (some of these look familiar from the campus of Trinity College Dublin); and
* an abuse of acronyms and language that would make the USSR look good (CCRI-CG, Communiqué from the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation);

does not a revolution or a justification make.

Mr. Marcos, Tear Down Your Mask

by redjade Sat Jun 25, 2005 15:39

and his Chiapas/Mexico travels....

http://detritus.net/steev/mt/archives/000390.html

by i Sat Jun 25, 2005 19:16

Francisco Amadeo Espinosa, rotating president of COCOPA, the comission for pacification and concordance [the body set up to mediate between Chiapas and the Federal government] has in a press conference confirmed the declaration of Carlos Abascal Carranza, on the "grass plants" and gone further "on the whiff of druggies" :- "El secretario (Abascal) ratificó la declaración del vocero de la Presidencia de que no hay vínculos entre el EZLN y el narcotráfico".
= "the minister (Abascal) upholds the declaration of the spokesperson of the President [Fox] that there are no links between EZLN and narco-traffic".

(((so this is point is being driven home. No link between narcotraffic and the zapatistas)))

COCOPA has also expressed their wish that when the EZLN have finished their "internal consultation" that they return to dialogue, [and the COCOPA] and move forward.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/jun05/050625/003n1pol.php

Same newspaper other article:-

21 non governmental organisations dedicated to human rights, support, reconciliation and such work in the Chiapas region including "Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas" and "Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada", "la Red de Defensores Comunitarios", "la Comisión de Apoyo a la Unidad y Reconciliación", "Las Abejas"
have signed a statement asking that the Federal Government not intefere in the "internal consultation", and that the Federal and State Governments have continued to ignore the demands of the zapatistas and run down the struggle for indiginous rights and culture.

The Mexican Prosecution office has PGR, has said that neither of the armed groups operating in the United States of Mexico, (either the EZLN or EPR) have links to narco-traffic. Whilst the Mexican federal authority for investigating organised crime, (SIEDO) has said that though the acitivites of groups such as EZLN do not qualify them under UN criteria, or Mexican prosecution / investigative interests as "terrorist organisations", though noting that some actions might be misconstrued and confused with terrorist actions they each have their own specific characteristics and causes and musteach be treated upon their own merits including ideological.

(((you climb a bank to protest freezing of support accounts belonging to children who are neither communist or narcotraffickers, a rabid rightwinger might accuse you of terrorist tactics, but everyone in their right mind knows you're not)))

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/jun05/050625/005n1pol.php
and same story carried in-
http://www.proceso.com.mx/noticia.html?nid=32330&cat=1

The €U though not a party to the Conflict has said yesterday through its trade contact the European Commision representative for Mexico Germano Straniero that it is monitoring the situation. Though has not yet thought to make an official declaration.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/jun05/050624/007n2pol.php

Finally the print editorial of La Jornada responded to the extension of both the EZLN "red alert" and the diocese of San Cristobal "pastoral alert", and reflecting broadsheet weekend editorials in most Mexican newspapers muses on "those from below" and notes that Zapatista support organisations and individuals in "France, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Australia, Colombia, Spain, Italy, USA and much more" are paying close attention and gives a summary of various actions of support in those places this last week, the article closes with these words.

"LOS TEXTOS ZAPATISTAS no son excluyentes ni prescinden de la gente. La palabra zapatista es de aliento, esperanza, consecuencia y acción...Sólo hay que saber esperar."

"The Zapatista texts do not exclude people nor are they dispensed to them. the word zapatista is one of breath, hope, consequence and action... You just need to know how to hope"

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/jun05/050625/008o1pol.php

Quite. somos tod@s zapatistas.

BASTA

by JackJack - N/A Sat Jun 25, 2005 22:46

I hope the federalis don't do anything we're all going to regret...

by mtv Fri Jul 01, 2005 14:11

They mooted. They discussed it seems all of it, their problems and visions, our problems and visions.
& they signed. in thier own words-

"the men, women, children and old ones of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation have now decided, and we have now subscribed to, this Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona, and those who know how to sign, signed, and those who did not left their mark, but there are fewer now who do not know how, because education has advanced here in this territory in rebellion for humanity and against neoliberalism, that is in zapatista skies and land."
=
-They really have left their mark haven't they?

The 6th declaration of the EZLN is available at chiapas indymedia in spanish and is being translated into german french english portuguese italian and can be read in its entirety at the last link, but in the wrong order. the middle bit "how they see mexico" is still coming.