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A change in direction for the EZLN

category north america / mexico | indigenous struggles | feature author Tuesday June 21, 2005 21:27author by Anarkismo Editorial Group - Anarkismo

Follows the process from the Red Alert to details of the new campaign

The EZLN declared a Red Alert in Chiapas in June taking a number of steps including closing down the Caracoles and the Good Government offices, evacuating the civilian delegates who make up the zapatista structures of regional self management and creating a clear distinction between the military side of the organisation and the civilian healthcare side. This looked a lot like preparation for war but a communique released the following day revealed that the red alert was just a precautionary measure to allow a consulta to take place.

The 6th Declaration of the Selva Lacandona was then released - it outlines the new strategy

and the communiques which follow it add more detail.

Anarkismo.net brought you news and analysis of this situation as it developed. Here we carry the Zapatista communiques and background materials and links that help explain who the Zapatistas are, what they stand for and what are the causes of the conflict in Chiapas.

Complete EZLN communique - 6th Declaration of the Selva Lacandona (English)
EZLN reveal new strategy
The EZLN announced the end of its consulta which had trigged the red alert (see feature) and that a ' Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona' was on its way. These declarations in the past have been key strategy announcements. This is the declaration which ends with a call for a new international encounter and an alliance with the non-electoral left in Mexico who want to build from below.
Sesta dichiarazione della Selva Lacandona (Italiano)
Sexta Declaración del la Selva Lacandona (Castellano)

More details

This set of communiques includes the re-opening of the Caracoles and details of the "Sixth Committee" which is to meet with people or organizations who do not participate in elections to form 'the other campaign'. Meetings will then be held in Chiapas of various sectors with the aim of issuing a common statement agreed by all on September 16.

The communiques in this batch are

Marcos on responses to the 6th declaration
A Penguin in the Selva Lacandona
Macos of the EZLN responds to some of the responses they have received to the text of the 6th declaration. He goes on to ask what impact all the international and national solidarity has had on the children who have grown up during the Zapatista rebellion

Zapatista Consultas are long processes that involve every community in discussions that frame questions that all will then vote on. The first article below written before the red alert perhaps gives some clues as to why this process is taking place. The articles 'What is it that is different about the Zapatistas?' includes an outline of the consulta process in more detail.

Zapatista's - 11 years on, a retreat and a consolidation
What has been happening in Chiapas in recent years?
This article was for publication in Red and Black Revolution, Autumn 2005. News has just come through through of a Zapatista communique that appears to be a preparation for a return to war. At this stage it is not clear what is about to happen so I am releasing the article as I think it provides a useful background of events in the last couple of years and the sort of reasons why the Zapatistas might have decided to return to armed struggle.

EZLN communique - The reasons for the Red Alert
EZLN reveal that the reason for the Red Alert is to allow a consulta to take place on the future direction of the organisation. During a previous consulta the army attacked them so this is a precautionary measure.

EZLN - A letter of explanation...and/or, perhaps, farewell
A letter from Marcos
Marcos summarises the work of the Zapatistas to date and the betrayal of the peace deal by all the political parties. He says the results of the Consulta process should soon be known. "Now we shall decide whether we are going to do something else, and we will make the results public at the proper time. We are now making clear - in order to end the speculations - that this "other thing" does not entail any offensive military action on our part. We are not, on our part, planning nor discussing reinitiating offensive military combat."

EZLN communique -Zapatista Red Alert declared in Chiapas
Zapatistas preparing to go underground once more, requesting peace observers to leave the communities, closing carocols and Goood Government Councils. This appears to be preparation for war!

EZLN communique - Zapatistas can survive a decapatation attack
Communique from EZLN saying that they have put the structures in place which would allow the organisation to survice even if the government or its paramilitaries eliminate "some or all of its publicly known current leadership."

What is it that is different about the Zapatistas?
The EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army) came briefly to the worlds attention when they seized several towns in Chiapas on New Years day in 1994. Since then most of the support the Zapatistas have received is strongly based on the idea that the Zapatistas are different. Different not just from the neoliberal world order they oppose but, more fundamentally, different from the armed revolutionary groups that exist and have existed elsewhere in the world. This study on the Zapatistas written by an Irish anarchist in 2001 explains why they are different in more detail.

What is happening with the Zapatistas?
The following piece explains in some detail what is happening with the building of the Caracols ('Good Governement Councils') in Chiapas. It looks in detail at the areas of education, health, economy and justice.

Indigenous Autonomy and Revolutionary Resistance
A text from the now defunct Mexican anarchist group Amor y Rabia (Mexico) that analysis the indigenous basis of the Zapatistas

El Anarquismo Revolucionario y la Sexta Declaracion
Análisis por la Alianza de los Comunistas Libertarios
Mexican anarchist communists on the 6th declaration - in Spanish (translation required_

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