Critical Thought in the Face of the Capitalist Hydra I 9780979799327, 0979799325

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Critical Thought in the Face of the Crpitalist Hydra I Crlr r nrst'r r()Ns B\ r ru. Stx t'rt Cortrusst()N ()t. 'l rlr.. EZLN 'lrF"o,;if p

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CruTICAL THoI.JGHT

IN THE ENCT OF THE CNpTrnuST HyDRAT

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TTBUTIoNS BY THE SxTH COUmSSIoN oF THE EZLN

Cover art: Mauricio G6mez Morin

@OO@zore This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribudon-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

JAI PersRBoAT PREss

Dur,HAu, Nonrs CanouNa www.paperboatpress.org

ISBN: 978-0-

97 97

993-2- 7

About this book This text is a uanslation of the book, El Pensamiento Critico Frente a la Hidra Capitalista 1, published in Mexico by rhe Zaparixa Army for National Liberation (EZLN) in July of 2015. That volume consists of the presentations made by the EZLN at the seminar of the same name, convoked by the EZLN and held in San Crist6bal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, May 2-9,2015. Those presenrarions are found translated here in their entirety, along with some texts that were not read or fully presented during rhe seminar but appear in the Spanish version of the book. The last secrion of the book, "Signs and Signals," contains poetry and art solicited by rhe EZLN from various artists and authors as their contribution to the seminar. In addition, various theorists, intellectuals, and militants from around the world were invited to offer presentations ro the more rhan 2,600 seminar attendees. Their contributions can be found in Spanish in Volumes II and III of this series, published in Mexico. Proceeds from the sale of this translation will go to the Zapatistas.

Notes on translation The EZLN's original text often uses the suffix "-oas" in addition to or in place of the standard masculine and feminine suffixes for Spanish nouns and pronouns, -at and -os, respectively, in order to give a range of gender possibilities including male, female, transgender, and others. Here we have generally translated the noun or pronoun into the gender-neutral word in English, and then included the Spanish in brackets to highlight the EZLN's use of the -rdJ construction. One exception is the EZLN's use of "loas ntroas," a non-gender-assigned form of saylng "other[s]," which we have left in its original form. The text also occasionally uses the "@"sign to replace the gendered "a" and %"in Spanish grammar. 'We

have kept the bold typeface used in the original text, often indicating a word that is not used in conventional Spanish. Brackets have been used throughout

to include in-text translation or

context clarificadons. Please reference the glossary

throughout the text.

for the terms and phrases left in Spanish

Contents

Ghssary

vlll

Prologue: On How'W'e Arrived at'Watchtower and

'What'We

I.

Saw from There. SupGaleano.

I

OUR GAZEIN\TARD

Sorne Clues:

The Storm, the Sentinel, and the Syndrome of the Night"s'S7atch. SupGabano.

13

To Be Zapatista. Vords of Subcomandante Insurgent€ Mois4s during the homage to compafteros Luis Vilhro Toranzo and Zapatista Maesto Gabano, Malt 2, 2015.

24

Luis Villoro Toranzo, Zapatista. Vords of SupGabaruo daring the homage to compafieros Luis Vilhro Toranzo and Zapatista Maestro Gabano, May 2, 2015.

28

Notes on a Life. Vord; of SupGaleano during the homage

Vilhro Toranzo and Zapatista Maestro Gahano. May 2,2015. to compafieros Luis

46

VI

On Some oflVhat has Changed: Political Economy I: A View from the Perspective of the Zapatista Communitie s. S u b comandante I nsurgente

59

Moisis.

Political Economy II: A View from the Perspective of the Zapatista Communitie s. Sub comandante Insurgente

77

Moisis.

Toward a Genealogt of the Zapatkta Smtggle:

Our Struggle

as Zapatista'Women

l.

Cornandanta

Miiam.

89

e

x

Zapatista 'Women

Il.

Our Struggle

as

Zapatista.W'omen

IlI.

as

Zapatista'Women lY. Base of Sapport

10r

as

Zapatista'Women Y. Listener Selena.

103

Our Struggl

Comandanta

95

Rosalinda.

Comandanta

97

Dalia.

Our Struggle Lizbeth.

Our Struggle

The Vision of the Vanquished. SupGabano.

106

Notes on Resistance and Rebellion:

Zapatista Resistance and Rebellio n Insurgente

l.

Subcomandante

Moisil

Zapatista Resistance and Rebellio n Insurgente Moisis.

lI.

Zapatisra Resistance and Rebellio n Insurgente Moisis.

lll.

Subcomandartte

Subcomandznte

ll5 126

137

vii

II. OUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE HYDRA The Crack in the'Wall: Notes on ZtpatistaMethod.

155

SupGahano.

The Method, the Bibliographn and a Drone Deep in the Mountains of the Mexican Southeast. SupGalzano.

178

Halves, Thirds, Fourths. SupGabano.

r97

Etcetera. SupGaleano.

2t5

The Genealogir of

237

A'World Vl

a.

Crime. SupGalzano.

ar. SupGaleano.

257

III. \rHAT IS TO BE DONE Get Organize d. Subcomandante Insurgente Moisis.

287

Moisll

298

More

Seedb eds. Subcomandante Insurgmte

IV. SIGNS AND SIGNALS

319

vlil

Glossary acasillamiento - indicates the time period in which the caciques, or local land bosses, held great expanses of land and almost total power over the indigenous workers through various forms of debt peonage. agente/agenta - local authority. \Vhile there are "ofiEcial" politicalparty based d.gentes and agerutas, use of the term in this text most often refers to the EZLN's autonomous local authorities. Aguascalientes - The five Zapatista political and cultural centers that preceded the caracobs. The first Aguascalientes (named after the location of the important Convention of Revolutionary Forces during the Mexican Revolution) was built in the Chiapan communiry of Guadalupe Tepeyac in order to house the first National Democratic Convention, convoked 6y theZapatistas in the summer of 1994. 'When that Aguascalientes wx destroyed by the Mexican army in February of 1995, the Zapatistas pledged to create five more. In 2003, the five Zapatista Aguascalientes became the caracoles.

of support - bases dz apoyo in Spanish. Zapatistas who constitute the civilian infrastructure of Zapatismo, communiry by communiry bases

across the state of Chiapas; the level at rebellion, and autonomy have been built.

which Zapatista

resistance'

literally, conch. The Zapatista caracobs are something like political and cultural centers of each of the five zones of Zapatista territory, each home to one of the five Juntas de Baen Gobierno. In the words of the EZLN, the caracol symbolizes "doors to enter into the communities," "windows to see in and out," and "to remind us caracol

-

tx

that we must be vigilant and pending all of the worlds that make up this world." [EZLN, "Chiapas: La rreceava estela," July 2003, http:// palabra. ezln.org. mx/comunicados/20 03 I 2OO3 _07_c.htm] .

a "charge," as in to

-

have a "charge" or be charged with responsibiliry for a particular area of work or position of authority. The term is often used ro describe the ways in which responsibiliry and authority are distributed across social bodies in a number of

cargo

Mesoamerican cultures.

CCRI

- Comiti Clandtstina Reuolucionaria Indigena, Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee, the highest collective aurhority of the EZLN. Often simply referred to as " el comity'." CIDECI - Centro Indigena de CapacitaciLn Integral Indigenous Center for Integral Learning. A self-organized educational pro.iect in San Crist6bal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; alternatively referred to as Uniuersida^d dr h Tiena, Chiapas [Universiry of the Earth, Chiapas]. Cennal Indtpendiente dz Obreros Agrholas y Campesinos, Peasant Farmer and Agricultural l,aborers' Independenr Center. An

CIOAC

-

organization in process of decomposition since the mid-1990s, which has become an instrument of political machinery for local and state politicians. Multiple internal ruptures have produced an array of

CIOAC offshoots, including the CIOAC-Histdrica, which rhe EZLN demonstrates is essentially a paramilitary organization.

comandante/comandanta- EZLN commander, member of the CCRI. comisariadola

-

a local autonomous authoriry responsible for land

issues.

comiti

-

abbreviation for CCRI or a member of the CCRI.

ee-zee-el-en

- the phoneric

pronunciation of EZLN;

in

Spanish,

ezetaelene,

ejido

-

a classification of

Article 27 of

rhe post-revolutionary Mexican

Constitution of l9l7 which recognized and protected collectively held lands so that they could not be bought from or sold by their

x

communal owners nor titled by an individual owner. This prevented their expropriation as collateral or debt Payment. An Sidatario is a member of an ejido. teacher trainer.

-

formador/a

a person active in the Zapatista atmy, as opposed to of support (civilians). Zapatista bases

-

insurgente/a

jrivenes/j6venas - youth or young people. In Spanish, the masculine '(singular jduenlplural jdueaas) is used universally; the EZLN bases of support have added a word to the vocabulary to specify young women' jduenas.

Junta de Buen Gobierno - literally, Good Government Council. The central unit of zapatista self-government operating at the level of the five Zapatista zones. Often referred to as luntas in the text (also see: caracolos).

Los Tercios Compas

- the name given to the Zapatistas'

own media.

the text "Halves, Thirds, Fourths" in this volume for an explanation name. the of See

miliciano/a

-

member of the EZLN's civilian militia or reseryes.

- word of Nahuatl origin, used to refer to an agricultural field (usually corn, beans, or squash); in this text, usually refers to a cornfield.

milpa

Congreso Nacional Indi'gena - National Indigenous Congress. An independent body made up of over 50 different indigenous peoples that formed in 1996 to struggle alongside the EZLN for autonomy and self-determination. For background, see Carlos Gonzdlez's important explanation here: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005 I l0 I 17 I ojalD2-

cni.html

ORCAO

-

Organizacidn Regional

dt

Cafeticubores

de

Ocosingo;

Ocosingo Regional Coffee Producers Organization. Partida Accidn Naciorual (Nationd Action Party). Members are often referred to as PANistas.

PAN

-

xt

- Partido de h Reaolucitin Democrdtica (Parry of the Democratic Revolution). Members are often referred o as PRDistas.

PRD

PRI

-

Reu o luc i o nar i o I ns ti ruci o nal (I

Partida

nstitutional Revolutionary

Parry). Members are often referred to as PMittas.

partidista

-

individual or communiry affiliated with an officially

registered political party.

pozol

-

A drink made from ground maize mixed with water, often

consumed as a midmorning or midday meal.

promotor/a

-

Zapatista bases

of suppoft trained to work in

the

autonomous health and education sysrems. PROSPERA - a conditional cash transfer program targeted ro poor rural families in exchange for sending their children to governmenr

schools and governmenr health clinics. Previously known as "Oportunidades" [2002-2014], itself a remake of "PROGRESA," Programa de Educacirin, Salud I Alimentacidn (Education, Health and Nutrition Program) [1997 -2002].

- literally seedbed. In this context it is used to refer to the May 2015 Seminar on which this text is based. In the texr ir is sometimes translated as "seedbed/seminar," and sometimes just "seminar." semillero

Sixth - in Spanish, "Sexta" refers to adherents of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacand6n Jungle. The EZLN uses "la Sexta" to refer collectively to these adherents, which we translate as "the Sixth."

By Vry of a Prolngue

On How We Arrived at the Watchtower and What We Saw from There May-June 2014-2015. Those of us in the meeting were staring up at the cenrral beam of the

shelter. Perhaps we were appreciating the fact that the beam was still up there, sturdy and in one piece; or perhaps we were thinking " maybe it's not, " and so maybe it's better to take a sear closer to the door, on the ready to make an exit. "If the beam creahs, that means that it might breah, "the person who had the floor at the moment had said. Earlier, that person had asked us to use our imagination: " Imagine that the system is lihe this sheber. It is meant to be liued in. But a hrge and heauy room ltas been buib on the roofofthe house, and insidz of that room men and women celebrate tbeir weabh. " It didn't need to be said, but the person speaking warned us anyway that the weight was too much for the central beam. The house wasn't built to support a lot of things on top of it, and the stage where all of those men and women fought each other over rhe throne was heavy, very heavy, too heavy. So it was to be expected that the beam would groan in protest.

"What should we do?" the speaker asked, demanding collective thought. 'We

considered the options.'We could reinforce the beam. Ifwe prop

2

it up here and there, it was said, we might alleviate the weight a bit, but it would reduce the available space inside the house. W'ith more and more reinforcements, the house would be converted into a labyrinth of supports and repairs, making it useless for spending the night, cooking, eating, sheltering oneself from the sun and rain, serving as host to the word and the listening ear, for holding parties, or for resting. The house wouldn't be a house anymore. That is, instead of a place to live, it would become something that's sole Purpose is to support what's above. It would just be another structure. Those who lived within it would do so with the sole purPose of keeping those above up there, initially by working to repair and reinforce the structure, and then by converting their own bodies into another part of that structure. This is an absurdiry: a house like that cannot be lived in. Of course it would have been logical for those who designed the house to have thought to reinforce the lower part before adding weight to the top. But no, in the frenzy of the moment, they added more and more things on top, the majority ofwhich were useless and ostentatious. Then there finally carne a time when those above forgot that they were being held up by those below. tVhat's more, they even started to think that those below existed thanla to the mercy and kindness of those above, and that in fact it was those above who sustained those below.

It's true that those above were fewer in number, but their things were much heavier.

they had thought about it a little, with each new weight above, they would have added a reinforcement below. Not only did they not do this, but in their eagerness to accumulate more and more above,

If

they were dismantling the primary supports for the building. As if that weren't enough all of the beams, especially the principal one, had rotted, because those who had been assigned to maintain the edifice were instead busy stealing parts of the structure and pocketing the money that should have been dedicated to the maintenance of the beams.

These people who claim

to manage the building

deserve special

mention. The main problem is this: they only manage what already exists. But not only that, they also dedicate themselves to looting parts of the building's structure. And as if some tragic comedy, they compete

Prologue

3

amongst themselves to decide who will be in charge of that theft. That is why they go every so often to ask those below to mention

them, to applaud rhem, to vore for them. They want to buy the will

of

those below with fattery and gifts.

But they get their money by taking it from those very same people below. Then, once they're settled in [to office], they do nothing but give speeches and steal pieces of the walls, furniture, and even the floor.

On top of all that, their very exisrence is adding more and more weight to the roof. In sum, their essential work is to weaken what is below and strengthen what is above. Conclusion: it is very likely that the house will collapse. This will be bad for those above; it will be worse for those below. But why maintain a house thar is no longer a house? That's right, collective thought moved from seeking a way ro keep the strucrure standing to questioning the very need for its existence. Of course, this shift was not immediate. The move started when someone asked: .Vhat " Oka1,, so this

part

aboue, how is

it that it

is up tbere,

orfor what?

is ix

fanction?" And someone "And

those

else added:

people aboue who say that their worh is to mandge the build-

ing which it's cbar they don't dn, why are And to round it off, someone asked:

they up there?"

Okay, since we'ue dzcidzd to question, what use is a house lihe this? $ instead of thinking about what we shouU do to keep the part aboue from collapsing on euerytbing behw, ue think about how to build another bouse entirely; that wouA cltange how we organize ourselues, how "

lVhat

we work, how we liue."

At that moment the central beam creaked. It was soft, yes, but the it created allowed us to hear it clearly. Then, although it didn't have anything to do with anphing, someone ventured... "Noah, the ark." The story, which can be found in both the Bible and the Koran, is simple: Noah receives a divine warning. God is angry because silence

humanity doesn't honor the rules and so has decided to punish them. The entire world will be fooded and the only ones who will survive are those who can pilot a boat. So Noah decides to build a gigantic boat,

4

the ark. In it, he puts his people and a pair of each species of animal, as well as plants. The skepticism of the people around him does not deter him. The deluge comes, the wodd is flooded and everything on the surface of the earth perishes. Only those who are in the ark are saved. After some time a bird brings a small branch to the ark, signaling that there is a dry place nearby. There, humanity is founded anew.

Hmm...Noah's ark. Now imagine the debate that would arise in response to this story. 'W'e have the religious fundamentalist: it's proof of god's omnipotence, he created the world and can destroy it whenever he wants; it's proof of his mercF, he chooses a few to survive, the chosen. The only thing to do is praise the Lord for his power and pray for his mercy. 'S7e have the scientist: precipitation with these characteristics is impossible; the surface of the earth cannot be entirely covered with water due to one rainfall. This story is nothing but a good script for a Hollywood movie. 'W'e

have the philosopher: in redity,

it

is an allegory emphasizing the

fragility of human beings and the transitory nature of their existence. The Zaparista listens, but is not satisfied by any of these positions. They think, then think some more, and they conclude: what it tells

if you see signs that something bad might happen, then you should prepare for it. So it has nothing to do with religion, science, or philosophy-just common sense. Someone said then, "It\ a giuen we'll share this with the cornrnunities, but we also haue to us is that

lzt the Sixtht hnow." "Agreed," said the collective.

But another voice cautioned that before confirming, it would be good to try to see further, maybe from higher ground, just in case things are not what they seem, that they really aren't that serious...or that maybe they are more serious. Either way, that meant climbing up among the branches of the ceiba tree, to the highest part, where the leaves and the clouds compete in their games with the wind. Of course I got tangled up several times on my way up. Let's just say that the pipe and the nose are no help when

1

See glossary

for an explanation ofthe "Sixth."

Prologue

5

you're moving through the branches. Up there ar the rop, the cold was even colder.

At the top the clouds had finally cleared and the Milky W'ay snaked from side to side, like a persistent crack of light in the dark wall of the night. I looked questioningly at rhe mosr distant lights, out there where the Hubble space telescope was busy analyzing a supernova. I took out my binoculars. I jotted down in my notebook the need for an inverted periscope and, of course, a good microscope. I descended as quickly as possible, which is to say, I fell. I arrived sore to the tent where my bosses ljefu and jefel were still discussing the beam and its resistance. I said my part. Nobody looked surprised. "It is time, "they said, 'for the heart that we Are to open a spacefor the word, to speah dnd to listen. And fom among these words, let us choose the best seed."

That is how the idea of the seminar/seedbed emerged. They continued to think: It is not enough to tell people what we see. 'W'e also have to say who we are that are doing the seeing. Because the changes that we are witnessing are not only out there. Our gaze inward also detects changes, and our gaze itselfhas changed. So it is clear that to explain what we see, we have to explain our gaze. Thus before the response to the question about what we see, there is another question: "Who is it that is doing the seeing?" That is how we constructed the "method" for our participation in the seedbed/seminar. Not only are we drawing attention to what we see on the horizon, we are also trying to account for the gaze that we are. So we saw that history is important: how things were before, what continues on the same, what has changed; that is, a genealogy. To explain the genealogy, both that ofwho we are as well as what we see, we need concepts, theories, sciences. And to know whether these concepts are useful, which is to say that they sufficiently account for this history, we need critical thought. Because both Zapatista realiry and that other reality can be explained in a number of ways. For example, you could say that the eezceelenis an invention of the government, as they love to say over and over again

among the "progressive" intelligentsia. Through the gaze of critical thought then, our movement could be explained in its various parts

6 and in its totaliry as the product of a governmental conspiracy.

If it

cannot be explained as such, then we need to look for a different approach or manner of explaining Zapatismo. For example: it is a scheme created by foreigners; it is part of an alien invasion; it is a vindication of the heteropatriarchal system; it is the cunning manipulation of indigenous peoples; it is just nostdgia for the noble savage; it is a cinematic montage; it is a millennial recurrence; it is the product of brilliant action by a group of enlightened people; it is merely the result of the institutional neglect of the state, etcetera. Here I have given some of the principd "explanations" for Zapatismo that have been spouted from across the ideological spectrum, as much in academia as in the "analysis" of the private media, as well as among

political forces, be they institutional or not. If such explanations or theories are not able to account for Zapatismo, then they are no more than opinions and should be taken as such. But critical thought can go further, for example, by drawing attention to the lack of concepts in any given characterization-that is, the lack of theory.

If

an analysis is not supported by an articulated theory, able to emerge unscathed from a confrontation with reality, then where does this analysis come from? From what source does it draw? \Who is it that sees with such a gaze? If instead of concepts what are deployed are judgments, then little to nothing has been understood. And in that case, there is nothing to be done in the face of this reality, other than suffer it. Or, sure, from this one could also construct entire philosophical systems, or "new sciences," or tweets (these at least have the advantage of being brief).

This [critical thought] not only helps us give an accounting of our history, what we were, what we are today, and what we want to be, it also allows us to explain reality, that which is most immediate to our calendar and geography. This is what we try to do with our gaze, both when it is oriented inward and when we are looking outward. This is howwe come to realize thatwe need scientific concepts to explain what we are and how we see. 'We need basic concepts to understand the capitalist system and the

turbulent march of history. Not only can we not spare these things, but

Prologue

7

we find them absolutely essential: one or a few relescopes, some good binoculars, as many microscopes as there are geographies, and just as many inverted periscopes to study the roots of the matter. Faced

with realiry, one can take many distinct positions; one

can

provide explanations or opinions. Our collective effort is to explain, to understand, to know, and to transform realiry. _*_

An initial assessment tells us that other

with ours on something fundamental: a storm is coming. Knowing that critical thought should inspire refection and analysis and not blind unanimiry, we have selected some of the words that were presented in the seedbed/seminar. They are many and they are gazes coincide

important and the majoriry of them are provocarive. And that was the idea, for the word ro provoke thought. The problem of the calendar and of geography is that they make it difficult, in an initial sitting, for one ro rake everything in. That is why we decided to make a book, or a couple of books, that people can read calmly and then ask questions: who said what? \,[rhy? \Vhen? From where? For what? These are important quesrions because we think that

they can help make more and better seedbed/seminars in many other places.

This collection consists of three volumes. In this first volume we have included the Zapatista word according to how it was prepared. We did

it

this way because our word was spun rogerher like a rhread, like a sequence that would help to reconsrrucr not the whole puzzle, bur one of its pieces. This first volume includes: a double gaze (inward and ourward); an emphasis on the changes we have detected and suffered; "aids" for the gaze (microscopes, inverted periscopes, binoculars, orbital telescopes); and the warnings we now sound. You will find here almost everything that we have observed from the crow's nest of this vessel that is rhe synthesis of calendars and geographies. Although we at firsr ser our to sound the alarm, to blow the conch shell, we soon realized that what we saw also made us look inward, as if the sentinel's post had inverred its mission and the sentinel is forced to explain, or try ro explain, what gives it meaning, purpose,

8 'S7'e thought then that we could better explain what we saw place. outside if we first could explain what we see inside. Did we succeed? I don't know. The answer is not for us, the Zapatistas, to give, but rather

for the listener. tVe also propose

method and lay out a necessity. The method is that of refecting on history itself, on genealogy. The necessiry is gathering the theoretical elements to do so. Finally, in both the method and the necessity we find the relevance of criticd thought. The texts in this first volume correspond to those that were read or presented from May 2-9,2015. As the readers will see, this book also contains some texts that were not presented there in their entirety, and a

one that was not released at all. Readers will also note that they do not match the audios exactly because as they were being read some things were taken out or added. \7e have made an effort to assure that our thinking, compiled here,

it

not fail to account for what has changed and for what remains the same; that it is not dogmatic, that it does not impose its particular time and its particular way; that it is -We hope that these words are not deceptive, full of lies and half-truths. food for doubt, inquiry, and questioning. Apart from that, the storm is coming.'W'e must prepare. A recommendation: read these texts as if they were one single piece, not as isolated or unconnected intervendons. Our words were thought out and prepared as a single unit, as if each part came out of a puzzle that, in the end, would reveal its shape, its intention, and its thought only in relation to the other pieces. fu is the Zapatistaway, at the end you will find the beginning: we have to make more and better seedbed/seminars; to make space for pracdce, but also for refection on that practice; to understand the need for theory and the urgency ofcritical thought. 'W'e are not creating a political party or an organization, we are creating a place from which to see. For this vision, we need concePts' not good intentions; we need practice with theory and theory with practice; we need critical analyses, not a priori judgments. To look outward, we need to look inward. The consequences of both what we will see and of how we will see is not lazy or conformist, that

does

Prologue

9

it will be a key part of how we respond to the question, "\7har comes next?"

SupGaleano.2

Mexico, March-April-May-June 20 1 5

2

InMav of 2014, the EZLN announced the "death" of rhe fisure of Subcomandant. irrsu.gente Marcos, at which time, in honor of the r..?rrdy murdered Zapatista teacher Gdeano, the person behind the characrer known as Marcos took on the name Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano. Due to the fact that a number of the texts presented at rhe seminar, "Critical Thought in the Face of the Capitalist Hydra," riere written prior to the announced "deaih" of Marcos, the reader will 6nd that some of the texts written and signed by Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos were presented at the seminar and co-signed by Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano. The latter often signs texts with the abbreviated "SupGaleano."

l. Our Gaze lnward

r3

Some Clues

The Storm, the Sentinel, and the Syndrome of the Night's Watch April2015. To the compafieroas of the Sixth: To all those interested: Although it may nor appear to be so, this is an invitation. Or is it

a

challenge?

If you are an adherenr to the Sixth, if you are from the free, autonomous, afternative, independent or whatever-you-call-it media, ifyou are interested in critical thought, then accept this invitation to the seminar, "Critical Thought in the Face of the Capitalist Hydra." If in addition ro accepting this invitation you would also like to attend the seminar, please use the following link http://enlacezapatista.ezln. org. mx/registro-al-seminario-de-refl exion-y-analisis-el-pensamientocritico-frente-a-la-hidra-capitalista/.

If you are an invited

speaker [inuitada, inuitado, inaitadoa),3 a

similar letter will be sent ro you via the same means through which you have previously been conracted. The difference will be that the invitation letter sent to the speakers will contain a "secret clause." Ok then, the invitation is really something like the wrapping paper. Inside, firrther below and to the left, you will find...

3

See translation notes

for how the suffix -oa/s is used throughout the text.

14

The Challenge

I

know, it's the classic beginning rc a Zapatista reflection: disconcerting, anachronistic, silly, absurd. As if not really putting in any effort, as if just sort of putting it out there, a kind of "well, we'll leave it up to you," or "let's see what you can do with it," or something like, "it's on you." It's almost as if we toss out a piece of a jigsaw puzzle and expect that people would understand that they are not just describing one part of realiry but already have the entire image in mind. As if we've already completed the jigsaw puzzle, with its precise figures and colors in place but with the border of each piece still visible. As if to point out that the whole exists because of all the parts, and of course, that each part acquires its meaning in relation to all the others. It is as if zapatista thinking demands that we see thar there is more than what is, that there is more rhan whatwe can immediately perceive. It demands that we see that what is not there is there as missing. This is something like what'Walter Benjamin did with Paul Klee's "Angelus Novus." Refecting on the painting, Benjamin "completes"

Oh

the angel, but he also sees what the angel sees. He sees how it has been thrown back by what it sees. He sees the force that assaults it, the brutal footprint of that force. He sees the jigsaw puzzle as complete: 'A Klee paintingnarnedAngelas Nouus shows an angel loohingas though

it. He

sees

he is about to moue away

fom

something he

is

fxedly czntem?lating. His

eles are starin& his mouth is open, his taings are spread.. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where ue

perceiue a chain of euents, lte

sees

one singb catastophe which heeps

wrechage upon wreckage and hurls

it

in

piling

front of his fea. The angel would

lihe to stay, awaken the dead, and mahe whole what has been smashed. But a storm is bhwingfrom Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such uiolence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm inesistibly propek him into thefurure to which his back is turned, while the pib ofdebris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress." ("Theses on the Philosophy of History)a

thoughts were more of a dare, something like the Riddler's enigmas, one of Mr. Bane's challenges, or one of the wildcards So, it's as

if our

Beniamin, \i/alter. "Theses on rhe Philosophy of History," Illurninations. Translated by Harry Zohn, Schocken Boola, t969, pp.249.

4

Storm, Sentinel, Syndrome of the Night's

Wotch

I5

the Joker pulls while asking, "'$7'hy so serious?" As if the car-dogat once superhero and supervillain, Sherlock and Moriarry-were to burst onto the scene harassing everyone with questions: "\Vhat do you 'V7hy? see? Toward where? From where? For whar?" As if we were ro think the world and quesdon its clumsy rorarion, debate irs course, challenge its history, or dispute the rationaliry of its evidence. As if, for even just one moment, we were...

The Sent:nel As one can easily observe, a military base will usually have posts set up along its periphery. They're called "Observation Towers," "Guard Posts," or "'W'atchtowers." These posts are there to survey the surroundings and access points to the base in order to know who or what approaches or moves in the surrounding area. W'ell, these surveillance posts (in the Zapatista camps we call them " k postA," I'm not sure why; for example, we say, "You rake h posta at 0000 hrs," or " laposta's shift changes ar 1200," etc.) serve to inform or alert the rest of the base, and to neutralize or detain anyone who tries ro enter without

authorization. '!7'hoever is currently occupying the observation post is the guard, the lookout, the sentinel. In addition ro keeping watch and staying alert to whatever happens, the sentinel is the one who sounds the alarm in case ofan attack or any other evenr. According to us Zapatisras, theoretical refection and critical thought

have the same task as the sentinel. 'Vhoever works in analyric thinking takes a shift as guard at the post. I could go into detail explaining what

the location of the posr is within the larger whole, but for now ir's enough to say that it is a part of the whole, nothing more, bur nothing less. I say this for all those [aquellos, aquelbs, aquelloas) who would: - Claim to be either above or outside of everything, as if they were something separare, and hide behind "impartialiry," "objectiviry," "neutrality." They claim to analyze and refect from a standpoint of indifference in their impossible laboratory that manifests as science, seminar, research study, book, blog, creed, dogma, slogan. - Overstep their role as mere lookout and instead designate rhemselves

"t6

of doctrine. Although they are only sentinels, they the central commanding brain which quickly were behave as if they mutates into a criminal tribunal whenever convenient. From there, they order everyone around, judging, absolving, or condemning. Although we have to hand it to them, the fact that nobody pays them as the new priests

mind-realiry always being so markedly rebellious-doesn't seem to in any way inhibit their not infrequently intoxicated delirium. The sentinel is closely related to the observation post in question. But we will return to this relation in some of the interventions we will make in the seminar. For now, it sufEces to say that, both overwhelmed and overcome by the task of critical observation in a world any

that is so deceivingly instantaneous, during their shift at the post, the lookout can fall into...

The Syndrome of the Night's Watch \7ell,

as

it turns out, after some time the sentinel

"exhausts" their

capacity for vigilance. This "exhaustion" (which we Zapatistas refer to as "the syndrome of the night's watch") consists of, broadly speaking, the development, after some time spent at the post, of a type of "looped perception" or "recorded percePtion." That is, the lookout reproduces the same image over and over in their conscious perception, as if nothing ever changed, as if any changes were Part of the image's normal state of

being. It has to do partly, I suppose, with visual PercePtion, but it also has to do with the desire to not have anything interrupt the routine. So, for example, the guard does not want any danger to appear, and that desire actually affects what they see. "Everything is 6ne, nothing bad is going to happen," they repeat to themselves over and over, and this translates into their evaluation of realiry. Their goal is to be able to hand in one brief report about their watch: "nothing new." All of

this that I'm explaining comes from empirical observation, not from

it is what we (limited) our persistent Given experience. own from our concluded doubt about whether we should rely on science or on traditions and a scientific study. Over years and years of keeping watch,

Storm, Sentinel, Syndrome of the Night's

Watch

17

customs, we asked someone who knows about neuroscience. They told us that the phenomenon does in fact exist, although they don't know exactly why. (Before you all pelt me with the different strains and positions within psychology,

I'd like to clarify that rhe only thing

that I confirmed is that the phenomenon is real, verifiable). So then, well, why does it happen? Well, you all can 6gure that 6u1-is would be good if while you're at it, you could come ro an agreement on what the object ofstudy is in the "science" ofpsychology.

So then, that person told us about something called "selecdve attention" and sent us a book that was written a long time ago (that is, it clearly explains what it wanrs you ro understand). In so many words, selecrive attenrion means that we only pay attention to a small part of what we see in a given momenr and ignore the rest. So then, this ignoring the rest is our "blindness ro change," or our "blindness by inattention." It is as if by filtering the parts of the image that we see, we become blind to that which we have not selected as important. For now, we won't develop this idea further, but, in sum, "the syndrome of the night's warch" consists of: a) Not keeping warch over the whole, but only one parr of the whole.

b) tVhen the guard

"tires," they do not perceive the changes

that appear in the zone under watch because rhose changes become imperceptible (that is, they don't merit artention). In order to counteract this, we use various tactics: One of them is indirect observation, "peripheral vision," or in colloquial terms,

"looking sideways." The indirect gaze allows the person to detect changes in the rourine. There should be explanarions for this in neuroscience also, bur I think that in that area we are lacking study. Other forms of dealing with the sentinel's fatigue are: to assign rwo or more guards to cover the same post; or to reduce the time at the post and instead increase the frequency ofshift changes. Perhaps there are other ways to ensure that the sentinel does their job. But the important

thing is that one must be vigilant for any sign of danger. This does not simply mean sounding the alarm once danger is present, but rather it requires that one watch for the signs of danger, evaluate them, interpret

them-in

sum, think about them critically. For example, those srorm

18

clouds on the horizon, do they signal a passing rain shower? How intense will the rain be? Is the storm coming closer or moving away? Or will the storm be something bigger, more terrible' more destructive? If that is the case, one must alert everyone to the imminence of...

The Storm Okay, so the thing is that we, the Zapatistas, see and hear a catastrophe coming, and we mean that in every sense of the term, a perfect storm. But... it's also true that we Zapatistas see and hear that people with great knowledge say, sometimes with their words and sometimes with their attitude, that everything continues on more or less the same. They say that the realiry that we are confronted with presenrs only small variations that do not significantly alter its path. In other words, we see one thing and they see another. 'S7'e see the tendency to resort to the same tactics of struggle, to continue with marches (real or virtual), with elections, with surveys, and with rallies. At the same time and closely related, we see the development of new pararneters for "success," a kind of applause-o-meter that in the case of protest marches, for example, seems to function in reyerse: the better behaved the march (that is, less protest), the more

'\7'e see new political parties created, plans is considered a success. laid out, and strategies and tactics developed, performing a veritable

it

juggling act with concepts. fu if state, government, and administration were all the same thing. fu if the state were the same, and had the same functions, as it did

20,40,100 years ago. fu if the system were also the same and used the same forms of subordination and destruction as before. Or, to put it in the terms used by the Sixth, the same forms of exploitation, repression, discrimination, and dispossession. As if up there, above, Power had continued on without any change in its mode of operation. As if the

hydra had not regenerated its multiple heads. So we think that either they or we have "the syndrome of the night's watch." 'We

Zapatistas look sideways at these shifts in reality.

'We

pay more

Storm, Sentinel, Syndrome of the Night's

Watch

19

attention, climb to the top of rhe ceiba tree ro try to see further, not to see what has already happened but to see what is coming. And well, what we see is nor good at all. \7e see rhat what is coming is something terrible, even more destructive than before, if that's possible.

But we also see that those who think and. analyze aren't saying anything about this. They keep repearing what they were saying 20 years ago, 40 years ago, a century ago. 'We see that organizations, groups, collectives and individuals continue doing the same old rhing, presenting false and exclusionary oprions, judging and condemning *1s e*rs1-1hat which is different. '$7'hat's more, they express disdain toward us for what we see. So, as you know, we are Zapatistas, and that means a lot of rhings, so many in fact that in the dictionaries in your languages rhere aren't enough words for it. But it also means that we always take inro accounr that we might be mistaken. That perhaps everything does continue on pretry much rhe same, without major changes. That perhaps rhe Ruler continues to rule the same as decades ago, centuries ago, millennia ago. That what is coming is perhaps nor so serious, but just a minor

adjustment, a resettling of the sort that isn't even worth talking about. Often, the options presented are either no thought, analysis, or theory; or the same thinking as before. Ve Zapatistas think that it's necessary to ask others lotros, otras,

olroas), from other calendars, different geographies, what it is that they see. It's like when a sick person is told that the illness that they have is very serious, or like we say here, " it's fuching bad," and so they have to look for a second opinion. So we say in this case that there is a failure in the thinking or the theory. It could be our failure or that of others, or maybe both. Despite being generally distrustful, which indeed is our tendenclr, we

in the compafteras, compafieros and compafteroas of the Sixth. But we know that the world is very big, and rhat there are others who also engage in this task of thinking, analyzing, and being on watch. So we think that we need to think about the world, and simultaneously about each ofour calendars and geographies. \7e think thar, even berrer, we should have an exchange of our do have some faith

thoughts. Not an exchange of commodities, like

in

capitalism, but

20

rather as if we were to make a deal: I'll tell you what I'm thinking and you tell me what you're thinking, an encounter of our thoughts. But we don't think that this can be any old meeting; it has to be a big one, a

very big one, worldwide even.

tVe have learned just a Zapatistas, well, we don't know a lot. Iittle-and even that has required great effort-fro m our cornPafteroas, 'W'e

of the Sixth. From this effort we've seen that in some places, these meetings of thought are called "seminarios" [seminars], and we think this is because seminario means semillerd [seedbed], that is, where seeds are planted, where some grow,,,, quickly com1tafi.eras, and compafieros

and some take a while. '$7e

think we should make a seedbed of ideas, of analysis, of critical thinking about how the capitalisr sysrem currently functions. That seminar or seedbed can't occur in iust one place or time. Rather, it will take a while and must happen in many places. That's why we say that it's a "dislocated" eYent, that it doesn't happen in just one place but in many places, all over the place. And we say that it is worldwide because there is critical thinking in all of the worlds that there are out there, that everywhere people are inquiring about what is going on, why it's happening, what to do, how to do it, and dl of these questions that are thought out through theory. But we think this seedbed has to have a starting place and a starting time. So, this collective seedbed will start in a particular place, and that place is a Zapatista caracol.6 \Vhy? Because here the Zapatista communities use the caracol to call and convoke the collective. For example, if there is a communiry problem, an issue that has to be resolved, the caracol is sounded and all of the community knows that there is a collective meeting so that thought can be spoken and we can see what we might do to resist. So we could say that the caracol is one of the instruments of the sentinel; it alerts the communiry to danger. So the place is, then, a Zapatista caracol: the caracol of Oventik, in the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, Chiapas, Mexico. The starting date is May 3rd. \X/hy May 3rd? \7ell, in our communities this is the day of planting, of fertiliry, ofharvest, ofseeds. It is the day of Santa

5 6

See glossary. See glossary.

Storm, Sentinel, Syndrome of the Night's

Wotch

21

Cruz lthe Holy Cross]. On this day it is cusrom in the communities to plant a cross in the earth at the beginning of the river, rhe stream, or spring that gives life to the village. This signals that that place is sacred, and it's sacred because water is what gives life. So May 3 is the day

to ask for water for the planting and for a good harvest. The villagers go to the source of the water to make offerings, thar is, they talk to the water, give it flowers, a ctp of atole,T incense, some chicken soup

without salt. In other villages they give it a shot of alcohol, but since alcohol is prohibited in rheZapatista communities we give it soda pop. The chicken soup offered doesn't have salt so rhat the warer doesn'r dry up. \X/hile they are carrying our the ceremony of offering, they play music and everyone begins to dance-children, young people, old people. 'Vhen the offering is over, the communiry gathering begins. The food they brought is distriburcd: atole agrio,s chicken, beans, squash. They eat there together next to the warer source, collectively. After that, they go home . And out of pure joy they continue dancing in the village, eating together and sharing cof[ee and bread. There are Zaparixa com?as who are carpenters, and they celebrate the same idea; they say they make a cross out of whatever wood they can 6nd and put it in the ground when they begin construction. They say that this is the responsibility of the worker. It is believed that with this acr rhe worker expresses responsibiliry for the project and puts effort into it so that it turns out well, because it is on them that it turns out well. \Well, there you have it. See what you can make of it. You can accept the challenge or you can refilse it, it's up to you. Note: the following is only for those who are going to present. That is, it will only go our in the formal invitations that we send to those who are going to speak. Don't go around publishing it because it is a...

Secret Clause: AII of this is so that you understand the context,

as they say,

of the

seminar. What do we expect of you? 'S?'e

7 8

want you to understand that people are coming from very far Tradidonal maize-based hot beverage. Bitter or lermented atob.

22

away, and will have sacrificed money and time to come listen to what you are going to present. They do not come out of idleness, or because they are going to earn something. They don't come because it is trendy or because they are ignorant. They come because perhaps they see those

storm clouds on the horizon, because the rains and winds are

already battering them, because their hunger to understand what

is

happening is not satisfied, because they sense the storm that is coming. So just like we Zapatistas respect you, we ask that you resped the people who will attend. There will always be a gate-crasher here and there, but the majoriry of those present will be ovr cornPas. They are people that live and die struggling without anyone noticing, other than us Zapatistas. For them there will be no museums, no statues, no songs, no poems, and their names will never appear on subway cars or as street names or neighborhood names. They are no one, of course. And not despite this but precisely because of it, for us Zapatistas, they are everything. So don't be offended, but do not bring with you slogans, dogmas, condemnations, or fads; don't repeat what others have said before or elsewhere; don't nourish lazy thinking; don't try to impose dogmatic

thinking; don't spread deceptive thinking. 'We ask that you bring your word and use it to provoke thought, 'W'e ask you to prepare your message, sharpen it, reflection, critique. '$7e polish it. ask that you use your message to honor not academia or its equivalents, but rather those who will hear it, even if that honor might come in the form of a slap or a scream. The seed that we ask you to bring to this seminar or seedbed is one that questions, provokes, feeds, and compels us to keep thinking and analyzing. It is a seed that allows other seeds to hear that they must grow and they must do it in their own way, according to their own calendar and their own geography. Oh yes, we know: this seminar will not swell your prestige, fame, or bank account. Neither will it help you find new followers, disciples, or focks. \What's more, you won't even Bet to see the signs of success that will come as a result, which is that in other places, on other cdendars and in different geographies, others fotras, otros, olToasf will challenge this all and discuss, debate, question, critique, imagine, and believe.

Storm, Sentinel, Syndrome of the Night's

Wotch

23

This is what we ask of you. This and only this. From the concierge of the Little School, now outfitted as the "Office of Protocol, Design, and Printing for'Weddings, Quincefieras, Divorces, Baptisms, Frustrated Graduations, Seminars, and Other Events," I am currendy hanging signs that say: "No credit available today or tomorrow either"; "Life vests available upon order"; "Get your pirated

telescope very-cheap-everphingJegd-my-friend-of-course"l "This establishment does not discriminate on ttre basis of myopia."

SupGaleano.

Mexico,

April20l5.

24

Some Clues 'Words

of Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds during the homage to

compafieros Luis

Villoro Toranzo attdZapatsta Maestro Galeano.

May2,2015.

To Be Zapatista Zapatista compafieras and compafieros from the bases of supporte of the

ZapatistaArmy for National Liberation. Compafieras and compafieros from the National and International Sixth. Sisters and brothers from Mexico and the world. \7e greet the family of compafiero Luis Villoro. 'STelcome

to the rebel lands that struggle and resist in Zapatista territory. It is an honor to have you with us, with the Zapatista bases of suppoft from the five zones. Greetings to the family of theZapatista school maesfro and compaft.ero

Galeano. Compafieros and compafieras of the family of compafiero Galeano, and of the family of compafiero Luis Villoro, we embrace you. \7e must honor, and know how to honor, those who deserve honor for a mission accomplished-compafi.eras

Galeano and Luis Villoro.

Compafier@s, brothers and sisters, we are not here today to remember

how much we miss the physical existence of the compafteros Galeano and Luis Villoro. \7e come here instead to remember and discuss the struggle they waged in their lives and their work, the struggle for resistance they were part of.

\7e did not come here to remember death, but to remember what they brought to life through their lives of work and struggle, and what we must do to keep those lives of work and struggle alive. It is we who have to make sure that those who give their lives for a new world, one

created by the people, live forever.

9

See glossary.

ToBeZapatista 25 W'e are not here to raise a statue. A statue

will not give life. A museum

will not give life. They do not speak. 'We

are the ones who speak.

.We

are the ones who have to keep rhem alive. In this way, we create a statue and a museum rhar will live in our

hearts for generations, rather than remaining mere symbols. 'W'e

want to hear more about the life in struggle of the Zapatista compaftero Don Luis Villoro. \7e want those who were ar his side in the struggle and who worked with him to tell us more. For example, thanks b the czmpafiero Luis Villoro and others like him, we have clinics and schools for Zapatista education. That came from his efforts, from his work. But that in itself is not enough. People were also needed to build these things, people like compa Galeano, and people needed to work as promotoras,/o to launch their dreams there and organize for what the students would need. And that was what czmpafrero Galeano constructed, worked on, and set in motion. This is how the Zapatisra people are organized. This is how compa Galeano came ro be a teacher, thanks to the help of compa Luis Villoro and others [otr@s) like him. He respected us, and we respected him. He treated us as equals. He believed in us and we believed in him. 'We came to work on rhe same project without seeing each other physically; that is, one can contribute to constructing something without personally being there. The compas Luis and Galeano did not know each orher, but nonetheless they were together, construcring the same freedom.

Compa Galeano first made the decision to struggle, and only later received support. He then organized the construction [of a school], and then coordinated those who would be promotores, and finally oversaw how the students' lalumn@s) needs would be met. This all requires organization. The compa Galeano was and is a miliciano,rr a corporal, and later a sergeant. He was regional representative of the youth, member of the MAREZ [Zapatista Autonomo us M unicipaliry i n Rebell i on], m ae s tro [teacher] of the Zapatista Little School, and member -elect of rhe Junta de Buen Gobierno.t2

l0 l1 t2

See glossary. See glossary. See glossary.

26

This too all requires ORGANIZATION. From there he practiced and was later able to teach what he had learned, because organization is necessary to free ourselves from the capitalist system.

Only the people will liberate themselves; no one will give them their freedom, no leader, man or woman, will bring freedom. Because the capitalists are not going to give up or repent and stop exploiting the people.

In order to Put do that, one must And to an end to the system, it must be destroyed. Because the capitalist system cannot be humanized.

organize. Compa Luis Villoro saw that this is what the Zapatistas were doing

and he never thought twice about joining us, about struggling, about working hard, and about supporting the struggle and the organization represented in life by compa Galeano. Hopefully there will be more

Villoros and Luises.

One never finishes organizing, because you need organization in order to build, and then you must be organized in order to watch over what you have built. That's how it goes, that is what it means to be organized. This is so that exploitation does not come back, the exploitation of all people, because we see that today men and women are exploited.

Organization is necessary so that the people take on the task of governing themselves. Self-government requires organization. Organization is made up of communillss-\Msmen and men. There are some people who think that we are an organization made up of indigenous people or of Mexicans, but that is not correct. \7e are an organization of Zapatistas, indigenous and non-indigenous people, as

we have seen here in this homage to two Zapatista compafieros.

Here what needs to be made clear is what it means to be a Zapatista. To be a Zaparista means to be committed ld.ecidid@s) and willing lltuest@s), because being a Zapatista is not about showing offbut about

working, organizing, and struggling in silence, come what may; that

it

is,

is about theory and practice.

Putting on a ski mask does not make one a Zapatista. Organizing oneself and destroying the capitalist system is what makes one a

ToBeZopatisto 27

Zapatista.

Simply saying, "I am a Zapatista" does not make one a Zaparisra. Deciding to struggle to the death is what makes one a Zapatista. Speaking about Zapatismo does not make one a Zapatista. Rather, to be Zapatista is to work collectively with the organized communities, as the national and international Sixth do.

It

not Zapatista to take up the struggle when it's in fashion and put it aside when attacks come from the bad system or the bad government. It is not Zapatista to put on a uniform and turn oneself in to the bad government, because to be a Zapatista is to never give in. is

Saying that one is an EZLN commander and pretending ro dialogue with the bad government does not make one aZapatista, because to be a Zapatista is to never sell out.

Gaining whatever political post one wants in order to struggle for six years [presidential term length in Mexico] does not make one a Zaparista.

To be a Zapatista

means

to struggle for total change, all

one's life, and not give up.

It

is not Zapatista to try to have

it both ways, to

be a political parry-

follower and a Zapatista. To be Zapatista means 16 6h6e5s-to choose to be on the side of what we want, a new system of government where the people rule.

It

is not Zapatista to succumb to fear or to never have any fear. To

be a Zapatista means to control fear and dedicate oneself to struggle.

It

is not Zapatista to have a lot of rage but no organization; rather,

to be a Zapatista one must organize and with digniry. t$7'ho gets to say when you've become aZapatista? The people. 'Who gets to say what it means to be a Zapatista? The people. t$U-ho gets to say when you can stop being a Zapatista? One must continue to struggle one's entire life to fulfill the sacred dury to liberate the exploited. 'W'ell then, compdfieros and compafieras, we are going to continue talking abott compafiero Galeano's life in struggle, because that is how we keep him alive in the struggle and for the struggle of the people. That is how we choose life and not death.

Thank you.

28

Some Clues

'!7ords

of SupGaleano during the homage to compafierosLuis Villoro Toranzo and Zapatista Maestro Galeano. May 2, 2015.

Luis Villoro Toranzo, Zapatista Zapatistafumy of National Liberation. Mexico.

Inuoduction Good afternoon, good morning, and good evening, depending on your calendars or geographies, to those who may be listening to or reading these words.

'What we

will now read publicly are the words that the late

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos had prepared for the homage to Don Luis Villoro Toranzo in June of 2014. He had imagined that the relatives of Don Luis would be present, specifically his son, Juan Villoro Ruiz, and his compafiera, Fernanda Sylvia Navarro y Solares. Days before this June 20 14 homage was to take place, our compafiero Galeano was murdered. He was a teacher and autonomous authoritF

who was and is part of the generation of indigenous Zapatistawomen and men who were forged in the clandestine period of our preparation, in our uprising, as well as in our resistance and in rebellion. The pain and rage that we felt then and now over what happened that May one year ago added to our sorrow over the death of Don Luis. A series of events then played out, one of which was the decision to put to death the person who had been the spokesperson and military leader of the EZLN. The death of SupMarcos was finalized in the early morning hours of May 25,2014.

LuisVilloroToranzo,Zopotista 29

Among the things left pending, as we the Zapatistas tend to say, by the late SupMarcos is a book about politics promised to Don Pablo GonzAlez Casanova in exchange for a box of pancrema crackers; a series of unclassifiable texts and drawings (several of them date back to his early days as an insurgent with the EZLN); and the text of the homage

to Don Luis Villoro, which I will read in

a few moments.

In the general command of the EZLN, Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds and I talked about what this day would consist oe then and now, and we realized that in taking stock of a life, we were bringing

together pieces that would never form a complete whole. 'We realized that we were always Ieft with an inconclusive, broken image. And that what we had and have urges us to seek and find what was missing.

"\(hat

is missing is yet to come" we Zapatistas say stubbornly.

'$7e

do not say this with resignation, and never with conformiry. Rather, it is to remind ourselves that history is not complete; we are missing pieces, names, dates, places, calendars, geographies, and lives. is a reminder that we have many deaths and absences, too many. It reminder that we must grow our memory and our heart so that none remain missing, but also so that those missing not be immobilized but rather revived and made whole time and again in our collective steps. This is how we came to imagine this day, afternoon, night, early morning-as an exchange of pieces seeking to complete the life of Dr. Luis Villoro Toranzo, whom you knew and know. He was a professor in the Philosophy Department of the UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexicol, founder of the group Hiperion, disciple ofJosd Gaos, researcher at the Institute of Philosophical Research, member of the Colegio Nacional, President of the Philosophical Association of Mexico, and honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Languages. "Teacher, father, and compaftero," perhaps his obituary should read. There are com?as, women, men, and otroas that have a special place among the Zapatistas of the EZLN. This special place does not come

It

is a

by gift or donation. It is earned through commitment and dedication, far from the limelight. So when they leave us for the last time, we do not make echo of the dust and noise that tends to rise at the momenr

30

of their death. \Ve wait. Our waiting is a silent and voiceless homage. Just as his struggle at our side was silent and deaf. 'S7e let the noise fade away and let another way emerge

'We

to

replace

let the dust settle so simulations of sorrow and consternation. that silence can once again be a serene resting place for the one who has left us. Perhaps this is because we respect their life which is now absent, because we respect their time and way of being. And because we imagine that, going forward on the calendar, their silence will be a place for them to listen to us. Apart from this, and I mention this as a fact and not as an accusation, Dr. Luis Villoro Toranzo was a brilliant intellectual, a wise person who perhaps can only be reproached for the closeness he had in life to the originary peoples of Mexico. More specifically for the closeness he had to those who rose up in arms against oblivion and who maintain their resistance without consideration for what's in fashion or what will make the news.

For those who did not know Dr. Luis Villoro Toranzo in life, there I hope there will be more roundtable discussions, reprinted editions, and analyses in a number of specialized and other journals. Our word today will not go down those paths. Not because we don't know his philosophical or historical work, but because we are here to are and

fulfill a duty, setde a pending task, do honor to a responsibility. Because you out there know Luis Villoro Toranzo as a brilliant thinker, but we Zapatistas know him as... '$7hat? 'S7'e

know that ours is only one of many pieces, and we have come here to this homage to give to those who shared and share with him blood and history, this piece that we believe they may not have known and perhaps may not even have imagined. Historyhere below, wherewe the Zapatistas find ourselves, has many invisible quarters, wateftight compartments in which different lives are lived with apparent indifference, and we only come to see and learn about the life that took place there when death crumbles their walls. So let's.. . how can we say it? Make a switch?

By opening up one of the compartments and toppling its fourth wall, we can enter and make a trade: death to the museum, life to life.

LuisVilloroToronzo,Zopotista 31

"W'atertight compartments," I've said. Our way of struggle implies a level of anonymiry which is only desirable to some of us. But maybe later there will be a chance to return to this. You will hear Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds speak to our compafieras and compafteros from the Zapatista communities about one

Don Luis Villoro Toranzo meant to our struggle. The majoriry great of them did not know him, had never met him, and just like him, there are other compafieras, compafieros and compafieroas aspect of what

whose existence is unknown.

The sudden knowledge that we had compafieros and compafieras that we didn't know existed until they no longer existed is not something new for us Zapatistas. Perhaps in our way of doing things, naming the life that is missing is a way to bring it into existence but in another form. Just as it was our way of doing things to bring the indigenous Zapatista Galeano to the collective before, we do so with Don Luis

Villoro now. It is our way of hurrying them along, pressuring them, yelling at them, "Hey! No time to rest!" so as to bring them back and have them stay in the fight, on the task, in the grind, working, on the path, in life. But it is not a life I am going to tell you about, and neither is it a death. 'W,hat's more,

I'm not here to tell you anything. I am here to draw

you an outline, more or less defined, more or less clear, of a piece of a gigantic puzzle, both terrible and marvelous. So what I'm about to tell you will sound farfetched.

my brother under oath/protest (his own protest),r3 Juan Villoro, will later discover in my words a thread from an absurd and complex plot, one closer to literature than to history. Perhaps it will later help him complete that book that he doesn't yet know that he will be writing. Perhaps Fernanda will intuit a breakthrough concept that appeared elusive, filling a void which leads to the theoretical overturning of an entire line of thought. Perhaps it will later help her initiate the thought process that she does not yet know that she will undertake. Perhaps

l3 Supcaleano is here playing wirh the double meaningof "bajo proresta," which means both "under oath" and "against one's will."

32

I don't know. Perhaps simply archive this in the for "Hydra," for...

he, she, and those who are not here, will "H" folder, for "homage," "hurt," "human,"

t'Once upon a tjime..." l"Habia una aei') I should for security reasons be intentionally imprecise

about the

I'm about to reveal, but I can tell you that it was in the wee hours of the morning at EZLN headquarters. A brief description of these headquarters may disappoint more than a few of you. No, there is no giant map with multicolored lights or colored pins covering one of its walls. No, there is no modern radio communication equipment with voices speaking in many languages. No, there is no red telephone. No, there is no modern geography and calendar ofwhat

computer with multiple monitors dedicated to encrypdng and decrypting the dizzying static of the cybernetic matrix. There are just a few tables, two or three chairs, some cups with cold leftover coffbe, crumpled papers, tins of tobacco, and smoke, lots of smoke. Sometimes there is also a bowl of stale popcorn, but that's just in case we need to make a deal with someone out of the ordinary who may pop in. You may not believe it, but what in other places is called

"Trial by Combat," here we call "Dig in, that's what all the mud

is

for."

I'm not going to elaborate on this particular way of resolving legal disputes among beings who are so far removed from either real or imaginary jurisprudence. Let's just say that the bowl of stale popcorn is there for a reason.

There may be, although certainly not always, a laptop computer and a printer. I won't mention the brand or the model, but suffice it to say that the computer functions through insults and threats, and the printer has a peculiar sense of agency, because it refuses to print that which it doesn't see as worthy of making it onto paper. True, on the computer screen there is invariably a word processor open and a piece

of writing that never manages to reach completion... Viruses? Only the ones that manage to get through the reed that we pulled from the river in order to connect to the network. That is to say, spiders, or bugs

LuisVilloroToranzo,Zapatista 33

fleeing said spiders. AII the while, a little light blinks frantically.

Okay, now we'll leave it up to you to imagine what the rest of the furniture loola like. I could make myself look good and tellyou that on that morninB I was reading a treatise on Greek Philosophy, or the Fabulae of Hyginus, or Apollodorus of Athens' Treatise On the Gods, or Tbe Twelae [Doze] Labors of Hercules (yes, with a'z'), by Enrique de Villena, the Astrologer,ra but none of that would be true. Or I could tell you, and make myself seem all cutting-edge, that I was on the deep web taking an online course from an anonymous hacker. I almost said a famous hacker, but if they are anonymous then they can't be famous. Or can they? Or maybe it is an organized collecdve: "click the reload button, press the control key, no, don't touch the letter "2" because it will create a chaotic mess and you

will end up chatting with an incomprehensible

being in the mountains of Southeastern Mexico." In short, I was online

with a nicbnarue and an avatar, something like a nom dz guerre and a ski mask, who patiently explains the fundamentals of a terrain of struggle. But of course, just like every time you learn a new language, the first thing you need to know are the insults. And that's how I learned that calling someone a"newbie"is an ofiFense. Finally, I could be all clichd and tell you that I was in a mubi-party, inter-oceanic, hard-core game of chess with a collective called "The Baker Street Irregulars," found in the "speckled blonde" Albion.'5 But alas, what I was really doing was putting the finishing touches on a text that has been on hold for over 20 years, when... The posta, or the guard, the sentinel, the lookout, or whatever you want to call him appeared in the doorway. "Sup, there is someone here wbo wants to talh to ylu," he said tersely after giving the military salute.

".Vho/' I asked almost that

it

as a

formality

was insargental6 Erlka

14

because I was already assuming

with one of her intricate riddles about

Villena's work" Los Doze Trabajos de Hircubi' was written in Medieval Spanish, thus the " Doze" and not the coniemporary Spanish form of " Doce." Both "The Baker Street Irregulars" and the "Speckled Blonde" are fictional characters that appear in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. "Albion," which is the oldest known name for England, was frequently used by Doyle as the

15

location of these stories.

16

See glossary.

34

Iove and that type of thing.

Don Luis," he said. "He is oA and wise, "added the insurgerute. Don Luis? I don't know any Don Luis," I said with annoyance. "Subcomandante," Iheard Don Luis'voice and saw his figure fill the " One "

doorway.

The guard managed to stammer: "

He slipped in unannounced,

I

told him to wait, he didn't follow in-

structions."

"Ah, he didn't follow insmtcilons, typical. That's fine," I said to the guard. I exchanged a hug with Don Luis Villoro Toranzo, born in Barcelona, Catalonia, in the Spanish State, on November 3,1922, and I offered him a chair. Don Luis sat down, took offhis beret and rubbed his hands together smiling. I assumed it was because of the cold. Did I already say that it was cold that morning? And it was cold, as it usually 'S7hat's is when there is no sun to warm beneath the shade, like today. more, the cold bit our cheeks like an obsessed lover. Don Luis didn't seem to notice. " Does it get cold in Barcelona?' I asked, in part as a greeting, and in part to distract him as I discreetly turned off the computer. So, I put away the computer, requested coffee for three, and re-lit my pipe, already filled with moist and used tobacco. I can't remember now whether Don Luis responded to the question about the climate in Barcelona. He waited patiendy for me to fail at what I was attempting to do, which was trying to relight the embers in the pipe. "You don't haue tobacco b onl chance?' I asked him, anticipating his answer "

with disappointment.

I'm not sure," he said, and continued smiling.

'Was

he answering the question about the cold in Barcelona or about

whether he had any tobacco? But these weren't the main questions that had accumulated in the snuffed out bowl of my pipe. Before asking the doctor of philosophy Luis Villoro Toranzo what the hell he was doing there...well, first let me explain.

At that time, the EZLN

headquarters was known as the "Bed

of

Clouds," so named because it was located high up on a mountain and, except for a few days in the dry season, it was always under cloud cover. Even though the general command itself is nomadic, some-

LuisVilloroToronzo,Zapatisto 35

times

it

stays there awhile, although never for as long as the clouds do.

"The Bed of Clouds" Getting there isn't easy. First you have to cross pastures and abandoned fields. It's bad in the rain and bad in the sun. After two hours of thorns and insults, you arrive at the foot of the mountain. From there, a stretch ofthe trail rises up, skirting the steep hill such that there is always an abyss on your right. No, it wasn't political considerations that determined this spiral ascent, it was the capricious shape of this mountainous peak in the middle of the mountain range. Even though you don't stop climbing until you are almost at the doors of the hut of the general command of the eezeeelen, a few works of military engineering had been built such that the guard at their post would have the time and distance necessary to see anything coming.

From there, the trek necessary to access the hut of the general command was intentionally difficult. To the harshness of the mountains we added pointed stakes, ditches, and thorns, so that it was only possible to pass through one at a time. Vhen I was young and beautiful, and carrying an average load--of let's say some l5-20 kg-it took me about six hours to get there from the base of the mountain. Now that I am only beautifirl, and without carrying anything, it takes me between eight and nine hours.

Our stunted 'premodernism' and our contempt for

electoral

campaigns keep us from having heliports at our camps. So it's only possible to get there by walking. Taking all of this into account, it's only logical that the 6rst question that came to mind was: " How did you get here Don Luis?' "By walhing" he responded, as calmly as if he had said "by taxi."

Don Luis appeared to be well put-together, he was in no way dishevelled, his beret was intact, his dark bag had just a few strands of roots and twigs hanging

offof it, his corduroy

pants were barely dirry

and only in the creases, his moccasins were in one piece. As I said, well

put-together. If there was anything wofth noting it was his severaldays-old beard and the obvious absurdiry of his clean shirt, with its starched open collar. For me, this climb takes at least three mendings

36

of my shirt, four mendings of my pants, a reinforcement for both boots, and a couple of hours to catch my breath. But there was Don Luis, sitting in front of me, smiling. Apart from a slight fush in his cheeks, you might have thought that he had in fact just gotten out ofa taxi. But no. Don Luis' response to my question had been "by walking," so there had been no taxi. I was about to let loose with a long list of reprimands about his health, about how the calendars have taken a toll on him, about the undesirabiliry that, at his advanced age, he should try such a crazy thing as climb a mountain and present himself in the wee hours of

the morning at the general command of the eezeeelsn But something

stopped me.

No, it wasn't the fact that he was actually there that

stopped me. It was that Don Luis's smile had become nervous, resdess, as if fearful not of asking questions but of hearing the response. So I asked a question that would come to define that dawn.

"What "

is

it

that you want Don Luis?'

I wdnt to becorne

a Zapatista," he responded.

His voice did not hold a trace of mockery, sarcasm, or irony. Nor did it hold doubt, fear, or insecurity. I had already seen city people declare this intention (although not with those words, because they usually do so with incendiary slogans and bombastic language, a lot of stuffabout death and little to nothing about life), although ofcourse, they don't even get past the pastures at the beginning of the journey here. I choked, and the pipe wasn't even lit, so I couldn't pretend it was because of the smoke. Resigned to the lack of dry tobacco I had been merely nibbling on the mouthpiece. "

I wlnt to become a Zapatista,"

he had said. Don Luis had used an

expression that was more a part of daily llfe of Zapatista communities than it was part of Mexican Academy of Languages.

followed the protocol for these cases: I explained in detail the geographical, temporal, physical, ideological, political, economic,

I

social, historical, climatic, mathematic, barometric, biological, 'V7ith each difficulry that I geometric and interstellar challenges. detailed, Don Luis' smile lost some of its nervousness and gained in confidence and composure. By the time I got to the end of this long

LuisVilloroToranzo,Zapotista 37

list of inconveniences, Don Luis was smiling as if he had gotten an endowed chair at the Colegio Nacional, rather than the diplomatic "NO" that I was dishing out. "I'm prepared,"he said, as I crunched down on the last solid bit of the mouthpiece of my pipe. Trying to dissuade him, I explained the inconveniences of clandestiniry, of hiding onesele of anonymiry. "And,"l added dismissively, "we're out of shi maskl" It was clear that I wasn't doing the best job. As much as I shifted in my chair and nervously moved things around on the desk, I couldn't figure out a logical explanation for the absurdiry of the situation. Don Luis adjusted the beret on his thinning silver hair. I thought that he was about to say goodbye, but when I got ready to call the Buard to see him out he said: "This is my shi mask, "pointing to his beret. \7.hen I argued that a ski mask should cover the face so that only the eyes were showing, he disagreed:

it?' In that moment, I was grateful for rwo things: one was that, in continually moving things around on the desk, I had found a little bag of dry tobacco. The other was that the question from the doctor of philosophy, Luis Villoro Toranzo, had bought me time to try to arrange the pieces and understand what this was all about. So, I hid myself behind some words in order to be able to think things through. "You can, Don Luis, but to be ablz to do so you haae to change, as " You can't hide your face without couering

they say,

lour sulroundings. To mahe yourself inuisible

attention

to yourself,, to

simply be one more among mdn!. For exampb, you

can hide someone wlto has lost their right eye and wears eueryone wear a patch

is then, to not call

luer their right

eye,

a

patch, by hauing

or by hauing szmeone who gets

ht of attentizn put a patch ouer their right qte. Eueryone will looh at tlte person who gets a ht of axention and tbe rest of the patches will just

a

become secondary.

In this wa!, tlie one who really only

has one eye becomes

inuisible and can moue around easily."

"I doubt that you coull get eueryzne in the academic worU to wear d bhcb beret, or someone uery mucb in the limelight to use one. For example, if you gotAngelinaJolie and Brad Pix to weAr d black beret, well, then

38 sure. Don't be

ffinded Don Luis, but nobody is going to listen to !ou." "Anyway the beret is more a referent for Cbi Gueuara than for the idealist philonplty of science. You hnow well that the Institute of Pbilosophical Research, though it can be a jungh, is not exactly a hub for subuersiue actiuity, As ute sEl" "But," he interrupted, absorbing the shock without much difficulry, "another wa! to not call attention to oneself and to go unnoticed is to not change the routine.

That

to continue dressing as usual. Seeing me in a bkch beret won't seem strange to anlone. But, tf I uere to put on a ski rnash, uell tltat would be a radical change. It uouA afiract attention and people would hok at me. They would say, 'It's professor Luis Villoro with is,

a shi mash, he\ gone crdz!, ?oor gu:!, maybe it's couering up some recent deformity, or the signs of old age, or illness, 0r an unspeahable cime." And

mutatis mutando,rT if one stops doing somahing routine or customary,

it

attracts attention. For example, Subcomandznte, ifyou stopped smoking a

pipe, it would. attract attention. Ifyou put

a

patch

on

your

eye, as

another

exdrnple, they would. notice and start to s?ecalate whether you had lost it or someone had. giue you a bhck eye." "Good "

point," I said and discreetly took note. Don Luis continued:

If I wear the beret, anyone who looks at me won| say a thing

they

will

thinh that I continue being the same." And so, he brought his argument to its logical conclusion: "And ml nom de guerre will be 'Luis Vilhro Toranzo."' " But Don Lais," I reproached him, "tltat is actually your name." "

Correct," he said, raising his right index finger .

"

If I

take this nom

will hnow that I am a Zapatista. They will all think that I arn the phihsopher Luis Vilhro Toranzo. Did.n't yu sa! that the

de guerre, no one

Zapatistas couer theirfaces in ord.er to be seen?'

I nodded, now

seeing where this was going.

" There you haue

it, with the beret and

the name

I am in plzin sight, that

I hidt ryself Is this not the paradox?' I would have said "Touchi," but I was so disconcerted that none of my French came to mind. I spent the rest of the night and early morning hours arguing against is to say

17

This is a riffon the Latin Mutatis mutandis meaning "rhe necessary changhaving been made," o, 'o.ce ,h; iirr. beEn made," b,rrinrt uses the Spanish verb " mutar," to mutare. es

,.;"ry .h;il;

rf

LuisVilloroToranzo,Zopatista 39

this idea while he argued for it. Let me say that I had ro admit that his logical reasoning was impeccable, and with grace and good humor he dodged one false trap after another of the kind with which I can usually

trip up the most renowned intellectuals. Let me be clear, I am being sarcastic, so nobody take offense. In this case, the thing was that Don Luis Villoro Toranzo, aspiring Zapatista whose norn de guerre would be "Luis Villoro Toranzo" and who better hid himself with a black beret than with a ski mask, was dismantling the obstacles and objections I was putting forward one after another.

"Your age," I lobbed at him, the last argument that I had, nearly at the point of collapsing. He knocked that one down with: "

If I

remember conectly, you, Subcomandante, once said that the last

possiblr mzment [to become a Zapatista] was one second before one tahes theirfnal breatb."

The light of dawn was already beginning to outline the edges of the horizon when I decided to assume the best position in such cases: I pled insaniry. " Looh Don Luis,

it isn't

if it were up to me, of course, it woull. be an honor, but

my decision, of course, t0 dccept 0r reject a request to join the

of course. I am, of course, leti say, the Synod, sure, but someone aPProue tbe dtcision.

EZLN,

else has

to

Afier that, tbere is the local authority, and ofcourse

the regional one and of course the comitd.,ts and the general command

of

for National Liberation, of course. lYhy don't you go

the Zapatista Army

I'll just let you hnow as soon as I'ue heard something? But... just as I was saying this, the other indigenous person who completes the trio of me and Moy came into the general command. "Ah," he said, " I see you haue already spoken to him." home and

'Yes,"

I

said, " but this stubborn man wants to be a Zapatista. "

" IVell," he said,

I was actually

talhing to Luis Villoro Toranzo, not to you. He had already talked to me, and I told him that in any case he should go and talk to lou to chech out your drguments. But the dzed is done: I haue "

already registered him

in

unit. Now for us lte is our comrade Luis Villoro Toranzo. I already told him that, as is our manner, we will I

8

See glossarv

tbe special

40 call him only 'Don Luis,'so

I thinh that all that

is

lefi to do is utelcome him

and assign him his taork." So the aheady Zapatista compafiero Luis Villoro Toranzo stood up and, with admirable poise, stood at attention and saluted the Zapatista

officer.

"And what work will we assign of my confusion. "'Well, the one that he's alway

himl' I

managed to ask in the midst

had-that ofa hohout,"

said the

offcer

and left. You can probably imagine that Juan, Fernanda, and the others who are listening to me now or who will read this later, will take this as

just one more of the fantastic stories that populate the mountains of southeast Mexico, told over and over by beetles, irreverent litde boys and girls, ghosts, cat-dogs, twinkling lights, and other absurdities. But

It

is time that you knew that Don Luis Villoro Toranzo became part of the EZLN one early morning in May, many that's not true.

moons ago. His nom

d.e

guene was "Luis Villoro Toranzo" and in the

general command of the EZLN we referred to him as "Don Luis" for brevity and efficiency. This all happened at the "Bed of Clouds," the headquarters of the EZLN, where he left his brown shirt behind for the

many return visim that he made there before he died. What more can I say? He completed his mission. As a sentinel at one of the guard posts on the Zapatista periphery, he was attentive to what was happening. Out of the corner of the eye of critical thought, he was attentive to the changes and movements that, for the vast ma.iority of the self-proclaimed progressive intellectuals, would go unnoticed. As a result of the alarm sounded from his caracol, in the coming days you

will hear, and a few more of you will read, the thoughts we have had with regard to these changes and movements.

A Gift, 7-apatistaStyle It was another morning. Don Luis, then-Lieutenant Colonel Moisds (now-Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds), and I had started talking at around 1700 hours of the southeastern battlefront. Around 2100 hours, SupMoy, as he is now called, excused himself to go check on

LuisVilloroToronzo,Zopotisto 4'l

our nearby positions.

Don Luis had

a particular way of debating: where others gesticulate

and raise their voice, he would smile with a wandering absence.

'!7.here

others argued with slogans, he would say something absurd "just to give himself time," I thought to myself. These talla regularly resembled a duel. It goes without saying that I was soundly defeated on many of these occasions. And that's exactly what happened on that occasion. Don Luis then laughed and belted out: "Defeated but not destroyed!" I responded with words, telling him that it would look bad for a neopositivist philosopher to quote, whether intentionally or not, the Apostle Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. And he responded with a sly smile, "It would looh euen worse for a Zapatista chief to correctb identtfi, that quote." Then he rose to his feet and dramatically recited: "We Are hard pressed on euery sidc, but not crusbed; perplexed, but not in d.espair; persecuted, but not abandoned; defeated, but not destroyed." Then he pointed at me, "I fnd it strange that you hauen't pointed zut that tbis is fom Chapter 4, uerses

9." Still sore from the argumentative beating,

B and

I

responded:

"I

always

tbought that text seemed more lihe a Zapatistd czmmuniqui describing the

part of the New TestAment." "Ab! Zapatista resistdnce!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm. And he continued, "You know what Subcomandante? You all should open a resistance than

scbool."

Not one, ma/U/," I responded. This must have been around 2005-2006. Years earlier Don Luis had joined our ranks, and the Juntas de Buen Gobiernole were immersed in the health and educational needs of the zones, regions, and "

communities. Don Luis then said: "No, I'm not referring t0 those schools. Of course tltere must be many of them, without a doubt. I'm talhing about a Zapatista school. Not one where Zapatismo is taught but rather one wltere Zapatismo is shown. Not one where dogr^ are imposed, but one where one questions, ashs-where one is obligated to

19

thinh. One

See glossary

whose slogan would be

Et ru?"'

42

Really, Don Luis' idea was not original. Prior to this both Pablo Gonzilez Casanova and Adolfo Gilly had sketched this out in different words. But our idea is neither to teach nor to "show," but to provoke. The "And you?" does not seek an answer, but rather seeks to incite thought. Anyway, allow me to continue: The discussion turned into a conversation in the same way that a food reaches a fat plain in its meanderings, and becomes a stream,

It was already early morning. The night guard informed us that Moy was still busy and he offered us coffee. 'Vhen I looked to him, Don Luis responded with an affirmative gesture. I don't really know if Don Luis even drank coffee, as his cup was always left untouched. I chalked it up to the heat of the conversation. Now I realize that I never once asked him if he drank coffee. One could assume, of course, well, he's a philosopher, of course, and "coffee" is like an undesirable last name to a philosopher. Or maybe he did drink it. After all, we are in Chiapas. Coming to Chiapas and not drinking the coffee is... like going to Sinaloa and not eating chilorio,20like going to Hamburg and not trying a hamburger, like going to La Realidad and not encountering realiry. The point is that without even noticing, we started talking about calm but unstoppable.

gifts. "

tbe perfect gifi," he said. I responded without thinking.

Imagine what ruould be

" Tlte most surprisingi'

" No, tlte zne that you couldn't thanh someone "

Or tlte one

for," he responded. I that is not a gifi," counter attacked.

Hout?' he asked intrigued. " Lihe for exam?le an enigma or "

has no reason

surprising"

"True,

I

bat

a

for being. If there is no

piece of a puzzle. That is, a gifi that reason

for it, it

mahes

it all the more

said.

for

the giuer of the

gfi, it couA

be a

gzfi to ruot be able to be

if to himself. grfii' for The more turns of logic in his argument, the more I thought that Don Luis was Betting tired. But no, he was animated and his face was bright, as if... I got up and touched his forehead. I didn't say anything, thanhed

the

he said, as

I just turned toward the door and instructed the guard: "Get the compa

20

Slow-cooked carnitas made with ancho chile sauce.

LuisVilloroToranzo,Zapotista 43

in charge of health." Don Luis had a fever. The insurgenla responsible for health matters recommended a fever-reducing medicine, a cold bath, and lots of liquids. Don Luis didn't argue with any of this. But when the czm?dfiera left he said,"All I need is a little bit of resa" and he fell asleep. He was like this for rwo days, only waking up to eat and to go to the bathroom. Once rested, he told me that he should get going and he recommended that I re-read his reports from his lookout post and he said goodbye.

Before crossing the threshold at the door, and without turning around to look at me, and more to himselC he murmured: "Yes, a gifi you can't be thanhed for. This would be uery Zapatista." He put on his beret, said one more thing to me and left. Today, after more than 12 moons of his absence now, I can talk about what he said as he was leaving that morning, as the sun was casting light and shadows. "Compafiero Subcomandante Insurgente M*rcos," he said squaring himself toward me, with a notable vitaliry. "

Compafiero

Luis Villoro Torunzo,"

I

said following my habit

of

indicating that I was ready to listen. "

I want to ash you something," he said.

I noticed that he abandoned his usual informaliry, but I chalked this up to his new profession. "Don't go telling anlone about any of this, for the moment," he demanded.

"Of

fo*ib

course,"

I

said.

"I

understand. The secret, the clandestinity, the

shouUn't hnow."

" That's not

it," he said. " I want you to te ll them, but kter."

"When?"I asked him. "You'll hnow wben the time comes. To ute our manner of talhing: tbe calendar and the geography

will come."

"But why?"I asked him curiously. " It is a gtfi that I want to giue my child.ren and my compa6era," he responded. "

Don Luis, man, donl

with

can giue Juan a new green tie red polka d.ots, and a red tie with green polha dots to Miguel, or uicemess

around,

lou

uersd. You can giue your daughter Renata a uase, and you can get Carmen

an ashnay, or uice-uersA. Either way, like in all good families, thqt'll fght

44

it out amongst

themseluel And you can get Fernanda a notebooh, one

those that has lines.

of

All of thae gifu are usebss and honible, but of course

it's the thought tltat counts."

Don Luis laughed heartily. Growing serious again, he continued: "Tell them m! stor!. I mean, this part of my story. That way, they will undrrstand that I didn't hidt it fom them. I just saued it as a girt. The reason we lihe gifis is because thelt are a surprise... Don't you think? Tell them that I am giuing them this piece of *y lrft. Tell them that I kept it fom them, not as one hides a crime, but As one hides a gifi. Looh Sup, nnany things will be said about m! lrfe, some good, some bad. This part

I

thinh will change euerything, not with s0/r0w and pain, but with the

fresh wind of a happy mischief that we need so dcsperatefi when the sorrow of absence and the greys of seriousness, formality, and namings turn into headstones and epitap hs." "

Okay, Don Luis,"

I told him, " But don't giue up on tlte ties, the

uase,

the ashnalt, and the notebooh."

He walked away smiling.

So, Juan, Fernanda and other members

of Don Luis Villoro

Toranzo's family, for years I have kept this piece of the extend ed puzzle that was the life of Don Luis. Not then, but only later, after the rage and pain arose from the massacred body of the compa and Zapatista mdestrl Galeano, did I understand why he held back this piece of his life. It is not that he hid it because he was embarrassed, or because he was scared of being denounced to the enemy of a thousand heads, or in order to avoid having others try to dissuade him. It was because he wanted to give you this gift. A piece of his life that provokes, that nourishes, that agitates, like his thought turned into a mischievous wind among us. One more piece of Don Luis' life-the piece that was named Luis Villoro Toranzo, Zapatista of the EZLN. He fell, and fell silent, in the line of duty, carrying out his task of sentinel in this absurd, terrible, and mawelous world that we endeavor to create. I know that he left a legacy ofbooks and a brilliant intellectual trajectory. But he also left me with these words so that today, I could say them: "Because tltere are secrets that don't embarrass, but ratherfll us with

LuisVilloroToronzo,Zopotisto 45

pide.

Because there are secrets tltat rtrc

gfis and not insubs."

Now and only now as I hand you these pages will you be able to read the tide of this text, in which my clumsy words wrap around the piece of the pur"le named:

"Luis Villoro Toranzo, Zapatisti' Valt. Cheers and accept from all of us this embrace that compaZapaista Don Luis left in our care.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, and now from six feet under. Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

Mexico, May2,2014. Made public May 2,2015.

46

Some Clues 'W'ords

of SupGaleano during the homage to compafieros Luis Villoro Toranzo and ZapatistaMaestro Galeano. May 2,2015.

Za

Maestro Ga lea no: oatista ' Notes on a Life

Compafreros and compafieras

of the Zapatista Army of

National

Liberation: Compafi.eroas, compafieras, compafieros of the Sixth:

Visitors:

It

is my turn to talk about our compafiero, the Zapatista Maestro Galeano. To talk about him so that he can live on in our words. To 'W'e say talk to you about him so that you might understand our rage. "the Zapatista Maestro Galeano" because this was the cargdt that our compafiero held when he was murdered.

For us as Zapatistas, the compafierl Maestrl Galeano epitomizes an entire anonymous generation within Zapatismo. This generation has been anonymous to those on the outside, but for us they were the fundamental protagonists of the uprising and of these more than 20 years ofrebellion and resistance.

youth, was part of the so-called social organizations [that were prevalent prior to the uprisingJ and therefore knew of the corruption and deceitfulness that nurtured their leaders. This generation prepared itself in secresy, rose up in arms against the

This is a generation that,

as

supreme government, resisted the betrayals and persecutions alongside us, and guided the resistance of today's generation that now takes up cargos

in the indigenous communities.

A violent, absurd, ruthless, cruel, and unjust death came to lMaestrol Gdeano while he held the cargo of rcacher.

2l

See glossary

Notes on o

If it had happened a autonomous authoriry.

bit later he would

A bit earlier and it would have been while for his community. Before that, it would have been the death Many moons before, it would have been knew enough-what is necessary-about

Life

have held the cargo

47

of

he acred as host and guide

of a miliciano. the death of a youth who the system and sought, as many fmuchas, muchos, ruucboas) others srill do, the best way ro challenge it.

A year ago a trio of journalists from the paid media, sponsored by the government of that Aryan Velasco22 and his rorren courr, rook ir upon themselves to spread lies about Galeano's murder. The person who took the photos of the carefully-bandaged supposed injuries suffered by the murderers was rewarded for their mercenary services with a prize trip to New York to feature their other photos. Those who unabashedly swallowed the government's bullshit and circulated it on their front pages are today echoed by still others who manipulate the news and present Galeano's murder as the result of a "confrontation." Those who acted as silent accomplices out of financial convenience or political cunning continue to pretend that they do

journalism rather than badly disguised propaganda. Just a few days before this event that brings us here togerher, we read in the paid press that the "heroic," "selfess," "professional," and "unpolluted" police force from the Federal District in Mexico had a

"confrontatisp"-sfix1's what they called it-with a group of blind people. Those wicked blind people used their "weapen5"-1hsl1 canes-to attack the poor police officers who were only doing their dury and who were forced to respond with their clubs and shields in order to make those without sight see that the law is the law only for those below, not for those above. Also recently, in those fashionable speculations that tend to sweep across not only the newswire but also social media-where one talks about something in order to hide the fact that one has nothing important to say or report-one of those journalists who claims "professionalism" and "objectivity" wrote about the death of the brother in struggle and

22

Manuel Velasco Coello, governor of Chiapas, 2012-2018

48

collector of rains, Eduardo Galeano. She posed a false link between Galeano the writer and Galeano the teacher, miliciano, andZapatista.

tVhen she referred to the Zapatista compafiero Galeano, this paid journalist insisted that he had died in a "confrontation," and she submitted photos taken by her friend, the now tourist in New York. I mention that this journalist is a woman not out of misogyny, but for the following reason: as is already common in the press-so common that sometimes it isn't even reported in the ngvv5-rnulders of women are also disguised as "deaths" and not described as "murders." Take any given case in any home or on any street, in any geography, in any calendar: there is a heated discussion, a fight. Or maybe there's not even a fight, but just because, just to show he rules, the man attacks the woman, the woman defends herself and manages to scratch the man, the man beats, stabs, or shoots her to death, with contempt. The man is treated and his scratches cleaned and bandaged. About this, our self-proclaimed "professional and objective" journalist would file the following report: "a woman died in a confrontation with her husband, the man sustained injuries resulting from the fight." She would also attach photos of the poor injured man after he has been treated in a medical clinic. "The family of the female aggressor would not allow her body to be photographed." End of the report, time to get paid.

That is how today's news reports are. Blind people armed with canes confront police armed with batons, shields, and tear gas, and women armed with their fingernails face men armed with knives, clubs, pistols, and penises. These are the "confrontations" that are reported in the paid

media, even though some of them go so far as to disguise themselves as free media. That's what some did who registered for this seminar as free media; they thought that we didn't know who they were and that we wouldn't let them in if we knew they were from the paid media. But we know who they are and they are here "covering" this event.

The compafiero Zapatista Maestro Galeano did not die in a confrontation. He was kidnapped, tortured, bloodied, beaten, slashed, murdered and re-murdered. His aggressors had firearms; he did not. His aggressors were many; he was alone. The "professional and objective" journalist will likely demand corroborating photos and an

Notes on o

Life

49

autopsy, but she won't receive either. Because if she doesn't respect herself and doesn't respecr her work (which is why she writes what she writes without anyone questioning her and on top of that gets paid for

it), we Zapatistas do respect our dead. More than 20 years ago in the battle of Ocosingo, which lasted four days, Zaparista combatants were executed by the federal police after being injured in combat. The Zapatistas' firearms were replaced by wooden sticks. The press was rhen called to earn their pay, under the watch of government troops. That's how this lie was woven, repeated ad. nauseum even today, that the EZLN's troops went to battle with the bad government carrying wooden sticls. Sure, there is the small problem that someone else had taken photos showing that these same fallen Zapatistas had nothing by their side, and these photos could later be compared with those presented by the official press. A lot of money was paid out so that those photos that had captured the truth would never see the light of day. Today, in times of economic crisis for the paid media, photojournalism-an x6-lrx5 been transformed into a poorly paid commodity that often only manages to provoke nausea. I won't detail each and every one of the injuries suffered by compafiero Galeano, nor will I present you with photos of his sullied cadaver. I won't rehash the cynicism with which his murderers narrated the crime, just like someone recounting a great feat. Time will pass. The confessions of the executioners will come to light. \7e will come to know in detail the torture and their celebration at each drop ofblood, the drunkenness ofcruel death, the subsequent euphoria, the moral and ethical hangover in the days rhat followed, the guilt that pursues them, the justice that will catch up to rhem. The Zapatista Maestro compafiero Galeano will be remembered by the Zapatista communities quietly, without headlines. His life and not his death will be a joy within our struggle for generations. Hundreds of Tojolabal, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol, Zoque, Mame and mestizo children will carry his name. And there will no doubt be little girls named "Galeana."

The three members of the decadent media nobility who beat the drums of war by spreading as

well

as

a

lie, and who then went silent in cowardice,

that "professional and objective" journalist will all continue

50

in their mediocrity. They will live in mediocrity and they will die in mediocrity, and history will run its course without anyone even remembering who they were. Also, let's put an end once and for all to the silly idea that Zapatista Maestro compafiero Galeano took his name from that tireless collector of the word below, Eduardo Galeano. This connection was an invention of the press. Although it sounds absurd, the compafiero ookhis nom dr guerre from the insurgente Hermenegildo Galeana, originally from Tecpan in what is now the state of Guerrero, who would become the lieutenant of the independence leader Josd Maria Morelos y Pav6n. Hermenegildo Galeana was with the insurgent troops when, on May

2, 1812, they broke the siege that the royal army held over Cuautla, defeating General Fdlix Maria Calleja's troops along the way. The insurgent resistance wrote a brilliant page in military history that day. It is common in Zapatista communities that men and women apply gender pronouns according to their own very particular understanding. For example, the map lel mapawith the masculine article in Spanish] is "

h" rua1ta [with the feminine pronoun].

\)(hat the compafiero did was

"masculinize" the name Galeana, changing years before we came out publicly.

I won't

it to

Galeano. That was

say much more about the Zapatista Maestro compafiero Ge-

leano. His relatives and compafieros and compafieras who honor us with their presence today will have more and better things to say, as will compafiero Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds.

His absence still causes me a lot of pain. I am still unable to make sense of the cruelty with which they treated him, murdering him with weapons and with journalists' reports. I still can't understand the complicit silence and indifference from people who benefited from and were supported by his generosiry and who then turned their backs on his death once they had made use of his life.

This is why I think that, since it's his life that we are raising up, it would be better if compafiero Galeano were the one to speak to you. The following fragments that I will read to you come from compaftero Galeano's notes. The notebook with this and other writings

Notes on a

were handed over to the General Command of the

Life

51

EZLN by the family

of that compafiero, who we are missing today. The first notes apparently date back to 2005, and the last ones

are

from2012. He writes: "Dedicated to all utho

will read this billiant bistory, so that my children and my compafieros can neuer sal that itfaded awa1t. I am utriting about the actions and steps I haue taken in the strugle, but I am also critical, so that they can learnfrom my mistakes and will not rEeat them. But this does not medn that I am not a compafiero. tYell then, I will begin witb my earlier life as a youth and a ciuilian. When I was about 15 years old, I always ?articipated in the worh and the actions ofan organization called 'Uni6n de Ejidos de Ia Selva.' I hneu that I was one of the exphited because the weight of pouerty that fell on m! sunburnt shoulders was enough for me to recognize that exphitation still existed, and that one day someone would come to help us rise up and sbow us the path, szmeone to guidc us.

I mentioned

in

the beginning I participated in a trip that (number ilbgibb) ofus indigenlas madt in ordzr to excbange ideas about productiue worh projects. That's what they called the program created by lVell, as

our aduisors from that so-calbd Union which we were actiue in. lYell, for me, it helped me learn a ht of things. In the frst plnce, realized how those damned aduisors, Juarez and Jaime Vahncia, among

I

'Ve

had gone all the way to Oaxaca, a plzce where indigenous compaf,eros lihe us liue, and they also had an organization callcd X, directed fu a priest wbo was there with them. But they were in others, tried to deceiue us.

the same situation of oppression that we were.

Well, to make a long story short, we uisited many cities throughout the country. It was there where I noticed how mary peo?b were begging on the streets, without housing and with nothing to eat. From there an idza tooh root in me that tbis should. be our objectiue-to exchange ideas on how to demand a dignifed W fo, eaeryone wlto we saw liuing in such humiliating pouert! becau.se of the gouernmmts. I abo noticed something that disgusted me and I neuer again came to dzpend on those liars and trichsters who pretend to be with those from behw. They used to create tbese mouelnents so that they couU get rich offour backs, and we were idiots to belieue in their uicious andfabe ideas.

52

lVfu do I say it this way? Well, yu will soon see how things were. It turns out that they would promlte gouernrnent Prograrns in order to deceiue us, and in turn, haue us deceiae oar oun peo?le in our communities. On that

nip, ime

of support, which at that talhing about pesos in the thousands,

the gouernment gaue out seuen million pesos

was a ton ofmoney because weTe not like now [afier the peso conaersion in 1993J wlten we only talk about pesos in the singular. At that time thry told us that the gouernment would

giuing out seuen billion pesos but that we wouldn't get it all then-just 3 million and the rest utould go to fund our other trips. We neuer did fnd out uhat happened to that monEt. Of course they neuer told us, but that mone! stayed with the aduisors I be

already mentioned. While we were eating chips with a little piece of cheese there in OaxacA, and sleEing in the hallway of the municipal building in Ixtepec, Oaxaca, where da ltou think thry were?'Vell, they were sleeping in nice hotels and eating in f.ne restdurants. That's how it was the entire time

until we returned to Chiapas. When we had arriued in Puerto Arista, they had bought themselues cases of beer so that they couU get drunk. When it wtts ouer they said that they had to use the three million pesos in order to couer ex?ensel Thrt told us tbat we wouU haue to eat crachers and drink sodas because there was no mzre mone! lefi. But I hnew that wasn't tnte. Our own representatiaes that were supposed to be in charge of the accounts tried to mahe us belieue that the mone! was all gone, but really the1, had czme to an agreement with those idiot aduisors. So I proposed that they count the money again to see if it had really all been spent. But my proposal was not acce?ted and they instead told me that the tour had czrne to an end right there in Motozintk [Chiapas]. They gaue me 40 thousand pesos (of the old currency) to get home because they budgeted that was the amoant

I would.

transportation to Margaritas. Afier that, I'd haue to fgure oat 0n m! zwn how to get to La Realidad. It was damned hard, forty thousand oftbe oA pesos Qhat Salinas conuerted) are on$r equal to 40 pesos today. And that's how I arriued to my uillage, sad and enraged at tlte same time. h was in '89 when I met a real ad.uisor, a man who used to pretend to be a humble worher, a parrot uend.or. He and I were kind offiends, but euen though we hnew each other, he had neuer tuA me who he really was and need for

what he really wanted or what he was really doing. We ofien encoantered

Notes on a

Life

53

in the Ceno Quemadn and we chaned, and I noticed that he canied a backpach with his toob wrapped and readyfor work. That's what my friend used to tell me. How maryt other people like me hnew the story each other

my friend without knowing the real story? It rema;ned to be seen how many lies my friend used to tell bach in those days. Lies in order to make tr"uth; lies in order to mahe Reality. True lies. He was my b"dfu, and I was so slow that I had no idea uhat uas going on. Until one day when I bumped into him once again, but this time he

of

wasn't dressed like a humble worher, and he didn t carry a bachpack and

didn t haue his panot cage with him. So what was be carrying this time? lVell, there was myfiend, my buddy, all in bhck and brown, uith a backpach and sboes, and a gun ouer bis sltoulder. It turned out that my fiend was a braue guenilk and soldier of the people. I was shocked and I went home sad, still unable to undtrstand

what that was all about. That was my rnistahe, not undzrstanding quickly enough what that man It was then when he hnew that I hadfound him out that he had

wanted.

me summoned to the safe house along

with my parents and siblings. My dad didn\ wdnt t0 jzin and neither did ry siblings, but I didn't think twice. That was how I came to join the organization. Thq, called me up t0 train. At that time, almost eueryone was already a Zapatista. We went to nain. Later they assigned me the rank of corporal and thati how it went until all of my family members euentually joined. The day arriued when

I fnally learned what

lying true fiend's name Z. This was d mAn wbo had trauelled all of Chiapas'indigenous uilhges, all of its mountains, m1,

wls: dt that time he was hnown as Captain Insurgente

riuers, and rauines. He walhed at night as a guenilla, during the day as a

humbh man in

search of utorh.

All

the while he was sowing, tte? b! step,

the seeds offreedom that would grow and

bearfruit. but what beautifulfruits

How great his sffiring had been he haruested and carried with him. He proudly receiued his promotion to Major for his intelligence, brauery, and training.

But he wasn't the only one.

There was another great,

braue,

unforgettable reuolutionary in the history of our clandestinity, our beloued Subcomandante Insurgente Pedro, respectfully nicknamed "el Tio" [the uncleJ fu all the compafteros of our strugle. He was beloued by

all

because

54 he was d true role modrl who shared his reuolutionary wisd.om

with

us. He

utts a true teacher of discipline and compafierismo. I call him a role model because he always said that he would be out on lines and if it were necessury to die for oar ?eo?b he would do so. the

font

On December 2S (of 1993), the compairero Sup I. Pedro tuA me tu head ouer to Ln Margaritas to buy gasoline and some batteries that we needtd. He told me to tell compafiero Alfiedo to tahe"El Amigo" (the communiry car), but not to tell him that the utar was about to begin' So

I

went. Since it u)a$ An elnergency trip, we each brought shelled rnaize so that the driuer utouldn't susPect anlthing was about to take place. The thing was he alreadl, knew, though onl1, as gossip, that tbe war wd$ about to begin. So he ashed me about

it, but I didn\

sd.!

anlthing

because those

were my orders and Ifollowed them although Alftedo was my goodfriend. I didn't euen inform my parents about what was about to happen because by then tbey were liuing in Las Margaritas. lVe nauelled all night and all day. On the 29th (of December 1993), we returned to La Realidad at about

4pm.

I

had completed ryt

frst

mision. I gaue my rePort back and [Sup

going to fight. In half an hour ute'll haue forced the police in Las Margaritas to surrender." That moment alutays stayed tuith me, just like many other of Sup C. L Pedro's

C.L Pedrol told me, "Prepare yurself

becAuse we are

frox. The trip we mad.e on the 30th (of December 1993) to Las Margaritas continues t0 sta! with me t0 this da1,. There were man! accid.ents along

inredible. rYitbout the enemy realizing in tbe dark of night, illuminated only by the

the walt. Our troops'aduance wAs

it,

we aduanced. lihe gbosts

headlights of the Zapatista cars and buses. Before reaching Las Margarhas there is a pkce,

iti iust before Zaragoza.

Near that phce euetyone dispersed, with their reuolutionary assignments: group, take the checkpoint on the Las Margaritas-Comitdn highway; third group, take the checkpoint on tlte San JosC Las Palmas-Abamirano highwary; fourth grouP, take the

frst group, take the muruicipal presidmcy;

Infupendrncia-Margaritas highway;

ffih

second

group, tahe the rad.io staion in

Las Margaritas.

That was at dawn, on that glorioas January lst, wlten we ceased being ghosts of the night and became the EZLN before the eyes of the world. Eueryone sd.w us with amazement and respectfor our courdgeous act.

Notes on a

Life

55

That\ how it was when Sup C. I. Pedrofell in combat against the police. He died courageously, hilling uarious police fficerl He confionted them ahne. His rage against tbe murd.erers of the people war s0 great that he no longer cared about his own life, and witb that he fulflled his promise: to

for tbe people or liue for our mztherland. I was shocked when they informed us that our beloued chief hadfalbru. I feb sucb a great pain, but he hadfulfllzd his mission and had ako prepared die

those who succeeded

him

uery well because he hnew that he

wouldfght and

that this sort of thing could. happen in war. That\ when that braue guenilla, myfriend Major Insurgente Z, took up the command. From then on our missions were bd by Major I. Z, abhough our pain at the fall of our great chief did not end there. One group went and tooh ouer tlte pkntation of Absaldn Castellanos Dominguez, taking him prisoner. They brought him to the mountains in order to put him on

nial for all of the crimes he had committed while he was gouernor of tbe state [of CbiapasJ. He was the intelbctual duthor of those crimes. In spite of all the cbarges against him, of being guilty of murdering so many of the .Vololchan,

his rights as a prisoner of war cbildren, women, and elderly of were respected. He was neaer once tortured. On the contrary, whateuer tbe trozpt ate, he was giuen to eat as well. That's how our comrad.e [Major I.

Z.J

once

again demonstrated the education and military experience be had

gained during our chndestine period. Tbe liues of those who fall prisoner in A w*r must be respected, and it is a reminder for all who read our history

that

respect is earned by

aboue

if thq

rupecting those behw, but ako by respeoing those

demonstrate respect fzr those below. Dying

in order to liue.

Galeano." (.

. . continues)

"In Las Margaritas I had the tash of creating a chechpoint on the Las Margaritas-San Josi Las Palmas highway. From tltere, ue uere moued to the Las Margaritas-Comitdn highway. That\ where we were all night

hng on January lst until we receiued the order to take the Conasupd3 'We headed there uith other wareltouse tbat was ouer in Espiritu Santo. compafieros insurgentes to gather prouisions so that tbe troops couU haue something to eat. Then the ord.er was giuen

for

us to retreat to the moun'

tains and so we clme and positioned ourselues at Guadalupe Tepryac and

23

State entiry set up to distribute subsidized food.

56

shortly thereafier we ambushed La Realidad at kilometer 90, Cerro Quemado. Then they sent me to tahe a three-ton uehicle that belonged to this bastard named J from Guadalupe Los Abos. I didn't hnow how to driue well. I only knew how to driue a uehicle in theory, and so thati when I got m! ?ractice and the uehicle started t0 moae. I reached La Realidad using

L and many other insurgentes were already there waitingfor me and they said, "Come only the frst gear the entire way. The compairera Captain

on Galeano, let\ go," and I said, "but I hauen't euen euer euen driaen, much bss giuen anlone a ride." \i"g in order to liue. Galeano." (written behaeen 2005 and 2009) (...continues)

"It dnesn't matter, you

haue to be ready

for

euerything

in war," the

compafiera replied. So we went up ahead, ?ast Cerro Quemado. I was gaining confdence and I started goingfaster, but at d curue I turned the steering wheel too far arud I ran offthe road about 15 meters into the tall grass besidt the highway.

But, well,

I

managed to get us out of there and

I

droue on in order to complete my mission.

From that day on, I started driuing euery day until one day a helicopter it began to shower me with bullets. It shot at me for about 10 to 20 miruutel but I had taken careful coaer under a roch. Only dust

spotted us and

and the smell of rock and gunpowdzr reached

me .

When the gunfre ceased

I W ry hidingpkce and continaed on with my mission. The mission wds to pich up the milicianos wlto were near Momdn. I headed oaer there and returned with my fiiend and military chief the compafiero Major Insurgente Z. We were always together during those dalts of utar, euen during the ceasefre. During the work of the frst Aguascalientes24 in Guadalupe Tepqtac, I and the helicopter retreated,

?drtici?dted in screening Conuention.

I

the people

who came to the National Democratic

was also trained as a bodyguard and

I

serued ds a

bo$tguard

for our leadzrship. Later, on February 9th fi9951, the day of Zedillo's betrayal, we went to block the highway at Cerro Quemado. The army was already at Guadalupe Tepeyac but we aduanced in darhness and worked to build ditches and fell trees in order to preuent the federal noops fom mahing it to La Realidad. Then ue retreated t0 tlte mountains for seueral days until,

24

See glossary

Notes on a

Life

57

once agdin, the people of Mexico and the world mobilized and preuented

of our EZLN leadership and our troops. Afier mary days encdmPment in the mountains, we returned to our uillages. tbe persecution

of

I participated in all of the encounters that our organization heU and serued as bodyguard for our military chiefi. I ako participated in the march of the 1,111 Zapatistas to Mexico City. In all of those marches, I always participated proudly as the driuer of El Conejo,' F,lTata,'and El Chocolate.' I droue our compafieros t0 the marches in order to make our demands. When all of the sergeants got coU feet, I stood frm and thq, promoted me t0 sergeant. I was a regional organizer for the youth during times of clandestiniry and in times of war. We haue made war against the enem! a thousand and one ways, abhough the bad gouernment has done the same thing to us as well. IVe should ualue the great

paths we haue trauelled no mdtter the racrifces

and losses. They haue madc us much ttrznger and tbey keep me on the path of strugle to fnd the feedom that our pezple need. There is still much

it\

true, because the path is long and dfficub. Maybe the it is far ofi but we will win. Afier that, the Juntas de Buen Gobierno were formed and they chose me as the driuer for the frst truck thry obtained. It was called "el Diablo." more to trauel,

end of the road is near, maybe

I was hidnapped together with another compaflero, and the ClOAC-I1zitdrica25 tied us up and took us aua! in tltat same truck. They had me tied up for seueral hours before nansferring me luer to a jail in Sahillo. Then they transferred me t0 Justo Sierra and lefi me there without food, tied up, and incommunicado. Thry wanted me to demand that one Later

of their dclinquents be released, but

I

refused to be exchanged because

I

was

innocent and he wls one of those thieues who are so czmmon in the social organizations.

I

until they recognized that tbey were gexing with ltuman rights organizations and with the EZLN. And fnally they released the truch afier bolding it for 3 montbs. Afier that, tbe truck got lt nltme change: El Secuestrado Hist6rico' [The Historically KidnappedJ. That's when the work of the Juntas de Buen Gobierno and of autonom! began. Dying in ordcr to liue. Galeano (January 24, 2012)." was held captiue

for 9

themselaes into problems

25

See glossary

days

58

This is the last date that appears in compaftero Galeano's notebook. Next to that brief autobiography appears a pair of poems, probably his own, and some songs about love and that sort of thing. For my part, all that's left for me to do is add that the Zapatista Maestro compafiero Galeano was just like all the other Zapatista cl7npaficrls and compafieras, someone it was worth dying for so that they could be reborn again.

Upon finishing these lines, maybe there is a response to a latent question-a question that lies at the heart of the kind of history that cannot be written with words: 'Who or what made it possible that in a space of struggle a Zapatista philosopher and an indigenous Zapatista might converge? How was it that, without ceasing to be a teacher, the philosopher became a Zapatista, and the indigenous, without ceasing to be a Zapatista, became a teacher?

Something happens in the world that makes this and other absurdities possible.

Vhy, in order to live,

does one bequeath one's loved ones a hidden

piece of their story's puzzle?

-Why,

in order to not leave, does the other leave us letters in which

his gaze is turned on himself and his history with us Zapatistas? This is what we try to answer every day, every hour, in every corner.

Now, as I am about to place the final period on these words the answer, it occurs to me, or at least a part of it is seated at that table. It is found within those who are in front of me and behind me; it is in the worlds that come near thanks to struggle of those who with hidden pride call themselves Zapatistas-professionals of hope, transgressors of the law of graviry, people who without a fuss and in each step say: \TE DIE IN ORDER TO LIVE,

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano.

Mexico, May 2,2015.

59

On Some of \Yhat has Changed

Political Economy

I

from the Perspective of the Zapatista Communities

A View

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds

May 4,2015. Good aftern oon compafieros, compafieras.

What I'm going to talk to you about-not read to you-has to do with what the economy was like and is like in the communities. That is, I'm going to talk to you about capitalism. I'm going to talk to you about how it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and in these past few years. I'm going to speak to you about this in three parts: how the communities lived before, 30 years ago; how those who are not organized as Zapatistas live today; and then about how we live, the Zapatistas of today.

That's not to say that we don't know how it was centuries ago; we do know. But we want to demarcate things from here because we are 30 years old-starting from the year 1983 when the group of compafteros arrived [in Chiapas]. So from that date to now, we are 30 years old. Before the Zapatista Army for National Liberation was created, we indigenous peoples of Chiapas didn't exist for the capitalist system. It didn't consider us people, we weren't human. It considered us less than trash. 'i7e imagine that's how it was for the other indigenous brothers and sisters in the rest of our country, and that's how we imagine it is in

60 any country where indigenous people exist. \(here we live, that is, in the mountainous regions, in the hills, was designated as a reserve. They didn't know that indigenous people lived there, in what they call the Montes Azules Biosphere. So nobody counted

how many little boys and girls were born there. That is, capitalism didn't know anything about us because no one took our existence into accounu we didn't exist for them. So then how did we survive there?'S7.ell, with Mother Earth. Mother Earth is what gave us life even though there wasn't any government, any governors or mayors taking us into account. 'We were forgotten. The only thing thought to be of importance there were the very good lands surrounding our communities, on which a few men (with their wives of course) lived. They were the landowners, the f.nqueros, the latifandistas, or the owners of large estates. 'S7'hy

do they need thousands and thousands of hectares of good land for themselves? It's so that they can have thousands and thousands of head of livestock, cows. How was

for such

it that they were able to stay there

a long time? Because they had great gunmen, who we call the

guardias blancas,26 who kept us from coming onto their lands, Iands that they claimed were theirs. So then, what rype of economy in the communities was there to speak of ifwe were forgotten? The only thing these plantations did was

exploit our grandparents and great-grandparents. So what happened with us was that we had to become inventive. \7e had to imagine how we were going to live, how to survive on our Mother Earth, how to resist all of the evil that the landowners and estate owners sent our way.

No one knew anphing about highways, no one knew about any of those things called clinics and hospitals, much

less about schools

or classrooms for education. There were never any health campaigns, programs, grants, nothing. 'we were forgotten. So then I'm saying-because I speak for all of the brothers and sisters, compafieros, who are organized today, I am not speaking for myself-in the last 20 years we can now see the capitalist economy inside the communities because now those above have started to take

26 local rulers machinerv

Literally "white guards." Hired guns paid by large landowners and as private security, usually to reinforce private properry and political

Political Economy

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61

an interest in them. It's not an interest in the communities themselves but an interest in where they live, where we live-and where we once

lived, because there are brothers and sisters, compafteros and compafteras

who have died. First, it wasn't enough that they had the best lands, which had already served them for many years. Now they've realized that in the mountains and hills there's anorher commodiry available to them, and as has

already been mentioned here, that commodiry is narure's wealth.

So now they've started to organize themselves so they can evict us from

the very same places they had pushed and ordered us into. Now they want to push us out of there. That is, they want to dispossess and evict us because now they wanr rhar wealth. 'We

together with our great-grear-grandparents have taken good care of the wealth that exists there. But that's what they want ro take, ro extract, the capitalists who in only a few years will destroy what it took Mother Earth billions of years to make. How can that be? Well, just remember the trick of the capitalist system, the trap that it set when they changed Article 27 so that the ejido?'zcould be privatized. Because what they're trying to do now is make Mother Earth something rhat can be rented or sold. I will have to invite you ro use a little imagination, because we're talking about 20 years ago-when we made ourselves public. 'When the government saw this, it started coming ro these areas. It disguised itself in many different ways. One way was for the bad government to go around claiming that it was fulfilling our demands by building highways. But that's not why rhey were building these highways. They were building them because of the change they made to Article 27 thar allowed the privatization of rhe ejidos. So the government took advantage of the situation in rwo ways. First, it saw that we rose up and it then acted like it was fulfilling our demands by putting in highways and funding projects. Second, they would say rhar with these projects they were contributing one or rwo million pesas, but this sum is divided into a hundred, two hundred, three hundred projects, so what's left for each is a pittance. Even then it doesn't go to the communities, it goes into the pockets of the various levels of

27

See glossary

62

the bad government. Regardless, they declare this a success, and this is

what they tell us.

If you only knew what the czm?a; and the brothers and sisters say about these projects. They even tell us there is a proiect called "pececito,zs whatever that means. That's why I'm saylng they take a

little money and spread it over a bunch of projects. Also, a few schools and clinics have now started popping up. The students there don't even know how to read but the government proclaims that they've been awarded scholarships. They say that if you provide your new popular health insurance identification card in the clinics they will take good care of you. But when you actually visit the clinic they tell you that there are no doctors available. If there is a doctor available, then they tell you they don't have any medicine. If there is a doctor and they do have medicine, then the medicine turns out to be expired. But because many don't know how to read, the doctor gives you the expired medicine anyway, but of course it doesn't cure what's ailing you. The point is to just make it look like they're giving you your medication, you don't even know if it's the medicine you need for your illness. So new projects like the one I'm describing to you have started popping up over the years. These pro.iects implemented by the bad government that distribute a little money are then used to help the government control those who would become Zapatistas. I think they call this a counter-insurgency campaign, or a low-intensiry war. I don't know what it's called exactly but it's to control you so that you no longer struggle. It is as if they were saying, "Here you go, now we're fulfilling your demands. If you're even thinking about joining the Zapatistas just take a look at my military, it's much better prepared. All you would be doing is sending yourself to your death." So this is all a campaign to control people. I am telling you this because those communities that allowed their ejidos to be privatized-because there were some that did allow it-are now like the cities. They have vagabonds walking around homeless and addicted to [paint] thinner and those kinds of things. It's the same

28

It seems Subcomandante MoisCs is pointing to the irony that the name of rhis government program ('pececito" or ti*le fiih) serves as a homonym to "pesesito" whicl might also bei joking way of referring to a single lonely peso.

PoliticalEconomy

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63

in those communities because they sold offtheir land and received properry deeds as if they were ranch owners-in their case,

as the cities

petry proprietors. Once they owned the land they went and sold it off and now they're left out on the streets and they don't have anywhere to cultivate their maize or beans. Others, those who have accepted a government project of some kind, are now having to pay back interest [on loans] in accord with the dictates of capital. Just to give you a few examples, over by the Caracol of La Realidad there is a communiry named Agua Perla where the Jatatd River runs. That community accepted some of these government pro.iects and now there's a group of caxknes [non-indigenous people] or mestizos that have shown up to say, "you know what gentlemen, this is what you owe. This land is no longer yours and just so that we don't have any problems, why don't you move on over to Escarcega-that is, to Campeche, I think that Escarcega is in Campeche-or why don't

you move to Oaxaca, where there's fighting between the Chiapan government and the Oaxacan government over Las Chimalapas. That's where they're asking those inhabitants who are partidista?e to go. I have to call them partidistas because before, it was just the PRI

followers, the PRlistas who were fucking with us, and now all of the political parties are, so that's why we now call them partidistas. Another communiry in Roberto Barrios named Chulum Juarez has also accepted pro.iects. It's the same thing with them. The government offered to build them a highway and the community accepted because it would be paved. They started building it really quickly; it only took a few months to build, but it was really well made. Now that there's a highway, now that they've received their domo (that's what they call corrugated tin roofing and other things), now that they've put down gravel on the community's roads, now that all that is in place, and the highway is finished, they come and they tell this community, "You know what gentlemen, you're going to have to leave because there is uranium in these hills and the government is going to extract it. So if you want to live then you will need to leave. Go to Oaxaca if you want and if you don't leave on your own you will be forced to do so." That's what they've been preparing to do for over 20 years and now

29

See glossarv.

64

they're carrying it out. And now that they have changed the laws to benefit the capitalist system, it's a done deal, that's what they think because it's on paper. So we say in response: it says on paper that this is all authorized, but what remains to be seen is what will happen when it runs up against the people. 'Will they let it happen? It also remains to be seen if, when it runs up against us Zapatistas, we will let it happen.

I am telling you about, and because we study our own history, the question for us is: why is it that capitalism '!7hy is it that capitalism changes the way it dominates does change? us in order to keep getting more of what it already has while we the So in light of all these things

exploited continue on the same? That's what we ask ourselves, because this is what happens with the

?artidistd brothers and sisters. This is how we refer to them because we also make a distinction for partidistas who do not harm us, who we call 'brothers' and 'sisters.' But we're not going to call the fucking paramilitaries 'brothers and sisters,' those guys, well, those guys are real sons ofbitches.

Once we came into the public eye, as the compafiera Vilma has noted, we Zapatistas said we must recover our Mother Earth. It's as if they had taken our mother away from us and we had to go find where she was,

and once we found her we had to get her back.

'W'e

can say this

in a lot of different ways but the point is to get her back, not to fight amongst ourselves.

it was something like this, they had taken our mother away from us so we began to organize ourselves. That's the first thing, you have to organize yourselves and that's what we did. We had to organize ourselves as women and men to get back our Mother Earth. There's no other way to say it. Everything comes from Mother Earth so we had to take her back, and we began to organize ourselves to see how we would work Mother Earth. As the years passed, the bad government and the landowners began to say that it was thanks to us, the Zapatistas, that those lands (thousands of hectares) were now unproductive. 'W'e agree. They are not productive for the landowners or for capitalism; they are producSo

tive for us.'W'hat these lands produce now are not thousands of head of cattle for the landowners but thousands and thousands of ears of corn,

Political Economy

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just like this one [holds up corncob]. Mother Earth first gave us tiny corncobs like this one on the lands that the landowners had taken away from us (and they did take them away from us-it's not true that we are taking them away from anyone because they were ours). They had so mistreated Mother Earth that our first harvests were tiny just like this. But our grandfathers already knew how to work the land, and little by little we were once again able to find the way to work with our Mother Earth. 'W'e

work these recovered lands collectively. W.e say "collectively," but one needs a lot of practice in order to 6gure our how to do that. For example, we first began working the land collectively, all of us. That is, nobody had their own milpa.3o Rather, we were completely together, all of us. Then, we would have the problem of too much rain, or of drought, or a storm and we started to suffer losses. The compafieros started to say that we shouldn't do things this way. They said, why don't we organize ourselves and come to an agreemenr on how many days we will contribute to collective work, and how many days to our own plots? It was really the compafieras who came up with this idea because they are the ones who grow the food's seasonings-what we call the cebollin, the onions, and other seasonings that the compafieras use for cooking. Because the land belonged to everyone, when one compaftera would send her son or daughter to the milpa to bring back some of the harvest, everyone else would do the same and then everything was gone. There wasn't a working agreement yet. The compas started seeing this as a problem and began to discover new ways to do things, like what to do if someone wants some corn. Since the milpa is collective, if everyone takes some corn it will all go too quickly. That's where things were getting messy because there was no working agreement. So the com?ds came to an agreement: x number of days we will all work collectively; x number of days we will work on our own. The collective work is done at the level of the village, the local level or the community. It is also done at the regional level, as we call it, where the region is a group of 40,50, or 60 villages. Collective work is

30

See glossary

66 also done at the municipal level, by which we mean a group of three,

four, or five regions-that is, at the level of the Autonomous Zapatista Municipalities in Rebellion. 'Vhen we say "the collective work of the zone" we mean the work of all of the municipalities that exist in the five zones, like La Realidad, Morelia, Garrucha, etc. So when we talk about zones, we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of communities, and when we talk about municipalities, we're talking about dozens of communities. That's how collective work is done, but collective work doesn't only mean work with Mother Earth. I'll just remind you of what the now defirnct SupMarcos once said back in the days when somebody said something about weren't we supposed to be anti-capitalists and we're over here drinking CocaCola? I don't know if anybody here remembers that. How can I explain this-what happens is that we're idealized. People think that everything that we say is just magically accomplished. No compafieros and compafieras, brothers and sisters, what we are is organized.

Let me give you a clearer example. I remember that a compafiera from the city was really angry because she witnessed a Zapatista comPa yelling at his compafrera, and he was wasted, intoxicated, drunk. So we told the compafiera, be calm compafiera, because that Zapatista compaftera is going to report this to the authorities, and tomorrow or the day after that com?a will have to face punishment. You shouldn't think that because we say the word "clean" that magically everything will be clean, that ifwe say the word "black" then magically everything will be black. No, that's just idealism. But yes, the Zapatista compafiera is going to report this incident and then punishment will come. The point is to be organized. How many women were mistreated before, when there was no trustee, no councilman, no mayor to resolve the compafieras'problems? 'What's more, back then the trustee, the

councilman, and the mayor were often worse than the problem at hand. How could they possibly resolve anything? 'Well then, we are talking about collective work. So we have other types of collective work, such as the sale of that thing [Coca-Cola] that I just mentioned. It's not that we enjoy it; it's that we Zapatistas believe that in order to do away with capitalism we have to destroy it. So one way to destroy it is to take the means of production into our

Political Economy

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67

hands, take ownership and manage these ourselves. So then if we sell things-like for example here we have some soil, but what about that over there? That thing those fowers are in? Is it produced by capitalism

or not? And those eyeglasses you're wearing? tVhat about those? lVhat about everFthing you have on? But yes, we understand this as a way to put just a small denr in capitalism. Yes, it's true that we will lower its profits just a little. That's not inaccurate. But when we do something it is because we have come to an agreement through communication amongst dl of us and it is one thing to say something and another to do it. For example, I remember a lot of NGOs around here saying, "'SV'e won'[ allow it" when [the supermarket chain] Chedrahui came here [San Crist6bal de las Casas, Chiapas]. They said, "'$7'e won't buy from there." That promise didn't even last two weeks. So it's one thing to say something and another thing ro do it. So now I will discuss with you some of things that we started to discover as we were doing collective work. This included all kinds of work, it wasn't only work having to do with Mother Earth. 'We started to see things about our resistance; we started to discover things. '!7'e began the resistance with our compafieros and compafteras from our communities, and I want to tell you how the idea to resist was

born. At the time of the uprising, the bad government began to use spies, "ears" we call them, people who listen to what the Zapatistas do and how they move. The compafreras and the compafieros realized that the teachers were serving as these spies, these ears, so they fired them.

Then we had a problem-we no longer had any teachers. So we had to invent, we had to imagine, we had to create. As I was mentioning earlier, the government started to tell everyone that it was going to give out a lot of [development] projects. And this was upsetting because it became clear to us that they were giving out what they were giving out because the government didn't want them o be Zapatistas. In other words they were giving away these things because of us. "Oh, so that's how it is," we said. And that's when the compafieras started to say "no" [to the pro.iects] because compafieros who were insurgentes and milicianas had died in '94. These czmpafreras were the ones who started to exclaim, "If we

68

armed ourselves and went out there and our czm?afieros died out there, why would we now accept the leftovers, the handouts, and the crumbs

that the bad government is giving out? Vhat it wants to do is buy us offlike it's buying off those communities who aren't aheady Zapatistas so that they

won't become Zapatistas."

So then the idea started to grow and

multiply that refusing to accept

things from the bad government was the same as being a combatant. And then we began to discover that it had to be more than just not accepting things. I tell you this because it was when we started to see that they were giving out a lot of projects to the Partidistat that we started to say that we have to work the Mother Earth. \Vhen we began this conversation the cornpafieros and compafieras said, "Yes of course, when our great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were alive, did the government give them beans, rice, oil, and milk as handouts? No, on the contrary, all of the fruits of their work went straight to the boss. So why now is the government going to give you a kilo of Minsa, Maseca [brands of processed corn flour], beans, etc.? On top of everything else, it's all genetically modified, has chemicals, and it's not even real milk. So that's when we said that we definitely have to work Mother Earth. 'We started to really strengthen the resistance. Those of us compas who understood this quickly now have beans, maize, coffee, pigs, turkeys, and other animals. Those who were Partidistas continued to receive corrugated tin roofing, cement, and other cheaply made construction materials [from the government]. But since these partidistas don't work the land, they don't have resources, and when the compas need something they just offer to buy the wheelbarrows and corrugated roofing from the partidistas and [the partidistas] immediately sell. The com?ds can buy this stufffrom them because they have the resources to do so, which they get from working the land. So the compas realized what was happening, we figured it out. We indigenous people are very practical, if we see that something works then we say, "ha, now we've screwed them," and then we all start doing it and keep at it because it works. So then the compas put in even more effort to work the land. That's when the government started to say that it was giving out a

Politicol Economy

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lot of projects. "Look at all the red corrugated roofing," they would tell everyone, because the roofing they give out is always red. But the compas install this roofing on their houses too. So the government would say, "lq6k-1h6se come from our projects." But it wasn't true. Those were houses that belonged rc compas that had corrugated roofing that they bought from partidistas.The government then realized what was going on and again tried to control people: they forced people to prove that they built their houses with the material the government had given them. That's whatthe partidistas started to do as well, because they also have these housing projects. They force people to show that they're using the building material themselves, because otherwise the material will end up with the Zapatistas, they say.

For us in the Zapatista communities, we see the conditions of the partidista brothers, and honestly, comPdfieros and compafreras, it makes one really sad to see how they live. It makes you feel sad and bitter to see that many of the youth ljduenes and jduenaFl] that we used to know are no longer there. They left seeking the 'American Dream,' to find that green money-dollars. Many never returned, and some who have returned have very little left of their former selves. They came back and aren't doing well. They are drug addicts; they smoke marijuana. Even those who don't smoke mari.iuana come back with a different culture. They say that they no longer want to drink pozol,32 or worse, that they don't even recognize it. So the son or daughter returns home and arrives at their father or mother's house. It turns out that their father and their mother aren't doing so well either because the government has gotten them used to sitting around with their arms crossed. The government has programmed their brains to when they will receive their next Oportunidades lgovernment subsidy], which I think they now call Prospera.33 That is, the partidista brothers have been made useless because they no longer work the land. I think that the word to describe them is "submissive." Even

in the era of

slavery, one knew very well that the boss was

enslaving you. But now that's not the case, because now the boss has 31

32 33

See glossary. See glossary. See glossary.

70

gotten you used to things, he's programmed your chip, that is, he's in your head. He's programmed your brain. So now you don't understand what's going on and you don't see the faces behind it, whether Pefia Nieto or Velasco or any of the other ones, any of the rest who will deceive you. \Vhy do they do that? Because it's the new tactic they use to get what they want, and what they want is the Mother Earth so that they can extract all her riches. Force isn't the only way to take Mother Earth. \(hat they don't want is to have a situation where the army and police have to kill, but the day will come when they clash with the people who aren't going to allow what they're doing. For now, what all those projects do is get people used to them, programming them so that they

to no longer working the land. People get used to it, and it's even worse if the people have applied for the land title because then they can sell it. The result is that their land can be taken away. This is what is happening to the partidista brothers. And this is what capitalism wants-what Mother Earth has. I can give you an example of what we mean when we say that in the partidista communities the situation is really sad. Hopefully those brothers and sisters are here right now so that they can confirm everFthing I am going to tell you. There is a community over near La Realidad, I think it's called Miguel Hidalgo, near the village of Nuevo Mom6n. Up until a few months ago, the brothers there used to be C|OAc-Histdica-they supported what was done to our czm?afiero Maestro Galeano. Weeks after what happened rc compa Maestro Galeano something happened with those brothers who are now exCIOAC. They no longer want to be CIOAC, but they used to be. Because of different party politics--different political ideologies with the projects-they decided "k's berrer ro srep aside so we don'r end up killing each other." So when their communiry violently kicked them out, they went to land that was recovered [by the Zapatistas] in'94 to become accustomed

take refuge.

People

no longer

respect

all that. The leaders of the social

organizations are to blame because they don't stand up for themselves,

they sell out and the other men and women of those groups aren't organized.

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That's why we say that all that is a disaster. The governmenr has those partidisra communities used to things the way they are. But now I'll tell you something that happened maybe a month or a month and a half ago. You've seen how the government has said that it's going to have to cut back on social programs. Well, in the communities, even though the students don't know how to read or write, each student receives 1,000 or l,2OO pesos in school subsidies. So parents who have four children in school get up to 5,000 pesos and the mothers and fathers have gotten used to this. fu of maybe a month or a month and a half ago, those same families with four children in school are now only receiving 800 pesos in school subsidies. They're saying, "Now they've really fucked us." W'ell yes, now they have fucked you, brothers. 'W,hat else can we say? And we know, because of our way as indigenous

if we're cell phones-the word spreads very quickly. If someone is lost, the community quickly finds out that someone is lost. If someone is sick, the community quickly 6nds out thar someone is sick. It's like a telephone that lets everyone know. So we, together with the bases of support from the communities, held a meeting where we explained how much worse the situation is going to become, not only for us as indigenous people but for all of Mexico, in the countryside and in the ciry-and not just in Mexico. So as Zapadstas, we have family members who are not Zapatista5-1hs1s are some families who are good, and others that want nothing to do with us.'We can recognize the ones who will understand, which ones aren't against us, and we talk with them about the situation. That's how word gets around that the situation is about to get bad, and then reports begin to emerge that it's true, that such-and-such off,cial came by to collect on debts. That's how information starts coming out. This is what we were telling you about before, and people were asking us what they could do about it. \What we tell them is, "Organize

people-it's

as

yourselves, brothers and sisters." "

But wltat are

we

goingto do with this organization?" Think it through.

But how are we going to think it through?" Start from how you live and move from there. Another thing that we see in the lives of the partidistas is thar it's not the children's fault that they live how they live. In addition to the bad "

72

government's bad guidance, the children are abandoned. \Vho knows what will end up happening to them? M"yb. they will wake up when they realize what's going to happen, but for that we think that a lot of things would need to take place first. Theywill go become pickpockets, bandits, thieves of maize, beans, everything, and it will be worse if they are addicted to drugs. There are communities who smoke a lot of marijuana, that's the truth. That's what I mean when I say that the children there are like abandoned baby chicks. All this we're telling you is about how we live. You all know what life is like where you live. The only thing that we're saying is that it is time to put ideas into practice, because if not it's just going to be talk, talk, talk.

This might be a bad example, but let's take the believers. Their Bible dl watered down in their hands, or however you say it. For all that reading and reading, in the end the words just died. It says justice, it says freedom, it says no to injustice, but those are just words. It's the same thing with the politicians. So then, compafieros, compafieras, brothers, and sisters, we are not telling you to rise up in arms. 'W'e're also not telling you to take our example and copy it. No. All of us have to study our own terrain and see what is possible for us to do there. But what we all do need to do is to put things into practice. For example, it's like when we say that what we want to build is for centuries and centuries and forever. So we ask ourselves, how are we going to do this? If the older Zapatistas in struggle don't prepare their daughters, their sons, that is, the new generation who are 19 and 20 years old now, then we will see that 50 or 60 years from now the has gotten

grandson of Ex-General Absal6n Castellanos Dom(nguez (the former governor of Chiapas) will be back and he will be the one giving orders

in the communities all over again. That's what will

happen

if

that

new generation isn't prepared, and that new generation has to prepare another and so on so that what we create can last for centuries and centuries, forever. But if this preparation doesn't happen, it won't last.

One of the bases of our Zapatista economic resistance is Mother Earth. tVe don't have those houses that the bad government builds, with cinder block and all that, but we do have our health and education

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systems and we live by the people ruling and the government obeying.

-Vhen I pause awhile to think about what I want [...A long pause] to say to you, what I'm thinking is how it's one thing to talk about our economic situation and another thing to talk about how we are governing. This is difficult for me to explain because the compas don't govern themselves the same everywhere.

An example: With some of the compas'collectives, when it's time to sell, whether it's maize, beans, or livestock, what the compas do is organize themselves collectively and act as a kind of coyote [middleman] in order to compete with the cllotes. For example, I'm a Zapatista and a compa is selling cofFee, or cattle, or maize wholesale, and he's asking 23 pesos for a kilo of coffee (I think that's what it's at now). I as a Zapatista investigate how much the coyotes are selling coffee for at retail and I see that it's selling for 40 pesos over there. But the coyote is only paying 23 pesos for it over here, so how much is he making? \X4rat I do then is calculate how much transportation costs are going to be for me if I go sell retail like rhe coyote, and how much more I can afford to pay rhe compa than what the coyote is paying him. If the coyote is paying 23 pesos per kilo, then I buy itfor 24 pesos. Then the Zapatista czmpas come to me, as do the partidistas, and now rhe coyote doesn't have his clients anymore. So then rhe coyote hears that I've been paying 24 pesos and he's only been paying 23 pesos, and he tries to compete with me by paying 24 pesos. Then what the Zapatista does is calculate again to see whether he can still raise his buying price to 25 pesos per kilo. So it's like pitting two colztes against each other in competition, you understand? That's how the struggle goes. Meanwhile the partidistas go around saying, "You see how the Zapatistas pay us more? By one peso." That's how life is in the communities. That's why I say that there's not iust one way to do things, you have to figure out a way. This also applies to the way one imagines economy as an autonomous authoriry. For example, under autonomy, everything was going well in the health, education, and agro-ecology systems, as well as in the "three areas" as the compas call them: bone-setting,

midwifery, and herbal medi-

cine. That was when there were project donations from our compafieros

and compafieras

in solidarity. But when those donations and NGO

74

projects dwindled, the organization of the construction of autonomy weakened in education and health. So we realized then and there that we failed because, how else to say

it, all we wanted to do was spend and that's it, it wasn't coming from our own sweat as the compas say. Because when it comes from your own sweat then you will take good care of it, you won't go around spending it willy-nilly. So we realized that what we were doing wasn't working and we had to remedy it. In fixing the situation, another question arises. A lot of the things that we do, the way that we go about organizing ourselv65-den'1 think that it's because we are really imaginative, that we have superpowers or something. No, compafieros, 'We

go about inventing, creating things. go about resolving problems as they arise, and what really happens is that we just don't stop trying. \7e don't ignore the problem, we have to resolve it and the advantage is that we ourselves are the ones to do it. 'W'e don't depend on any Bovernment body to do it. If we're not doing it right, then none of us are doing it right. Ifwe are doing it right, then czmpafteras, brothers, sisters.

'S7e

it's because we are all doing it right. So as I was saying about the projects and the donations, we had to correct that situation ourselves. \7hen we figured out how to correct it, that's when those people seeking [to create or fund] projects started 'W'e 'We said, "'W'e need to be able to reproduce this. getting upset. 'W'e need to think about how to reproduce this can't just be spending. when the day comes that there's no more project funds offered, when there's no more donations from our brothers and sisters, compafieros and compafieras in solidarity." So in this way we maintain our ability to resist like before. That mistake we made with regard to the economic situation reminded us of the old days during clandestinity. Back then we were able to construct clinics while we were still organizing underground. '$7e didn't know then that we would one day have compafieros and .W'e com?afieras from the Asian continent, from the five continents.

couldn't even dream of that. Back then it wasn't through solidariry but through our own sweat. So then we started to talk to the compafierot about that experience and we again took up that practice and began to work, and that's how we're doing it now.

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That's why we say that we are re-educating and re-organizing in the face of the looming storm. In realiry, compafieros and czm?afieras, we could say a lot more. Things really aren't that easy but this is so that you get a general idea. The point is, let's not just sit there and take it. I'll tell you something else about collective work that took place about two or three months ago. So we are reorganizing ourselves, as we say, re-educating ourselves, and we have to give collective work everFthing we've got so that we can understand how we are going to move, how we are going to struggle. It turns out that as the com?as in the communities, regions, municipalities and zones were meeting in their assemblies, a Zapatista compa says, compafreros, compafieras, l'm not going to join you in collective work because I don't see anything there for me. Nothing from there buys my salt or my soap. But this isn't to say that I'm not going to continue on in the struggle. I'm going to continue being a Zapatista and if we need to contribute [money] to the struggle then I am in agreement. ourselves

So then the compas say," Compa, you're wrong in what you are saying. You have to remember what you are, you're aZapatista, and right now we're not just discussing collective work, we're also discussing what it means to be a Zapatista. The Zapatista has to confront everything. So if you say that you don't want to be part of collective work because it takes us three, four, 6ve days, then what you'll have to do instead is work in the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities in Rebellion and that service is three years long. The collective work we're talking about is only three or four days. Think about what you're saying."

They were in an assembly, just like how all of us are gathered here right now. Then rhe son of this compa stands up and says, "It's true, this is my dad's bad habit." The son is a health ?romotor and he says, "My dad says that I am a health promotorby name only because I don't even know how ro give someone an aspirin. That's what he tells me because what he wants me to do is leave my cargo as ahealth promotor so I can go away to study." The compa didn't want his son to study at the autonomous school, but rather he wanted him to go away to study who knows where. The son continued, "But every time my dad gets sick, he comes and asks me to give him a pill."

76

I tell you this story, czm?at, so that you can see that you don't have to just sit there and take it or just talk about it. You can confront it, you can do it, you can find a way, invent it, create it. That's what this is about. So think about it. You've seen that we work the land; your guardianes and guardianafa have taken you there. Is it not true that the Zapatistas work the land? Is it not true that the Zapatistas do not emigrate? Just remember that story that

I told you about that

czmpa

of support, who said that he didn't want to do collective work it causes problems. In that case you oust yourself, you expel yourself. Because around here, being Zapatista means confronting it all, and there are some who no longer want to do that and that's how they effectively leave. Those who do this have really already left, they straight up don't want to struggle anymore. That is, they have base

because

abandoned the organization.

That's why, given the little that we do economically, we don't pay for electricity, water, land ownership, nothing. But we don't receive anything from the system either. As we've already said, but to repeat here, part of the reason we do our collective work at the zone, regional, municipal, and communiry level is because we always have to keep in mind the possibility that we may need to mobilize to support our brothers, sisters, compafieros, compafieras.'W'e don't mobilize to demand that the government fulfill its promises; we don't generate resources for that. So then, what we will be talking more about later is this: that in this process of evaluating how we are doing, what we want to do, and what we are thinking about doing, it is the com?ds, the communities themselves that authorize action, that rule and decide.'V7'e don't depend on the government. Since this is our way of being, we're going to keep on working, struggling, and dying if necessary in order to defend the way we are doing things now.

A reference to the Zapatista "guardians" or"uotanes" that accompanied 34 each student of the Zapatista Little School during their stay in Zapatista territory.

77

On Some oflVhat has Changed

Political Economy ll

from the Perspective of the Zapatista Communities

A View

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds

May 5,2015.

Good afternoon to everyone, compafteras, compafieros, brothers and sisters.

In response to what we have been explaining and listening to yesterday and the day before, we have been commenting in the commission of compafieros and compafieras of the CCRI35 that this seems to be along the lines of what we want to think about.36 fu long as you haven'r been daydreaming or sleeping, then you already have in mind what the compas and brothers here have talked about. They have already

a

told

us

lot about what this hydra is. So the question that remains is, what

must we do to counter it? '$7e must organize ourselves. tVhen we give this response, organize ourselves, it means that our heads are already telling us what must be done first, second, third, fourth, and so on. So it's an idea-when it is in your head it's an idea. Now, when you move your tongue, then 'S7hat that idea becomes your words. is still missing is action, that is, to

35 36

See glossary.

Subcomandante Insurgente Moises is referring to the presentations of the invited speakers from around the world which have been published in Spanish as Volume Il of Critical Thought in the Face of the Capitalist Hydra.

78 organize. Now, when you're organizing yourselves, watch out, because

going to turn out like you thought it would when you had the idea or like when you said it in words. You are going to begin to encounter a lot of barriers, a lot of challenges. But if we don't organize ourselves, we're going to get to the year 2100 (well, those of us who are going to get there), and we'll still be talking about ideas, words, and thoughts while capitalism has done its deed. 'Vhere did those of us who criticized capitalism go? \What were we doing that things turned out that way?

it isn't

Okay, that's just a thought we've been discussing a-mong the compas of the CCRI, of the Sixth Commission of the EZLN. 'We're going to continue by expanding on yesterday's topic. .W'e're going to talk about how the economy works in practice, not in theory, in the resistance of Zapatista men and women. It is from our Practice that we build the little bit of theory that we are sharing now. For example, this is how we work: we don't receive anything from the government. In fact, we don't even speak to the government, not a single base of support does. Even if they murder us, we don't speak

to the bad government. How do we deal with what we need to tell the bad government? One way is through the public denunciadons made by the Juntas dz Buen Gobierno so that the bad governments get the message. If not this way, well then on the Zapatista community radios, because as we were discussing yesterday, the government has its spies, its ears, and there is someone who is recording the messages on the Zapatista community radios, so we put this information out there. There's also another way, but we'll talk about that later.

example, in order to have need money because we have to we have no choice, we mobilizations pay for the gasoline with pesos; they don't accept kilos of maize or beans. This [the need to deal in moneyJ is what we struggle against, what we combat. Everything that I'm going to be discussing here via examples happens through a lot of political and ideological work, a lot of explaining, a lot of conversation about the importance of, and

\7e seldom deal in money. But for

necessity for, what we want to do.

For example, education. I'm going to tell you how we came up with our education process for the Zapatista school system. A compaftero

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79

who is a formadofT in one of the zones spent six monrhs in that zone 's caracol training the education promotores and promotoras. Hundreds of students, future teachers, go there to be trained. And so this compa who is an education formador wenr ro see his family.'When he got to his father's house he said, "I'm here, dad." And the father of this formador asked, "Did you bring your own maize? Did you bring your own beans? Because there isn't anlthing for you here." And so theformador responded: But wltat do you mean?" "What do I mean?" the father asked, "Well you aren't working." " How can you say I'm not working, dad, if I'm worhing there with the compasl" "

"What did your compas giue yu? If your worh is a seraice, tlten why don't they ako thinh about the fact that here you also haue to haue something to liue on." No, the thing is that we are in the struggle too," said the compa. "Yes, but we abo need to suruiue in order to Xruggle." "

" Yes," said

the compa formad.or.

"You know what my son?" said the father. "Son, you need to go back there. Speak to the autonomzus authzrities, because if you don t this is going to continue witbout us being suficiently organized." So the compa had to go back and talk rc the Junta dr Buen Gobierno and the Junta de Buen Gobierno organized with the compafteros who were in "the commission," which is what we call the vigilance commission and the information commission, that is, the compas, compafieros, and compafieras of the CCzu. They got together and began to discuss this problem because, well, it's a problem. The Junta and the CCRI said, yes it is true, this work takes a long time and it will always take time. So we need to figure out how we can make it work. The discussion began there about what to do. "W'ell, we'll haue to tahe something out of the little that tue bAue." " But how long will the linle that we haue last?"

"\Vell, it will only lnst about A yelr." They started to think through this problem until they came up with an idea. So the zone works collectively, all of the bases of support who

37

See glossary

80

live there participate in collective work projects.TheJunta's proposal is that the bases of support from the community of the education prorrtotor or formad.or take time from their own collective work project and instead go work in the cornfield, the bean field, the coffee field,

formador\ family. That way the formador will have maize, beans, cof[ee, and a few animals, but it is the other com?a bases of support that will do this work and that way the formador wrll have what they need to live on. So the zone won't provide pay-they aren't going to give the compafiero and comPdfiera who is an education formador a salary. It was also proposed they do the same thing for the people who train the compafiero and compafierahealth promotores. Other compafieros and compafieras in other zones live in different situations. For example, in the Selva Fronte riza Zone or the Selva TzeltalZone the situation isn't the same as for the comPar in Los Altos. It is very different. There are zones where they work collectively to raise cattle, and when the compafieros took their 6rst steps in this direction or pasture of

the

there were some things that they realized immediately. So, for example, in order to do the collective work at the zone level,

the compas realized that the communities were really far away from each other and that they would have to spend a lot of money in order to get to the locations where they could work collectively. Because this would cost a lot of money, the cornpas instead decided to distribute tasks, but the work itself remains collective. So let's imagine that this is a zone-imagine this building is a zone-but each community is very far away from the others, some of them are 10 hours away by car from

It might be the case that there are dif[erent collective work projects, there is a bakery over each other. So the com?ds came to an agreement.

here [gesturing around the building], there is a shoemaker over there in that corner, there is a farm that makes x product over here in this other spot, and over there is another collective project for the zone. So in order to avoid having extra expenses, all of the communities, the bases, work at the collective project that is closest to them and only the representatives from each community meet to discuss how things are going.

The point here is that there isn't anyone who doesn't work collectively. If someday it occurs to you to ask, but what happens with

Political Economy

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81

the people who don't wanr ro do the collective work? 'We don't force anyone to work. W.e don't force them, we simply say ro them, "that's

fine

if you don't want to, czm?afrero, com?afiera, but

as a Zapatista when we need to cooperate for something, you will have ro pay out of your own pocket." In our deeds and our practices, this is how the compas have managed to survive and how the compafieras have built their movemenr. And we

have seen how the ones who didn't wanr to be involved

in collective

work have slowly integrated themselves into it as well. It is the same thing in these zones rhar work collectively ro raise cattle. All of the collective work they do is for the struggle; it serves the movement for autonomy. In that zone what we learned in practice was that what we were doing wasn't working. That is, we made a mistake; we failed when we required l00o/o collective work. 'W'e saw this wasn't right when there were a lot of complaints, a lot of problems. The complaints were that there wasn'r any salt or rhar rhere was no soap. There were complaints that the products of the harvesr weren't distributed on time, complaints that compas who had many children were apportioned equal amounts to com?a$ who had few children. All of this made us realize that it would be better if the communities, the regions, the autonomous municipalities, and the zone as a whole came to an agreement about how they wanted their work to be structured.

The point is that they wanted time for the family and time for the collective. That is how the compds work. Take carde as one example. \Vhen I talk about raising cattle, there isn't just one way of doing this. There are, for example, cattle collectives who do cattle breeding. There are others who don't, who just purchase the young bulls, keep them for a few months, sell them, and take their profit and buy anorher, as

if they were trading goods. There are zones that also work in shoe-making, where the compas make shoes. There the compas were very critical of the ones who were raising cattle, and called them out saying that the hides of rhe cows that they have butchered or that have diedjust sit there and rot. The skins of horses, donkeys, mules, are just lost because nobody knew how

to tan the hides. So the compas tried to find someone to teach them how to do the tanning. But no one they asked wanted to teach them

82 because they were

looking for

a teacher at the place that buys the skins.

\(ell, maybe you all know someone who can teach us. Another form of Zapatista economy-and who knows why the compas name it like they do-but the autonomous banks like the BANPAZ, BANAMAZ, well now they call them BAC, for Banco Autdnomo Comunitario (Autonomous Community Bank). There are two ideas at play in these banks. One is about having basic necessities like soap, salt, sugar, and that type of thing. The second is that the bank is for the money that the comPlts have once they sell their beans, corn, pig, whatever they produce, so they can invest this money in building a local store. That way, the money that they make selling their products goes into a collective cooperative and the small profits they make can go towards building the movement for autonomy or for the struggle and not for the benefit of the partidistas. So this is what they do in the BAC, the autonomous banks. Before, when the corn?as had to borrow money from someone, Zapatista or not, theywere charged up to 15%o interest per month, meaning they were being taken advantage of. That is why the com?as created these autonomous banla, for general health and commerce. The compafieros have had problems in this work; don't think it has been perfect. But these problems are being improved, and if there are good things it is because of the decisions of men and women in the communities. For example, if I borrow ten thousand pesos from the autonomous bank for a family health problem and my child or my wife is cured, I pay two percent interest. If they aren't cured, if my child or wife passes away, then the money lent is lost; I don't have to pay it back. This is an agreement made by the people in the zone: if someone dies, then the money fioaned for health care] doesn't have to be paid back. tVhere does the fund in the autonomous bank come from? There are different ways that the compas create these funds in different zones. For example, one agreement that they made in order not to place too heavy a burden on the com?as, the bases, was that they agreed that each base of support should pay one ?esl per month. So this month, in May, I should deposit one Peso, and then in June I deposit another peso. As a base ofsupport, I pay 72 pesos per year, and given that there are thousands of us, then there are 72 thousand or 15 thousand pesos

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83

at the end of the year. This money is what goes into the firnd, inro the autonomous bank.

Money also comes from the donations made by our brothers and sisters, compafieros and compafieras in solidarity. One part of these donations goes into this fund, into the autonomous bank, and another part goes to the collective work projects in the zone. Another way to acquire resources is through agreements in the zones. lVhen it is time to sell the harvesr, be it coffee or corn, they agree that, for example, each base of support contribute 80 kilos of corn, or 50 kilos of beans, and then that is sold by the ton, and the money from the sale goes into the fund. Then the bases of support decide whether to deposit this fund in the autonomous bank or to invest it in something else.

Another thing that rhe compas do by zones is collective work in the milpa, or collective work in the coffee grove, and then they sell those harvests as another form of income. AII right, so there is something else that we want to share here, so that if some day when you are struggling the same thing happens to you, you are aware that such things go on. Yesterday we were talking about NGOs, and we said that there were fewer projects than there used to be, but this isn't because there are no longer NGOs or because NGOs don't manage projects anymore, they're still there. It's because there was something going on that we didn't like. A few years ago, an

NGO came o rhe compac in the Junta de Buen Gobierno and proposed to do a health project; there were 400 thousandpesos for the project. The compas agreed. Later the NGO came back to explain how the project would work, but this time the person who came was a different member of the NGO and so the Junta de Buen Gobierno asked to see the project paperwork and the information about the total resources for the project. "You don't haue it yet?" the NGO member asked. No, that is why we are ashing for it," the Junta replied. "Oh, I'd be happy to giue it to you." And so they went and got it and gave it to us, and the project had a budget of one million four hundred thousandprsas. And so we saw that "

this NGO was giving us four hundred thousandprsas and keeping one

84

million for themselves. Of course, later they claimed it was to pay the electricity and the rent and I don't know what else. From that moment we started to think, I don't know exactly how to put it into words, but isn't NGO supposed to mean non-governmental organization? There are these people who latch on to those who are struggling against injustice, inequality, misery and all the rest. Smart, huh? From this moment on, the compas let the Juntn of the zone know that they had to be careful. Now we ask each NGO that comes to present their projects for the totd budget. Sometimes they say "oh, we will bring it to you," and years pass and they haven't managed to bring

it to us. It must

be that they can't find their car.

So that's what happened. Some stayed, and they are here accompa-

nying the com?as serving ontheJuntas dr Buen Gobierno. But that isn't to say that there aren't NGOs out there funding themselves through projects, and maybe even some that claim they are working with the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities in Rebellion, but whatever, that's their problem. I will give you an example of another way that the compas are able to gather resources, which has to do with health, because the compas

with some doctors who provide assistance. The doctors told us that there are two types of surgeries, minor and major, and that the minor surgeries cost somewhere between 20 to 25 thousand pesos and the major surgeries cost much more. So the doctors who provide assistance rc the compas

of

the Juntas dz Buen Gobierno made an agreement

go to the autonomous hospitals and do surgeries.

It

really is a huge help because they use their scalpels and remove what needs to be removed and that's it; the compas don't have to pay. The compas are only responsible for the cost of the antibiotics, which they take afterwards to avoid infection and which only cost about a thousand or twelve hundred pesos.

ln

other words, it's a substantial

savings.

Another way they gather funds, as I already mentioned, is that word gets around. It gets around the communities and like we were talking about yesterday, the ?drtidistas go to the Zapatista hospitals because 'Word gets around they don't have a doctor, they don't have a surgeon. the partidistas how the compas are organized, so all of go to the about

Political Economy

hospital where the doctors

in solidariry come ro work.

//

85

So what the

will charge the partidistas something for this, but they also don't wanr ro charge too much. For example, if the doctor says that a surgery is worth six thousand ?etos then the partidista will have to pay three thousand. If they say that a surgery is worth eight thousand, then the partidista has to pay four thousand. This way the partidista is still saving money, because otherwise in another hospital they would be paying benveen 20 and 25 rhousand pesos. This is one way that the com?as try to access some income, revenue. There are zones that have work collectives that make crafts. There are compafieras in the zones that work in cattle raising collectives or who sell food, doing collective work periodically when there are particular events. For example, each time we have a party, the food vendor compat have done is decide in their zone assembly that they

collective is there selling food. In this collective work, as we call it in the zone, the cornpaftero authorities of the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities in Rebellion andtheJuntas dt Buen Gobierno are the ones responsible for promoting, motivating, and seeking out advice and encouragement from the compas of the clandesine comiti. Now the czmpa bases of support also participate, making proposals in the assembly about the kinds of collective work that can be done.

These collective work projects that we are discussing have really helped us to understand and truly monitor our government, because our government is the one that administers these projects-either the Junta de Buen Gobierna or the Autonomous Municipalities. Because this work comes from the sweat of the people, the compas demand transparent accounting from their authorities: how much came in, how much was spent, what it was spent on, and how much was left. They don't leave their authorities alone; they are accountable to the people and you can imagine what happens if there is money missing. Now, instead of going to jail one does collective work because that person has to pay in collective work what they stole or spent. In the collective work that we do, because we are talking about hundreds of men who go to work, small problems arise that quickly become big ones. For example, I know that there is going to be work

86

in the cornfield and

so one needs a machete, a small machete,

but then

this other com?a brings a big machete.'What am I getting at? The is that while

point

I am working, the regular machete doesn't reach very far,

and the guy who has the big machete covers more ground, meaning that if I'm the one with the small machete I think I'm really snealry because I'm getting away with doing less work. So when this happens the authority or the person in charge of the collective work assigns two meters to each person, and so that means that the person who tried to be sneaky screws himself. It is these types of things that discourage people, demoralize them, cause problems, and they start saying, "why did our leader allow this?

it

is his brother-in-law, his father-in-1aw, etc." and this type of thing, right? So they look for how to resolve them. But sure, other people smoke cigarettes or file their machetes in order to waste time, meaning there is no shortage of ways people try to be snealry. I hope Because

this doesn't happen to you because if it does you aren't going to be laughing, you'll see. So the point is, like we were saying yesterday, that despite these problems we don't give up. 'W'e

'We

are very stubborn, very

'S7e

seek out a solution, don't ignore the problem. advising and clarifying and explaining things and that is how we will

hard-headed.

keep doing things.

For the collective work projects that we are discussing, what has really helped us is working in the following manner: dividing the month into 10 days of collective work and 20 days of family work. Each person agrees. Some places might decide differently, 5 days for collective work and 25 for the work of the family. But each place makes their agreement at the level of the community or the region or Autonomous Municipality or the zone. These are the four levels at which the collective work projects take place, which is to say there are four levels of assemblies, which is to say four levels at which to come to agreement. W'hat we are discussing here, comPas, what gives us strength is the fact that we are organized. 'We are organized in everything and we share the same thinking, which is that we all remind ourselves that here we need to resolve our own problems. We don't think that anyone is

going to resolve them for us, not the government or anyone else.

So

Political Economy

czmPafreros and compafierls, we have

ll

87

to solve our own problems, we

'W'e

have to think, we have to discuss, we have to anilyze,we have to encourage, we have to consult the bases ofsupport. The compafteros have truly developed all of this at a profound level; they have even built the mechanisms for carrying it out, because it requires a whole process. Let's say that while we have been here, there had been a proposal

have to do this work.

from the Junta de Buen Gobierno..W'e as the authorities who are here understand the great importance and need for this proposal, but our bases do not know this importance yet and so we need to go back and inform them. This will take us l0 or 15 days, and then we will have another assembly and see how it tutns out. That is, there are Processes rhat we must go through in order to make a decision. But what makes this all possible, that we manage to do it at all, is the fact that we are organized.

The organization is what unites us. That is why it is so important rc organize yourselaes. But once you try to organize yourselves the first questions are, wltat are we going to da? How are we going to do h? And there will be a mountain of problems, you'll see. That is why we are having this conversation with you. Because those of you here who are going to try to organizeare really going to have to have guts, because you'll see, you might be the first one to abandon the process. \7.hen I say abandon, it could be for many different reasons: it might be that you will steal what your people have, or that it turns out that you are only good at yelling at people but not at working, that you only make demands and shout a lot but you yourself do nothing. Or it could be the opposite, that you work like crazy and you look at your people and they aren't following your example and so you ask yourself, "well, why am I killing myself here?"

You will see that what we are telling you is true when you try to do it, and that is why we are telling you this, because this is how it is, there isn't any other way. Even though you might want to try to find one, there just isn't any other way. There is this idea of what they call disobedience, or, the idea that you must disobey the system. But how? The compa bases of support, now they are disobeying. But the government has no way to get in there, neither in their politics nor

88

their ideology, and with regards to economy we come out about even really. That's because we don't pay millions in mxes, millions of pesos, but we also don't receive the millions that they say they give out, and so that is whywe say that it more or less evens aut. But the goverffnent has no way into our cultural or social life. So, I can see that your eyes are starting to look like litde armadillo eyes. Tomorrow this will continue and we'll keep going.

89

Toward a Geneaologr of the Zapatista Smtgle

Our Struggle as Zapatista Women

I

Comandanta Miriam

May 7,2015. Good evening compafieros and compafteras.

I have the responsibiliry to talk ro you was for women prior

'Women

a

bit about what the situation

to 1994.

had suffered through a very sad situation since the arrival of the conquistadors. They stole our land and took our language and our

culture. This is how the domination of the landowners and caciquismo fiocal despotism] came into being along with a triple exploitation

constituted by humiliation, discrimination, marginalization, mistreatment, and inequaliry. The fucking bosses had us in a position like they were our owners; they sent us to do all the work on the haciendas. without caring if we had children, husbands, or ifwe were sick. They never asked ifwe were sick; if we didn't make it to work, they sent their servant or slave ro leave the corn in front of the kitchen so that we would make tortillas

for them.

Much time passed like this, with us working in the bosses' houses. We ground the salt because the salt then was not the same as ir is now, now it comes finely ground. The salt we used before came in large chunks, and we women had to grind it. 'W'omen also ground the salt

for the livestock, and we had to shell rhe coffee when it was harvest time. If we started at six in the morning, we finished at five in the

90

evening..Women had to keep preparing the bags of coffee throughout the whole day. 'w'omen were mistreated in their This is how the women worked. work, carrying water and all of that, and paid miserably. The women were only given a little handful of salt or of ground cof[ee as payment' Years passed and women suffered like this. \7'hen our babies cried and we nursed them, we were yelled at, made fun of, insulted physically. The bosses said that we didn't know anything, that we were useless, that we were a bother to them. They didn't respect us and they used us as if we were objects. They did whatever they wanted to a woman-they forced the pretry women or the pretry girls to be their lovers and left children all over the place. They didn't care that the women suffered; they treated them like animals, with their children growing up without a father. During the acasillamiento3s they sold us as if we were commodities' There was never rest for us women.

little bit about the acasillamiento. Acasillamiento refers to when people go to the haciendas or ranches with their families and stay there and work for the boss. The men were the ones who did the work of planting cofFee, cleaning the coffee fields, harvesting the coffee, clearing the pastures, planting the grass, all that and taking care of the corn and bean fields. The men did this work for the boss. Apart from this, there is another thing I could tell you about the

I'm going to tdk

a

acasillzmiento. I could tell you about the mozos or slaves there, men and women who always lived on the hacienda. Those men or women that are slaves or mozos, who live at the hacienda, ate men and women who sometimes

don't have family. For example, a family would come to

work on the haciendaand sometimes the dad and mom get sick and die and the children are orphaned. The boss takes these children and raises -Vhat do these children do? It's not like the them on the bacienda. bosses adopt them as an adopted child but rather as a slave. As those children grow up, this is the work they are given: if the boss has a pet dog, a monkey, or some kind of animal, the boss has the mozo take care of it-they must care for the animal.'sTherever the monkey goes, that's where the child has to go; they have to take care of

or pets such

38

as a

See glossary.

Our Struggle as Zapotista Women

I

91

it, bathe it, and clean where it sleeps. That's how it worked. Later, sometimes the boss would have parties-because before the priests would come to the large baciendn of the bosses and baptize their children or celebrate a birthday or perform a marriage ceremony for the boss's daughters-and they would tell the mozos to guard the door. They would have the mozo watch the door while they were celebrating with their colleagues and friends. The mozo guards the door, he can't let even a dog come into where they are partying, and he has to be there all day, for as long as the boss's parry lasts. The slave women were the ones who made the food, washed the dishes, and took care of the boss's children or the children of the boss's

friends. That is how the people on the haciendas lived, and they didn't get to eat what was eaten at the gatherings; they had to drink pozol if there was pozol, beans if there were beans. That was all they ate, meanwhile the boss ate the good stuff, but only with his friends. l,ater, when the boss wanted to go to the city, from his hacienda rc a ciry that was, say, a six day walk, the mozo would have to go along. If the boss had children-ssmsllrnss the children are disabled-the mozo had to carry the boss's child to the city. If the boss's wife then returns o the hacienda, rhe mozo has to carry the child back again. -{7hen

they harvested cof[ee, or any harvest on the hacienda, the mozo

had to tend to the mules.

I don't know if you know about

horses, but

the mozo had to saddle and unsaddle the boss's horse, herd the cattle, and take the loads to the ciry where the boss lives. If the boss lived in Comitdn, the mozo had to go all the way to Comitdn. He had to leave the hacienda and act as the mule-driver. This is how many enslaved men and women suffered during that time. If there are fruit tree orchards inside the hacienda and one of them climbed up to pick some fruit, the bosses wouldn't let them. They got them down bywhipping them. I don't know if you know how the lash works; they would hit them with it. They couldn't pick fruit without the boss's permission because the entire harvest was to be taken to the ciry. This is how the men and women sufFered.

After so much suffering by women and the exploitation during the acasilkmiento, the men started realizing how their women were being mistreated. Some thought it better to leave the hacienda. One by one,

92

they started leaving and taking refuge in the mountains because those lands were not claimed by the plantation owners. So they took refuge there. They thought it better to leave so that the women would not continue to suffer on the hacienda.

After a while in the mountains-and many spent a long time there-they realized that it was better to join together and form a community, and that's how they came to live that way. They got together, talked, and formed a community where they could live. That is how a community was formed.

But even once they were living in the communities, ideas that came

from the boss or the acasilhdo were brought in. It's as if the men dragged these bad ideas along with them and applied them inside their own house. They acted like they were the little boss of the house. It's not true that the women were liberated then because the men became the little bosses in the home.

And once again the women stayed at home as if it was a jail. \Women didn't go out; they were shut in their houses once again. 'Vhen girls were born, we were not welcomed into the world because we were women. !(hen a little girl was born, it was as if she was not Ioved. But if a boy was born, the men celebrated and were content because they are men. They took this bad custom from the bosses. That's how it was for a long time. lWhen girls were born they acted as if women were useless, but if a boy was born, they acted as if he could do all of the work. But one good thing they did was that they did not lose the memory of how to form a community; they began to name communiry representatives and hold meetings and gatherings together. It was good that this idea was not lost, it wasn't taken away and it came to life again. The bosses and the conquest wanted to make this culture disappear, but the bosses were defeated; the people could still form their community. Another thing is that the man gives the orders in the house and the women obey what he says. If he tells you that you're going to get married you have to get married. He's not going to ask you if you want to get married to the man who came to ask for your hand. Your father will have aheady accepted the liquor they offered; he drank it already

Our Struggle as Zopotista Women

I

93

and this obligates you to go with rhis man that you do not love. This is how we came to suffer once again with our husbands because

they told us that women are only useful in the kitchen to take care of their husbands or to take care of the children. The men didn't hold their children; they didn't support rhe women. They only impregnated you and then who cares how the child is raised. I'm going to talk about how it really was for years. 'We women often say that we gave birth to a baby every year, every year and a half. They were like a little sraircase, eyery year or year and a halfthere would be another one. But the father didn't care if his wife was suffering because she had ro carry firewood, plant the cornfield, clean the house, sweep, take care of the animals, wash the clothes, take care of the children, change the diapers, and all of that. AII of that was women's work. This is why we say that we suffered triple exploirarion as women. 'Women had to be awake and in the kirchen ar rhree or four in the morning depending on how much time the men needed ro get ro their fields. The women had to get up early to make pozol, coffee, and breakfast for the men. The men would go to work and when they come back in the afternoon they would want the bath water already carried up to the house and ready for them to bathe. The men bathe and then leave the house to walk around, ro play, and the women are once again stuck at home the whole day, until nighttime. Even at this hour, women would still be awake; they wouldn'r go ro sleep until eight. So we were really suffering. The men didn't care if we were sick, or how we felt, they didn't ask-that's just how it was. That is how women really lived; we're not lying because that is how we lived. 'When you would go to church or a ceremonial center for a festival, and women did go sometimes, you had to lower your head. You couldn't raise your head. You had to walk with your head bowed, without turning to the sides, and covering your head wirh the rebozo [shawl] like this, so that just your face showed.

A lot of time went by like this, during which men dragged these bad ideas, these bad habits. That is how

fu if we were nothing. As if only

along

it happened, com?dfrerls.

the men could be authorities-only the men could go into public and participate. There was no school. Later on in some communities there was school, but we didn't go

94

didn't let us go to school because if we to school to find a husband. They that we only went they'd say went would say that it was better to learn to work in the kitchen because if we were indeed going to have a husband, we needed to learn how to take care of him. '$7hen our husbands hit us, when they insulted us, we couldn't because we were women. They

complain.

If we asked for help from the institutions of the bad

government, they were much worse because they defended the men and said the men were right. So we remained silent, humiliated, and embarrassed at being women. 'We didn't have the right to go to meetings or participate. They said that we were stupid, useless, and that we weren't worth anything. They

left us at home. \7e did not have freedom. There was no health care. Even where there were clinics and hospitals that belonged to the bad government, they wouldn't see us because we

didn't know how to speak Spanish. Sometimes we had to return to our homes and many women and children died of curable diseases. 'W'e weren't

worth anything to them and they discriminated against

because we were indigenous. They said that we were just

us

dirty barefoot

Indians and we couldn't enter the clinics or hospitals. They wouldn't let us in; they would only take care of people with money. lWe suffered all of this in our own fesh. For many years we never had the opportunity to say what we felt, thanks to the teachings of the conquistadors and the bad governments.

That is all, compafieras. Another com?awill continue.

95

Toward a Geneaologt of the Zapatista Smtgle

Our Struggle as Zapatista Women ll Comandanta Rosalinda

Good evenin g compafieros and compafieras, brothers and sisters.

Whar compaftera Comandanta Miriam just explained is all true. 'W'e were poorly treated, humiliated, and unappreciated because we never knew that we had the right to organize, to participate, to do all types of work. That's because no one had explained to us how we could organize to get out of this exploitation. At that time we were all in the dark, we didn't know anphing. But during the era of clandestiniry there came a time when some compafieras were recruited and they went on to recruit other compafieras, villageby village.

Then came the time to nalne a compafiera to be the local authority

for each community. They named me as a local authoriry of my community. That is when I started going to meetings in order to bring more information back to the communiry. Later on we held meetings with the compafteras in the village to explain to them how the

collective work could be organized and also to explain to them that it was necessary to have compafieras who are insurgentas and milicianas. If the fathers and mothers understood, they sent rheir daughters to be milicianas, to be insurgentas. These compafieras did the work with incredible gusto because they already understood what exploitation in the bad system was. This is how the compafteras'participation began.

96

Of course, this was not easy at all but little by little we came to understand, and in this way we moved forward until '94 when we came out into the public light-when we could no longer stand the mistreatment from those capitalist fuckers. There we saw that it was true that we did have courage and strength just like the men, because we could face offwith the enemy, without fear of anyone. This is why we are ready for anfhing the bad capitalist system tries to throw at us. Later, I went on to be a regional authority. The regional authority is responsible for holding regional meetings with the compafieras who are local authorities, for taking information to the people, and for organizing the compafieras inhow to do work in the community. \(e also went to visit the communities to organize more local authorities and to help the other com?afieras understand that it was necessary for women to participate. This is how we stafted participating. Little by little we lost our fear and timidity because we now understood that we had the right to participate in all areas ofwork. \7e came to understand that making a revolution required both women and men.

That's all, compafieros, compafieras.

97

Toutard a Geneaolog of the Zapatista Smtggle

Our Struggle as Zapatista Women lll Comandanta Dalia

Good evening compafieros and compafieras, brothers and sisters.

I'm going to explain

a

little bit more ofwhat compafiera Comandanta

Rosalinda discussed.

Just as she explained, it is now my turn to talk about how we become authorities. From 1994 on, we knew that we had rights as women. That's when we woke up. That is how little by litde we grew to understand the work of the compafieras. In the communities, in the regions, we began the practice of organizing ourselves to fight for the good of the community without having to have an education to do so. ln 1994, we realized that as women, as mothers and fathers, we had the courage to send our husbands, our sons, our daughters to fight and we knew well that to confront the enemy is not easy and any of them could come back dead or alive. But we never dwelled on those things. W'e were clear that the women had the responsibiliry to raise the sons and daughters that were left behind. That's when we understood that we thought the same way as the compafieros.

To be an alternate [for the CCRI] first one has to do the work, to 'We came to see that there were more give talls about the struggle. responsibilities for doing that work. There are meetings in the regions, municipalities, and zones. There are frequent visits to the communities to better organize the compafieras and compafieros in their collective

98

work to sustain the resistance throughout the lands we recovered in 1994 (these lands had been taken away from us by the large landowners). Since the time of clandestinity, we were doing collective work and also giving talks in each community, to men, women, boys and girls, so that they could understand the struggle. This was so our children didn't grow up with these bad ideas; we don't let them learn these bad ideas from the capitalist system. This is how the work of the compafieras and their participation as Zapatistx kept advancing in all types of work and in any responsibility given to them by the community. In this way, the compafrer*s came to recognize their rights, that we do have this freedom, the freedom to give opinions, to analyze, to discuss, to plan on any topic. In that way, the compafieros also understood the rights of women.

The first act of courage the compafieras showed was to permit their spouses and daughters to be in the struggle. Secondly, they let their husbands work freely because we saw that what the men were doing we as

women could also do; we have that courage.

lWe also have words to offer, ideas to analyze, ways to look at problems. Even though it was very difficult for us, we made the effort. Even though our men were bastards before, we knew how to get them to understand. There are a few that still act like linle assholes sometimes, but at least now it's not all of them. The majority now understand. The compafieras don't just let it go, they don't let themselves be humiliated like before and like compafrera Comandanta Miriam said, now the women bring their complaints to the civilian authorities such as the agentas or comisariadas.3e In each communitywe have agentas and. comisariadas, and and comisariadas,

it

goes

if it can't

be resolved by the agentas

to the municipal authorities. They are able to

resolve things according to the rules and agreements we have

in

each

communiry. But don't think that all of the compafieras complain, because some of them are still scared of their spouses. It's important to know this and talk between compafieras. \Vhenever we have meetings people begin to talk and we compafieras have to investigate what is discussed. That is, we have to figure out how to 6x things ourselves because amongst

39

See glossary

for both of these terms.

Our Struggle os Zopatisto Women

ourselves we have a

lll

99

lot of patience, not like the men who have no

patience. So we saw that, yes, we could do the work and now we take the

time and space to participate and to train another generation, even if we make errors in the process. But if we make mistakes, we fix them ourselves. In this way, we are making our struggle and we continue to organize. 'S7'e have a lot of patience as women which is why we move from being local authorities, regional authoriries, candidates [to the CCRI], alternates [for the CCRI], to even becoming part of the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee [CCRI]. To better organize the compafieras and to help the youth ljduenes and, jduenas) understand more, we have to orient, convince; we have to be contagious, not to infect them with illness but with good ideas. It's not a bad idea to help them understand that they shouldn't live exploited by the capitalist system. This is what we are doing, and the young people are already organizing. It's just like you see here, present

with

wo

compafieritas,youngcompafieras. Their names are Selena and Lizbeth. They are going to be our future authorities, the us are these

future of our children. 'W'e are doing this in steps, but these steps have no end, and that is why we are here as the CCRI with the Sixth Commission. Thanks to the organization, we have learned to read a little bit, to write a little bit, to speak a bit of Spanish. Before we didn't know how to speak even one word in Spanish. This is why we are not going to stop organizing as women in this capitalist system, because there is still sadness, pain, imprisonment, and rape. Just as the mothers of the missing 43 [students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero] do not stop organizing. This is why we are sharing with you brothers and sisters of the national and international Sixth. Thanks rc our Zapatista organization, we Zapatista women are now taken into account. 'S7'e men and women 'W'e organize together against the bad capitalist system. want change to take place in everything, in the whole country, in the entire world. But

ifwe don't organize ourselves and ifwe don't fight against the capitalist system, it will continue on until it finishes us all oF-there will never be a change. 'W'e

need to be fighdng at l00o/o, men and women.

To have a new

100

'We

as Zapatista women are not going to stop fighting even if the bad government kills us, because the bad

society where the people rule.

governments are always persecuting us.

Forgive mq corn?afreros end compafterar, brothers and sisters, I don't know how to speak Spanish very well. Since I don't know it well, I hope you've been able to understand what I said. That's all. Thank you.

't01

Toward a Geneaologt of the Zapatista Strugle

Our Struggle as Zapatista Women lV Compafiera Lizbeth, Zapatista base of support

Good evening compafieros and compafieras, brothers and sisters. 'We are going to explain a little bit of how we have been living and doing our autonomous work after the 1994 armed uprising. 'W'e

as

Zapatista youth today are no longer familiar with the overseer,

with the landowner, with the hacienda boss, much less with El Amate \W'e don't know what it is to go to the official [a prison in Chiapas]. municipal presidencies so that they can resolve our problems. Thanks to the EZLN, we now have our own authorities in each communiry, we have our municipal authorities, and our Juntas de Buen Gobierno. They resolve whatever rype of problem might arise for a compafiera or compafiero, for both Zapatistas and non-Zapatistas. .W'e now have freedom and rights as women to express opinions, discuss, and analyze, which is not how it was before, as the other compafiera said.

The problem we still have is that we are shy about participating or explaining how we are working but we compafieras are in fact doing work. That is, we women are participating in all rypes of work, such as in the area of health, doing ultrasounds, laboratory work, pap smears, '$7'e also participate in what colposcopies, dentistry, and clinic work. we call the three areas, which includes midwifery, bone-setting, and medicinal plants. 'W'e are also

working in education

as

formadoras and coordinators,

102 and as edtcation promotords.

'W'e

have female broadcasters who are members

of the

Tercios

Compas.ao

'We

participate in collectives of comp*frer*s, in women's gatherings,

and youth ljduenes and jtiuenas) gatherings. 'S7e

are participating as municipal authorities, which includes many different kinds of work, and we women do these tasks. W'e are also working in the Juntas de Baen Gobierno as local authorities, and as

board members for the compafteras'businesses. In different autonomous work areas, we are already participating alongside our compdfreros. Although we as young women don't know how to govern yet, we are named to be community authorities because they see that we know how to read and write a little bit, and then we learn the rest through doing the work. In the majoriry of the work that we participate in we are all young women, and we can tell you clearly that this work is hard, it is not easy. But if we have the courage to struggle, we czrn do these tasks where the people rule and the government obeys.

Now, men and women practice this form of struggle and of government every single day.

'We

now

That is all I wanted to say, compafieros

40

See glossary

see

this

as

our culture.

and, compafieras.

103

Touard a Geneaologt of the Zapatista Smtgle

Our Struggle as Zapatista Women V Se[ena, Listenerar

Good evening compafieros and compafierar of the Sixth. Good evening brothers and sisters. Good evening to everyone in general.

The topic that

I will

be explaining to you-actually reading to

you-is

the same topic the other compafiera presented on but with more information about the youth, both Zapatista and non-Zapatista. \W'e as Zapatista youth are facing a low-intensity war that the bad government and the bad capitalists wage against us. They put ideas into our heads about modern life, like cellphones, clothes, and shoes.

They put these bad ideas into our heads through TV, through soap operas, soccer games, and commercials, so that we as youth will be distracted and not think about how to organize our struggle. But we Zapatistayouth have not often fallen for this because, despite these attempts, when we do buy clothes, they are not the modern srylish 'W'e

ones.

buy the kind of clorhes the poor wear, which,

as

you can

see,

is how we are dressed right now. We also buy shoes, but they are just 'W'e whatever kind of shoe, like the poor use. don't buy the kind with the pointy heels. If we were to use that kind of shoe, well, where we live there is a lot of mud and if we young women were to wear rhose shoes, we'd get stuck and have to pull the shoe out with our hands. We also

41 Escuchar is to listen; the text tses"Escucha" to refler to an assigned "listener" who is charged with attending and listening at a gathering or event in order to report back to others who were not in attendance.

104

don't buy those leather boots because the same thing can happen, they can come unglued in the mud because they are not strong enough. Yes, of course we buy boots, but they are work boots, the kind that resist the 'W'e mud. don't buy shoes that don't resist. 'We also buy cellphones, but we know how to use them like 'W.e also have TVs but we use them Zapatistas-for something useful. to listen to the news, not to distract ourselves. \7e did buy these things, but first we had to sweat and work the Mother Earth to be able to buy what we wanted. On the other hand, youth who are not Zapatistas are those who most often fall for the tricks of the bad government because, believe it or not, those poor-poor youth abandon their families, their community, and they go to work in the United States, to Playa del Carmen, or to other countries just to be able to buy that cellphone, that pair of pants, shirt, or stylish shoe. They leave because they don't want to work the earth, because they arelazy. \Vhy do we say they are poor-poor? Because they are poor like us, but they are also poor thinkers because they leave their communities and when they come back they bring bad ideas with them, other ways of living. They come back with ideas to assault or rob others or to consume and plant marijuana. Vhen they get back to their homes, they say they do not want to work with the machete because they're no longer used to it; that it would be better to go back again to where they were. They no longer want to drink pozol and they say they don't even know what it is anymore, even though they grew up with it, and with beans. They pretend in those places where they go that they aren't familiar with the food of the poor. They pretend to be children of rich

folk, but that's a lie, they are poor like us. On the other hand, we Zapatistas are poor but rich

in thinking.

\Why? Because even though we have shoes and clothes and cellphones,

we don't change our thinking or our way of life, because it doesn't matter to us as Zapatista youth how we are dressed or what kinds of things we have. \W'hat's important to us is that the work we do is for the good of the communiry. That is what we Zapatistx want and it's what we want for the whole world: that there be no rulers, that there be no exploiters, that we as indigenous people not be exploited.

Our Struggle os Zapatisto Women

y

1

05

I'm not sure if you've understood what I read, but that was all the words I wanted to share with you. Hopefully they are useful to you.

106

Toward a Geneaologt of the Zapatista Strugle

The Vision of the Vanquished May 6,2015.

The text I'm going to read you was written by SupMarcos about

a

year ago. There was a time when he [SupMarcos] had the responsibiliry of speaking not for the indigenous Zapatista compafteras, but about

them and their particular struggle. On such occasions, the women spoke through him. \7as that bad or good? That's up to them to decide. They'll be the judge of whether or not they felt represented. Fortunately, and for many years now, the compafieras speak for themselves.

'We've just listened to a kind of excerpt from the genealogy of their

struggle as women, as indigenous people, and as Zapatistas. Three generations of Zapatista women have rebelled not only against the system but also against us [men]. At least two other generations are missing from this table. One of them is somewhere betlveen 12 and 15 years old. They're the ones who will later be education or health promotores, or escucltas,

or

Tercios Compas,

ot itleurgenta$ or whatever

other rebellious and liberated spaces are opened up by the creativity of the Zapatista communities. There's another generation, the Zapatista girls, who are about eight years old, and whose portrait I am awkwardly

trying to draw with the character of " Defensa Zapatista," that irreverent little girl who synthesizes four generations of struggle and who is, at least for now, unpredictable. In telling us their story, the compafieras have been generous because they left out one part, or if they did include it, they just barely

Vision of the

Vanquished '107

mentioned it.

I'm

referring

to our

resistance as Zapatista

men--our

resistance

against the women, our terror at seeing how they began breaking molds

I'm referring to how they began, without asking permission, to leave behind the role that the system-but not only the system, us too-had imposed on them. and ways of thinking.

In reviewing our history, I see it was marked by a defeat. The victories the compafteras just discussed don't even come close to demonstrating the difficulties and obstacles they must overcome every hour of every day. It still isn't sufficiently clear that they also fought against us and that they also defeated us.

So behind their history is also our vision, the vision of the vanquished. Although, we [men] haven't lost everything. Like the Hydra, we're posed to retake our previous position at the first sign of weakness, taking advantage of any crack, any indication that they [the compafieras) have lowered their guard.

I-and who better to synthesize Zapatista machismo and sexism it exists, just like there is leftist sexism and/or anarchist

(because

sexism)-wonder about the possibilities we have

as a

gender to recover

what we've lost. For every defeat they've inflicted upon us I've said, "I will return and

I will be millions." But each time we were fewer. It is as if the Zapatista compafieros, the youngest ones, see these changes as more natural and now grow up with this new realiry.

I think maybe we could convince Comandanta Miriam to stop participating in the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee - General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation. I don't know, we could tell her she's already fulfilled her duty, that she should rest, that her children are grown up, that she should just go back to her house. I doubt it would work, but we could try. I also think maybe we could convince Comandantas Dalia and Rosalinda that they'd be better offsearching for a husband. That they should stop running from place to place going to meetings, that they shouldn't go to these events anymore, that it would be better just to search for a man and raise a family. It might be difficult, but we could rry.

108

But

I think we have to give up on the possibility of convincing

Lizbeth and Selena that they should stop struggling as the women that they are and be more like the young women who are partidistas, turning back the clock of the struggle and becoming the contradictory opposite of what they are now. And I have no idea how we could face the generation of Tofia, Lupita, and Estefania, to tell them they're better off not studying; that they should learn to make tortillas by hand instead of knowing how to use a cell phone, computer, video camera, or the internet for the Zapatista struggle. Look, I'll be honest, I just feel sorry for whoever ends up being the husband or wife of " Defensa Zapatista." If you asked me what will become of this generation, what will be their ways, their worries, their challenges, their environment, then I'd respond by echoing the catdog's story and say: "we don't know yet." But what we must do is warn Pedrito that the Zapatista women that he'll be dealing with in a few years will be even more other, ar,d that it wouldn't hurt to adopt a defensive position.

From my perspective, as I do the math, addition and subtraction, I'm able to see or at least intuit that our defeat is irreversible. Not only have we been defeated, but we've also been vanquished. I say with utmost sincerity, with my heart on my sleeve and in the face of this heroic struggle, that my only consolation is that our stubborn resistance may have helped the compafieras force themselves to be

better-better

women and better Zapatistas. But if you ask me to make an effort and

try to go back to the beginning, to the origin of this terrible and marvelous genealogy, I'd tell you rhat the whole thing began with the insurgmtas. These compdfrerag in the mountains or wherever they were, gave up a life in and with family. They fought and continue to fight for this and for what is yet to come, because if we ask them how they view what's already been accomplished, they'll say, "'Vell Sup, of course tltere's more lefi to doi'

Of course, when the first indigenous insurgenta arrived at a camp I felt goosebumps run up and down my beautiful body, not because ofher but because ofwhat she represented. She brought us a prophecy: "No man will euer be ablz to sa1 that he defeated you, but 31 years ago,

Vision

oftheVonquished

1

09

will be some who can sa! exactb that." But no need to worry, I'm aZapatista. I'll think of some way to 6ght

there

back.

So, SubMoy has already explained to you that in our organization there are indigenous people and non-indigenous people. That means there are non-indigen ous compafieras who are Zapatistas. We Zapatistas consider them a part of us, just like we consider this space, CIDECI,42 and those who teach, learn, work and struggle within it Zapatistas as well. The czmpafiero Zapatista Maestro Galeano once said that there are

who

don't know it, until they know it. Because of the conditions of our struggle, the non-indigenous compafreras cannot show themselves, not even with their faces covered. There are not even that many of them now, you can counr them on two hands (here Defensa Zapatista interrupts to remind us: "there'll be more of us, it might tabe a little uhile, but there will be more'). '!?'har's those

are Zapatistas and

more, they have an aversion to the stage, to showing themselves, to the light. They prefer darkness, anonymiry, the shadows. I think that they

wouldn't even sit here in front ofyou with a mask on. They are nobody in a way that none of the rest of us are. The words I'm going to share are collective although it will seem like they come from just one person, a czmpafrera. My work was simply to compile these words and endure the storm that swells within them. I'm going to use words that are a little bit harsh and crude. I should say in my defense that all of these words come from non-indigenous Zapatista compafieras. So if you're easily scandalized, well, grab a seat for this one because there's a lot more to come. The compaftera speaks: "You guys are real idiots, you think we get all dressed up to please you, to attract

!ou, 0r as lou say, 'because ue uant it' or because we're loohing

for h. It's about time you understand that we fx ourselues up because we feel like it, or because we're more comfortable like that, or because we like those shoes 0r that blouse or that skirt or those pantt all ofit uery much for our feet and our body. Or ma1,be it's because our fuching boss tells us we

42

See glossary

110 haue to go to work like that. But anyutay, why the fuck do you care uhy we

fx

ourselues up?

You're lihe schizophrenic hunters,

lou thinh

the city is a hunting ground

and that we uzmen are lihe stuPid animab d.oing euerything possible to mahe ourselues eds! tdrgets. Ary hunter hnows that hunting is nothing like that. But you macbified men Are such imbeciles that you think not only that we women are prize game, ds thry say in hunting slnng but also that we're the hind of game that does euerything Possibb to be discouered and to put herself in tlte rosshairs of a gunshot or a cumshot. Tahe catcalling catcalk, as innocent as they may be or seern' can and

with good reltson are tahen as harassment. In a capitalist socieQt like ours, and I'm speahing of Mexico, with the rates offemicidz and gend.er'based uiolence that we ltaue, we can't be expected not to be

nlt

afaid. It's ridiculous

to exPect that we would. reject catcalk.

Plus,

I thinh it's like you guys are idiots or something."

Of course, I put on a face like, "you guys? But I'm not..." That is, I put on my "or something" face. "Do you really thinh that ifyou sa1t, 'mamacita, you\e loohing good,' or that ifyou grab our ass on the street or on public trans?ortation-which is what cowards do by the ua)L-so that ute won't hnout who it uas or so lou can put on your 'itwasntme'face, we 'll throw ourselues into your anns and say, 'take me, mahe me loars pa?acito?' On top of that, lzu're real assholes because if we were to sa! to you, "loohing good papito" or if we were to

grab

yur

ass,

you'd shit yourselues out of fear and

what to do. You don't want to connect or haue sex;

yu

woald.nl hnow

lou want to dominate,

command, rape. You also thinh weVe as stupid tb

yoa come dt us with about the struggh, tell me more.

!0u dre

because

your'ooh compa6era, I like what you say Oh yes, why don't we go get a coffee somewhere and heep chatting? It's jux tltat ltou're so smdrt.'So we explzin things to !0u and you guys thinh it's because ue uant !ou, and you don't hesitate uith yur 'looh, I wdnt to get with you,'etcetera. So wheru we sd! no, that's not where this

is

going, we re

just talhirug ltou burst out with your 'cunt, lesboterrorist, what you need is a good fuch so you'll stop with this bullshit, lou cant, you're not euen that good loohing."'

(I copied word for word some of the above text from

a conversation

Vision of the

Vanquished

1

'l

1

on twitter, berween a woman who was explaining something about feminism, and one of her 'followers,' a cybernetic mini-macho. I showed it to the compafiera and she said: " tltat's defnitely what it's like, but not just sn sulisssT-in real life, too"). The compafiera didn't stop there. I of course endured the assauh like a man. I thought to myself, "Damn, and she wasn't even a Zapatista

when she was younger. Imagine what Defensa Zapatista will be like when she grows up." Of course, I'm a man but not an idiot, so I thought it but kept it to myself. "Yes, you're right when you sa! that compared to men, women can be euen more crael to other women, that we ezsr machisra words to talh about

other women, we call them 'wbore,' 'slut,' 'homewrecher,' or lihe in Pedro

Infante mouies, 'gold-diger,'all of wbich are words you men inaented. But aren't you tlte one that says that euerything's a process? That in indigenous communities uomen were and are constructing their zun path without anlone telling them how, or giuing them orders, or imposing manuals or blueprints on them? \Yell, we [non-indigenous womenJ are also learning and it\ fucking with our heads, too. Maybe that's wh1 there are as mdn! feminisms as there dre women, because each of us has our own way, each of us has our own history, zur oun ghosts, our ownfears, and each of us is fguring out how to fght them and defeat them. You,

in

said, 'in

I

face of our stntgle, can get on board or not. But note that face of our smlggle' because you're not part of our strugle. No

the

the

matter how sensitiue and receptiue you are, lzu cannot befeminists because

yu'llneuer

be dble to

neuer suffer menopause,

you'll

afaid of walking down the street in broad dqlight, you'll

neuer

1ou'll neuer want neuer be

putlourselues in ourposition. You'llneaer menstrT4ate,

or fear ?regnancy,

you'll

it\

be afaid of walhing in ftont of a group of men. You'll neuer see what lihe to be born, grow up, and liue with the fear that comes from being who lou are. It's not that we don't want to be women, that we curse hauing

been born A womdn and think

it would

haae been better to be born A man.

That\ not it at all. What we want, wbat to be women without that being a sin,

we're

less

fghtingfor,

is to be able

than, a stain, something that

predestines us to always be on tbe defensiue or to be direct uictims. So d.on't come to me saying there are feminist men. There are men who get it more than others, yes, but they are not feminists. Vhen tltose men bring me a

112

feminine napkin stained with their menstnaal blood, then we'll talk and maybe not euen then."

Meanwhile, I was attentively watching the comPdfiera's body. No, I wasn't looking at her butt or her breasts. I was watching her arms, her legs, and what kind of shoes she was wearing in order to calculate the reach of a blow or a kick. The calculation was dizzying, so I moved back to what I considered a prudent distance. I mean, she was pissed. The compafierahad tears in her eyes, but they weren't the tears of a victim. They were tears of anger, of rage. I remembered then the tears in the eyes of the compafieras and compafieros as they stood in front of compa Galeano's corpse. The tears of the family members of the missing from Ayotzinapa when they told us their story. The cornpafiera wouldn't even take a handkerchief, she just wiped her tears with her sleeve and continued: "Yes,

I already hnow youTe going to tell me

is to bhme. But

it\

the

fuching capitalist

system

also youfuching men who do nothing and are A mesl

You walk around saying it's uery imPortant to snaggb against the system and ltet you're the system. You are and so are we. Bat at least we don't giue up, ue resist. You all don't euen d.o that, being lazy, self-certtered bitches. Yes

I

know that's a chauuinist insub, but that's exactly wh1 I'm saying it,

because

I

Looh,

it hurts you. tell yu something, our compaiteras

know

I'll

in

the Zapatista

communities haue taught us what is most important. Sometimes we're also assholes and we thinh that we\e better, that we knou more, or that we're

in feminism. W, ry to teach them to fght for their righx. Thati bulhhit. Eaen with all our boohs, all our tueets, all our roundtables and gatherings, we don't haue anything to teach them. But the compaf,eras, when we go to them or when they come to us, they're not going to tell us what to da, or euen criticize us, or hoh not

as

fucked. lVt try to giue thent

lessons

down on us or speak badly of w. Thqt speak to us and tell us that they want to learn! Now tell me that doesn't throw you for a hop, since webe 'Vith their snagle, their history, they show us got nothing to teach them. that each must make their outn way. \Yhen they share their stories they are telling us: 'this is how we d.o it, but eueryone has to fnd their own way.' Euen more badass is that with their smrggle they question us, they giue us a good skp in the face as thqt toss us a 'what about you?' that we'll be

VisionoftheVanquished

thanhful

for kter. It

hits you down

1

13

hw and it hits you up high in a way

that'll

mahe you forget about your PMS. What made me and others approach Zapatismo wttsn't the compafieras.

Or yes,

it

was abo tbe compafieras but not because we wanted

lihe them. But let's face

it, it

to

be

was also because of the fuching Zapatista

compa6eros. The thing is that Zapatismo is so badass because

it

you want t0 be bener, but without ceasing to be who you are. It doesn't tell you to go liue in a community, or to learn tbeir knguag4 or to couer yourface, or to lzaae mahes

your family, or to aband.on euerything and go u? to the mountains with the lnsurgentas or whereuer the hell they are. It telb you and it ashs you, 'we're ouer here doing this,

uhat are ypu doing ouer there?'And Zapatismo doesnl go around with that bullshit about fat, shinny, tall, short, darhshinned, light-shinned, wiU, old., loung, wise, ignorant, peasant, ciry girl. Belieue me, there's n0 more intense hue than that, one that respects you,

that

loues

time it

demand

imply

you just as lou are, but that poisons you because

mahes

it.

it

you uant to

be

at the same

a better person, a better woman. They dan't

of you, they don't tell you to dn

it, I

mean tbey don't euen

That's the crdz! part, because that dzsire is born

fom

within

you. There's nobody t0 czm?hin to, nobodl to holl. you accountable except the faching mirror. We can't bhrne faching men, or the fucking system, 0r contetn?oraryt conditions, or whateuer the fuch. It's really, I mean really badass, because it puts euerything on you. That is it obligates you to become

responsible for this loae. It doesn't leaue you a goddamn corner to hide in. Fucking Zapatismo. "

I endured it like a man, I wrote it all down, I didn't edit anything. The words are exactly how I heard them, complete not because I recorded them but because, as I'm sure you'll agree, they're difficult words to forget. In the end, I told the compafiera I was going to present these words at the seminar, and asked if she wanted to add anything else for the grand finale, as they say. She thought about it for.iust a few seconds and said: "Yes, tell the fuching men t0 go fuch tbeir f,rcking fathers, ys, their fathers, because it's not their mothers'fauh they're such assholes. And tell the compafieras tltat.. , that. .. " The Zapatista compafiera who doesn't yet know she's Zapatista

1'.|4

doesn't doubt herselfi it just seems like she's looking for a word and can't find it. "that. . . that. . .

I'rn not a belieuer, but I can't fnd a better expression right now to tell them what I thinh, so tell them... god bless them, that I hope one dal to stand not before them, but beside thern and not feel the shame that burns in my chest. That I hope the dty comes when...wben they call me 'compafiera,' because that's what I am. That's enough now because I haue to go see about the Tercios Compas, and worh 0n the magazine, upload communiquis to the webpage, u.,ork on the recording, reuise the text, worh on the drtisdn project, go to the meeting go to uorh, struglz, loo k

always stru.gle. Ah, and tell that cdt-dog thdt

if he pees on my chair again,

there'll be hell to pay."

The compaftera left and I checked myself for any broken bones, bleeding, or wounds. I checked to make sure that I hadn't lost anything besides my pride. Seeing as my beautiful bodywas intact, I came to the computer to write these words. Of course, first I gave notice to the catdog to try to find a country without an extradition treaty.

That's it. With this you can see that we men always have the last word and it's... Thank you. Thank you to the Insutgenras. Thank you to the Zapatista women, indigenous or not. Thank you to the women of the Sixth, thank you to the women who aren't part of the Sixth but also struggle.

SupGaleano.

May 6,2015.

115

Notes on Resistance and Rebellion

Resistance and Rebellion

I

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds

May 6,2015. Good aftern oon, compafteros, compafieras, brothers and sisters.

I am going to talk to you about how our resisrance and rebellion

are

our weaPons. Before we begin talking of our resisrance and rebellion, I want ro remind you that we are an armed group. 'We have our guns as one more tool in the struggle, that's how we explain it now. Our guns are a tool of struggle, just like the machete, axe, hammer, pick, shovel, hoe, and other such things. Each of these tools has its function, but the firnction of a gun is, well if you use it, to kill. So in the beginning, when rve rose up during the dawn of 1994, a movement of thousands ofMexicans from all over the country emerged. It grew to millions and pressured the government and Baldy-that's what we called him, Salinas the Baldy [Salinas de Gortari]-to sit down and dialogue with us. At the same time this movement urged us to sit down [with the government] to dialogue and negotiate. 'We understood the call of the Mexican people so we gave the order to retreat from violent struggle. It was then that we discovered through the compafierrlt anothil way to struggle-because in combat our people died, but the compafieras were developing what we could call another way of struggle. W'e needed this because the government, a month later, a year, two years later wanted to buy us ofl as we put it;

116

they wanted us to accept aid and forget about struggle. But many of the cornpafteran insisted that that wasn't what our compafteros had died for that dawn of 1994. Just as our combatants, men and women, had fought against the enemy, we had to see those who were trying to buy us off as our enemy as well. It was important not to accept what they wanted to give us. So that was how it started. It was very difficult to make contact between zones because the whole area was full of soldiers. Little by little, we were able to pass the word from compafteros in one zone to compafieros in another zone about what the cornpafteras were saying, that we should not accept what the bad government was handing out. They insisted that just as our combatants had gone to fight the enemy that exploits us, we as bases of support also had to fight this enemy by

not accepting its crumbs. So little by little this idea spread throughout all the zones.

Today we can give many different explanations for what rebellion and resistance are to us because they are things that we discovered a little at a time, practicing through our actions, such that now we can actually theorize these ideas, as they say. Resistance for us is to stand firm and strong, to respond to any attack from our enemy-the system. Rebellion for us is to be fierce in our response and our actions, according to what is necessary, to be ferocious and valiant in carrying out our actions or whatever it is that we need to do. \7e discovered that resistance is not only resisting one's enemy and refusing its crumbs or leftovers. Resistance also means resisting the enemy's threats and provocations, even, for example, the noise of the helicopters. Just hearing the noise ofthe helicopters can scare you because your head is telling you that they are going to kill you. So you start running but that is when they see you and shoot you down. So the key is to not be afraid, to resist, to be strong and firm and not run when you hear the noise. Because the fucking helicopter noise does in fact scare you, it alarms you, but the key is not to be afraid and to stay calm. '!7e also have to resist \7e realized this, that it isn't just about refusal. our own outrage against the system-and this part is both difficult and useful-we have to organize this resistance and this rebellion. \What is the difficult part? There are thousands of us who employ the weapon

Resistonce ond Rebellion

I

1'17

of resistance, thousands, and there are rhousands of us who also know how to control our rage and convert it into struggle. These are both difficult, which is why I began by saying that we find our weapons in our form ofstruggle. \Vhat we have seen is that organizing these rwo weapons of struggle helped us to open our minds and our way of looking at things. But this only worls if resistance is organized-if one knows how to organize it and begins from a point of organization-because there is no resisrance

or rebellion without first having organization. This requires a lot of political and ideological work, a lot of talking and guidance in the communities about resistance and rebellion. I remember an assembly of compafteros and compafteras where we were talking and the compafteros and compafierds were comparing peaceful political *rugle o uiolent strugle. So some of the compafteros and compafteras asked, what happened ro our brothers in Guatemala? After thirty years of violent struggle, what situation are our brothers in now? \)Vhy does resistance within a peaceful political struggle have to be organized so well? \X/hy do we have ro prepare our military resistance? \X/hich of the rwo will better serve us? 'We realized in that discussion that what we wanr is life, just as we said about the mobilization of Mexican civil society on January 12, 1994.They wanted to preserve our lives; they did nor wanr us to die. So how can we achieve that? \Mhat else do we need to do to resist and rebel?

At that point we realized that one thing we'd have to do was resist the mockery that people made of our form of governing, our auronomy. 'W'e would have to resist provocations from the army and the police. '!7'e would have to resist the problems caused by social organizations. '!7'e would have to resist the information that comes our in rhe media, all that stuffabout how the Zaparisras are finished, that they no longer have any strength, that the defunct Marcos is negotiating under the table with Calderdn, or that Calder6n is covering his health care cosrs because he is dying. Well, he's dead already, he did die in the end, but not because he went to Calder6n for a cure, but, rather, in order to give life to anothet compafiero. So all of these psychological bombardments, as we could call them,

118 are meant to demoralize our bases of support, and they create a whole range of things we have to resist.

in

each one of us because we began to take on various tasks and responsibilities, and problems arose at home. Mryb. this doesn't happen to you all, but problems arise that we have to learn to resist individudly and at the same time we are resisting collectively. 'Vhen we resist individually we think about the

Later we discovered the resistance

questions raised by my dad, my mom, my wife, of, "where were you?" "what were you doing?" "who were you with?" etc. Right? So one has to resist doing something bad, hitting one's wife or abandoning one's work. Because there will be complaints-there isn't any corn or beans,

or the firewood isn't gathered, that there are problems with the kids, and this is where one as an individual must resist. \Vhen we resist as a collective it is done with discipline; that is, it is 'We make an agreement regarding how we done through agreement.

with different types of problems. A recent example : think it was, a group of people that aren't Zapatistas

are going to deal

in February I

were living on recovered lands.'W'e hadn't said anything to them, but

they got this idea that they wanted to be the owners of the land so they started the process to legalize the land in their name. Then it became clear that Mr. Velasco was telling them they needed a certain number of people in order to do this. So these people started to look for others to be members of their village, and people began joining them, and they were armed. They grew to 58 people and then they started to invade the land that belongs @ the czmpas recovered land. So the compas decided they weren't going to allow this.

"How many are there?" "lWell, close to 60." "It would be enough to go in with 600 people, armed, and finish

ofi

given how much they've mocked us." They had poured a liquid over the comPas'pasture that burned the grass. They used that same liquid to kill a stud [bull], and destroyed some of the cornpafieras' houses. So the com?as were already really

them

pissed and rebellious, they had really had

it. But this

is when the other

cornpds intervenedr

"Remember , com?ds, we are a collective," they say to the 600 gathered

ResistonceandRebellionl

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9

there. "Remember the orange? \i7hat have we said abour what happens

if you poke a hole in a piece of fruit?" "Ah yes. But do those assholes understand things that way?" "'W'e are not going to let the ways and times of those assholes be imposed on us.'We have our own way and time." So what happens to an orange or lemon if you poke a hole in it? The whole fruit rots. 'Vhat does that mean in this situation? That whatever we do will affect the whole of our organization. That's the thing. So we have to ask the bases of support ifwe are going to respond with violence or another way. Since we were already thinking this way and practicing this idea that we're talking about now, our bases didn't permit a response like the one suBgested above. So we said to the compas.'those people who are really rebellious, mad, really pissed off, they can't go in. Tell their representatives that they're not going because if they do they're going to kill somebody, so it's better that they don't go. Tell their leadership so that they know and can inform them. If they don't let them know, that's on them. Also, the people who are really scared can't go in either. The only ones that can go in are those who understand that they are not going to create a provocation but to work the land, to work the milpa, to build a house and all that. So at dawn, the 600 fcompas) went to the land, unarmed. They coordinated among themselves to retake control of their land. This is how we control both rage and fear. We gather, explain, talk, and clarifr the problem because the truth is that the great majoriry of clmpafieros are not going to allow that kind of violence. 'W'e

have been developing this resistance for 20 years. At the beginning

it

was difficult because we often faced difficult situations and had to find a way to resolve them. I'm going to give you an example of how hard it is to change things. Under Salinas' government, they sponsored "projects," giving out cash or credit, and the czmpas were receiving these projects. Imagine, milicianos, corporals, sergeants, all Zapatistas,

accepting these handouts. So a good half of this money goes to what? Bullets, weapons, and equipment and the other half goes to buy a cow like it was supposed to. '!7'e bought weapons with that same money from the government, which is why the government stopped giving it out, except to the brothers who arc partidistas.

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So the compas came up with this idea, the one I have been telling you about, that we should agree on this practice of refusing stuff from the government. It was really hard but the compas understood. They said yes, we're going to do this, we're going to resist. The downside of this was that sometimes when we were supposed to have a meeting some would say, "ah, no, I can't come, I don't have any transportation money because I'm in resistance." This was really just x11 o(su5s-i1 wasn't that they didn't have money, it was just a cover, a pretext. But we started to take this thing about refusing anything from the system seriously and we found that it meant that we had to work hard on our Mother Earth. \7e had to do the kinds of things that I have already told you about over the past few days that we've been here together. It was at that point that the compafteros began to see the fruits of their labor and they realized that it was better to work the earth and

forget about the stuff that the government gave out. 'We began to see that resistance and rebellion gave our organization

'We

began all kinds of practices, like the securiry and sustenance. example I have been telling you about of not talking to the government. None of our bases talk to the government, not even when there is a 'We murder. discovered that with resistance and rebellion we could govern ourselves and with resistance and rebellion we could develop our own initiatives. Each zone organizes its own resistance on the economic, ideological, and political terrain. Some have more possibilities, some less, so we

experiment. For example, the compafieros of l-asAltos have to buy corn most of their lives. They do grow some, but very little; the majority of what they consume they have to buy. So what we have done is have other zones take their corn and sell it to the compas in Los Altos so

that they don't have to buy it from the government warehouse. Then the money from the compa"s in Los Altos goes to another caracol rather than to the government. Sometimes this works out well, other times it doesn't. But even when it doesn't work out, at least it's a bad thing that we produced ourselves. For example, the corn is transported in tons, so one time the compafieros in charge of collecting the corn weren't checking it and some compa bases of support, the bastards, put a bunch of rotten corn in the middle of the load. Since the other compas hadn't

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checked it, it was transported. But when it got to its destination where it would be consumed they checked it over and saw that some compas were selling rotten corn to other czm?as. So we have been correcting these rypes

of problems to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen. If we are going to be in resistance, the resistance has to be really well organized. A kind of exchange, like bartering as they say, didn't work for us because we can't take tons of pears or apples from Los Altos, which is what the compas produce a lot of there, to sell in the jungle because it doesn't sell. So that doesn't work for us, and now we are discussing how we are going to deal with this. W'e're about halfiryay through organizing the process for this. I'm going to give you a series of examples. In 1998, the government came in and dismantled our auronomous municipalities; that was when Croquetasa3 (Albores) was srill governor. In [the auronomous municipality ofl Tierra y Libertad, which corresponds o Caracol I, La Realidad, the judicial police came in and destroyed the building that housed the autonomous municipaliry's governing offices. The czmpafieros milicianos were rhe mosr emphatic in wanting ro fight the judicial police-really soldiers disguised as police-and they were told that they couldn't fight them. It was the czm?as milicianos who were most enraged that they were destroying the building where we housed our autonomous government. So we consulted rhe communities to see what they thought, and the communities said: let them destroy the building, our auronomy is here among us, the building is just a building. So we had the support of the communities and with that on our side we gave the order that the milicianos should nor acr and make the organization pay the cost of their rage. The milicianas and milicianas responded to this order with "fircking authorities." W'e began to see rhar ar rimes the rage of the bases of support doesn't help us get where we need to go. Because it can be the comitd or the regional authoriry or even orhers rhat end up paying the price for this rage. Another example: when the army destroyed our first Aguascalientes

it was the same situation. W'e insurgentes and milician

J

were ready [to

43 " Croquetas," or doggy biscuit, was rhe nickname assigned by rhe EZLN to Roberro Albores Cuilldn, whose bloody renure as governor of Chiapas lasted from 1

998-2000.

"t22

fight] . \We knew that if they took a part of what we had it would feel like a total defeat. \We thought very militarily then, and in the military if you lose a battle you're fucked. You have to recover lost ground and it requires double the effort. But again, what guided us was this question:

"What do we want, life or death?" "Well, life." "Then let those asshobs do what theyTe going to d.o; weTe not going to hill them, but theyTe also not going to hill us." "But tuhat do we do ifthere are ambusltes already sefi"

"\Vell, we'll haue to decidz

based on oar communication."

of the way. In doing so, we avoided a lot of death, both on our side and on that of the enemy. There was authoSo we had to get out

rization given for a response to one ambush, and that's where General Monterola fell, in Mom6n-he was a corporal then, but later was made a General.

This also happened in the autonomous municipaliry of Ricardo Flores Mag6n which corresponds to the Caracalof Garrucha, when the autonomous municipaliry was dismantled. It was the same then; the order was given not to respond to the violence given that that's what the enemy and the government wanted. That's how we have managed to endure so many provocations from the partidistas and those who let themselves be manipulated.

Our compafieroshave been the target of harsh attacks with the intent of provoking them. These attacks have been particularly harsh in the caracobs of Morelia, Oventik, Garrucha, and Roberto Barrios. There the paramilitaries have been particularly cruel.

bases of support in San Marcos Avilis [corresponding to Caracol11, Oventik] have been constantly harassed. tWhat the paramilitaries try to do is to force them to fall into a provocation. It's clear that these paramilitaries have been well trained by the government and the army because they try to antagonize you in every possible way. They take your coffee, your beans, your corn; they pull up whatever you plant; they cut down your plantain trees, they carry off the pineapple you grew; they just antagonize you. Until one day our bases had had enough. The good thing is that since this

For example, our

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rebellion and resistance is organized collectively, the compafieros and com?dfterds bases of support from San Marcos Avilis went rc the Junta dt Buen Gobierno. They said we have come to tell you that we can't take it anymore.'W'e don't care if we die, but if we do we're going to take them with us. So that's when the Junta dt Buen Gobierno and the Clandestine Committee called the cornpds rogerher. They said, we're nor going to tell you no, but we are first and foremost an organization. Second, if any of you survive what takes place, you're not going to be able to go home, you'll have to go into hiding because those assholes are nor

going to let you live. Their goal is to finish off the bases of supporr. So what you need to do is create a document and a recording that the government can see so rhey know that their people will die and we too are prepared to die and we're willing to let the chips fall where they may. Later we tried to find another way to deal with this problem. The compafieros and compafieras made their recording and we found a way to make sure the government saw it, and that's still an ongoing issue. 'We've come to know that the government, meanwhile, has given money rc the partidistas thfi are there so that they would calm down; that's how the government controls its people. That's the government's way in everFhing; they hand out "projects" or distribute a little bit of

money, that's how they've always worked. 'Who knows what they're going to do now because the government isn't going to give any money. .W'e

mention these

cases

about how we resist provocation because we

ask ourselves, why would we

idea enrages us.

kill another indigenous person? The very

If I told you how the discussions about this go in our

assembly, well it's horrible because we staft to insult the government every way we can think of. \7e are filled with rage because it's so

incredible how they manipulate people. It also enrages us, and pardon my language, that these people are such idiots, that they let themselves be used to manipulate their own race. It's like these people from ORCAO.aa One part of ORCAO is now coming to realize that what they are doing is totally wrong. But there is another part of ORCAO that gets paid and doesn't care about anyone and so they keep making threats. A month ago the compafteros from

44

See glossary

"t24

Morelia had to resist all the things that ORCAO was doing to them. 'Well you can imagine, they're the Let's not even mention CIOAC! ones behind what happened to the com?a Galeano as well as attacks on

Morelia, it's the same CIOAC-Histdrica. So, we want life, and thanks to our resistance, we're able to live it. That's why we haven't fallen victim to the government's manipulation that would have us killing each other. 'W'e have also resisted those who 6sms hsls-visitors that come Mexico City-and tell us or tell our people that we are reformists from because we aren't waging armed struggle, or others who come and tell us that we are extremists. So whom are we supposed to believe? No, one must resist this chatter. Our answer to all of this is that it's one thing to say things and another thing to do things. To say them is very

easy-I

can stand here and yell about this or that, but once you're there it's something else altogether. the ground], [on Thanks to our resistance, compafieros and compafieruJ, sisters and

brothers, we don't say that weapons are no longer necessary, but we have seen that disobedience, if it is an organized disobedience, works. The bad government can't come in here, thanks to the compafieros and compafieras. We see that we are going to continue to be able to improve; we are going to be able to organize our resistance and rebellion even better and demonstrate that we do not need to ask anyone for their permission. Rather, we agree among ourselves about what we have to do and that is what gives us encouragement. 'We are also encouraged by the generation that is now with us, those who are 20 years old, the young people ljduenes andjduenas) of today. They say: we are firm and ready, but teach us how to do what is required, how to govern ourselves. So now each zone, through the organization of their resistance and rebellion, is training a whole generation of young men and women. They are being trained so that they can truly carry out that word that we have already mentioned here, that word that has been around for centuries and forever, that word that seems religious but isn't: rebellion. Because rebellion must really be for always and forever, we need the new generations to prepare themselves. That way the grandsons of those large landowners like Absal6n Castellanos Dominguez or Javier Sol5rzano can never come back here.

Resistance ond Rebellion

So we have a

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125

lot of work in front of us to improve this process. This

doesn't mean, com?dfteros and collryafterdg brothers and sisters, that we are renouncing our weapons. Rather, with this political, ideological, and rebellious understanding, we can find a way to turn rhis great resistance into a real weapon of struggle.

The compafreros of the Juntas d.e Buen Gobierno are relling us rhar we need another level of self-governmenr. So we asked the compas of the CCRI, "why are they saying this, compafieros, compafteras? They said, "it's that now we understand why the Juntas de Buen Gobierno had to be born." They talked to us about it and explained.'W'hen the MAREZ, the Autonomous Zapatista Municipalities in Rebellion were only loosely coordinated-because some had projects [from outside groups], some didn't, and some had nothing at all-that's when the Juntds de Buen Gobierno were formed. They began to regulate the municipalities so that their access to projects would be equal, even. Now the Juntas de Buen Gobierno are realizing that once again there is an unevenness. Some l/untas) have more projects because they are easily accessible, they are near the highway or generally more accessible and others are very far away and thus don't receive anything. But we as the Juntas de Buen Gobierno, they say, can't decide to create a new body; we have to follow the will of the assembly. During the exchanges that take place berween the zones they will have to discuss if, in fact, this is the moment to create another body because at this moment we are also organizing our resistance and rebellion against the coming storm. The compafierzs are also saying this is the moment;

this is the time for a new body because we are going to have to begin to act in resistance and rebellion on an inter-zone level. They say that the thousands of Zapatistas have to 6ght together in their resistance and rebellion and so they have to be organized. But it is thanks to this terrain of struggle, our resisrance and rebellion, that we have a guide in how we will carry this out. That will be our tool because we are not going to ask anyone for permission. For us, the era in which they [abovel refused to recognize the Law on Indigenous Rights and Culture is over; we're done with that. If they do not want to respect it, well then, now we have our own tools of struggle.

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Notes on Resistance and Rebellion

Resistance and Rebellion ll Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds

May7,2015. Good evening compafieros, compafteras, brothers and sisters.

It seems like a splash of cold water on our faces was indeed what we needed, because now we are definitely hearing some thoughtprovoking ideas. So we will need to translate these ideas from Spanish to Tzeltal, Tojolabal, Tzotzil, and Chol and from there generate a joint response, because there are some things proposed by the compafreros at this table

that we are interested in discussing further. Now we'll continue with our explanation and discussion on what resistance and rebellion mean to us as Zapatistas. For us, as an organization that resists and struggles in rebellion, we first need to be clear on why one would resist and rebel. If we are not clear on the "why," the "from what," and the "for what," we simply cannot go forward. For us, resistance and rebellion give us life. lJ7.hy? Because we are clear on the "from what" and the "for what," as well as the "for whom." So we carry out what we've agreed upon and see if it produces the results we wanted.

That's how we are able to see that when resistance and rebellion are organized, they give life. It is precisely because of resistance and rebellion that we are now here speaking with you. If it had been

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otherwise, if rage had surpassed our sense of rebellion, we wouldn't have paid attention to the movement ofJanuary 12, 1994 [the civilian mobilizations cdling for a halt to the war]. And if we hadn't paid attention to that, who knows where our bones would be buried now. 'V7'e

wouldn't be here speaking with you all. it is thanla to our rebellion and resistance that we were able to understand that movement, and that's why we are here with you. But So

it's also thanks to our rebellion and resistance that we have been able to construct something for ourselves as Zapatistas, something small, tiny, Iike this [holds up two fingers pressed together]. Can those in the back see this? Ah, no? W.ell that's exactly the point. This is how we began, small; so small you can't see it. But if that resistance and rebellion is organized,

'When

it

starts to multiply.

this thing was that small, we used to say amongst ourselves, "One day, we're going to speak with all Mexicans, with brothers and sisters, compafteros and compafteras from all over the

world." W'ell, here

we are. That's become a realiry. But for this to happen, one must resist and rebel.

In talking about resistance and rebellion, we're not saying

that

rhere's only one way. That's why we say not to copy [us], that it's not about copying. But for us as Zapatistas, our self-government-that is,

our autonomy to govern su15slvs5-is thanks to our resistance and rebellion. If we had dedicated our energy only to bombs and bullets, to military efforts, then compafieros and compafreras, brothers and sisters, we wouldn't be here right now, and that's the truth. Since we understood that resistance, and organizing that resistance, is also a weapon of struggle, we are able to be here today. You can see in our actions that this is how we are battling capitalism. For us, resistance and rebellion have no end. That's how we understand them in practice, because through our resistance and rebellion we can meet our needs. For example, we found an answer to the lack of educarion that was available to us. 'W'e found our own [education) promotores and we figured out how to feed those compafieros and czmPafieras. With regard to the problem of access to health care, we sought out and trained compafreros and compafieras. Then we found that they needed more

"t28

support and assistance because it was also a question of specialization in health. The same medicines don't always work and there are always new types of illnesses we have to learn about. So we also had to resolve that issue. In each instance, with each step that we take to resolve a problem, we must reorganize our resistance. fu a joke we used to say, "'Wait, why was it that we wanted autonomy again?" But now we are understanding, and you know how we talk around here: to fuck over capitalism. But, "'$7'e're going to have to work really fucking hard to build it!" So that's why we say that resistance and rebellion never end. So with each step we take we are construcdng our autonomy, and this is accompanied by resistance and rebellion, organized of course.

our laws as Zapatistas. Through resistance and rebellion, we create and improve our laws and agreements, always through assemblies in the communities, always through democracy. That is, it is always through the thought and the Resistance and rebellion guide

voice of the people.

The justice we create is strengthened by our resistance. Here I want to give you some examples because it's really necessary to have resources

to draw on. First, we are clear amongst ourselves what it is to create a form of justice that is different from that of the capitalist system. But in putting this justice into practice, we start running into difficulties. For example, in the case of a murder: under our theory our law states that if I am the murderer, then I need to work not only to provide for my family but also to provide for the family of the person I murdered. Once this actually happens, problems arise, because when you put the murderer to work you need to give him tools. But then he might use those tools to escape; some have, in fact, escaped. You would have to kill him so that he doesn't escape, but we wouldn't do that. tVhy would you need to do that? \W'hat's the problem?'W.ell, because there is no jail where all the work that would need to be done could be done inside. That is, everything the murderer would need to work would have to be inside the jail. There would have to be some way to convert this work into corn, beans, everything that is necessary to eat and to disribute food to the family who suffered a loss and the family responsible for that loss. But this doesn't exist; there are no jails

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like that. So what would be the problem with a sysrem like rhis? In some jails they do have some resources, bur they are stolen by the same

people who administer justice, or who say they administer justice. So what do we do when this type

of problem arises (because it

has

in fact arisen in the past)? rVhat the compafieros do for now is mediate while the murder is being investigated. The authorities speak with the victim's family and the family of the alleged perpetrator. That is how the information is shared and communication carried out. While the investigation is going on, sometimes the family of the alleged perpetrator might say, "We will give them 40,000 pesls," at which point the authorirywill say, "k's nor up ro me ro accept [this offer]. I will need to ask the victim's family because we as authorities can't put a price on a life." So this is why the authorities play a mediating role. The authorities go and relay the offer to the family that suffered the loss and this goes back and forth until an agreement is reached. That's how it has worked so far and how we resolve things today. This is where resistance and rebellion come in. As I was saying yesterday, it's not enough to have suength and rage in the face of the enemy, in the face of capitalism. There are also things that we know we cannot do, such as stealing. W'e know perfectly well why there is theft, but why is there rape? 'Where do these problems come from?'!7hy is there rape? \X/hy is there theft? So all of these things need to be investigated because a lot of times these problems arise with drugs and alcohol, with drunks. So what the authorities do is carry out an intense campaign in the communities to prevent this from happening, to prevent rapes and murders committed by drunks and drug addicts by reminding them how difficult things will be for them if they commit crimes. \fhere this stuffdoes end up happening is with the partidistas. So then we end up having problems because it turns out that we end up taking care of the partidista murderers, feeding them and policing them to make sure that they don't escape. That's why we say that Zapatista justice is for everyone, no matter who you are. It's a nice thing to say but in practice it's not easy to do because now you're talking about taking care of someone for a week where you have to heal and feed them. On top of that you have to be careful because

130

his family might go complain that you're violating his human rights, claiming that you're not feeding him. So this became a problem for us Zapatistas.

I tell you this, compafieros

and comPafieraT, not so that you become

discouraged or demoralized but so that you can take note that in order to govern yourselves, you must organize yourselves and understand

everfhing that goes into self-government. So what we do in order to resolve cases like this is to tell the ?artidistas, "You know what, Mr. Official Authority, we are going to solve this case, we are going to investigate it and everphing. But you all need to keep the murderer over there in your community or take him to the Bovernment you believe in, the bad government." So then the pdrtidistd families would say, "No, we want to resolve the problem here with you because there [with the official government] we don't know where they will hold him, we don't know if they'll violate the family's rights, and we don't have money to go back and forth. On top of that, there's the money we would need for an attorney." So what we say is that they will need to jail perpetrators and be 'W'e do this so that the responsible for them in their community. partidista community realizes how much work holding the murderer is, how many resources it requires because you have to take care of him, you have to feed him, and this makes for a lot of work. This is how we have educated the partidistas, and little by little we see them fighting drug addiction. 'SThere this is really hard for them is in those places where this problem is already out of control. They even tell us, "'We have already picked him up and taken him to the government maybe four or five times, but the bad government doesn't know what to do with him either and just lets him go." It is in our resistance and rebellion where we're forging a path, where we're seeing how to put into practice and improve the implementation of our seven principles of how to lead by obeying, where the people rule and the government obeys. Here I want to give you all an example of what we mean by "the people rule and the government obeys." Let's say, for example, in a municipal assembly (which can involve up to three or four regions with each region having dozens of communities, which is why we

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it an assembly of the auronomous municipaliry) the authorities of the MAREZ put forward a proposal, perhaps for a cooperative or a collective work project. That proposal then circulates among the communities and when the time comes to see what the people think, call

then the majority say yes, we are in agreement, and there are one or fwo

communities that say no, we are not in agreement. So a discussion begins in which we ask the latter to give us their reasoning and to see if it's clear what is meant by collective work and what the goal of collective work is. Then the communides that are not in agreement present their argument: "It's because we are very far away, we have a lot of expenses." So from there, the municipality, that is, the authorities and the communities that are in agreement, begin to think of a way to make the collective work accessible for those who say they don't agree. I'm not sure if you all understand me. So then the discussion goes back over to the communiry that was not in agreement, and then the representative from that communiry comes back and says, "The community still doesn't want to participate." So then the assembly, the majority that does want to participate, asks him, "But why?" ".Vell, it's because the people rule." And then the discussion begins once again and the assembly says: "You dre mistaken, compafieros frr* X community, lou are wrong. 'Ve Your understanding of things is bachwards. who mahe up the majority bere uill rub because the majority of the municipality's communities are

in agreement." So then the representative returns to his communiry to tell them that the majoriry, the voice of the people, is what ruies, and that they must obey. The representative has to go back and explain it until they are convinced. At this point the municipal aurhoriry goes directly to the communities to explain things, and during this visit the authority observes many things. Sometimes when the municipal authoriry visits the community and speaks directly with the bases--complying with what our seven principles say about convincing the people, not defeating them-the municipal authority realizes that the communiry representative has not been explaining things well, because he's the one who doesn't want to do the collective work project. Then the community automatically punishes its representative because he was

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supplanting the community's voice. That's why I was telling you about self-government; it's not that we can't do it, but that it's a struggle to do it. lVe have achieved it through

our resistance and rebellion because we do a lot of political work, ideological work, a lot of explaining about how we see capitalism, and as an organization. That's where we realize that the only thing we can do is struggle with all of our will and a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of work, a lot of effort, and a lot of sacrifice. That is, it requires a lot of resistance and rebellion. That's the onlywaywe're going to be able to keep on struggling because we know full well that capitalism is not going to let us live in peace.

a

lot of evaluating of how we are doing

Our resistance and rebellion has given us the strength to put this into practice-ie sx61si5e collective freedom. '$7e come across a lot of things on this path, within our governing process, that we are figuring out how to resolve and improve from within our freedom. For example, there's what I was saying earlier about each zone training a new generation of young people because that's what allows them

to understand things, but we don't stop with just understanding. tJTe have realized over these last 20 years that if all we do is say things, nothing will get done. So once we discover what is important, what is necessary, once the decision is made by the people to move forward on a particular task, we begin to put it into practice. First we have to take into account the voice and decision of the people, and from there we begin the work. 'We have to try it and see if it worls out, kind of like experimenting; that's how we go about improving things. This is why we say that our resistance and rebellion is what has helped us improve our practice of freedom in what we want to do. For example, the compafieros and compafieras of the communities have the

freedom to replace an authority who does not comply with the community's rules, or to reprimand or punish an authority who doesn't comply with the rules. Our resistance and rebellion have given us the freedom to create, invent, and imagine how to make our government work better in order to have a better life. This has helped us figure out how to keep improving how we govern, how to keep improving the work of our

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autonomous governments.

\7ith our resistance and rebellion, the Zapatista people, men and women, now have the right to speak. They have the freedom of expression and they have the right to be heard. 'Whether they dissent

or not, they sdll have the right ro be heard. At the same time, the people, men and women of free expression, are also free to think and propose, free to present opinions on what they think is a good idea or not. They are free to make proposals on how things could improve or on a new way of doing things. They have the freedom to study, think, and present new proposals. They are free to analyze and then say if they agree or don't agree. They are free to discuss in order to reach the best possible decision, rhe one with the most advantages, and to get to that point things have to be thoroughly discussed. Finally, our people have the freedom to decide which ideas

will

be put into practice.

Vithin our

resistance and rebellion we have discovered somerhing

thanks to the practices

of the compafteras. With

regard

to the "three

areas"-midwifery, bone setting, and medicinal plants-it was the compafieras who said that we needed to rescue that past culture where medical doctors weren't necessary (because indeed, we had no access ro them before). Then people lived with the help of plants, roors, leaves,

and hulls. One day the compafieras said, why are we going to wasre our tears on the grave, helping to pack the earth over our dead while burying all their wisdom and intelligence? We need to rescue rhar knowledge. So we reflected on that and we were able to understand its political importance. 'Vhat was that importance? We said, "\Vhat happened in l8l0? Vhat happened in 1910? \,X/hen Villa died, when Zapata died, the struggle ended with them." That's what happens when the rage, wisdom, intelligence, the art, the art of struggle, of fighting, are concentrated in just one person. So we said, "'Vhy should it be just us,

the political leadership of the clandestine comit&" And so we began to think what we could do about this.

From within our resistance and rebellion we said, "So that this doesn't happen to us, we need to pass on our inheritance to our compafieros, to the new generation. But this inheritance is not about

134

land, a cow, or even a louse or a flea, right? No, it's about struggle, about the organization-the EZLN-and about out autonomy." I. that process of refecting on the how and the what and all that, one of our compafieros and compafieras said, "But we\e still missing something compas." " No, I think we\e okay," we responded

"l/o," they insisted. "But wltat's missing!" we wondered. " We

still need to hnout what the Sixth, the Other [the Other Campaign],

utill haue 'We

as

an inheritance."

then began asking, "\7hat Other, \X/hat Sixth?" because there is no organization there exactly, at least not like in the autonomy that already belongs to the communities. In that autonomy there is a form of organization where women and men govern themselves and the EZLN as an organization is also there, keeping on. So then, what Other, what Sixth? Or who exacdy from the Sixth? So the answer was, "'W'e'll find them, com?ds." So now as a collective we have started to see what to do. Vith that resistance and rebellion we see that it's true what the compas were saying: "wait, what?" \7e [the EZLN] don't have anything to give as an inheritance [to the Sixth]. On the contrary, it is our compafteros and compafteras from the communities who have an inheritance to share with the compafieros and compafieras of the Sixth who can handle the truth. That's how the Little School was born, and that's what I mean when I say that it's the compafieros and cornpafieras who are the ones who can provide an inheritance [to the Sixth]. But before all that happened, before the communities became Little School teachers and guardianes and guardianas,a5 we were listening to what I was telling you about the compafieras, where they were saylng that we needed to rescue things and not bury them. It's true, we would

cry for our family members when they died, but we buried their wisdom and intelligence with them. So we said something, I don't know, about how we should not be selfish, that we have to teach the compafieros and compafi.eras.Y/e are not going to live forever, even if the enemy doesn't kill us, even if we don't die in an accident, the fact

45

See glossary,

Resistonce and Rebellion

ll

135

is that we are all going to have to leave sometime, we are all going to have to return [to the earth] sometime.

So then we started to reflect on why it's always us with the microphone. "\?'hy is it always me?" we asked ourselves. "'$Vhy are we going to be afraid of the people?" Just like how they are the ones who govern now, it should be the same with this question of who is speaking. If we're going ro provide an inheritance, rhen it should be complete: they, the czmpafierzs and campafieras, should be the teachers. So we had to organize this and encourage them, and the truth is that the com?afreros and compafieras from the communities are going to know what to do when we're no longer here. That's the whole point

you know; we needed to give them the space ro do it, and it turns out that they know how to explain things better rhan we can, rhar's the truth. I'm an insurgente, I'm in the encampment, I'm not in the communiry. They are the ones who live this out on a daily basis, not me. I'm in the camp, giving orders of course. It was through our resistance and rebellion that we understood how to resolve this problem of giving orders. The previous way of doing things wasn't rhe fault of the compafieros, those who have carried forward these 20 years of governing. It wasn'r our faulr either; it was just necessary at the time, we trained and prepared ourselves to follow orders. In the military, orders have to be obeyed and not debated. There is no democracy, and that's how we prepared rhe compafieros milicianos and milicianas. That's how we were able to control thousands of combatants; it worked nor ro argue over orders. Bur when the time came

to construct autonomy it was difficult to change our thinking

because governing is not about orders but about agreements.

But

in our practice, when we're organized we can do and we can undo. So once again we had to do political and ideological work to make sure the compafteros understood. That's why we say that one thing is one thing and another thing is anorher thing; each thing has its own function and no thing should be confused with another. These distinctions can be made but it requires organization. The way that we're organized-and this is why I told you this morning that I don't like being up here-is that what our people ask us to do, we have to do. W'e who have been up here in front many as can be seen

136 years, we want the comPa.fieros to also be here. Now that we have given

them the space, we want them to take this place. But the compafteros say, "The thing is that we have a hard time speaking Spanish." So we still have to do what the compas say. It's our way of walking, working, struggling, with our resistance and rebellion. Because we think that the important thing is that we who represent not be indispensable and therefore that everyone learn, practice, and carry out these tasks so that before we return to where we all must go [the earth], we can have confidence in the compafiero or compafierawho will take over. Like a doctor giving medical advice, we provide support by drawing on our own experiences. Because it's not the same to have the compaftcros and compafieras iust sitting there and listening and to have them take the microphone and talk. It's like the cornplts say, now their hands aren't shaking, but just a little while ago they were. It's true; it's not the same thing. So what is needed is for the compafteras and compafieror to Practice and to have us there helping them, because once we're dead we can no longer be consulted. Or can we? So there you have it. It's not the same

when you are next to someone tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or during the moments of your life and you can say, "Listen com?afiero, clrnpafiera, is this okay how I have it written out here? You think it's okay how I am going to explain it, discuss it, guide it?" That's how we suppoft them, that's how we help. That's why we say that we are yery other. Because we move as if we were trying on a shoe, s1 6le1hs5-lvs try it on and see if it fits, and if not then we keep looking for the one that does fit. That's how we are, compafieros, compafieras, brother and sisters, that is what our resistance

and rebellion is about.

\7e'll continue tomorrow.

137

Notes on Resistance and Rebellion

Resistance and Rebellion

lll

Subcomandante Insurgente Moisds

May 8,2015. Good aftern oon compafieros, compafteras, brothers and sisters. Perhaps

by continuing our explanation of how

resistance and

rebellion are our weapons you will better understand some of the things that our compafterls and compafierashere at the table have talked about. 'W'e have come to understand that by putting our resistance and rebellion into practice, we prevent in our struggle whar happened in 1910, when so many of our fellow Mexicans died. \tr7ho benefitted

from that situation? Our resistance and rebellion teach us that it was the landowners, rhe Carrancisras [followers of Venustiano Carranza], the Obregonistas [followers ofAlvaro Obreg6 n) andthe Maderistas [followers ofFrancisco Madero], who took advantage of that situation to put themselves into power, to govern. Those bastards who are in power now are the greatgrandchildren of those same people. Yet it is our resistance and our rebellion that tell us that we must govern ourselves. But our resistance and rebellion also tell us that just because we, people of the same race, are the ones who govern, or just because we call

it a Junta

de Buen Gobierno, doesn't mean that this government by 'S7'e've

said this from the beginning. Rather, we must vigilant, monitor it, stay and keep watch over it. That is why I'm saying that what the compafreros and compafieras

its nature is good.

138

said is true [referring to previous panel presentations]. Even if we bring

indigenous people to power, if the people below are not organized to monitor their government, then we will see that all we have done is created even bigger rats. A poor indigenous person has never seen the kinds of things that they will see while holding office. That's what will happen. Thus, it is not enough to just trust. 'We have to actually organize

to monitor our government. That is why we

say

it is the

people who must rule.

\(hen I

to watch over our government and that we need to be alert to everything, the way we do this is through our 'We don't allow our practice of struggle, of resistance and rebellion. autonomous governments to govern by themselves; we are very other in this sense. No, each one of us has our responsibilities, our work areas, so we are all learning. In other words, we believe that it's not our authorities who have to be good at thinking through proposals; we all have to become good at this. The way it works is that our authorities have meetings, for example in one of the Autonomous Municipalities in Rebellion. At those meetings there may be 15-20 people among the compafieros and compafieras from all the work areas: health, education, agro-ecology, commerce, and these kinds of things. So one of the compaft.eros or compafieras in charge of a given area says, "I am having such-and-such problem," to the collective gathered there, that is, all of the rest of the authorities who are in charge of other areas. They then discuss the problem among all of the authorities. That's why we call it collective government. Ideas and proposals emerge from this process, but that doesn't mean that whatever they come up with is immediately implemented. say that we need

They can't simply implement these ideas because they first have to go to the municipal assembly of authorities where all of the comisariadas,a6 agentas, comisariados and ag€ntes gather. There the compafi.eros present

their proposed solutions to the problem at hand. The compafieros who are authorities, the assembly members, and the authorities of the communities, men and women, use our Zapatista law as their guide. So they might say, "Oh we already know that's allowed because it has already been discussed; our communities have already accepted that

46

See glossary.

Resistance ond Rebellion

lll

1

39

before so we can decide here rhat this proposal can go forward," and the compafteros and compafteras, comisariados, comisariadas might rhen

move to approve the proposal. But the compafieros and, cLmpdfieruts authorities also know when to say, "\7e can't decide that here.'We have to go consult our compafreros and compafieras in the communities." \7hen the municipal authorities or the Junta dz Buen Gobierno take their proposals to the assembly of authorities, it looks something like this. Let's imagine that we are in what we call the maximum or highestlevel assembly; that's where we have our firsr round of discussion about the problem. When we feel we've gotren to the point where we're sruck and we haven't found a solution, we divide up into regions. So we

would divide everyone here in this room into 10, 15, 20 regions and have each region discuss the issue, after which we come back to the assembly and talk again until we find a solution. If we don't find an answer through that discussion or from what has already been tried and tested, we take the problem ro rhe communities-the discussion is rhen extended ro every community. '!7'e have to find a solution. That solution can come from a community, from a particular group, or it can come from an individualsomething that a compafiero or compafiera suggests. Then that word, that opinion, that thought must go ro rhe highest-level assembly so that we can decide if this is the best proposal for resolving this problem. So you can see here that the auronomous aurhorities do not do what they do alone. That is, their work is discussed and considered by all of the compafieros and compafteras, bases of support, in the communities.

However good a government or Junta dt Buen Gobierno may be, they can't just make their own policies. Rather, what they propose has to be approved by the people, by the communities. The communities musr know from the very beginning what it is that is being proposed, what it is that their authorities want to do and how they intend to do it. This way of doing things has meant that our authorities can't just do wharever they want, whether rhar's ar the zone level, in the Junta de Buen Gobierno, the MAREZ, or at the level of the local authorities.

There are always local assemblies in each community. No local authoriry can do something without the local assembly knowing about it. It is the same thing at the municipal level. They cannor launch

140

any project without the communiry being informed' It is the same at the level of the Junta de Buen Gobierno; the Junta cannot begin or Iaunch any project or work idea without informing and consulting the thousands of men and women at the base. So that's why if we say no to a given proposal or project, brothers and sisters, it is not necessarily because we think it is a bad project, but rather because we have our own processes. For example, with regard to our relationship to some NGOs that are still working here, they think

that if they ask me and I say no, it's just me saying no. Or they think that if they can get me to say yes then they can go ahead, but it doesn't work that way. The reality is that there are thousands of us, so it takes a long time to discuss a project and decide whether we want to accePt it or not or how we want it to work. This can take a while. It may even be that when our people arrive at an answer, the people who offered the project will say well no, we can't offer it any more, the moment has passed, it's

'Well then, that's that. That's what our resistance no longer possible. and rebellion is for-even if there's no project from the outside, we continue our work. '$7.ithin our resistance and rebellion, there are two things that the compafteros of the communities and their three levels of government

never let go of, two things that can't be bypassed. One, the progress on everFthing has to be reported back to the community. How is that work going? For whatever kind of work we do-health, educadon, agro-ecology, and all the other kinds of welk-1hs1s has to be an accounting or a report: !7'hat's happening with that work? How's it going? Are there any problems? How did you resolve them? W.hat are you working on now? At the same time, there must be reports on all of the funds that have come in and on what has been spent. In the practice of our resistance and rebellion, the compafieros and compafieras have been innovative in the practice of accountabiliry, in making sure that the Juntas de Buen Gobierno or the MAREZ provide clear accounts. The compafieros and compafteras have wanted certainty that what the accounts say is true. Even though ft is compafreros and compafieraswho are keeping accounts, even though they carry the name of Junta dz Buen Gobierno, how do we know that those accounts are

Resistance and Rebellion

lll

141

right? So the compafteros and com?afieras have innovated. Since there is a lack of trust, they have had to be creative so rhar they can creare rrusr.

So for example, they created a rule for the Junta de Buen Gobierno where there is a lockbox or whatever you call it where the money is kept. They decided that the Junta dr Buen Gobierno can'r rake money

out of the box without rhe presence of the Vigilance Commission. The Vigilance Commission is made up of the communiry bases of support who are taking their turn there in the caracol. Every day, every month, eyery year you can find them there with the Junta de Buen Gobierno and the Information Commission, which is the compafieros and, compafteras who are parr of the CCRI, candidates to be part of the CCRI, or alternates for the CCzu. So these two commissions accompany the process any time that the box is opened-it's not a box for the dead but for money. Then one of the two commissions asks: "So leti see compafom tlteJunta de Buen Gobierno, how much do you nee&" "Well, I need 15,000 pesos."

"Let\ "

see."

Clunt it

so

They take out the 15,000

that later

yu

canT say that

pesos and give

it wasn't all

it rc

the com?a.

there."

So the com?a from the Junta de Buen Gobierno counrs it and goes to buy what is needed. Upon returning in the afternoon, the compa meets

with the two commissions again and the czmpa from the Junta along with the two commissions look over the receipts together. They check how the money was spent and whether there is anlthing missing. So that's how we create trust in the accounts presented by the Junta de Buen Gobierno. This accounting and presentation of information happens every three months, every six monrhs, and every year. Because

the process is carefully monitored, because the Junta is not just acring on its own, there are other people who can confirm that the accounts are accurate.

It is through our resistance and rebellion that we have found a way to do justice. It is one part of how we... let's see, how can I explain it? By carrying out this process without politicizing it, without giving political talks to the partidistas but instead by resolving their problems, it's clear that we do not sell justice, that justice cannot be bought. In our

142

way of doing justice there is no fee; people aren't charged for justice. So then the partidistas realize this and they decide that they will go to the Zapatistas because if they go to the lstate] officials, they'll need

money. So by doing justice within our resistance and rebellion, we are doing what we call neutralizing because then those non-Zapatistas [who come for resolution of their problems in our justice system] will not act against us. But this is not because we're doing political workper se, we'rejust acting [on principle] and that is what they see. Another thing that we do that has contributed to the construction of our resistance and rebellion is that we don't try to force people to be Zapatistas or bases of support. In our community Practice, that is,

to others, those who aren't partidistas, because in the communities there are people who are partidistas and people who aren't ?artidistas. So we talk to them and if they want to

in

each community, we talk

of the Zapatista education system' they can do so without payrng. All they have to do is fulfill the community agreement as to how that community will support their education Promotlr or prlmotora. Each Zapatista communiry does this differently. The communiry may work in the Promotor or ?romotora's vegetable garden or milpa to collect the fresh corn. They may collectivize ar,d give beans to the education Promotzr or Promotora. So the brothers who aren't Zapatistas but want to send their kids to our schools can

join our schools, which

are part

do so as long as they fulfill this communiry-determined requirement. Those brothers who aren't ?artidistat can then send their children to the Zapatista autonomous school. The result of this work is that when the compafieros and compafieras have a celebration in the communities, for example on November

17'h-the anniversary of the creation of the Zapatista army (in 1983)the Zapatista children and the little boys and girls whose parents are not Pdltidistas [and who attend the Zapatista school] perform all together. They recite their poems or give small speeches so their Parents can watch. During these parties the partidistas don't participate (unless they happen to [be hired to] play the keyboard) and neither do their children. The parents whose children are in the autonomous Zapatista school take up the task of talking to the partidistas, asl

L

3s9

Vicente Rojo Cama

&

F.

"The idea of this serninar is to look at the different heads of the capitalist systern to try to understand whether it has new ways of attacking us or whether they are the sarne ones as before. If we are interested in other ways of thinking, it is in order to see if we are right about what we think is corning that there will be - to existing evils a trernendous econornic crisis that will be added and do trernendous darnage to everyone everywhere, all over the world. So if it's true that this is corning, or that it's already happening, we need to think about whether it will work to keep doing the sarne things that have been done before." Insurgente Mois6s

-Subcornandante

"If there are those who think that everything is the sarne and that things can change through elections, rnarches, tweets, signatures on change.org or whatever the hell you call it-well no, things aren't going to change like that. We have to find new ways. For what? Well that "for what" is what we have to answer and we rnust once again draw the face of the [capitalist] Hydra, because it has changed." Insurgente Galeano

-Subcornandante

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